hello everyone and welcome to episode 8 of mr. Mackenzie's social distance learning the move to global war German expansion 1933 to 38 let's begin now the map again man even I'm getting tired of staring at this map of Europe well here we are mappy Europe 1933 this is a start of what we're talking about in today's lecture the main focus on this map is Germany last episode we really looked at the geographical terms of the Treaty of Versailles and what that did to Germany we talked about things like the the Ruhr crisis we talked about the Tsar plebiscite that's gonna happen we'll get more detail on that in this lecture we talked about the political union with Austria which was forbidden on sloosh and we'll talk about the the demilitarization of the Rhineland so we're gonna see throughout this lecture that Hitler is gonna go against all of these terms of the Treaty of Versailles everything that the Treaty of Versailles had kind of laid out that was forbidden for Germany to do Hitler's gonna go one by one against those things we'll be discussing that he needs to expand Germany's border that's really what we're talking about today right Germany expansion he needs to expand this his borders for more Leoben strim more living space for the growing German population so he needs more land for Germany but who opposes this expansion okay that we're gonna talk about a few nations that are gonna oppose this German aggressive expansion and the first country we're gonna look at is Britain why okay why is Britain opposed to this expansion well we do know that by the early he's once 1929 hits the stock market crashes or in the midst of the Great Depression Great Britain is preoccupied with its own economic depression and really can't focus too much on what Germany is doing we have to remember that the the British did think the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh so did the United States France didn't think it was harsh enough so the British are already taking that kind of stance that the Treaty of Versailles might have been a little bit too harsh and they're already trying to deal with their own economic problems within their own country and what they're really about a worried about is the spread of communism communism was probably the biggest fear post-world War One to these Western democracies communists or the Red Scare was popping up in Britain as well as France and the United States as well so if anything Britain might actually look to Germany as maybe even a possible ally against this growing communist threat so moving forward through the nineteen through the 1920s and even into the early 30s there Britain's not so much worried about Germany as they are really worried about the Soviet Union and the spread of communism and an intact Germany could help in this here we have a picture of Adolf Hitler shaking hands with the Prime Minister of Great Britain Neville Chamberlain who else opposes this expansion the French why why do the why do the French oppose this growing expansion by Germany we know there is a long history between the French and the Germans Germany invaded their country twice in recent memory 1870 franco-prussian war and then they invaded again in 1914 with the start of World War one so France does not trust Germany at all and always kind of holds them with with a high sense of suspicion okay so France really sees Germany as a threat last episode we talked about the rural crisis the roar was that rich coal mining area everything that was being produced there was being sent along as reparations to the French and the British we talked about how the how the German how the Germans missed one of those reparation payments in 1922 and then the French and the British sent the troops in the French really get a lot of bad get it get a bad press over this they get backlash for bringing in the troops and as a result of this the reparation amount that was put on Germany is modified and the amount is lessened we mentioned a while ago the idea of the little aunt aunt that petites on taunt and we can look to the map here we can see the colored countries that belong in this small aunt aunt we have Romania Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia and France really wants to have good relations with the little on top because it's gonna help them against a growing Germany France remembers World War one they remember that Germany having a fight a war on two fronts was a big problem for Germany in that war so they think of Germany rises again having a war on two fronts so they want to have good relations with this little on top but a growing expanding Germany that might look for political union with Austria that might look to start rearming areas in the Rhineland that are securing borders against Poland is gonna threaten this relationship with France and the Petit auntaunt okay so who else opposes this expansion well let's talk about the United States of America why are they gonna oppose this growing aggressive expansionist Germany well for much of the 1920s and even the 1930s the United States kind of retreats they kind of retreat and become isolationists again after World War one in terms of business and commerce they are very much internationalists they send out loans to two nations they have treaties with nations but militarily they really become isolationists again let Europe worry about Europe's problems we will look at our political cartoon here done by the great dr. Seuss here we have two beds one is Europe with a bunch of little kids in it and the other one is a nice restful Uncle Sam Uncle Sam saying as he sleeps what a lucky thing we've got separate beds and poor old Europe with a bunch of wide-awake what looks like youngsters in the bed here are suffering from any kind of diseases the Stalin itch Hitler itis the Blitz pox Nazi fever fascist fever and then way on the floor there the Italian mumps so it looks like Europe is catching some colds getting some diseases but the United States who's separated is staying nice and restful and healthy and that's really what the United States is gonna enjoy for much of those interwar years between World