Sunday, April 12, 2009

Unit 5 Terms Appeasement-Munich Agreement

Appeasement- Foreign policy used by Britain's Neville Chamberlain to the Nazis. Basically Chamberlain tried to use negotiations with the Nazis in order to prevent violence. Through the Versailles treaty, Czechloslovakia was created and took land from the Sudetenland. Hitler wanted the Sudetenland for his "Anschluss" and Chamberlain took many steps in order to prevent his attacks.

League of Nations- Set up by the Versailles treaty, the League of Nations consisted of all the different countries. Hitler got angry with the League of Nations who believed in the basic rights of man. Hitler believed that he should be able to discriminate against the Jews due to German Sovereignty. After the war, the United Nations took place of the League of Nations.

Collective Security- Collective security, simply put, is when all the countries join together to provide support for all the people part of the group. Collective security only works if a nation is acted upon forcibly, after which, the other nations protect them. The League of Nations used a basic collective security.

Neville Chamberlain- Prime minister of Britain during World War 2. He is known for his appeasement to Nazi Germany, and the signing of the Munich Agreement. Winston Churchill took his place a little after the war. Died of Cancer.

Remilitarization of the Rhineland- The Versailles treaty forbid Germany to place anything Military upon the banks of the Rhineland after WW1. After the Allies got out of the Rhineland, Hitler went and remilitarized the area.

Anschluss- Hitler wanted to unite all German peoples under this belief, so began trying to take over Austria. The socialists said they favored Austria's alliance with them in attempt to get them to stay with the Russians, however, Hitler invaded Austria and took it over by force. Later during the war, Hitler took over the Sudetenland and other in attempt for German world conquest.

Lebensraum- Lebensraum was first detailed in Hitler's Mein Kampf in which he stated his beliefs of Anschluss and how the Germanic population would need resources and land if they wished to have all the German people living together. Hitler wanted to do this by enslaving the Polish peoples and Russians through starvation which would benefit the German Bourgeosie.

Austrian Nazi Party- The group in Austria that supported all of Hitler's beliefs. Hitler used this party in Anschluss when he demanded that the leader of Austria give political control over to the Austrian Nazi Party. Eventually when Hitler invaded, power was given to these loyalists.

Austrian Plebiscite- A poll that was meant to be taken in Austria before Germany invaded Austria and took over power. The plebiscite asked the people whether they would like to have Nazi control, of which, 93% said yes. This poll was taken after Germany took over Austria and the Nazis were already in power though.

Kurt Schuschnigg- He was the Chancellor of Austria and also dictator of the Austrofascist regime. He did not like Hitler's Anschluss and tried to stray the people from believing Hitler. Unfortunately Germany invaded, and Kurt was killed in a Concentration Camp as a political prisoner.

Abyssinia Crisis- Stemmed from the Walwal incident in which Italy built a fort dangerously close to Ethiopia who, they had signed a treaty with declaring a 20 year friendship. Abyssinia is Ethiopia, and they had a political crisis with Italy. Both believed that their borders held Walwal, but when Italy made a fort there, the second Italo-Abyssinian war erupted.

Sudetenland- Absorbed into modern day Czechoslovakia and housed 3 million Germans. During Hitler's Anchluss and Lebensraum, Germany gained the support of the Germans living in Czechoslovakia and Poland and eventually took over these places politically.

Munich Agreement- An act of Appeasement signed by Chamberlain. In this Agreement, Hitler gained control of the Sudetenland and all the Germans in it. This furthered his goal of obtaining full germanic conquest.

No comments: