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Background:
Between 1918 and 1933 Adolf Hitler rose from being an obscure and demoralized member of the defeated German army to the all-powerful Fuhrer, dictator of Germany.
Hitler was never secretive about his plans for Germany. As early as 1924, Hitler had written his book Mein Kampf in which he laid out what the Nazis would do if they achieved power in Germany.
Hitler’s foreign policy aims played a pivotal role in causing the outbreak of the Second World War. His foreign policy aims were;
1. Abolition of the Treaty of Versailles:
Hitler like many Germans believed that the Treaty of Versailles was unjust.
He constantly argued that it was a ‘diktat’ dictated peace hence Germany had no moral binding to follow it.
He referred to the German leaders who signed the treaty as the “November Criminals” and “stabbed the nation in the back”. The term November Criminals was used to whip anger amongst the democratic German leaders who had signed the treaty and then set up the Weimar Republic. This was a propaganda tool used to diminish the credibility of the former Weimar regime, the stab in the back myth was a conspiracy theory promulgated amongst the right-wing circles in Germany after 1918. The belief was that the German Army did not lose World War I on the battlefield, but was instead betrayed by the civilians on the home front, especially Jews, Socialists, Bolsheviks, and the Weimar regime. This served as a constant reminder to Germans of their defeat in the War and how they were cheated of a victory.
By the time Hitler had come to power, the reparations had been reduced and their payment stopped altogether; however, the majority of the terms were still in place.
2. Expansion of German territory:
Hitler wanted to get back the territory that had been taken away from Germany by the Treaty of Versailles.
He wanted a political union (Anschluss) between Germany and Austria which was prohibited according to the Treaty of Versailles.
He wanted German minorities living in other countries such as the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia to rejoin Germany.
He wanted to carve out an empire in Eastern Europe to give the Germans ‘Lebensraum’ or living space.
3. Destruction of Bolshevism:
Hitler wanted the defeat of the Communists or Bolsheviks since he believed that they had brought defeat to Germany in the First World War, an idea that originated from the stab-in-the-back-myth.
Hitler was an ardent anti-Communist and wanted to carve out his German Empire from the Soviet Union.
He believed that the Bolsheviks wanted to take over Germany.
Rearmament:
Hitler started secret rearmament in 1934. He knew that the Germans would support rearmament but this would alarm other countries thus the first suggested equality of armaments in the 1933 Disarmament Conference, showing an inclination towards global disarmament when the Conference failed, he argued that Germany had to rearm because other countries were not disarming.
Hitler withdrew Germany from the League of Nations in November 1933 to escape the influence of the League.
Rearmament not only made Germany militarily strong but also countered the cyclical unemployment caused by the Great Depression as thousands of unemployed workers were drafted into the army.
In February 1935, Hitler announced the construction of an air force (Luftwaffe)
In March 1935 conscription was introduced to the army.
The allied reaction was to announce the Stresa Front in April 1935.
The Stresa Front agreement was signed by Britain, France, and Italy.
This was a Declaration that they would take action against Germany should it violate the Treaty of Versailles again and reaffirm the Locarno Treaties.
They also declared that the independence of Austria "would continue to inspire their common policy".
Hitler undermined this by signing the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of June 1935 with the British:
The agreement allowed Germany to increase the Kriegsmarine (Nazi Navy) to the size of 35 percent of the British navy.
Allowed Germany to have submarines up to 45% of Britain’s numbers.
This agreement violated the Treaty of Versailles.
Britain had not consulted her allies or the League but the Agreement was accepted despite French and Italian protests.
In September 1935 German rearmament was made public in the Nuremberg Rally in which Hitler openly staged a massive military rally celebrating the German armed forces.
These were all clear violations of the Treaty of Versailles but Hitler managed to get away with them because many countries were trying to fight unemployment caused by the Great Depression by rearming.
Rearmament increased support for the Nazi party as it was widely supported in Germany whereas, Britain particularly showed considerable sympathy to Germany in this matter because Britain believed that the limits put on Germany’s armed forces by the Treaty of Versailles were too tight, not even enough to defend Germany from an attack. A strong Germany was essential in the eyes of Britain to act as a buffer against Communism. This too aided German rearmament.
Saar Plebiscite:
According to the Treaty of Versailles, the Saar Basin was to be run by the League of Nations in 1919 and after 15 years there would be a plebiscite deciding the territorial status of the Basin, whether it would be reunited with France or Germany. During those 15 years, France was given control of the Saar’s coal mines.