War one and World War two in 1933 a new president is elected the Republican Herbert Hoover loses an election and a new president Franklin Delano Roosevelt is a is elected this is kind of early on in the in the Great Depression and with him he's gonna bring his New Deal to kind of kickstart the American economy again FDR is gonna be the longest serving American president he actually serves about four terms so he starts in 1933 but he's going to be president throughout World War two until the very end when Harry Truman asked to step in okay let's briefly go over just to recap those harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles that's the same map we looked at in the previous episode we did talk about how Germany loses all of its overseas colonies it loses Alsace Lorraine again that what they took from France after the franco-prussian war that goes back to France the Rhineland has to be demilitarized no German military there no political union with Austria the rich coalfields ending that's produced in the in the Ruhr and the Saar Valley are given to the French as part of their reparations so night by 1929 Britain France and Belgium are gonna pull their military out of the Rhineland there was no German military in the Rhineland but the British French and Belgium forces had their military stationed in the Rhineland but when 1929 happened which is the beginning of the Great Depression it becomes pretty costly to keep your army stationed there overseas so they pull them out and they bring them back home so now it seems like the the Rhineland is really kind of left defenseless in 1929 we also know that after the Ruhr crisis reparations would be dramatically reduced so they kind of alleviate some of the the harsh payments that Germany was suffering at the in the in the 1920s and now even in the the harsh times of the Great Depression the amount is reduced as well so now that it seems like these Western countries the British the French the Belgians are removing their armies from the Rhineland what is Hitler's response to this going to be now well we know this is kind of we know what spirit of the 1920s was that spirit of internationalism the country is kind of coming together setting limits on how much tonnage of military and navies they were allowed to have that's gonna continue on into the early 30s we in the 1920s we talked about the Washington Naval conference we talked about the Locarno treaties we talked about the kellogg-briand pact that's outlawing war as a means to settle disputes in 1933 we have the Geneva disarmament conference and Germany is there as well this is the nations of the world trying to disarm everyone kind of bringing down the amount of men in their militaries the amount of tonnage in their navies the amount of production that they are allowed to do for their armies so Hitler is here he is he is part of this disarmament conference he is the new Chancellor of Germany and we're gonna see Hitler the diplomat here okay he's gonna be putting on a different front to the foreign delegates that Germany wants to be a world player that they want to be very international that they want to disarm and everyone all nations should be disarming not just Germany but all nations now we know we we have hindsight we know that Hitler has his plans a lot of them were already outlined and mapped out in meine Kampf so we know what Hitler's true plans are going to be through the course of the 1930s but by 1933 most world delegates don't know the true nature of Adolf Hitler they don't know that his word and his signature on treaties is is worthless that he's gonna kind of go behind their backs on this but at this point 1933 Hitler is gonna play his diplomacy card and try to bring down everyone's armies because he's not allowed to have a big arm they're only allowed to have a hundred and that a hundred thousand men which is a drop in the bucket so Hitler thinks everyone should be bringing down their armies let's look at this political cartoon in the in the early 1930s one of the biggest movies at the time was King Kong so obviously the giant ape in captivity here is to simplify King Kong and we can kind of see that this King Kong monster here kinda represents Germany a little bit here we see the old German helmet on the top of them and really kind of written on the chest of the gorilla here is armaments that they we're kind of locking it up but sooner or later that monster is gonna break free and destroy I guessed I guess civilization professor Geneva will introduce King Kong the greatest monster in captivity the idea is that you can try it try and chain up armaments to try and stop it but sooner or later that monster is gonna break free and that's gonna be Germany they're gonna break free and destroy the city so his plan at the Geneva disarmament conference he exclaims all nations should bring their army size down to the level of Germany Germany has been forced according to the Treaty of Versailles to only have a hundred thousand men in their army their Navy was to have no big no big ships no subs they could not have a Air Force so if Germany and Germany felt if they had to be reduced that level all nations should be bringing down their their armies to the same level of Germany that would show true internationalist spirit if all the nations of the world are bringing down their armies then all nations would be equal so this is very shrewd diplomatic diplomacy that we're seeing from Adolf Hitler here okay Germany is being has a limit on their military if countries were truly caught up in the spirit of internationalism and disarmament then all nations should be bringing down their armaments and being equal so really how does this make Hitler look on the world stage how does this make him look pause the video and give me a couple of answers in your in your dock and then we'll come back and I'll tell you what I think okay we're back so how does this make Hitler look on the world stage well this makes him look like a pretty shrewd diplomat if anything this makes him look like he is really trying to disarm and bring equality to the the nations of the world here we