Causes of the Outbreak of
WWII (1939-1945)
The Rise of Hitler and
Appeasement
Causes of the Rise of Hitler
1. “Stab in the Back”
myth
Supposedly, civilian
socialist politicians
panicked and gave
up in WWI
German soldiers did not
lose WWI
Rise of Hitler (cont.)
2. Treaty of Versailles
 War Guilt Clause
 Humiliation
 Reparations
 Hurt economy
 Limited Army
Rise of Hitler (cont.)
3. Adolf Hitler, 1889-1945
 Charismatic
 Great speaker
 J. Goebbels
 Used new media well
 Planes
 Propaganda
 Film
Rise of Hitler (cont.)
4. The Great Depression, 1929-1939
Germany’s Unemployment:
1929: 1.3 million
1930: 5.8 million
January 1932: 6 million
October 1932: 8.7 million (about 50% of work
force)
Industrial production: fell 42 percent from
1929 to 1932
Rise of Hitler (cont.)
5. Germany’s left-wing parties split:
 Social-Democrats
 Communists (USSR-backed)
Weimar period Elections results
Rise of Hitler (cont.)
6. Weimar government weak:
 Chancellor Bruning stuck religiously to oldstyle 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.
Rise of Hitler (cont.)
Chronology of events:
• Communists started winning more
support amongst 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.
Rise of Hitler (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 the Reichstag).
• Hitler also played down his anti-Jewish
ideas and extreme racism at this time.
Rise of Hitler (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.
Rise of Hitler (cont.)
• February 27, 1933: German Reichstag
(Parliament) building burned. Nazis
quickly blame the fire on Communists
• February 28, 1933: A presidential decree
gives Chancellor Hitler emergency powers
• All 100 Communist Party members of the
Reichstag are arrested. One Berlin man is
given 50 lashes for being a Communist
and 50 more for being a Jew
Burning of the Reichstag
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
Who supported Hitler
(cont.)?
• 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
Appeasment
CAUSES OF APPEASEMENT:
1. WWI, devastation, sacrifice and humiliation
2. Western powers, especially British PM Neville
Chamberlain, thought he could take Hitler at his
word
3. USA had slipped back into isolation, so League
of Nations had no teeth
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
encouraged it to stay out of any possible war
Neville Chamberlain: “Peace with
honour! Peace for our time!”
March 1939: Germany occupied the
rest of Czechoslovakia