Hitler was wary about the idea of a plebiscite because many of his opponents had escaped to the Saar but eventually he bowed down to the League’s demand of a plebiscite.
Hiter’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels mounted a massive campaign to persuade the people of the Saar to vote for the Reich.
The plebiscite was an overwhelming victory and morale booster for Hitler as over 90 percent voted for reunification with Germany.
This was entirely legal and within the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
After the vote, Hitler declared that he had ‘no further territorial demands to make of France.’
Remilitarisation of Rhineland:
Rhineland was a large area on either side of the River Rhine that formed Germany’s western borders with France and Belgium.
The area was demilitarised to protect France from any future German attack in the Treaty of Versailles and Germany had accepted it in the Locarno Treaties of 1925.
Hitler argued that France and USSR were trying to encircle Germany because of the signing of the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance, thus Germany in the face of such a threat should be allowed to place troops on its frontiers.
The Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance was a bilateral treaty between France and the Soviet Union to envelop Nazi Germany in 1935 to reduce the threat from Central Europe.
Hitler also knew that many in Britain felt that he had the right to station his troops in the Rhineland hence there would be no opposition from the British.
The Abyssinian Crisis was underway, and France could not count on Italian support. With Britain and Italy not supporting France, France decided not to act alone.
On 7 March 1936, German armed forces entered the Rhineland and they had orders to pull out immediately if the French acted against them.
The League merely condemned Hitler’s actions as it was powerless since most of the League’s members were more focused on the Abyssinian crisis.
France itself was internally divided and about to hold elections therefore, the French leaders did not want to take responsibility for plunging France into war.
France also refused to act without British support.
Hitler immediately spoke of his desire for peace and claimed Germany had no more territorial ambitions
Spanish Civil War:
In 1936 a civil war broke out in Spain between the supporters of the Republican government and right-wing rebels under the leadership of General Francisco Franco.
The USSR supported the Republicans loyal to the left-leaning Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic, in alliance with the anarchists, communists, and syndicalists. The USSR provided the Republican Government with weapons, aircraft, and pilots. Thousands of volunteers from around 50 countries joined the International Brigades to support the Republicans.
International Brigades were military units set up by the Communist International (Comintern).
The organisation existed for two years, from 1936 until 1938.
Between 40,000 and 59,000 members served in the International Brigades.
Britain and France refused to intervene although France did provide some weapons to the Republicans.
Hitler and Mussolini declared their support for General Franco but agreed to not intervene although they blatantly continued to do so.
Mussolini sent thousands of Italian soldiers, although officially they were volunteers.
Germany sent aircraft and pilots who took part in most major campaigns of the war like they helped to transport Franco’s forces from North Africa to Spain and later took part in bombing raids on civilian populations in Spanish cities.
Due to Hitler’s help, the nationalists won the war in April 1939 and a right-wing government dictatorship ruled Spain for the next 36 years.
Why did Hitler get involved in the Spanish Civil War?
Germany would gain a Fascist ally in Spain if Franco won. This would be valuable for Hitler since his foreign policy aims might trigger a war with other countries such as France and Britain.
Franco agreed to provide iron from Spain’s iron mines – a valuable resource for Hitler’s rearmament plans.
It paved the way for good relations with Mussolini, another fascist ally of Hitler.
It would act as a distraction, especially for Mussolini, from Austria.
It would also distract Britain and France from Hitler’s plans for Eastern and Central Europe.
It was an opportunity to test the equipment and tactics of the Luftwaffe and get valuable combat experience for his pilots.
German aircraft raids and bombings on Spanish cities showed the horror that modern weaponry and military technology could cause.
The bombing of the town of Guernica on a market day was especially horrifying and in Britain, the public was terrified by the thought that this could happen to them in a future war.
It was combating communism.
Impact:
Hitler was further encouraged to reverse the Treaty of Versailles.
The USSR became suspicious of Britain and France’s reluctance to oppose Fascism.
British politicians grew keener to avoid war at all costs thus inclination towards the Policy of Appeasement increased.
Anti-Comintern Pact (1936)
The pact was initially drafted as a tripartite military alliance between Japan, Italy, and Germany. While Japan wanted the focus of the pact to be aimed at the Soviet Union, Italy and Germany wanted it aimed at the British Empire and France. Due to this disagreement, the pact was signed without Japan and became an agreement between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany
It was officially known as the Agreement against the Communist International, signed on 25 November 1936.