should all be on the same playing field if we truly have this spirit of disarmament then they would all bring their armies down but obviously the French and the British are not going to agree to this at all the French absolutely not because they have a lot of suspicion and mistrust against Germany Britain of course is not going to agree to this because they like to have their grip on the world markets they're not about to see that slip through their fingers so Hitler walks out in protest he walks out of the Geneva disarmament conference in protests this is actually gonna make give him kind of justification he can take this now back to Germany and said well we tried we tried diplomacy we thought we could disarm the world but they're not gonna play they're not gonna play fairly why should we so maybe Germany should start building up its army again so he walks out of the Geneva Conference he's also gonna leave the League of Nations now Hitler has justification to start a rearmament program in Germany now rearmament really already began before Hitler came into power we saw a pilots being trained in in Italy we saw troops being built up in in in Poland and the Soviet Union so the military the rearmament program was already starting to unfold before Hitler got to power but once he gets power and after these treaties and they walk out go nowhere and the treaty the League of Nations they leave Hitler really starts to ramp things up so the german polish non-aggression pact okay some some of you might actually be surprised to hear that there was actually a pact between germany and poland of non-aggression this was in 1934 let's think about this this is a good five years before the tanks roll in to poland before the blitzkrieg rolls in to poland they had an agreement of non-aggression which was supposed to last for about ten years I think they get close to five years before they invade if anything what is the purpose of this german polish non-aggression pact it is there to secure the eastern borders Germany doesn't have to worry about kind of a war on two fronts he doesn't have to worry about his western borders he doesn't have to worry about his eastern borders it gives him peace of mind now how does this hurt France well Frances obviously a little bit worried there they've always mistrust Germany they were hoping that if war breaks out again Germany would find itself on a war on two fronts as Germany signs this non-aggression pact with Poland it's gonna make that war on two fronts a lot harder to accomplish and it's going to disrupt relations that France has with the Petit auntaunt with those other Eastern European countries kind of cuts them off from their friends over there so this does hurt France Civil War in Austria we talked earlier about the kind of civil unrest that happens within Austria in the mid 30s in 1934 there's an assassination of the Austrian president by Austrian Nazis so there's really really political chaos engulfing Austria at this time we know that Hitler wants AUSA Hitler wants to annek annex Austria he wants that all swoosh with with Austria but it is forbidden for him to do this according to the Treaty of Versailles and that's gonna make this even makes Mussolini nervous we talked about this when we looked at our Italian case study that Hitler kind of moving in on Austria at least but in 1934 makes Mussolini very nervous and he moves his Italian troops to the northern borders because Austria at this time was a nice little buffer state between Germany and Italy so ultimately Hitler is going to back down they're gonna call his bluff and he's gonna pull back he what Hitler really needs at this point is more time he's not ready Germany is not ready they do not have the manpower they don't have the military to actually go in and take over so the cup his Bluff is called and they don't go in and take over and have an own sloosh with Austria not yet anyway the Tsar plebiscite we talked about the Tsar plebiscite in last episode now they're gonna have that referendum we talked about what a what a pleb asite was basically I stated as a term of the Treaty of Versailles the Tsar was going to be kind of given to the French to hold on for 15 years well it's been 15 years now since the Treaty of Versailles and a plebiscite or a referendum is going to be held do the people in the Saar Valley want to stay with the French or go back with the Germans now most of these people are German descent so you can probably guess where their vote is going to go on this plebiscite okay yes the Tsar is this heavy coal area in Germany and it was being everything that was being produced was being sent to France here as part of those reparations so after those 15 years the people have a referendum a vote the public vote go with France or stay with Germany most of them are German so you could probably guess where their votes lie 90% vote to stay with Germany not a huge surprise this is a huge political win for Hitler this is a huge propaganda boost for Hitler he can kind of look out a German look out to the desert the Tsar area and say they like me they really like me they've chosen Germany this is more expansion now this is more Leoben strim so now he starts to turn up that re art rearmament program even more here he Hitler moves to rebuild his army grows army to about 21 divisions so now we are well over that hundred thousand man mark that they were supposed to be capped at he brings in conscription which is going to increase that the German army 236 division so now we're well over that limit of what they were supposed to have starts to create a German air force the Luftwaffe is gonna get 2,500 planes built brings our focus now to the rhineland that area on the map there that really separates France and Germany you can kind of see it with the orange yellowy orange with the brown diagonal lines there that is the Rhineland it was supposed to be demilitarized we're now in 1936 and this is gonna be one of Hitler's biggest Gamble's here you make some strong moves now he's gonna move to rearm the Rhineland this is a big gamble and this was a big no-no according to the Treaty of Versailles