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0470_w16_12

5)

a) The treaty of Saint Germain was imposed on Austria after the First World War for siding with
Germany. The main territorial terms were that the Austrian-Hungarian Empire had its time of glory
and had to be broken down. Therefore Austria and Hungary were divided. Also Anschluss with
Germany was prohibited. Austrian land was taken away from Austria to create new countries like
Czechoslovakia. Some land was also given to Poland and Italy.

b) The peacemakers at first were thought to have a very easy but that was not what the
peacemakers thought once they reached in Paris. The peacemakers foremost had to make the
treaties so that they can punish the losing side and prevent another war. This was very difficult as if
they made the treaty very lenient then the public in their country would not like it. Also if they made
it very harsh then the losing side will once recover and want revenge. Not only that but because of
the different attitudes of the British, French and American leaders they found it hard to work. The
American leader Wilson was an idealist and he thought that he had just the plan to prepare the
perfect treaty. He drew up his 14 points before he came to Paris and stuck to his belief. Clemenceau,
the French leader on the other hand was a realist and did not like the way Wilson was going about
for the treaties. One of the 14 points was to give self-determination in Eastern Europe. Clemenceau
thought that while Wilson talked a lot about self-determination, he did not very well know the
condition of the Eastern Europe. Even if some countries were given self-determination, some people
were bound to be ruled by some others. Also Wilson thought that the Treaty with Germany should
not be harsh. Clemenceau on the other hand had seen Germany invade his country twice in 20 years
and wanted to cripple Germany. Lloyd George, the British leader was an opportunist. He wanted to
punish Germany by limiting Germany’s navy and colonies as it was the factors that were causing
problems between the two countries. He however did not want to cripple Germany as he knew that
one day Germany would recover and seek revenge.

c) After the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles was imposed on Germany. The German people
felt betrayed and called the people who signed the Treaty as the November criminals. The German
people truly despised the Treaty. One reason can be because that they were a proud nation and felt
humiliated by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

The Treaty of Versailles placed the War Guilt Clause on Germany. This was the most hated clause of
the Treaty of Versailles. The Allies said that when Germany invaded France by going through neutral
Belgium, it broke international treaties and caused the World at war. However it was not the
Germans who started the war. The Austrians first invaded Siberia when the heir to the Austrian
throne was murdered. Then Russia and France invaded Austria. Germany who had a treaty with
Austria stepped in and invaded France to defend Austria. So it was what the Germans thought that
France and Russia who broke the international treaties.

The Treaty of Versailles also limited the German army to only 100000 men. The Germans felt that
they were very vulnerable and that many soldiers were not even sufficient to protect their country
when they were invaded by small nations. The German army was a sign of the German pride. The
Germans felt very humiliated by the Treaty. Also it is not very fair that the Germans were forced to
sign the Treaty without given a chance to negotiate for a fairer treaty. They called this the “diktat” in
which Germany was dictated the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

However it is not very right for the Germans to get angry as they imposed and even harsher treaty
on Russia when the Russians surrendered. The treaty of Brest-Lovisk took 25% of the Russian
population and very large areas of Russia’s best agricultural land. The treaty of Versailles was not as
harsh as it could be. The sum of reparation was also not too much and then changed to a much more
affordable amount under the young plan in 1929.

The Germans can therefore justify their anger towards the Treaty of Versailles. Just because
Germany had lost the war does not mean that Germany is to be blamed for everything.

6)

a) In 1938, Hitler told Chamberlain that the Germans in Sudetenland wanted to return to their
homeland and that Germany wanted the parts of Sudetenland where the majority of the population
was German. Chamberlain thought that his request was fair and he deserved to have the Germans in
Germany and accepted. After a few days, Hitler revised his request and said that he wanted the
whole of Sudetenland and that he “regretted” asking for so less before. The Czech leader Benes did
not want to accept it as he knew that Czechoslovakia would be defenceless without the forts of
Sudetenland. Hitler justified his request by saying that the Czechs were mistreating the Germans in
Sudetenland. Chamberlain refused to comply. Unlike Austria, Sudetenland would be no walk for
Hitler. Both Britain and France gave their word of defence to defend Czechoslovakia and the Czechs
also have a well-developed army. Hitler was willing to invade Czechoslovakia if Sudetenland was not
given before his deadline. On the eve of the deadline, Mussolini called upon a meeting between the
French, British, German and Italian leaders to settle things down. In the aftermath of the meeting,
Hitler was given Sudetenland once he signed that he had no further territorial demands in Europe.
Benes felt betrayed and he resigned but for the rest of Europe it was very close to war.