It was an anti-Communist pact concluded between Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan and was directed against the Communist International (Comintern).
In 1937, Italy also signed the pact.
After the accession of Fascist Italy to the pact and especially the German-Soviet rapprochement after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, it gained an increasingly anti-Western and anti-British identity as well.
Rome-Berlin Axis (1939)
Also known as the Pact of Steel and formally known as the Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy.
It was signed on 22 May 1939.
It was a military and political alliance between Italy and Germany.
Anschluss (1938)
Background:
The idea of an Anschluss (a political union between Austria and Germany) had existed since 1871 after the unification of Germany was Prussian-dominated and excluded Austria and the German Austrians.
After the First World War, the newly formed Republic of German-Austria attempted to form a union with Germany but both the Treaty of Versailles and Treaty of St.Germain forbade it.
Hitler had already stated in Mein Kampf, his desire to unite Germany and Austria to form a ‘Greater Germany.’
Many in Austria supported this idea because Austria as a country was economically weak.
In 1934, the July Putsch was orchestrated to unite Germany and Austria but on that occasion, Mussolini had stopped him by 1938 not only were they both allies but Hitler was also confident because of his previous successes of 1936 and 1937.
The July Putsch was a failed coup attempt against the Austro-fascist regime by Austrian Nazis in 1934.
A German invasion of Austria in support of the putsch was averted because of the guarantee of independence and diplomatic support that Austria received from Fascist Italy hence Anschluss failed to take place.
German Annexation:
Austria had a strong Nazi party. Austrian Nazism or Austrian National Socialism was a pan-German movement that supported the idea of Anschluss.
Hitler encouraged the Nazis to stir up trouble for the government and cause riots to encourage a union with Germany.
Hitler told the Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg that only Anschluss would sort out the problems in Austria but Schuschnigg turned to France and Britain for support in the form of threatening sanctions against Hitler but they failed to support him.
Schuschnigg suggested a referendum but Hitler threatened a German invasion and secretly pressured Schuschnigg to resign. The referendum was canceled.
On 12 March, the German Wehrmacht (united armed forces of Nazi Germany) marched into Austria unopposed by the Austrian military and was enthusiastically welcomed by the people to oversee the referendum, which was now to be held on 10 April.
The referendum result was 99.75 per cent voted for Anschluss and this officially ratified Austria's annexation by the Reich.
International Reaction:
1. France
French politics were in turmoil in March 1938. Two days before Germany invaded Austria the entire French government had resigned. France was not in a position to oppose the invasion.
2. Britain
In March 1938, Britain was having political problems. Anthony Eden, the Foreign Secretary, had resigned over Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's decision to open negotiations with the Fascist dictator of Italy, Mussolini. With Chamberlain determined to appease Hitler, there was no political will to oppose Germany.
The British population was against the idea of another European war. The Anschluss (union) was not seen as a threat to Britain and, as both nations were German-speaking, there was a sense that there was no good reason why Austria and Germany shouldn't unify.
Britain’s Lord Halifax had even suggested before the Anschluss that Britain would not resist Germany uniting with Austria.
In essence, Britain and France were not ready to defend the Treaty of Versailles which they now deemed to be flawed.
Impact:
Germany added seven million people and an army of 100,000 to its Reich
Austrian arms and soldiers were also under German possession now, adding to Germany’s increasingly strong army and industry.
Germany gained useful resources such as steel, iron ore, and Austria's foreign exchange reserves.
The balance of power in South-Eastern Europe shifted in favour of Germany, increasing their influence in the Balkans.
Czechoslovakia was now surrounded on three fronts by Germany
Sudeten Crisis of 1938:
Unlike the leaders of Britain and France, the leader of Czechoslovakia, Edvard Benes, was horrified by the Anschluss and sought guarantees from the British and French to honor their commitment to defend Czechoslovakia. The French were bound by a treaty to do so and the British felt bound to support the French hence leaders of both the nations agreed, reluctantly.
The Treaty of St.Germain had led to the cession of the provinces of Bohemia and Moravia to the new state of Czechoslovakia. The border districts of Bohemia and Moravia were predominated by German speakers hence Hitler planned to annex the Sudetenland to Germany.
