History 102:

Causes of the Outbreak of the World War II

 

Causes of the Rise of Hitler:

 

  1. Stab in the Back

·        Supposedly, civilian socialist politicians panicked and gave up in WWI

·        German soldiers did not lose WWI

2. Versailles Treaty

·        War Guilt Clause

·        Humiliation

·        Reparations

·        Limited army

 

3. Adolf Hitler

·        charismatic

·        great speaker

·        used new media well

·        planes

·        propaganda

·        film

 

4. The Great Depression:

 

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

 

5. Germany’s Left-wing parties were split: communists versus Social Democrats

 

6. Weimar government weak:

·        Chancellor Brüning stuck religiously to old-style 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

 

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

·        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

·        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

 

 

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.
  • But Nazis attracted a broad spectrum of German citizens; attracted 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

 

 

APPEASEMENT:

CAUSES OF APPEASEMENT:

WWI, devastation, sacrifice and humiliation

Western powers, especially N. Chamberlain, thought that he could take Hitler at his word

USA had slipped back into isolation, so League of Nations had no teeth

Many Britons thought that Versailles had been too harsh and needed to be fixed. Hitler was just making amends

Many liked Hitler's anti-communism

Britain’s lack of military preparedness also encouraged it to stay out of any possible war