APPEASEMENT and HITLER'S DOMINATION OF EUROPE

How, in fewer than 25 years, did Europe go from looking like this:

with all countries separate and supporting their own boundaries, to this:

a huge mess of countries in the Axis alliance or under control of the Axis?  How did the Soviet Union lose all that territory?  What happened in Northern Africa? 

To find the answers, we have to go back to the outcome of World War I, and specifically look at the cost of the War, both financially and in terms of human loss of life.  Billions of dollars of damage were caused, especially in France, Belgium, Great Britain, and Germany, and over 9 million people died, with estimates of the injured ranging from 10 to 20 million more people!  Most countries simply no longer had the desire to fight.  Great Britain was at the front of the list of countries who were, at this point, willing to do almost anything to stay out of another war.  This attitude became the British policy that is known as appeasement:  doing whatever is necessary to soothe or pacify another country that may be trying to start another war.

Hitler knew this....

Now, remember that as part of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had huge restrictions placed on their military, and Germany and Austria were forbidden to join together to become one massive super-powered country.  Hitler wanted to see just how far he could push the boundaries of the Treaty, so he began to rebuild his military...and then let Great Britain know about it!  In 1935, he all but told England that he had rebuilt an air force (the German Luftwaffe).  As Hitler had predicted, Great Britain, France, and the League of Nations did practically nothing (some people claim they already knew the air force existed but didn't want to anger Hitler so they never brought it up).  So...since he had been given this much rope, Hitler decided to take more, and he built up his army to nearly half a million men (remember, Germany had been restricted to an army of just 100,000 men by the Treaty of Versailles).  Still, no major response from the two countries Hitler was most concerned about, Great Britan and France. 

Now, keep in mind that while Hitler was DOING these things, he was SAYING all the right things.  Hitler had made numerous public speeches saying that he had a desire for peace and that war was foolish and would serve no purpose in the rebuilding of Germany.  He also announced that he had no intention of annexing Austria or of putting his military into the demilitarized zone along the Rhineland.  He even went so far as to say he would respect all the territorial clauses of the Versailles Treaty.  In fact, despite the fact that he openly rebuilt his air force and army, Hitler also announced that he was prepared to mutually disarm the heaviest of his weapons and limit the strength of his navy.  In one quote, Hitler stated, "Whoever lights the torch of war in Europe can wish for nothing but chaos." 

This sure didn't sound like a man who wanted war...

But, by 1938, Hitler had become even more bold, and he went ahead and, in a move called the Anschluss, brought Austria into the Third Reich after the Austrian Nazi Party staged a coup d'etat and essentially overthrew the Austrian government.  Hitler said that he was doing this so that all of the German speaking people could be united into one country, so Britain and France, again, really didn't say a lot.  But then the people of Czechoslovakia who spoke German decided THEY wanted to be part of the Third Reich as well.  However, not all of Czechoslovakia wanted to join with Germany, so Hitler had a bit of a problem...sort of...because he didn't want to risk a war with the Soviet Union just yet, and the Czechs and Soviets were allies. 

But Britain and France did Hitler a favor because they didn't want a war to break out (appeasement again...).  Britain and France met with Hitler and his buddy, Mussolini, in what was called the Munich Conference.  At this conference, which Czechoslovakia was NOT invited to, Germany would occupy the German-speaking portion of Czechoslovakia (known as the Sudetenland), and the rest of the Czech country would be split between Poland and Hungary.  Czechoslovakia was then told they could go along with this plan...or they could face Germany by themselves, because the Soviet Union had no intention of going to war if Great Britain and France were not also involved.  Czechoslovakia agreed, which reorganized Central Europe to look like this:

At this point, Hitler told the rest of the European leaders that he had no intention of taking further lands.

He lied...