Henlein, the leader of the Nazis in Sudetenland to demanded the unification of Sudetenland with Germany. Hitler encouraged protests among the Sudeten Germans, who began rallying to become a part of Germany.
Dubious reports of state violence and the killing of 300 Germans by Czech police began emerging.
May 1938: Hitler made it clear that he would fight Czechoslovakia if needed.
There is some historical disagreement on whether Hitler was bluffing, considering that the German army was still not fully prepared for war. Europe was, nonetheless, on war alert.
However, Czechoslovakia was a bigger, better-armed state than Austria and they had military alliances with France and the USSR.
The Czech leader, Edvard Beneš, was also highly aware of the strategic importance of the region's ports, railways, and industries.
The summer of 1938 proved tense, as Europe seemed on the brink of war.
Fears that impending war might mirror the bombing and raids of the Spanish Civil War led to the digging of air-raid shelters and advertisements on protection (i.e. gas masks).
As the crisis reached a peak point, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to meet Hitler’s holiday home in Berchtesgaden on 15 September to negotiate peace. The agreement was negotiated on 24 September 1938 and the document issued by Hitler was known as the Godesberg Memorandum:
The meeting appeared successful with Hitler claiming that his only interests were in the Sudetenland provided a plebiscite showed people’s favor toward joining Germany however, the provided areas for the plebiscite were never identified.
Chamberlain considered this reason since the Treaty of St.Germain had left some 3.5 million ‘ethnic Germans’ in the Czechoslovak State.
Hitler seemed to be getting what he wanted and the French and British put out their plans to give Hitler the parts of the Sudetenland that he demanded.
The "memorandum" stated an ultimatum for Czech acceptance of it, expiring at 2 pm on 28 September 1938. If the Czech government would not agree to Hitler's demands by then, Germany would take the Sudetenland by force
The Czechs announced on 28 September that they rejected the Memorandum, and the French ordered the mobilization of 600,000 men. The Royal Navy was also mobilized the same day.
Hitler was not prepared for a war with Britain and France hence he did not mobilize his forces on 28 September instead agreed to Chamberlain's proposal for a further meeting the next day, now at Munich.
With Mussolini’s intervention, a final meeting was held in Munich on 29 September. The meeting was between four heads of government, Prime Minister Chamberlain for Britain, Hitler for Germany, Prime Minister Daladier for France, and Mussolini for Italy, with no Czech or Soviet participation.
Hitler premised his claim upon the Czech government’s oppression and police violence against Germans, making clear that he would rescue them by 1st October.
The four powers on 30 September concluded what is known as the Munich Agreement. The joint declaration announced that the Czechoslovak borderland areas named the Sudetenland would be given to Germany
1st October: German troops marched into the Sudetenland, enabling the Hungarians and Poles to claim their share of disputed territories in Czechoslovakia.
Impact:
The next morning, Hitler and Chamberlain published a joint declaration claiming that their “symbolic” agreement would “assure the peace of Europe”
Hitler’s estimation that the British would not risk war paid off
He considered the Munich Agreement an “undreamt-of triumph,” considering that he had taken over Sudetenland without a shot fired.
The Czechs felt betrayed and their leader, Edvard Benes, resigned. Whilst the rest of the continent celebrated the prevention of war, the Czechs called it the Munich Betrayal.
With most of Europe relieved to have averted a war, Chamberlain received a warm welcome home upon returning with the agreement.
Annexation of Czechoslovakia:
Hitler pressured the Czech President to ‘invite’ German troops into what was left of the country to ‘preserve law and order’.
The Czech Army was disbanded, and all their arms factories fell into German hands.
The German army marched into Czechoslovakia without any resistance from the Czechs, the British, and the French.
To Britain and France, it became obvious that Hitler could not be appeased hence this marked the end of Appeasement.
Despite the Polish-German non-aggression Pact, Hitler now turned his attention to Poland, demanding concessions from the Poles in the regions of Danzig and the Polish Corridor.
The British and French now gave a military guarantee to Poland against any German aggression. However, it was clear that Hitler did not take it seriously.
Appeasement:
Appeasement in an international context is a diplomatic policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power to avoid conflict.
The policy followed by France and especially Britain of allowing Germany to get away with breaking the Peace Treaties of 1919-23 particularly the Treaties of Versailles and St.Germain is known as ‘Appeasement’.
Why did France follow Appeasement?
Internal divisions and unstable governments due to which France did not act even during the Remilitarisation of Rhineland even though it was on its border.
