Li Chun Ho (Alvin Li) History Revision: Hitlers Foreign Policy past papers.

November 2003 (a) When Hitler came to power. What did he hope to achieve in foreign policy?[5] As Hitler came to power, he had hoped to reverse the most hated Treaty of Versailles, which was a peace settlement concerning Germany which forced her to sign and pay huge amounts of reparations totaling up to 6600 million pounds to the Allies, mainly France. Hitler wanted to restore the pride of Germany, by re-building up the armed forces of Germany, through conscription. He also wanted to take back land previously lost, such as the Polish Corridor and the Saar. He claimed that the German population was increasing, and therefore wanted more living space; lebensraum. He aimed to gain more land through the East. In addition, he aimed to destroy Communism. In addition, Hitler aimed to unite all German speaking people within the Reich, such as to have an Anschluss with Austria. He also wanted to make Germans (pure Aryans) the most dominant and strongest nationality in the world. (b) Why did Britain go to war over Poland in 1939?[7] Britain went to war over Poland in August 1939 because Chamberlain was finally aware that appeasement had failed. He had previously agreed to give in to the demands of Hitler. However, he had proven to an untrustworthy person and was looking for an oppournity. The Nazi-Soviet pact established on 23 August 1939 showed to Britain that Hitler could not be trusted. This made Britain feel that the only thing they could stop Hitler from taking Poland and from making more unreasonable demands would be the threat of war. Hitler underestimated the power of the NaziSoviet Pact, as he did not know by this point that Britain, and also France, were prepared for war. The past failures of appeasement, such as in Austria and in Czechoslovakia showed that Chamberlains method of appeasement had not worked. Britain had also given Hitler an ultimatum on September 3 1939, demanding him to stop his troops in Poland or they would invade. Part of the reason for Britains assistance to Poland was that Chamberlain had signed the Anglo-Polish Military Alliance with Poland in April 1939. This promised that Britain and France will assist Poland using military force in the event that Germany invades Poland. Therefore, Britain went to war over Poland in 1939. (c) How far was the Treaty of Versailles to blame for the outbreak of war in 1939? Explain your answer.[8] To some extent we can say that the Treaty of Versailles was responsible for the outbreak of war in 1939 and agree to this statement. Due to the extreme harsh nature of the Treaty of Versailles, such as the huge humiliation of the guilt clause, the striping of the German army to the bare minimum to no more than 6 battleships and no more than 100,000 men without conscription of the army had made the German people feel extremely resentful and overall a big loss of pride. In addition, unlike Britain and France, they were denied to have Woodrow Wilsons idea of National Self-Determination. They were not allowed to have an Anschluss with Austria as a single speaking state. This meant that 3 million German speakers were not allowed to choose their own government. This further outraged the whole of Germany. This caused resentful, and contributed to the rise of Hitler.

