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Essay on appeasement in ww2
Hitler's Authoritarianism
Essay on appeasement in ww2
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The Anglo-French foreign diplomatic policy of Appeasement was adopted “from the Treaty of Versailles onwards ”, mainly exhibited through Neville Chamberlain. Appeasement was solely focused on reaching peaceful terms, and understandings with Germany. Nevertheless, it has been regarded as a failed plan, which in turn only prolonged the outbreak of the Second World War and contributed to the rise of the Nazi party and Hitler’s ever-growing confidence. As such, these crucial elements presents the focal responsibility in which Hitler’s intentions made this policy impractical. Alan Monger states “during the 1920’s and early 1930’s Britain had controlled the process…mid 1930s Hitler seized the initiative ”. With the rise of Hitler his ideologies exhibited through the Nazi Party became ever-present. Primarily Hitler sought to review the terms of the Versailles Treaty; he hoped to achieve his goals through terror and violence, displayed in ‘Mein Kampf ’ asserting that he would “break the unjust terms of the Treaty …show more content…
The main reason in which this association failed was purely because they had no military backing at all, it relied on the support from Britain and France who were attempting to avoid conflict at any cost. Thus meaning League of Nations was not able to intervene in any conflict, closely referring to the Italian occupation of Abyssinia as the ‘League ‘ themselves were following this policy. All the League of Nations was able to do in reality was voice their concerns, but were not able to transform their words into actions, the League made an appeasement with Mussolini to stop Italy’s invasion of Abyssinia but when Mussolini annexed, there was no resistance. Thus expressing this sense of ineffectiveness, and displaying how Appeasement led to the rise in Fascist dictators not just
These were pivotal times in the annals of world history in the 20th century. Mussolini and Hitler’s rise to power was clearly a threat to the freedoms of the United States and its Allies. Through God’s grace and omnipotence, the US alliance, industrialization and intellectual might, we have the resources required to overcome the fierce and mighty threat of Fascism in the Free World. In the 1930s, European governments found it necessary to appease Hitler and Mussolini. Appeasement is the word that clearly sums up the policies and actions that were taken by the European governments.
with Hitler, which allowed him to increase his Navy by thirty – five percent than
Hitler blamed the Jews for the evils of the world. He believed a democracy would lead to communism. Therefore, in Hitler’s eyes, a dictatorship was the only way to save Germany from the threats of communism and Jewish treason. The Program of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party was the instrument for the Nazis to convince the German people to put Hitler into power. Point one of the document states, “We demand the union of all Germans in a great Germany on the basis of the principle of self-determination of all peoples.” 1 This point explicates the Nazi proposition that Germany will only contain German citizens and also, that these citizens would display his or her self-determination towards Germany to the fullest.
From the time Hitler and the Nazi’s took control of Germany in 1933 until the collapse of the Third Reich in 1945, the aim of the regime under the calculating guidance of Hitler himself sought no less than global conquest. This ambitious objective can be further dissected into short term and long term goals that provide insight into Hitler’s character, thoughts and actions.
Hitler's Aims and Actions as the Cause of World War II When considering the reasons for the outbreak of war in 1939 it is easy to place the entire blame on Hitler’s aggressive foreign policy in the late 1930s. One British historian, writing a few years after the end of the war, claimed that ‘the Second World War was Hitler’s personal war, in that he intended it, he prepared for it, he chose the moment for launching it.’ In this assignment it is my intention to show that Hitler’s foreign policy was a major factor in causing the conflict but that other reasons, both long term and short term, need to be recognised as well. Probably the first factor that need considering is the Treaty of Versailles, of 1919.
as a historian it is clear that in the years of 1941 and 1942 things
The 1940’s was a time of great conflict between the United States and Europe. This led to World War II, which began on June 14th, 1940 when German troops were sent to France to occupy Paris (Nash 500). Before the United States entered World War II many conflicts erupted throughout Europe such as the advancement of German troops into various countries (Nash 501-502). The main source of these conflicts was a man by the name of Adolf Hitler. Hitler was a power hungry man who had the drive to become a political leader (Nash 492). But, the ways by which he obtained leadership were repulsive. He struck fear into the eyes of those in which opposed his teaching and killed whoever stood in his way (Nash 493). Germany faced troubling times after World War I. Hitler looked at this as the perfect opportunity to rise to power. He turned a party that consisted of a small amount of workers into the National Socialist German Workers’ party, which later became known as the Nazi party. During the 1920s, Hitler performed many speeches in order to make the Nazi party better known. In his speeches he talked about eliminating the differences between the rich and poor in order to prevent divided social classes. This made his party strong, attractive, and it quickly gained many supporters (Nash 494). By August 1934, Hitler became the Dictator of Germany and began mass takeover of Europe and World War II began (Nash 495). It was at this point when he began mass takeover of Europe and World War II began (Nash 500). He sent Nazi troops to take over nearby land, which made neighboring countries nervous. One of these countries, Russia, made a non-aggression pact with Hitler as a way to try to protect their country. Even though H...
