Transcript HIST2134 The Third Reich through Documents, 1933-1945

HIST2134
The Third Reich through Documents, 1933-1945
Lecture 8:
War, 1939-1943
9 April 2013
Foreign policy 4-phase-model
• Revisionist and high-risk foreign politics,
1933-36
• Expansionist foreign politics, 1938/39
• Blitz Wars and ideological warfare, 1939-42
• Total War and downfall, 1943-45
Hitler-Stalin Pact
• Unsuccessful G negotiations with GB + PL
↓
• Complete tactical change of Hitler’s position
↓
→ German-Soviet non-aggression treaty, with
additional protocol (23 Aug 1939)
secret
• Shock for Western powers + German public
• Secret additional protocol of Pact: ‘spheres of interest’:
Western PL + Lithuania for G; Eastern PL + Baltic for SU
= Most important prerequisite for G + SU parallel operation
vs. Poland
Poland
Rising tensions, 1938/39:
• G proposal of new basic border treaty: Gdansk
+ ‘Polish corridor’
• PL rejection → ‘Hitler-Stalin Pact’ incl. secret
additional protocol: plan for division of PL
• GB + I diplomacy to stop G fail
• → Faked SS attack disguised as PL soldiers on G
→ Wehrmacht attack on Poland, 1 Sep 1939
(Danzig)
‘Blitzkrieg’ on Poland
• G campaign in PL: 1-28 Sep 39
= Begin of World War II
• GB + F: declaration-of-war on G, 3 Sep 39
• SU: Invasion of PL from East, 17 Sep 39
= PL military defeat + division:
 Western PL → Annexation by G + creation of ‘Government
for the Occupied Polish Territories’
 Eastern PL + Baltic states + Lithuania → Annexation by SU
General
Northern + Western Blitz Wars
Apr – Jun 1940
• GB plan for preventive occupation of Norway to
safeguard Swedish ore
• G Blitz wars on Denmark + Norway: Violation of
neutrality & occupation for strategic-economic
reasons (9 Apr 1940-)
• G Blitz Wars on Netherlands + Belgium (10 May 1940-)
: Preparatory military steps for war on
France
Blitz War on France
5 – 22 Jun 1940
• G’s military occupation of Northern France
• Creation of satellite Vichy state in Southern
under French general Pétain
• Consequences of victory for Hitler’s mind:
 General reputation in G as ‘genius war hero’
 His own conviction of infallibility
 Less attentive to counseling by Wehrmacht
France
Battle of Britain
Aug 1940 – spring 1941
• Major air raids by Luftwaffe (German Air Force)
• Heavy destruction of some English cities (e.g. Coventry)
• High number of GB military + civilian casualties
• But: No Luftwaffe air superiority vs. Royal Air Force
= Suspension of German invasion plans for Britain
= Hitler’s first defeat → decision to turn against SU
Blitz War in Southeastern Europe
Apr – May 1941
• Preparatory steps for war on SU:
• Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia
= G’s alliance partners
• Campaigns & occupation of Yugoslavia + Greece
 Southeastern Europe under G control
 But: Fatal retardation of war on SU
→ Earliest war begin only in late Jun 1941
War on Soviet Union
Phase 1: 22 Jun – Dec 1941
‘Operation Barbarossa’:
• Initial success of ‘Blitz War’ but slowing-down of attack by
autumn-winter weather (‘General Winter’)
• Poor winter equipment & preparation of Wehrmacht
• Underestimation of SU military power
= Failure of campaign against Moscow
= Hitler’s fatal decision to take over supreme command
Wehrmacht
of
War on Soviet Union
Phase 2: Dec 1941 – Summer 1942
• Initial welcome of G troops as ‘liberators’ by Soviet people
(esp. Ukrainians)
• Inhuman SS occupation policies → general shift in mood
• Inhuman warfare against ‘Jewish-Bolshevist sub-races’ by
Wehrmacht + SS → stronger resistance of SU troops
► Stalin’s major success to call up SU people to ‘Great
National
War’
↓
► SU regular army & partisan warfare vs. Wehrmacht & SS
War on Soviet Union
Phase 3: Summer 1942 – Feb 1943
G major attack on south-eastern front:
• Stalingrad as important strategic goal
• Oilfields of Baku (Caucasus) as important energy source
• Hitler’s rejection of outbreak for encircled 6th Army
→ Battle of Stalingrad: Capitulation + fatal loss of Army:
146.000 Germans † - 90.000 POW, only 6.000 survivors after 1945
= Major turning point of World War II
War on USA (11 Dec 1941-)
Japan’s air attack on US fleet in Pearl Harbour:
• G’s declaration-of-war on US: Not required by AntiComintern Pact of 1936
→ Hitler’s decision based on unrealistic assessment of US military
power: Almost complete lack of knowledge +
fatal
underestimation of USA
• J’s refusal to join from east G’s war on SU (‘Gap in the
alliance’)
► Begin of major US + GB + SU war alliance:
↓
‘Germany first’ principle = Hitler’s defeat the major priority
World Rule? Hitler’s ideas
Until 1939: vague prophecies about ‘world-wide struggle’
1939-42: Some proofs for strategic global thinking →
Interested in alliance with GB but not USA
1943 -: Utopian visions in face of defeat
= Hitler obviously without concrete ‘world rule
program’
= Hitler’s opportunistic expansion ‘without aims’
Lebensraum and World Rule
Interpretations in historiography
• Hitler’s intention to
conquer ‘living space’
(Lebensraum) in Eastern
Europe
= Clear strategic aims
• Hitler’s program to gain
word rule step-by-step,
even after his own death
= Only vague & visionary
plans