The Gathering Storm: The
Road to WWII
Was Appeasement a
mistake or a necessary
approach?
1930 German Election- Hitler Promises Work
•Work to the unemployed & social harmony
•Prosperity to failed business people
•Profits to industry
•Expansion to the Army
•Restoration of German glory to those in despair
By 1933 Hitler is Chancellor
• September 14, 1930, the Nazis received
6,371,000 votes, over 18% of the total,
and were thus entitled to 107 seats in the
German Reichstag.
• Overnight, the Nazi party went from the
smallest to the second largest party in
Germany.
• By 1933 Hitler is chancellor
(complicated how this
eventually happens)
By 1934 Hitler is Fuhrer
• Hitler begins a massive arms build-up, in
violation of the Treaty of Versailles
• August 19: Hitler becomes Fuhrer (supreme ruler)
• September: Nuremberg Nazi Party Day
ALLIES DO NOTHING!
1935: In the World
• Hitler announces a plan to build a 500,000 man army, also
in violation of the Treaty of Versailles
ALLIES DO NOTHING!
1936: In the World
•
•
•
May 7: Germany remilitarizes
the Rhineland, which borders
France, in violation of the
Treaty of Versailles
Berlin-Rome Axis created:
alliance between Germany
and Italy
Germany hosts the 1936
Summer Olympics in Berlin
ALLIES DO NOTHING!
Germany and the Rhineland
ALLIES DO NOTHING!
The Spanish Civil War…
• Mussolini and Hitler send
troops, weapons, and money
to Fascist Francisco Franco
• Fascists engage in massive
bombing of civilian
populations (the first time in
human history)
• Loyalists supporting the
democratic government in
Spain receive no help from
Allies
ALLIES DO NOTHING!
1937: In the World
• Hitler declares his desire for lebensraum, or living
space for his “master race.” He announces his
intention to get it through territorial expansion.
ALLIES DO NOTHING!
1938 in the world
• Mar. 28: Germany annexes
Austria peacefully in the
Anschluss (union) without a
single shot fired
• Sept. 29-30: Munich Conference:
Great Britain, France, Italy, and
Germany sign a pact allowing
Hitler to annex the Sudetenland
region of Czechoslovakia- Hitler
promises that he will make no
further demands for territory
• Nov. 9-10: Kristallnacht
1939: In the World
• March: Hitler takes over the rest of
Czechoslovakia, in violation of the Munich Pact
• August: Hitler and Stalin sign a non-aggression
treaty, agreeing to divide up Poland
• Sept. 1: Germany invades Poland; WW2 begins
• Sept. 3: Great Britain and France declare war on
Germany, fulfilling treaty obligations.
• Sept. 10: Canada declares war.
• Sept. 17: Stalin marches into Poland from the
east- he and Hitler divide it.
NOW THE ALLIES DO SOMETHING!