History 309: Causes of the Outbreak of WWII

1. History 309:Causes of the Outbreak of WWII

4. Impact on the 20th Century • Historian Ian Kershaw 1998 “Has this been Hitler’s Century? • Certainly, no other individual has stamped a more profound imprint on it than Adolf Hitler. • If true we should already know all about Hitler.

5. What We Learn About Hitler • My then nine year old daughter “Who is this Hitler guy? Was he like a bad person?” • “I don’t even want to think about what they are not teaching you in school!” (Bill Cosby, ca 1960s).

6. The Rise of Hitler and the Appeasement • The Hitler You All Know • German Chancellor • Dictator (Fuehrer) • Megalomaniac • Anti-Semite • Responsible for the Holocaust • Militant Warlord

7. Hitler Iconography

8. Hitler’s Early Life • Born in Braunau am Inn, Austria 20 April 1889 • His father was a customs collector. • His family was comfortably middle class.

9. House at Leonding

10. Vienna Days • Hitler went to Vienna in hopes of studying art. • Art school rejected him and suggested he try Architecture. • He actually spent his Vienna days in idleness. • His phobias and prejudices took concrete shape in Vienna

11. Munich • Munich was a center for artists as the time • A German City • Everything Vienna was not • Avoided serving in the Hapsburg military • The picture shows Munich the day Germany declared on Russia. Hitler is circled.

12. World War I • The picture is of Hitler as a corporal in the Bavarian Army. • First cause of the Rise of Hitler and therefore the Second World War was the First World War.

13. The Stabbed-in-back Myth • Hitler called the surrender “The greatest villainy of the century.” • In reality there had been no treachery, no stab-in-back. • Because of the myth military failure caused post-war unrest in Germany. • Germany had been militarily defeated. • Propaganda said otherwise • Stab-in-back myth is the second cause

14. Treaty of Versailles • War Guilt Clause • Humiliation • Reparations • Hurt Economy • Limited Army

15. Hurt TheEconomy • Money lost its value in Weimar Germany due to Hyperinflation • Increased dissatisfaction with the government • Such internal problems helped Hitler’s rise

16. Before and After 1914 1918

17. Hitler the Politician • Charismatic • A Great Speaker • Used New Media Well • Campaigned by Air • Used Propaganda • Used Film • Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbbeiterpartei (NSDAP or Nazi for short)

18. Beer Hall Putsch • 8 November 1923 Hitler’s Kampfbund takes over a meeting of the Bavarian Prime Minister at a Munich Beer hall. • Erich Ludendorf and Hitler Declare a new government • But the 3000 rebels are thwarted by 100 police.

19. Landsburg Prison and Mein Kampf • Hitler and others were arrested. • He was sentenced to five years but served only eight months. • Dictated Mein Kampf • He was not deported • He now turned his efforts to more legal means of gaining power.

20. The Great Depression, 1929-1939 • Caused dissatisfaction with the Weimar Government. • Unemployment in Germany: • 1929 stood at 1.3 million • 1930 climbed to 5.8 million • January 1932 reached 6 million • October 1932: 8.7 million (about 50% of work force). • Industrial production fell by 42 percent from 1929 to 1932.

21. Germany’s Left Wing Parties Split • Social Democrats • Communist (USSR backed)

22. Weimar Government Weak • Chancellor Bruning stuck religiously to old-style economics, laissez-faire: slashing government spending and forcing down wages and prices. • Made Weimar’s leaders look stupid and unsympathetic to plight of the masses.

23. Chronology of Events • Communists started winning more support among workers • Lower-middle class and middle class then moved more and more right • Hitler seemed rough around the edges, but was a man of action and order, and anti-communist and a real patriot

24. Chronology (cont.) • 1930 Reichstag elections: Nazis won 6.5 million votes and 107 seats (of 491) • 1932 Reichstag elections: Nazis won 14.5 million votes (38 percent) of Reichstag (230 seats; largest party in Reichstag) • Hitler also played down his anti-Jewish ideas and extreme racism at this time.

25. Chronology (cont.) • Gained support from some key people in Big Business and the Army • Elites thought that they could use Hitler’s popularity, manipulate him. • January 30, 1933: President Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany

26. Burning Down the Reichstag • February 27, 1933: German Riechstag (Parliament) building burned. Nazis blame fire on communists • February 28, 1933: A Presidential decree gives Chancellor Hitler emergency powers • All 100 Communist Party members of the Reichstag arrested.

28. Who Supported Hitler ? • Lower-middle-class: afraid of being deprived of their social status • Substantial sections of the more prosperous middle classes, who fell victim to scare tactics that their businesses or possessions were subject to imminent expropriation by the Communists. • Disenchanted workers whose loyalty to the nation exceeded their loyalty to their class

29. Who supported Hilter? • Nazis attracted a broad spectrum of German citizens, apparently incompatible groups • Hitler’s appeal cut across class boundaries • Countryside was very pro-Nazi, small towns, not big cities • Protestant north more often supported them than Catholic south

30. The Axis • The Rise of Mussolini in Italy • January 1936 Mussolini signaled Italy would not object to Germany making Austria a satellite. • Thus opening the path to the Axis • Italy also signaled Germany could re-enter the Rhineland with impunity

31. Causes of Appeasement • WWI, devastation, sacrifice and humiliation • Western powers, especially British PM Neville Chamberlain, thought he could take Hitler at his word • USA had slipped back into isolation, so League of Nations had no teeth

32. Causes of Appeasement (cont.) 4. Many Britons thought that Versailles had been too harsh and needed to be fixed (Hitler was just making amends) 5. Many liked Hitler’s anti-communism 6. Britain's lack of military preparedness also encourage in to stay out of any possible war.

34. To Be Continued Thursday