Wanted external support from Britain, Italy, and the USSR.
Britain seemed an unreliable ally, especially after the Anglo-German Naval Agreement.
Italy turned to Germany after the Abyssinian Crisis thus the Stresa Front was no longer a guarantee of Italy as an ally against a German invasion.
France was politically polarized with the right-wing opposing any alliance with the USSR and the USSR itself no longer trusted France as a viable ally after the Munich Agreement hence it had signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Germany and the USSR becoming temporary allies.
Subsequently, France was left diplomatically isolated. Even Czechoslovakia which could have proved a powerful ally against the German invasion was lost due to the Munich Agreement.
Impact of the Depression.
The French were preparing defensive strategies such as the Maginot Line. A line of concrete fortifications, obstacles, and weapon installations was built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany. However, the defensive measure failed in 1940 when the Germans invaded France by simply going around the line through low-lying countries such as Belgium, Netherlands, and Flanders.
Exaggerated view of German Rearmament
Why did Britain follow Appeasement?
The horror of war persuaded many British politicians to try every attempt to deter a war. The Spanish Civil War had seen the aerial bombing of the Basque town of Guernica made British politicians further reluctant to allow a war to initiate because this time unlike, in the First World War, Britain would be liable to naval and aerial attacks.
Exaggerated view of German rearmament. According to the historian AJP Taylor, German forces were only 45 percent of the British forces.
Impact of the Depression.
British businessmen and industrialists wanted increased trade with Germany and many politicians such a strong Germany as a buffer against the Communist USSR.
Many British politicians believed that the Treaty of Versailles had been too harsh.
Britain wanted to focus on the Empire rather than Europe.
Britain had run down its armaments in the 1920s but the height of militarism after the Great Depression led to talks about rearmament initiated in 1935. However, it was not until 1937 when Neville Chamberlain became Prime Minister that the rearmament program began, hence by appeasing Hitler, Chamberlain was trying to buy time for rearmament.
Was Appeasement justified?
For:
Many saw Hitler as a buffer against Communism and its expansion in Central and Eastern Europe. Hitler could make Germany strong enough to deter the threat posed to world peace by the new Soviet leader, Stalin.
Both Britain and France wanted to avoid the horrors of the First World War.
Britain had just started rearming in 1935 thus appeasement provided it with time to complete its rearmament program. Both Britain and French intelligence also received exaggerated reports of German rearmament.
American support had led to the Allied victory in the First World War. With the USA following a policy of isolationism ever since 1919, Britain and France could not rely on American support for another European War.
Britain did not have the guarantee that all the countries in its empire would support another war.
Many believed that Germany had been treated unjustly according to the Peace Treaties. The Treaty of Versailles made Germany demilitarise the Rhineland and disarm it to a significant extent. Both the clauses were irrational because any country would want to station troops on its borders and have arms parity with its neighbor. The Treaty of St.Germain had induced ethnic Germans in Czechoslovakia even though one of the aims of the peacemakers in 1919 was to ensure self-determination. Hence, it was assumed that once the wrongs of all the Treaties were put to right, Germany would become a peaceful nation again.
Britain and France had large debts to still pay from the First World War and the Great Depression had further economically weakened the two countries. They could not afford another war.
Against:
Appeasement was based on a mistaken idea that Hitler was trustworthy, with every act of appeasement, Hitler was convinced that Britain and France would support him next time as well.
Germany was rearming quickly by justifying that it was trying to achieve equality in arms but it was clear that German rearmament was getting better than Britain and France’s rearmament programs.
Appeasement was morally wrong because the leaders of Britain and France were allowing the abolition of the same treaties that they had designed less than 20 years earlier.
Appeasement sent Stalin a message that Britain and France would support Hitler at all times and would not stand in his way if he invaded the USSR which he had already stated previously therefore, the policy drove the two archenemies, Hitler and Stalin closer to each other paving the path for the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
Nazi Germany and the USSR
1. The Nazi threat:
Hitler was sure that the British and French would not stop him from retaking the lands from Poland that had been forcefully ceded by Germany due to the Treaty of Versailles; however, he was not sure about Stalin and the USSR.
Hitler previously, explicitly spoke about conquering Russia for lebensraum and enslaving the Slavic race to serve Germans.
Hitler also denounced Communism and imprisoned and killed Communists in Germany. Both these factors added to Stalin’s fear of a German invasion.