However, when confronted with a strict policy of appeasement, by both the French and the English, the stage was set for a second World War. Taylor constructs a powerful and effective argument by expelling certain dogmas that painted Hitler as a madman, and by evaluating historical events as a body of actions and reactions, disagreeing with the common idea that the Axis had a specific program from the start. The book begins with the conclusion of the First World War, by exploring the idea that critical mistakes made then made a second war likely, yet not inevitable. Taylor points out that although Germany was defeated on the Western front, “Russia fell out of Europe and ceased to exist, for the time being, as a Great Power. The constellation of Europe was profoundly changed—and to Germany’s advantage.”
The 1920s had a good outlook towards peace, but near the end of the decade and throughout the 1930s signs of war were forming. Leaders arose in countries that were unsatisfied with the results of World War I. Germany, Italy, and Japan took aggressive actions, and neither the League of Nations nor the democratic countries were stopping them. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain suggested the policy of appeasement towards Hitler to keep peace. Europe moved closer to war as these actions were made. World War II had propelled with the lack of judgement by the League of Nations by continuous appeasing Hitler.
The Policy of appeasement which Neville Chamberlain, prime minister of Britain from 1937-1939, stood by has been criticized by Churchill, prime minister of Britain 1040-1945, as we well as other historians. Appeasement refers to the act of complying to the demands of another in order to prevent war. Historians argue whether this policy was effective. There are two sides to the argument, while some historians argue that if Chamberlain had abandoned the appeasement policy and instead adopted a more aggressive policy towards Hitler’s moves the Second World War could have been averted. Others disagree saying that if not for chamberlain’s policy, the Second World War would have happened sooner and Britain would have been pulled in before they were ready for the war. However these are just speculations. We cannot truly know whether the outcome would have been any better or worse if chamberlain or rather Britain and France had taken a firmer stance against Hitler.
“They demanded that citizens of non-German or Jewish origin be deprived of German citizenship, and they called for the cancellation of the Treaty of Versailles” (Hoffmann). Soon the NSDAP had tons of members. They attacked the government and stated that they, The Nazi Party, could get Germany’s economy up and moving again and make Germany great again. This attempt became known as the Beer Hall Putsch, it failed and Hitler was sent to prison. “His prison stay was more like a house arrest and became a media event that, incredibly, earned him the sympathy of the masses” (Wein). While Hitler was in prison he wrote his book called Mein Kampf. In his book he wrote about things that he believed and his great plans for Germany. Some of which were: his plan to conquer much of Europe, territories lost in World War I would be recovered, along with Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia, basically wherever Germans lived would be added to the nation of Germany. The growing German nation would seize Lebensraum , a living space, from Poland, the Soviet Union, and other countries to the east. He also wrote about the Jews and all the bad they caused in the world. “He said: "By defending myself against the Jews, I am doing the Lord 's work." Democracy, said Hitler, could lead only to Communism. A dictatorship was the only way to save Germany from
* Saarland was under LN control and after 15 years the people could vote if they wanted to belong to Germany or France
In conclusion, the policy of appeasement was described by some scholars as ineffective. The fact that the policy of appeasement failed to avert World War 2 is a direct justification that it was a wrong-headed policy. The policy allowed Germany to reconstruct its military slowly and eventually was prepared to go into war to defend its military triumph. Chamberlain was aware of Hitler’s ambitions, but thought that the best alternative to deal with his ambitions was negotiations. This was a misguided move which the world is able to learn from.
Hitler wanted to re-take control of the territories that it had lost at Versailles, such as the Rhineland and re-arm its military forces - something forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles. He also wanted to expand Germany’s borders to provide living space. Many British and French politicians believed this was too harsh and believed Hitler’s demands were reasonable so this helped lead to appeasement. Before the outbreak of war, many people in Britain admired Hitler. After the ruinous end of WWI, Hitler appeared to have rebuilt Germany and made it a powerful country again.
It is clear that the large majority of Germans were infuriated with the treaty so much that they felt the need to protest against it. According to Nathaniel Harris, an experienced writer in history books, from 1919 onwards, a serious of uprisings created great instability in Germany. Thus, creating an opening for Hitler to recruit members for his new political party. Therefore, according to Frank McDonough in his book ‘The Origins of the First and Second World War Wars’, when Hitler announced his foreign-policy aims in his book ‘Mein Kampf’, Germans raced to follow his lead as their anger built. One of his main aims was to destroy the Treaty of Versailles which was appealing to the Germans as they felt suppressed by it3.