Slide 1Slide 2Hyperinflation in the 1920sThe Road to WWII (started Sept. 1, 1939)Remilitarization of the Rhineland (1936)Slide 6Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)The Hossbach Memorandum1938Slide 10Slide 11Slide 12•“New” nations–Weak democracies•Legacy of WWI and dissatisfaction with Treaty of Versailles•Post-WWI political and social turmoil–“Red Years”– Spartacist revoltA member of the Nazi Hitler Youth (centre) and two Balilla, from the Italian Fascist equivalent for younger boys, demonstrate their comradeship and show off their uniforms for the camera in Padua, north-east Italy in October 1940, four months after Italy entered the Second World War.Hyperinflation in the 1920sThe Road to WWII (started Sept. 1, 1939)Appeasement: diplomatic strategy of making concessions to the enemy for seemingly legitimate grievances in order to prevent war.French and British attitudes towards Nazi Germany in the 1930sKey events:•Remilitarization of the Rhineland (1936)•(Spanish Civil War: 1936-1939)•Anschluss with Austria (1938)•Munich Conference (1938)•Sudetenland (1938)–Czechoslovakia (early 1939)Remilitarization of the Rhineland (1936)•Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia (1935-1936)•Hitler remilitarizes the Rhineland (Against Treaty of V.)Germans “going into their own back garden” London Times“Village’s Tribute Reignites a Debate About Italy’s Fascist Past” NYT, August 28, 2012http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/29/world/europe/village-reignites-debate-over-italys-fascist-past.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)•Democratic Republic vs. military rebels–German Condor Legion and Guernica•Rome-Berlin Axis (Nov. 1936)•Pact of Steel (1939)The Hossbach MemorandumThe Führer … stated: The aim of German policy is the security andpreservation of the nation, and its propagation. This is consequently aproblem of space. The German nation is composed of 85 million ofpeople … It justifies the demand for larger living space [Lebensraum] …The German question can be solved only by way of force … We areonly left to reply to the questions “when” and “how”.Period 1943-1934:… After this date we can only expect a change forthe worse. The rearming of the German Army, the navy, and the AirForce … are practically concluded… It is certain … that we can wait nolonger. [Conference between Hitler and military leaders, Nov. 1937]1938•Anschluss 1938•Sudetenland, 1938–Munich conference, Sept. 1938Hitler used “language of democracy” (self-determination)•Czechoslovakia, 1939This cartoon appeared in the London Evening Standard shortly after Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland in 1936. It shows Hitler walking over the ‘Spineless leaders of Democracy' (nations shown as people) as if he were walking up stairs.1938 British cartoon portraying Hitler as SantaClaus bringing little ones into his bag. The trickis that the countries are listed on the headboard:Austria, Czechoslovakia (with Germanspeakers...) but then it continues throughPoland, Hungary, Yugoslavia etc...•Molotov-Ribbentrop pact (August 23, 1939)Why did Hitler enter into an agreement with Stalin?Why did Stalin enter into an agreement with Hitler?•Sept. 1st 1939: Germany invades Poland –WWII