Maxim Litvinov was appointed Foreign Minister of the USSR in 1930 and he advocated for a policy of establishing good relations with the Western powers, and after the rise of Hitler to try and create alliances with them.
The USSR had joined the League of Nations hoping the League would guarantee security against the German threat but the powerlessness of the League was apparent by Mussolini’s successful invasion of Abyssinia, the German and Italian involvement in the Spanish Civil War and even Britain and France were following the Policy of Appeasement rather than stopping Hitler from rearming.
Stalin also knew that the British in particular supported a stronger Germany which would act as a buffer against Communism which they considered the greater of the two evils.
In 1935 the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance was signed:
It was a bilateral treaty between France and the Soviet Union to envelop Nazi Germany in 1935 to reduce the threat from Central Europe.
After the declaration of German rearmament in March 1935, the French government was to complete the arrangements with Moscow that had begun in 1934.
Through this agreement, Stalin had hoped to build a military alliance against Germany like the old Franco-Russian Entente.
But the failure of the French to stop the rearmament of the Rhineland made Stalin think that France was an unreliable ally.
France was also politically polarized, and the Right-Wing opposed the idea of allying with the communist USSR.
The French Foreign Minister Barthou was assassinated in 1935 and replaced by Laval who disliked the USSR and thought France was better off allying with Mussolini. He pursued the Stresa Front instead and an agreement with Italy to try and secure France from Germany.
Between 1936 and 1938, the Great Purge took place in an attempt to solidify Stalin’s power over the party and the nation.
Thousands of officials and army officers were either executed, imprisoned, or exiled.
This left the Russian army in disarray and many people in France felt it would not be a useful ally in its army in such a mess.
In September 1938 Hitler encouraged the Sudeten Nazis to rebel and demand a union with Germany. When the Czech government declared martial law, Hitler threatened war. This hinted that the German rearmament was successful due to which the possibility of a Nazi invasion against the USSR increased.
The Munich Agreement of 1938 further heightened Stalin’s fear. The British and French rejected Litvinov’s proposal to defend Czechoslovakia and decided to appease Hitler instead at Munich. Stalin was also not consulted or invited to the Conference and now he feared that the British and French would let Hitler take over Eastern Europe and then the USSR.
In 1939 negotiations began between the USSR, Britain, and France to begin an alliance against Hitler but the British guarantee to Poland that it would defend Poland from an invasion was meant to warn Hitler against a Polish invasion, Stalin instead perceived it as support for one of the USSR’s potential enemies.
The Soviets thus began to discuss a different deal with the Nazis.
Reasons for the Nazi-Soviet Pact:
Stalin worried about the Munich Agreement in 1938. He had not been invited to the conference nor had he been consulted.
The Nazi-Soviet Pact gave Stalin time to build up his armed forces.
Stalin was interested in parts of eastern Poland and wanted the Baltic States, which used to belong to Russia.
Having eastern Poland would provide ‘strategic depth’ that would help in any future invasion.
Stalin believed that Britain and France wanted a strong Germany as a bulwark against communism.
Attempted to agree with France and Britain throughout the 1930s but felt they were not serious.
Hitler on the other hand avoided a two-front war. Although he never meant to be allied with Stalin for long or let him keep the territories that were promised in the past, it did give him time to first fight on the Western Front with Britain and France and once he had possibly defeated them, he could then turn towards the USSR.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact:
The pact was signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939.
It was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that enabled those two powers to partition Poland between them.
Its clauses provided a written guarantee of peace by each party towards the other and a commitment that declared that neither government would ally itself with or aid an enemy of the other.
In addition to the publicly announced stipulations of non-aggression, the treaty included the Secret Protocol, which defined the borders of Soviet and German spheres of influence across Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland.
The British now tried to revive talks for an alliance but Stalin was committed to his new policy.
The pact cleared the path for an invasion of Poland which kicked off World War 2.
Invasion of Poland:
On 31 March 1939, a British-French guarantee was given, promising that Poland would receive support and assistance if attacked.
On the 1st of September 1939, German forces staged an attack on a German border checkpoint. Hitler declared war on Poland and invaded on the same day.
On the 3rd of September, after an ultimatum to withdraw from Poland passed with no response, Britain and France declared war on Germany. The Second World War had begun.
*Notes are taken from the class of Sir Iftikhar Zaidi (2020)
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