The Gathering Clouds

1
The Gathering Clouds

• The Road to War, 1933-1939

2
The Rise of Nazi Germany

• In 1933, a new political movement based upon
  racism nationalism called Nazism came to power
  in Germany
  
• Led by Adolf Hitler, the Nazis had started as a
  small south German party and rose to national
  prominence by feeding on the despairs and
  frustrations of the German people
• By the 1930s, Hitler and the Nazis would
  dominate all facets of German life and take
  Germany on a path that would lead to war in 1939

3
Failure of the Weimar Republic

• The Weimar Republic
• From the beginning, Weimar Germany faced
  considerable difficulties
  
• Moreover, by the 1930s, political leadership was
  lacking as its most able leaders, Ebert
  Stresemann died in the 1920s
  
• Election as President of Paul von Hindenburg
• Weimar Germany also suffered from considerable
  economic problems, ranging from runaway inflation
  to unemployment
  
• These economic difficulties would pave the way
  for the rise of Hitler and Nazism

4
Rise of Adolf Hitler

• Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889, the son
  of an Austrian customs official
  
• Never good at school, the young Hitler hoped to
  be an artist and traveled to Vienna to attend the
  Academy of Fine Arts
  
• He was rejected twice and was forced to live a
  bohemian lifestyle while trying to survive
  
• During this period Hitler would formulate the
  worldview ideology that would serve him until
  his death his extreme nationalism, racist
  attitudes and especially his anti-Semitism

5
Rise of Adolf Hitler

• Escape to Munich (1913)
• Service in World War I
• With the end of the war in 1918, Hitler was lost
  again and filled with rage over Germanys defeat

6
Rise of Adolf Hitler

• With the war over, Hitler remained in the Army,
  assigned as a political officer overseeing the
  political education of his unit
  
• He was assigned to examine a small socialist
  party forming in Munich
  
• Attending one of its meetings, Hitler realized
  what he was meant to be a politician
  
• He resigned from the army and joined the obscure
  German Workers Party

7
Adolf Hitler in Pictures
8
National SocialismThe Party

• Originally a small, right-wing party, by 1921,
  Hitler had assumed complete control over the
  party and renamed in the National Socialist
  German Workers Party (NSDAP)
• Once in control, Hitler worked hard to develop
  the party into a mass political movement, with
  flags, badges, uniforms, its own newspaper and
  militia, the SA or Sturmabteilung
• By 1923, the party had grown from hundreds into a
  membership of 55,000 with 15,000 in the SA
  
• With such strength, Hitler tried to seize power
  in the so-called Beer Hall Putsch on November 8,
  1923 it failed and Hitler was sentenced to jail

9
The Road to Seizing of Power

• The failure of the Beer Hall Putsch was a turning
  point for Hitler
  
• He recognized that the Weimar Republic could not
  be overthrown by force, so instead, Hitler would
  use constitutional means to gain power
  
• Writing of Mein Kampf
• Release from jail, rebuilding of the party and
  the Führerprinzip
  
• With this principle in force, Hitler established
  a highly structured party that expanded to all
  parts of Germany with membership totaling 178,000
  by 1929
• By the 1930s, after shifting their strategy to
  focus on the middle class votes in the towns and
  rural areas, Hitler the Nazis became one of the
  largest parties in the Reichstag
• In 1932, the Nazis had 230 seats moreover,
  membership also increased with 800,000 by 1932
  and 500,000 in the SA

10
The Road to Seizing of Power

• However, the constant elections on 1932 showed
  that the Nazis success was waning
  
• Hitler clearly recognized this and after much
  negotiations, Hitler was appointed Chancellor on
  30 January 1933 he was only appointed because
  the elites around Hindenburg believed they could
  control Hitler
• However, it was Hitler who would control them as
  the Nazis consolidated their control
  
• The Reichstag fire (February 27 1933) and the
  Enabling Act (March 23, 1933)
  
• Hitler and the Nazis now had complete control
  over the government

11
The Road to Seizing of Power

• Hitler still was not in complete control over
  Germany
  
• Hindenburg was still alive, plus Hitler had to
  deal with the rebellious SA who were demanding a
  Second Revolution
  
• The Night of the Long Knives
• With the old mans death in August 1934, Hitler
  merged the offices of President Chancellor and
  declared himself Führer of the German Reich and
  people, inaugurating the Third Reich

12
Totalitarian RuleNazi State (1933-1939)

• Under the new Nazi State, all aspects of society
  experienced what was called Gleichschaltung, or
  coordination
  
• All aspects of society and most of government
  were Nazified
  
• The Federal states were abolished as well as all
  other political parties banned
  
• In addition, Hitler and the Nazis pursued the
  creation of a totalitarian state through mass
  demonstrations and spectacles to integrate the
  German nation into a collective fellowship and
  mobilize it as an instrument for Hitlers policies

13
Totalitarian RuleNazi State (1933-1939)

• To make sure all followed the policies of Hitler
  Nazism, tools of terror were used with
  cold-hearted efficiency
  
• The main instrument in this reign of terror was
  the SS and the Gestapo
  
• Led by Heinrich Himmler, the SS functioned on two
  principles terror and racial ideology