Li Chun Ho (Alvin Li) History Revision: Hitlers Foreign Policy past papers. The Treaty of Versailles can also be blamed for the outbreak of war because it demanded the huge amount of reparations, of up to 6600 million pounds reparations to France. Because of this, it caused huge inflation to Germany. Although day to day products sky-rocketed and the worth of the currency (mark) was only 10 percent of its original value in 1914 when compared to 1920, wages remained as lower than ever. In the economic crisis the German people felt that the Weimar Republic did not work. Therefore, they turned to extremist nationalistic political groups, such as to the Nazi Party. Therefore, we can justify to some extent the TOV caused people to turn to Hitler for assistance in economic crisis like this, especially when Hitlers Storm Troopers marched so organised and with a sense of pride in Germanys streets in time of huge depression won the hearts of many Germans. However to some other extent we cannot fully justify that the Treaty of Versailles was entirely responsible for the outbreak of war. Although it created the League of Nations organisation that aimed to preserve long term peace and to have a general reduction of armaments of all countries at a certain level, it failed to achieve its goals as we reach the 1930s. This was because due to some internal problems. The USA could not join because the Senate refused, as it was mainly dominated by republicans who believed in Isolationism. The USSR was also banned to join. Therefore at the start it was not too strong. This was not the thought of the Treaty of Versailles but can be said as some of the responsibility upheld by the Big Three (David Lloyd George, Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson). It was also not the fault of the Treaty of Versailles that all of the four permanent members of the LON had betrayed it in many ways. In addition, it was not the fault of the Treaty of Versailles that Chamberlain, PM of Britain, decided to use his own method of appeasement, rather than support the collective security ideals of the League of Nations. His appeasement method has failed by far, because he misunderstood Hitler and believed he was being reasonable with his demands. November 2006 (a) What was agreed at the Munich Conference of September 1938?[5] The Munch Conference dealt with the Sudetenland, in which more than 3 million German speakers were living in it. It was previously given to Czechoslovakia and now Hitler demanded to have control of that area of land. Therefore to prevent war, Chamberlain, the British PM, had several talks with Hitler. Finally, they reached an agreement in Munich on 29th September 1938. This was signed by Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain and also Daladier. It agreed that Germany can have the Sudetenland without the need of a plebiscite. Britain and Germany also signed the Anglo-German Declaration the next day, saying that would never to go war with each other. (b) Why was the Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 1939 important?[7] The Nazi-Soviet Pact between the two states of Communist Russia and Nazi Germany was of significant importance in 1939 because it first showed that Hitler cannot be trusted, as he was always looking for his benefits. This ended the possibility of any more appeasements and possible deals of Britain with Germany. This therefore increased British morale. This was also the last thing that Britain had expected Hitler to do. It made Chamberlain felt that the only thing that could stop Hitler now was only a war. On the other hand, Hitler thought that he could invade

Li Chun Ho (Alvin Li) History Revision: Hitlers Foreign Policy past papers. Poland because now Britain cannot do much about it. However, he had underestimated the power of the pact, as Britain and France at this stage were already preparing for a full-scale war. In addition, the Nazi-Soviet Pact was important because it was one of the causes which led to the start of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West, as they had turned to Hitler. It meant that Britain now could not have the assistance of Stalin, not only Hitler. It also gave Russia more time to make military reparations. Furthermore, it showed that Stalin was unimpressed with Britains organization. He originally wanted to do a pact with Britain. However, it took them nearly 6 weeks to reply to his offers of the mutually insuring borders. They sent a junior official who could not make major agreements. However, Stalin was impressed by Hitler because he personally wrote a letter to him and sent the new Foreign Minister Ribbentrop to Russia to sign when Hitler said he did not want to leave the USSR. June 2008 (c) The policy of appeasement was a failure. How far do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer.[8] We can agree to this statement to some extent that Chamberlains policy of appeasement towards Hitlers demands was a failure. The first impression that it failed was due to the reason Chamberlain had thought of Hitler as a sensible person. He did not expect him to continuously increase his demands, such as like what he had done during the weeks of September 1938 regarding Czechoslovakia. It was also a failure because it failed to make Hitler become satisfied with the demands that Chamberlain had already accepted Hitler to do. The Nazi-Soviet Pact symbolized that Britain had to give up the method of appeasement as they were now aware that only a war would stop Hitler from further increasing his demands and to invade Poland. By far, it caused Hitler to demand more. It was also seen as a failure because it allowed Germany to have a lot of time to re-arm. Since the re-arming in 1933, by 1938, Germany already 47 U-boats, 800,000 men for the army including reserves, 21 large naval vessels, including battleships, aircraft carriers, etc, and more than 2000 aircraft and much more under construction. On the other hand, we cannot fully justify that the policy of appeasement was a total failure. Although it failed to stop Hitlers continuous demands, it had helped delay the Second World War. In addition it had bought a years time for Britain to fully re-arm itself. Therefore, it was prepared when at the start of the war on the 3rd of September 1939.