Transcript Mission Accomplished?

Mission Accomplished?
THE FAILED APPEASEMENT OF ADOLF HITLER BY THE ALLIED NATIONS
Hitler’s Policies and Alliances

Anti-Semitic policies persisted, rhetoric increased

1930s: Re-militarization of Germany, military
entrance into Rhineland
 Clear

violations of Treaty of Versailles
German alliance with Italy & Mussolini
 Agreed
to expand their territory separately
 Mussolini
was clearly looking for a fight in
Mediterranean
Appeasement of Hitler

Neville Chamberlain
 British

Prime Minister, 1937-40
William Lyon Mackenzie King
 Canadian

Prime Minister, 1935-48
Both men and their respective nations favoured
appeasement over war
 Appeasement:
demands
 No
Diplomatic means of satisfying one’s
country wanted to repeat the horrors of WWI
 King
and Chamberlain believed Hitler was a good
man who would never start a war
“You’re not the boss of me now.”

Hitler desired German expansion


Partly for industrial need, partly for “reuniting” what he
believed was rightly German territory
Invasions of…
 Rhineland
 Austria
(1936)
(1938)
 Sudetenland
(in Czechoslovakia) (1938)
 Czechoslovakia

as a whole (1939)
BIG PICTURE: Hitler expanded German territory
before 1939 with little-to-no resistance
Munich Agreement


Prior to Czechoslovakia invasion, leaders of France,
England, Germany, and Italy met in Munich

Sparked by Sudetenland crisis

Leaders of Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia were notably
refused invitation

Purpose of meeting was to avoid war and prolong peace
with Germany

Chamberlain and others were still trying to appease Hitler
Munich Agreement signed on September 29th, 1938

Gave Hitler possession of Sudetenland

Many believed this was a success in avoiding war with
Germany
Invasion of Poland

After full invasion of Czechoslovakia, Britain and other
nations realized Hitler would not stop

Poland was the deciding factor
 If
Germany invaded, Britain and France were going to
war
 Virtually

Germany and Russia


inevitable Canada would follow Britain to war
Hitler and Joseph Stalin hated each other’s ideology, but
made a pact to split Poland and avoid war with one
another
German invasion of Poland: September 1st, 1939
 Signalled
the start of World War II
War

Britain and France declared war on Germany within
two days of Poland invasion

Canadian declaration of war not automatic
 Unlike
in WWI, Canada was independent from British political
declarations

Mackenzie King called Emergency Parliamentary vote
on war declaration
 Vote
1939

was near-unanimous, war declared on September 10th,
No fanfare, little enthusiasm in Canadian society
 Everyone
knew someone affected by the tragedies of WWI
MSIP Assignment #1
 Do
you think Neville Chamberlain, Mackenzie
King, and other national leaders could have
done a better job trying to appease Hitler?
 If
so, what else could they have done?
 If
not, why not?
 (At
least one paragraph, full sentences)