b) In 1939, Hitler signed what Chamberlain called “peace for our time”. He agreed to have no more
territorial demands in Europe. Later that year when Hitler was taking Sudetenland, the German
troops just drove into Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia without any resistance. This marked the
end of appeasement. Like as Churchill said “We have faced a total defeat…. It will only be a matter of
time before the whole of Czechoslovakia would be engulfed by the Nazi regime.” Churchill was
proved right as Hitler was not trustworthy anymore. This was an end to appeasement. Now Hitler
will not get what he wants. The allies knew that Hitler’s next target is Poland. The British leader gave
Poland his word and informed Hitler that if Hitler invaded Poland, he would be invaded by Britain.
Hitler did not believe Britain’s threat legitimate after so many years of appeasement and invaded
Poland. To Hitler’s surprise, Britain did declare war on Germany.

c) Many People believe that it was because of Hitler the second world war broke out but however it
was not only his fault, the allies also had a part to play in order for the world to change from fragile
peace to total war.

Firstly the allies were to blame to make the Treaty of Versailles very harsh. If the allies had instead
made the treaty of Versailles less harsh then Germany would not have wanted revenge and the
world war would never have happened. Also the allies were partly responsible to start the war as
they did nothing to Hitler’s aggression. If the allies would have even raised arms against Hitler while
Hitler was remilitarising the Rhineland then they would have been successful in removing Hitler from
power and not starting the war.

However there is plenty of blame to go around Hitler. Only if Hitler would not have pursued his
aggressive international actions, there would be no need for war. Only if Hitler had not
underestimated the British word to Poland, there would not have been a war. Only if Hitler was
keeping his priority of maintaining the world peace instead of Germany’s needs, there would not
have been a war. Finally only if Hitler had not taken over Czechoslovakia there was a possibility the
British and French would give in Poland.

12)

a) After the Munich Putsch, Hitler realised that he could not take over Germany by force. Hitler then
created a democratic party named as the NSDAP or the Nazi party. The Nazi party then grew in size
because of its popularity. Hitler was a good public speaker and was able to convince the people of
Germany that he was the only one who can make Germany great again. Hitler also made a friend
Rohm and created the SA. The SA protected Hitler’s rallies and sabotaged the other party’s rallies.
Hitler also signed a pact with the sailors and the Church.

b) Nazi’s did extremely well in the 1930 Reichstag election. This is because the great economic
depression hit Germany in the 1930. During the economic depression, unemployment went up and
the people no longer had belief in the government. Also President Hindenburg was using emergency
powers in order to rule the country. The people thought this to be an end for democratic system and
started voting for the extremists. The main reason Hitler won over the communists because he got
the support and resources of the rich industrialists of the country. Hitler used this and made rallies
to get the votes of the majorities by targeting the minorities.

c)

The night of long knives taking place in 1934 was because Hitler wanted to remove the SA. The
reason is both because the SA was an embarrassment to Hitler and reasons other than that.

Reasons why the SA was an embarrassment to Hitler are because they would drive in expensive cars
and bully the members of the public. All this actions would be allowed if Hitler was
campaigning, but when Hitler is the leader these things would spoil his reputation. Also
Rohm suggested that the SA should replace the army. This caused the army to be threatened
by Hitler and could make them overthrow Hitler. Also the SA wanted the money of the rich
industrialised once Hitler became the Fuhrer. This hampered the bond between Hitler and
the industrialists.

Other reasons why Hitler wanted to remove the SA were that the SA with their 3 million populations
was a formidable threat. If Rohm decided to go against Hitler then Hiler would stand no
chance.

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