Hitler and the Invasion of Poland Before full blown war spanning across the globe in 1941, Hitler announced to his high-ranking German soldiers and colleagues that the invasion of Poland was a go, a decision that would change the history of not only Europe, but the world forever. Adolf Hitler, a right-wing activist from Austria turned into a fascist, authoritative dictator, had plans for world domination starting in Europe. Hitler’s speech, “The Obersalzberg Speech,” was a clear declaration of war to his high German officers, emphasizing that this was the only option. Hitler uses this speech to criticize the strength of his political rivals, while expressing the purpose and reason behind the invasion of Poland, whilst explaining his goals and …show more content…
Due to their defeat, Germany was left in a serious economic depression, leaving citizens feeling ashamed to be German (Levack, “The Weakness of the Weimar Republic,” 26.3.1). Hitler seized his opportunity and began growing his political career, taking advantage of struggling Germans in need for direction and a strong political leader. Other political leaders in Europe, such as French Premier Édouard Daladier and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, started noticing the radical ideas coming from this new ruler in Germany, but in efforts to maintain the peace in Europe these leaders decided to compromise with Hitler. This compromise, or the act of appeasement, is better known as the Munich Agreement. These three political leaders, and some others, met in Munich to decide the fate of the Sudetenland, an area of Czechoslovakia with a heavy German population, ultimately ending with the decision to give Hitler the Sudetenland with agreements that Hitler would not take further actions to occupy any other territory in Europe (Levack, “Evaluating Appeasement,” …show more content…
This is what fueled Hitler’s political hatred for other Western powers. Hitler proclaims, “The citizens of Western Europe must tremble with horror”. That is the most human way of conducting a war. For it scares the others off” (Adolf Hitler, “The Obersalzberg Speech,” Germany, 1939), showing that Hitler does not see these countries as a threat, just a means to an end. One reason behind the Nazi’s invading Poland, in Hitler’s eyes, was because he was seizing the opportunity of the weakness of the cowardly western powers, validated by the Munich agreement. Hitler also believed the races he deemed inferior were ruining the German country and his idea of the Aryan race. All these factors lead to Hitler becoming a fascist dictator that saw war as the only way to right all the wrongs he saw in Germany. I do not believe this speech was meant to be heard by the public, this speech was only supposed to be heard by a tight-knit group of some of Hitler’s most trusted colleagues. Hitler’s aggressive personality was depicted in his speech. Using vulgar terms to describe his political rivals, such as “pigs’ and “cretins” (Adolf Hitler, “The Obersalzberg Speech,” Germany,
“[The war on drugs] has created a multibillion-dollar black market, enriched organized crime groups and promoted the corruption of government officials throughout the world,” noted Eric Schlosser in his essay, “A People’s Democratic Platform”, which presents a case for decriminalizing controlled substances. Government policies regarding drugs are more focused towards illegalization rather than revitalization. Schlosser identifies a few of the crippling side effects of the current drug policy put in place by the Richard Nixon administration in the 1970s to prohibit drug use and the violence and destruction that ensue from it (Schlosser 3). Ironically, not only is drug use as prevalent as ever, drug-related crime has also become a staple of our society. In fact, the policy of the criminalization of drugs has fostered a steady increase in crime over the past several decades. This research will aim to critically analyze the impact of government statutes regarding drugs on the society as a whole.
Opposition arose within Hitler's own party, and in June of 1934 hundreds were shot and stabbed (an event known as the Night of Long Knives), including General von Schleicher (former chancellor of the Weimar Republic) and his wife, some Catholic leaders, some Socialists, and some that were killed by mistake (Chambers 939). Backed into a corner, the German people had but two choices: They were either with Hitler or against him, and at the time there was no real political alternative. All citizens of the Reich knew if they were not in complete compliance they would be killed, as state-sponsored murder was legalized through a decree on July 3, 1934. & nbsp; Hitler continued on this path of destruction and oppression and prompted WW2 with the invasion of Poland. By this time he had already established extermination camps in Russia, Poland, and Germany.
The invasion of Poland by Germany in September 1939 is regarded as the trigger that unleashed the Second World War. After an analysis and study of the causes of the conflict, from my point of view I consider that the depiction of hostilities that would trigger this great war were developed long before and were only a matter of time before this war began. I consider it this way, because Germany as the defeated nation of the World War I, in which the victorious nations, imposed conditions within which Germany ceded part of its territory and its colonies, reduce its army and pay annual compensation to the victorious nations.
...er of dividing and attacking his enemies one by one. He would win over people with tempting promises. In conclusion Racism,National pride and peer pressure played a major role in the German peoples participation in or indifference’s towards the state-sponsored genocide and murders in Germany.
After the First World War, most of the world suffered a deep economic depression. One of the countries kept a tight control over the German economy. German frustration and resentment steadily grew. The people were looking for three things. The first thing they sought was a leader-someone to put Germany back on its feet. The second thing they wanted was a scapegoat, someone to blame for Germany’s poverty and depression. The third thing the people wanted was revenge against a world that, in the eyes of the German people, had insulted and wronged their country with World War I’s restitution and occupation of Germany. They chose their leader in the form of Adolph Hitler and his Nazi party. The Nazi party also gave them a scapegoat with its strong anti-Semitic beliefs. Hitler’s plan for revenge began a campaign to take over large portions of Europe. As Michel states in his book World War II, "The world was still recovering from the economic strain of WWI, it was the opportune time for Hitler to strike." Hitler had a good understanding of this and devised his plan around it (Michel 2). The German public during this time was fed much propaganda and a false sense of nationalism. This gave Hitler and the Nazi party absolute control. Although muc...