14
Totalitarian RuleNazi State (1933-1939)

• However, although Nazi Germany appeared to be a
  all-powerful government that maintained absolute
  control and authority, this was far from the
  truth
• Nazi Germany, was in fact, the scene of almost
  constant personal and institutional conflict
  resulting in institutional chaos
  
• Parallel government and party bureaucracies
  existed creating incessant struggle
  
• By fostering this rivalry Hitler placed himself
  in a position to be the ultimate decision maker,
  but with consequences

15
Aryanism and Kristallnacht

• From the beginning, Nazi Germany was intended to
  be an Aryan racial state, and it did not take
  long for the Nazis to translate their
  anti-Semitic ideas in anti-Semitic policies
• By April 1933, Jewish businesses were boycotted
• Laws soon followed which banned non-Aryans from
  various positions in government society
  
• In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were passed
• The most violent phase of anti-Jewish activity
  occurred in 1938 1939, initiated on November
  9-10, 1938 in the infamous Kristallnacht

16
Hitler and his Plans

• Meanwhile, as Hitler is consolidating the Nazi
  hold over Germany, he is planning for a war that
  will establish German hegemony over Europe and
  establish a great empire in the East based upon
  the racial superiority of the Aryan-German over
  the Slavs and Jews

17
Prelude to War (1933-1939)Role of Hitler

• To understand the outbreak of World War II, one
  must recognized the actions and influence of
  Adolf Hitler
  
• More than any single individual or trend, Hitler
  began the path toward war, a war he wanted to
  cleanse the German nation and create his racially
  pure Thousand Year Reich
• Doctrine of Lebensraum
• Russias Perceived Weaknesses
• Hitlers Timing

18
Diplomatic RevolutionHitlers "Peaceful" Goals

• Hitlers initial foreign policy was considerably
  quiet as he sought to only revise the unfair
  provisions of Versailles
  
• Germany was still weak militarily and could not
  challenge either France or her allies in Eastern
  Europe
  
• Hitler had to pursue a prudent foreign policy and
  not take any unnecessary risks and always have
  the appearance of peaceful intentions
  
• He was successfully able to do this for the first
  two years in office

19
Diplomatic RevolutionRepudiation of the
Versailles Treaty

• By 1935, Hitler was convinced that he could take
  bolder actions and break some of the provisions
  of Versailles without serious French or British
  intervention
• Therefore, on 9 March 1935, Hitler announced to
  the world the creation of a new air force, the
  Luftwaffe, and a week later announced the
  introduction of conscription
• The French, British, and Italians reacted swiftly
  by condemning Germanys actions, but did nothing
  concrete
  
• Moreover, the British soon signed a naval
  agreement with Germany, starting a process that
  would be known as appeasement

20
Diplomatic RevolutionOccupation of the
Rhineland

• A year latter, Hitler, buoyed by his conviction
  that the Western allies had no intention of using
  force to maintain the provisions of Versailles,
  moved troops into the demilitarized Rhineland
• The French had the right to intervene, and Hitler
  was fully aware of this fact and was prepared,
  but France never intervened because she lacked
  British support
• The British view the occupation of the Rhineland
  by German troops as another reasonable action by
  a dissatisfied nation
  
• This inaction further convinced Hitler of the
  weakness of France and Britain and their
  unwillingness to defend the old order

21
Diplomatic RevolutionAlliance with Mussolinis
Italy

• Meanwhile, Hitler gained a new ally for in
  October 1935, Italy had invaded Ethiopia
  
• Facing French and British resistance, Mussolini
  welcomed Hitlers support and drew Italy closer
  to Nazi Germany
  
• Intervention in the Spanish Civil War and the
  signing of the Rome-Berlin Axis (October 1936)

22
Path to War (1937-1939) Annexation of Austria

• The path to war began for Hitler on 5 November
  1937 when he told a gathering of his generals his
  aim of conquering living space in the East
  
• Convinced France GB would not interfere, Hitler
  moved against Austria, his homeland
  
• Threatening an invasion, Hitler was able to
  coerce the Austrian Chancellor, Kurt von
  Schuschnigg into placing the Austrian Nazis in
  charge
• Anschluss, March 1938 no response from the
  Western Allies

23
Czechoslovakia and "Munich"

• The annexation of Austria placed Germany in a
  favorable position to deal with the next victim
  on Hitlers list, Czechoslovakia
  
• Hitler started by supporting the demands of the
  ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland
  
• By September, Hitler demanded the transfer of the
  Sudetenland to Germany and was willing to risk
  war
  
• The Munich Conference (September 1939)
• However, Hitler would soon renege on the Munich
  Agreement and occupy the remainder of
  Czechoslovakia by March 1939

24
Invasion of Poland

• With the occupation of Czechoslovakia, the
  Western states finally woke up to the threat that
  Hitler presented
  
• In response to German threats against Poland,
  Britain signed an alliance with her
  
• Signing of the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact
  (August 1939)
  
• Now secure, Hitler launched his invasion of
  Poland on 1 September 1939

25
Outbreak of War

• Hoping it would be a quick and easy victory,
  Hitlers hopes were soon dashed with the
  declaration of war by France and Britain on
  September 3rd
• Upon hearing the news, Hitler asked of his
  Foreign Minister, Jochiam von Ribbentrop, was
  nun what now
  
• World War II had begun