The road to Nazi Germany and WW II

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The road to Nazi Germany and WW II

• By Jeff Douglas

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The Treaty of Versailles

• Section of the Peace of Paris that ended WW I
• Was written by Lloyd George of Britain and
  Clemenceau of France
• Written to punish Germany

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Germany was unfairly punished by the treaty of
Versailles

• Greatly reduced the size of Germany
• Reduced the size of the German army and banned
  the manufacture of weapons
• Reestablished the country of Poland
• Germany lost its oversea colonies
• Germany had to pay reparations for property
  damage and for the cost of the Allied war effort

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German land lost at Versailles

• The fertile Alsace-Lorraine ceded back to
  France
• The Danzig land given so that Poland could have
  a coast
• Allied forces to occupy the fertile Rhineland

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Weimar Republic

• Another effect of the Versailles Treaty was that
  Germany was to become a republic
• Only lasted from 1919 to 1933
• Nationalists claimed that Weimar leaders betrayed
  Germany by accepting the Versailles Treaty

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Outrageous Reparations

• Germany was to repay 35 billion dollars to the
  allies for the cost of WW I
• 1922 German government announced inability to
  repay
• 1923 France marches on Germanys industrial Ruhr
  Valley and takes control of coal and steel
  industry

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Economic Troubles

• Germany lost valuable income from industry to
  France
• Germany prints more to pay striking workers
• By the end of 1923 inflation has wiped out the
  savings of the entire middle class

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Nationalist Socialist Workers Party

• Started as a valid political party challenging
  the Weimar Republic
• Led by Adolph Hitler
• Formed the brownshirts private army of
  nationalist, out of work, young men

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Adolph Hitler

• Born in Austria in 1889
• WWI Veteran
• Wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle) while in prison
  for Munich Beer Hall Riot
• Blamed Jews and Communists for Germanys WWI
  defeat

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Nazism

• The philosophy of Hitler and the Nationalist
  Socialist Workers Party
• Declared Germans to be the master race
• Gained strength after the Depression began in
  1929
• Blamed Jews for the depression

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Hitler in power

• The Nazis won 229 seats in the Reichstag-they
  are not a majority, but are the largest party
• Hitler becomes Chancellor on January 30, 1933
• Hitler blames Communists for a 1933 fire that
  destroyed the Reichstag building

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Hitler consolidates power

• Brownshirts force the voters to choose Nazi party
  leaders
• Hitler in total power because of Communist
  threat
• Bans all other political parties
• Threw out freedom of press, speech, religion and
  assembly
• Nazi party regulated all aspects of German life

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Hitlers Paranoia

• 1935 Nuremburg laws stripped Jews of their rights
• Jewish businesses destroyed, Jews forced to wear
  yellow badges so they could be recognized and
  discriminated against
• The Gestapo, or secret police, arrested Jews and
  sent them to Concentration Camps

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Third Reich

• Hitler took the title of Fuhrer (The Leader) in
  1935
• He declared that the Third Empire would last
  1000 years
• Ignored Versailles and began to produce weapons
  and ammunition
• Brought all intellectual activity under the
  control of the Nazi Party

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Lebensraum(Living Space)

• Hitler said living space was needed to expand the
  German population
• 1936 Germany invades the Rhineland
• France backs down for fear of war
• 1938 Hitler sends troops into Austria- Britain
  and France do nothing

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Axis Powers

• Hitler and Mussolini sign the Rome-Berlin Axis
  in 1936
• 1936 Japan joins Germany and Italy in the
  Anti-Comertern Pact
• Western Europe ignores Russias Stalin and his
  plead for help

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Hitler invades

• September 12, 1938 Germany invades Czechslovakia
• Britain and France choose appeasement policy
• September 1, 1939 Germany invades Poland with
  blitzkrieg lightning war
• Western Europe finally accepts the threat, but it
  is too late. War is imminant.

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Works Cited

• http//www.flholocaustmuseum.org/history_wing/asse
  ts/room2/map_versailles_treaty.jpg
• http//www.newgenevacenter.org/portrait/hitler.jpg
  
• World History- The Human Experience Glencoe,
  1997 Westerville, Oh.