Appeasing Hitler was primarily done for one goal; to avoid war and the many terrible things that came along with it. When World War I finally ended in 1918, millions of lives and dollars were lost. As a result, discussing problems seemed to be in everyone’s best interest. No one should ever be blamed for not wanting war because it’s very serious and not something that should be dealt with lightly. With saying that, appeasement was simply a negotiation, a way to solve problems without fighting, and nobody had a way of knowing what Hitler planned to do in the future. As Mackenzie King stated “Hitler appeared to be ‘a man of deep sincerity and a genuine patriot” (King, 1937) meaning that he seemed like the type of person who could obey rules and negotiate his problems, without causing conflict. Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of Great Britain once said, “How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is, that we should be digging t...
On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland to start the biggest war all mankind has ever seen. A man named Adolf Hitler led a group called the Nazi's. He convinced those men that Jewish people had ruined the world and caused Germany's downfall after World War One. They were also against people like gypsies, criminals, or anyone they thought were undesirable. Soon after the Germans started, Japan and Italy joined to help their cause. As the war went on the Nazi party grew bigger and stronger and countries started fighting back, but the Nazi's were to strong. Then one day Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and just like that Americans were in the war. That day we became mortal enemies with all of Japan, and we weren't going to hold back on them. America was going to end this war. They didn't know how but they were going to. Then one day America used the first ever nuclear bombs. We bombed Japan twice and they were devestated and surrendered. America didn't stop there, they kept fighting, trying to end the war. Finally Italy and Germany surrendered and all of the remaining Jews we freed from th...
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...
Meanwhile, Fuhrer Hitler and the Nazi party were continuing their domination of Europe and threatening to invade Czechoslovakia, which many felt would most likely incite another World War. To prevent this, England, France, Italy and Germany entered into an agreement, which would allow Germany to seize control of Sudetenland and is today known as the ‘Munich Pact’. Sudetenland had a large German population and its borders were in strategically strong areas for the German military. For negotiations to be successful there are many components that one must be aware of such as personalities of all parties, end goals of each person and the history of the country. England led the process with an appeasement policy as an attempt to mollify Hitler and the Nazi party and prevent war, which this pact did not.
Support for the Nazi party was due to the growing belief that it was a
This enabled Hitler to rise to power in this country in the years after World War I and leading up to World War II. France and Britain still had the memory of World War I when Hitler started to rise to power and take over new lands. Because they did not want to enter another conflict with Germany France and Britain hoped that taking an approach of “appeasement” with Germany would prevent another World War. It was this philosophy of appeasement, which led them to sign the “Munich Agreement” in which France and Britain agreed to allow Germany to take over portions of Czechoslovakia. Those who Neville Chamberlin argued in defense of appeasement, “….if I were convinced that any nation had made up its mind to dominate the world by fear of its force, I should feel that it must be resisted”(379). He clearly felt that the threat of Nazi Germany was not as serious as it would ultimately become. “As long as war has not begun, there is always hope that it may be prevented”(379). France and Britain hoped desperately that by appeasing Germany they could prevent a total war. However, by giving Germany land and power France and Britain strengthened Germany and weakened themselves for when they would eventually have to fight
He believed that the Germans were the 'master race'. Going around saying this will make people feel inferior and think the Germans have no authority over them, this caused conflicts. Hitler thought that the Treaty of Versailles should be cancelled and land taken from Germany must be returned. This led to problems as they were demanding land, which not only is against the Treaty's wishes, but will make then a lot stronger when or if future wars do happen. He said that all people of German blood, including many in Austria and Czechoslovakia, must be allowed to live in Greater Germany.
...t, Hitler believed that the British government would reconsider its policy of appeasement. He thus decided to invade Poland on September 1st 1939, on 3rd, British declared war against Hitler (Scaife 121). Hitler’s invasion of Poland was from the hope that the policy of appeasement would be used to solve the matter, but it failed.
...tish, etc., but rather in the strength and the unity of his own nationality” (Hitler 384-385). Hitler bluntly states that German’s were mistreated and are “clearly” the most distinguished race, but have the blunders of the inferior people to thank for the loss of the first world war. This book was the start of his influence, with the printer press still on the rise, it helped spread his word. Hitler, a great orator, gave speeches, ran politically, connected with people, used the economy as an argument for his ideas, spread propaganda, and used the guilt of the harsh punishment to receive appeasement. Death narrates some statistics, “ In 1933, 90 percent of Germans showed unflinching support for Adolf Hitler. That leaves 10 percent who didn’t,” (Zusak 63). Hitler had taken control, and no one had been able to stop him, he had used a simple tool to take on the world.
This is what had made Hitler one of the greatest public speakers that the world had ever seen from his time and in history. "The German people and it 's soldiers work and fight today not for themselves and their own age, but also for many generations to come. A historical task of unique dimensions has been entrusted to us by the Creator that we are now obliged to carry out." Hitler, the Fuhrer of Germany, was a very talented spokesman in ways that leaders today could not even begin to compare with. He was charismatic and bold, making it easier for him to win over the minds of many Germans with these two traits. He believed that during his rise to power, he and the people of Germany had been given a duty by God to purify the nation of its imperfect races and weaker people so as to make the mother country strong again for future generations. "Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live." In many ways, Hitler felt he was justified in what he was doing, and in some