IB History International Response to German Aggression Notes

Responses to German Rearmament (1933-1935)

1. When Germany withdrew from the League of Nations and Disarmament Conference (October 1933), the response was limited to verbal condemnation. No sanctions or military action followed. The League's inability to respond set the tone for the entire decade.
2. When Hitler announced rearmament and conscription (March 1935), expanding the army to 550,000 and revealing the Luftwaffe, Britain, France, and Italy formed the Stresa Front (April 1935) to jointly condemn the violation.
3. Britain undermined the Stresa Front within weeks by signing the Anglo-German Naval Agreement (June 1935), allowing Germany to build a navy up to 35% of British strength. This bilateral deal legitimised German rearmament and contradicted the collective stance taken weeks earlier.
4. France was furious at Britain's unilateral action but could not confront Germany alone. The Franco-Soviet Pact (May 1935) promised mutual assistance, but France never ratified the military provisions, making it largely symbolic.
5. The Abyssinian Crisis (October 1935) then destroyed the Stresa Front entirely. Britain and France focused on Italy rather than Germany, and the League's weak sanctions against Italy proved collective security was dead.

Response to the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland (March 1936)

1. When Hitler sent 22,000 troops into the Rhineland (7 March 1936), violating both Versailles and Locarno, France had 250,000 troops available and could have easily repelled the German forces.
2. France refused to act without British support. The French military advised that full mobilisation would be needed (not just a limited action), which the government was unwilling to order during an election year.
3. Britain refused to support France. Lord Lothian famously said the Germans were merely "going into their own back garden." British public opinion saw the Rhineland as German territory and saw no reason to fight over it.
4. The League condemned Germany but took no action. Many historians consider the Rhineland the last realistic opportunity to stop Hitler without a major war. Hitler later admitted his forces would have retreated if challenged.
5. Belgium responded by renouncing its military pact with France (1936) and declaring neutrality, further weakening France's defensive position and leaving the Franco-Belgian border exposed.

Response to the Anschluss (March 1938)

1. When Germany absorbed Austria on 12 March 1938, Britain and France issued verbal protests only. Chamberlain argued that Austria's German-speaking population had the right to self-determination.
2. Unlike 1934 (when Mussolini sent troops to the Austrian border), Italy now accepted the Anschluss as part of the Axis partnership. The one power that had previously blocked Anschluss was now Hitler's ally.
3. The Anschluss added 7 million people and significant industrial capacity to the Reich. It also surrounded Czechoslovakia on three sides, making it strategically vulnerable, which Hitler immediately exploited.

Response to the Sudetenland Crisis and Munich (September 1938)

1. The Sudetenland Crisis (September 1938) was the peak of appeasement. Chamberlain flew to Germany three times (Berchtesgaden, Bad Godesberg, Munich) to negotiate directly with Hitler over Czechoslovakia's border regions.
2. At the Munich Conference (29-30 September 1938), Britain, France, Germany, and Italy agreed to transfer the Sudetenland. Czechoslovakia was not invited and was pressured to accept or face Germany alone.
3. France betrayed its alliance with Czechoslovakia. The Franco-Czech alliance (1924) had promised mutual defence, but France followed Britain's lead at Munich rather than honouring its commitment.
4. The USSR was excluded from Munich despite having a mutual assistance treaty with Czechoslovakia. Stalin concluded that Britain and France were deliberately directing German aggression eastward, pushing him toward the Nazi-Soviet Pact.
5. Germany gained not just territory but Czechoslovakia's border fortifications and Skoda armaments factories. What remained of Czechoslovakia was defenceless. When Hitler occupied the rest in March 1939, appeasement was finally discredited.

The End of Appeasement and the Shift to Deterrence

1. After the Czechoslovakia occupation (March 1939), Chamberlain reversed course. Britain and France issued guarantees to Poland, Romania, and Greece. Britain introduced peacetime conscription (April 1939) for the first time in its history.
2. Anglo-French attempts to negotiate a military alliance with the USSR failed due to mutual distrust, Poland's refusal to allow Soviet troops, and a slow British delegation. Hitler outmanoeuvred the democracies by signing the Nazi-Soviet Pact (23 August 1939).
3. The pattern of international responses throughout 1933-1938 was consistent: condemnation without action, concessions without consequences. Each failure emboldened Hitler further, convincing him the democracies would never fight.

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