GrowthofTensions

=Dictatorships in Germany and Italy=


 * Unemployment was over 30%; underemployment even higher and desperation stalked the streets of the nation in Germany.
 * Italy entered the war in 1915, largely in the hope of making territorial gains at the subsequent peace conference (this did not happen and the Italians got angry).


 * Mussolini**


 * Benito Mussolini
 * Mussolini aimed at creating an Italian empire (a revival of the glory of the Roman Empire) alongside the Germans and Japanese.
 * Mussolini had Grandiose ideas -> he wanted man to show / prove their virility.


 * Hitler**


 * Wanted to improve / increase Germany's stability and enhance Aryan power (dominance).
 * He was a Pragmatist.

=The League of Nations and Collapse of Collective Security; Abyssinia, the Spanish Civil War=


 * October 1935, Italy launched a full-scale invasion of Abyssinia.
 * Italian action against Abyssinia was totally indefensibale, despite the efforts of League appointed arbitrators who reported in September 1935 that neither side was at fault in their disagreements.
 * Because of the modern use by the italians such as gas, wore down the abyssinians. By April 1936 the captial of Abyssinia was captured.


 * The Japanese invaded Manchuria for economic reasons and claimed it was OK because Manchuria was not under Chinese control at the time. Soon after they left the League.


 * Spanish Civil War had two sides.
 * Republicans
 * Nationalists
 * Germany and Italy supplied / backed (through volunteers and military hardware) the Nationalists.
 * Britain and France supported Non - Intervention
 * Spanish Civil War started in July 1936.


 * Italy ignored the League of Nations in 1923.

=Britain, France and the Policy of Appeasment: an assessment=


 * Britain had long been prepared to make concessions to European powers on the continent and leave them alone so it could pursue it's worldwide ambitions.
 * Since the 16th Century, Britain's main interests had been in trade, naval power and the development of empire. Appeasement was nothing new to the British.
 * The epitome of the policy of appeasement was the Munich Conference of 1938.
 * Appeasement had been in operation since 1919
 * Hitler was expecting more appeasement when he invaded Poland on 1st Sept. Over the last few years he had aquired the Rhineland, Austria and Czechoslovakia without a shot fired.
 * Hitler's actions were viewed sympathetically. His 'no ambition' speeches were emphasised. His march into the Rhineland was simply "going into one's backyard"
 * The main players at the Munich Conference were Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain and Daladier.

=Significance of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Agression Pact=


 * The Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 1939 had been described as one of the most amazing acts of diplomacy in Modern History.
 * Hitler had made it very plain that he intended to destroy Bolshevism, conquer the Soviet Union and turn it's people into slaves.
 * Stalin was as great an opportunist as Hitler.
 * Soviet foreign policy was not different than that of any other nation - the promotion of the national interests.
 * Stalin trusted Hitler because their foreign policy goals were similar in racial policy and expansion.
 * 23rd August 1939
 * There was a secret negotiation which outlined what would happen with the invasion of Poland.