but the French the British the Belgians had already pulled out their military from the Rhineland so there is no one to really stop them from doing this so why do the British and French do nothing why don't they stop this German expansion this is a clear offense this is a clear clear bold move against the Treaty of Versailles why did the British and the French do nothing pause the video and write down a couple answers of why you think that okay so why do the British and French do nothing here in 1936 this is a big gamble well ultimately if they do do something what's their move are they going to declare war what are they going to be declaring war on they're declaring war on Germany for putting German soldiers somewhere else in Germany that's not gonna play too well to their public we have to remember the the British and the French these are democracies these are republics they have people who vote these men into power and it's gonna be tough to sell to the public that we have to go to war again because Germany has moved German soldiers into another part of Germany that's a tough sell so they know that also 1936 it's not that far off it's not than that long since the end of World War one people in government will have a vivid memory of what World War one felt and looked like and the last thing they really want to do is go back to war they don't want to go back and start things up again World War one is fresh in their minds so Hitler does have a he is gambling here and he goes to rearm the Rhineland the French and the British had the power at this point they could have stopped it they could have put a hold on it but they don't we really see the beginning of appeasement happening here we're really gonna look into appeasement in our next episode and more in-depth when we get into World War two but they're gonna kind of give in to Hitler a little bit the British and the French still in 1936 we have the Spanish Civil War this civil war is gonna be the testing ground for World War two this is the preface to World War two and a lot of times when we see civil wars we see foreign nations getting involved in the conflict Germany as well as Italy and even the Soviet Union are gonna get involved in this conflict Germany supports the nationalist side then the Spanish nationalists under the leadership of Francisco Franco and Germany who is still in the midst of its rearmament program and still is building up its military is going to lend the Nationalists some some of their Navy and Air Force the Italians are really going to volunteer and give their soldiers it's gonna be fairly costly to - Mussolini and really the kind of the tables turn after the Spanish Civil War where it's Adolf Hitler who's gonna be at the forefront of power in Europe and Mussolini taking a back seat to Hitler but at this time it's kind of the other way around so Hitler sends over a navy and an Air Force to help the Spanish nationalists he has the Condor Legion of the Luftwaffe they're gonna target civilian centers and government areas we see the the bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica which Picasso depicts in this huge wall mural we'll take a look at that when we study the Spanish Civil War and having another friend on the continent doesn't hurt either you really want Spain as an ally to help them out because they're obviously against communism as well okay we're gonna stop the spread of communism the Soviet Union gets involved with the Spanish Civil War and they're gonna help out with the Republican side so with Italy and Germany helping the Nationalists yes they get an ally in Spain but they're also going to not allow communism foothold in Europe it kind of keep them out and it's after this Spanish Civil War that we that we really see Mussolini and Hitler being brought together a little bromance between the two of them if you will and then we get that Rome Berlin axis and then from here on in we refer to them as not really the central powers of Europe that's more of a world war one thing but we call them the Axis powers an agreement two mutual interests between the two nations after the Spanish Civil War they've kind of solidified their friendship and their agreement in the Rome Berlin axis the anti Comintern pact of 1937 this was a pact of three nations and it was Japan Italy Germany you can see their respective leaders in the picture there and these were nations that were ante Comintern that were anti communism in seeing communism spread internationally they were against seeing communism spread internationally anti Comintern pact between these three nations Japan Italy and Germany so now they're gonna work together to oppose communism and they're also gonna use this as a mutual defense agreement if anyone attacks either one of them the other nation is gonna come to their aid the hospital this occurs in November of 1937 and this is an event that was done in secrecy this is a secret meeting held in Germany between Hitler and his top foreign policy advisors and during this secret meeting Hitler is basically gonna outline everything he intends to do over the next few years kind of really lays out his four or five year plan for Germany and some of the generals in the room feel that this is too aggressive that this is too much too quickly that Germany should be kind of slowing down but their things aren't going fast enough for Adolf Hitler so he's not gonna listen to those generals and those generals if they're smart better get in line by February of 1938 Hitler proclaims himself commander of German army he will take out any general who opposes his actions so any of those generals who felt that he was acting too aggressively or the things were moving too quickly better change their tune and fall in line fast or perhaps another night of the Long Knives might happen okay that concludes today's episode tune in next episode well we'll talk about what the international response to this growing aggression was so we're gonna look at the what the international response to the expansionists expansionism in Italy as well as the expansionism in Germany so we'll do both together thanks a lot