World War 2
On November 5, 1937, Hitler met with his most trusted military advisors for a top-secret briefing. The third Reich's future, he told them, depended on solving the need for lebensraum. Where would new living space come from? Not from overseas colonies, he declared, but from those nations nearest Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia. When someone protested that annexing those countries could provoke war, Hitler replied, "Germany's problems can be solved only by means of force, and this is never without risk." In fact, the risk turned out to be less than Hitler's advisors feared. The following February, Hitler invited Austrian chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg to meet with him at his villa at Berchtesgaden, high in sation about the view and the lovely day, Hitler snapped, "We did not gather here to speak of the fine view or the weather." Then the storm broke. For the next few hours, Hitler pounded the table and bombarded the Austrian leader with accusations. Even worse, Schuschnigg, normally a chain smoker, had to do without cigarettes because Hitler could not stand smoking. By the end of the day, Schuschnigg had been bullied into signing an agreement to bring Austrian Nazis into his government.
The result would be a two-front war. On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria unopposed, forcing Schuschnigg to resign. In Churchill's view, by signing the Munich Pact, Daladier and Chamberlain had adopted a shameful policy of appeasement, or giving up principles to pacify and aggressor. As tensions rose over Poland, Stalin, despite his deep dislike and distrust of the Nazis, decided he had more to lose than to gain in a war against Germany. " After that, the German dictator turned his land-hungry gaze toward Germany's eastern neighbor, Poland. Two days later, Germany announced that its Anschluss, or "union," with Austria was complete. Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3. On September 30, 1938, they signed the Munich Pact, which turned the Sudetenland over to Germany without a shot being fired. Hitler would not be foolish enough to repeat the mistake. As dawn broke on March 15, 1939, German troops poured into what remained of Czechoslovakia. Hitler then turned to Czechoslovakia. Waving a copy of the agreement, he proclaimed: "My friends. igg had second thoughts about the agreement and informed Hitler. " In their eagerness to avoid war, Daladier and Chamberlain chose to believe him.
Common topics in this essay:
Union Germany,
February Hitler,
Sudetenland Germany,
Third Reich,
,
Hitler Hitler,
Soviet Union,
Daladier Chamberlain,
Austria Czechoslovakia,
France Britain,
soviet union,
world war,
hitler invited,
blitzkrieg tactics,
war germany,
britain france,
1939 german,
eastern neighbor,
german troops,
daladier chamberlain,
|