Germanys descent to WWII

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Germanys descent to WWII
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The end of WW I saw the break up of many empires
including the Russia empire, the German empire,
and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The map of
Europe looked a little different than it did in
1914 (below is 1914 before the start of the war).
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The Treaty of Versailles not only ended the war,
spelled out what the winners won, losers lost,
and the reparations to be made, it also created
new nation-states (see the map below). Finally,
it set up the League of Nations, which was the
predecessor to the United Nations.
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Below is the list of things that were required of
Germany. The reparations that are mentioned were
finally set at 269,000,000,000 German Marks,
which is roughly 32, 000,000,000 (about
395,000,000,000 in todays money) which was 38
of her national wealth.

• 1. Germany was to accept guilt for causing the
  war under the "War Guilt Clause 231.2. Germany
  was to loose the territory of Alsace-Lorraine3.
  Germany was to return parts of Belgium4. Germany
  was to forfeit her overseas colonies5. Germany
  was to provide parts of West Prussia to Poland in
  order to give Poland an "outlet to the sea"6.
  Germany was to be occupied on the West bank of
  the Rhine River for 15 years7. Germany was to
  pay reparations for 30 years of an amount yet to
  be determined8. Germany was to limit their armed
  forces to 100,000 men, maintain no air force and
  have a navy of six ships and no submarines

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The indignity of it all was galling to the German
people. Especially a veteran of the War, an
Austrian corporal who fought with the German
army. He is below and marked with an X. He is
Adolf Hitler, and he will change the fate of
Germany and the rest of the world with it.
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Tensions in Germany at the end of WWI were
running high, There was conflict between the
conservative factions of society, Marxists, and
other socialists. While the War progressed,
Russia had succumbed to a Communist Revolution.
While some in Germany desired a similar fate,
some abhorred this thought.
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Many people in Germany believed a rumor called
the dark-stab legend or Dolchstoßlegende This
legend claimed that the undefeated army in the
field had been betrayed by the civilian
government and Marxists back home. To give
credence to this, the German Kaiser abdicated and
left Germany for Holland, where he died in 1940.
The legend was false, but was perpetuated by the
upper echelon generals of the war.
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To counter the Marxist surge, many people
throughout Europe began conservative,
militaristic organizations, movements, and even
political parties.
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The first person in Europe to consolidate these
ultra nationalistic, militaristic, and
conservative viewpoints into a codified doctrine,
was Benito Mussolini in Italy. In fact, he came
to power in Italy in the 1920s. The new
doctrine would be called Fascism, and it would
include a demand of total devotion of the people
towards the party, and their leader.
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In Germany in the 1920s the Reparations caused a
steep inflation in the value of their currency,
the Mark. Soon, it was worthless.
11
Throughout Europe, but certainly in Germany and
Austria there was quite a bit of anti-Semitism
(prejudiced thinking and persecution of Jews) in
the 19th and early 20th Century. Jews were
linked to Marxism and conspiracy theories.
12
In the early 1920s Adolf Hitler got recruited to
give political speeches to soldiers, especially
on the evils of Marxism and the necessity of
nationalism. He was also used as a spy to
discover which political groups were preaching
communist-style revolution. One such group
intrigued him. It was not communist, but
Nationalist and Anti-Semitic. It was called the
German Workers Party (GWP). He did not, however
approve of their organizational structure. While
at a meeting spying, he jumped up to tell the
party members everything that they were doing
wrong. They were impressed with him, and
offered him membership and a leadership position
in the party.
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Hitler accepted the position, became the
propaganda officer and began to make speeches and
to invite many of his colleagues to join the
party. With them came funding from the army for
the party. He became an excellent orator and
began to institute many of his ideas to the
party. One of which was to included the word
Socialist to the Partys name. Although not a
proponent of social, racial, or sexual equality,
Hitler knew that the word socialist was popular
in the political thinking of Germany after WWI.
It would draw more people to the party. And so
it did. It also gave us the final name for
Hitlers party the National Socialist German
Workers Party. NSDAP, or Nazi for short.
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In 1923, in Munich, Germany Hitler convinced the
Party that it was time to act. He planned and
enacted an attempted overthrow of the regional
government. This was called the Beer Hall
Putsch, and it failed but it allowed Hitler an
even larger venue for his ideas the courtroom
for his trial. A compassionate judge, jury, and
witnesses allowed Hitler to enunciate his vision
for days before he was finally convicted
leniently.
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In the end, Hitler was sentenced to 5 years, but
barely served 10 months of the sentence in a
minimum security prison. He was allowed a ground
floor room with a great view. Visitors were
allowed and even his personal secretary, Rudolph
Hess, stayed with him for the duration of the
sentence. It was here that Hitler dictated his
vision to Hess, which would become the famous
book Mein Kampf.
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Although it was dismissed as long-winded ravings,
Mein Kampf actually included Hitlers plans for
conquering Europe his ideas for dealing with
Jews and other undesirables. In retrospect, it
is chillingly accurate. When Hitler assumed total
power, every German was required to own a copy of
his book. He used the royalties as his major
source of income, in addition to a stipend from
the Nazi Party.
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Hitler continued to build the party up through
his oration. He preached militarism, national
pride, and Volk or racial purity. Many of the
people who joined and admired Hitler and his
ideas were less-than-respectable citizens. Many
of these party members were criminals, drunks,
addicts, pedophiles, brawlers, cutthroats, etc.
Hitler used this element of the party as
security. They became known as the SA, or
brown shirts and were the paramilitary wing of
the party. They were responsible not only for
protecting party leaders and members, but also
for intimidating rivals.
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By 1933, the Nazis had gained enough votes to
hold a slim majority in the Reichstag
(Parliament.) Hitler cajoles, pleads, and
strong-arms his opposition into making him
Chancellor. The famous WWI General Von
Hindenburg is the President, to give the
government respectability. Once Von Hindenburg
dies a few months into office, Hitler assumes
total power. So even though he is elected
legally, he used force, coercion, and little know
political laws and procedures to gain total
power. Germany will not know popular elections
again until after WWII.
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Almost immediately, Hitler began to secretly
rearm in violation of the Versailles Treaty.
Soon he will do so openly with no opposition from
the allies. He strengthened the army, built an
air force (Luftwaffe), and increased the number
of ships in the Navy (and began to build U-Boats).
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One of the issues that Hitler used to come to
power was the idea of uniting German speaking
territories across Europe. The first, closest,
and most logical was Austria. The Nazis first
attempted a coup in 1934 which failed, but in
1938 basically invaded (bloodlessly) with the
support of Austrians who had been duped by Nazis
within their own country. The annexation of
Austria is the first aggressive move that Hitler
makes, and the allies do nothing to stop him.
This sets a very bad precedent.
21
Again snubbing his nose at the Versailles Treaty,
Hitler sends the army to occupy the Rhineland
against his generals advice. Hitler is correct
in assuming that the Allies will do nothing.
Following this, he declares his intent to occupy
the Sudetenland-a German speaking area of
Czechoslovakia. Again he acts against the wishes
and belief of his Generals. And again, he is
correct that the Allies do nothing, but try to
appease him. Their theory is that if they let
him get what he wants, there were not be another
war. They believe he will be satisfied with the
next goal. Then the next goal. Then the next
goal
22
Although Hitler had signed a non-aggression
treaty with Joseph Stalin of the USSR, Hitler had
no faith in the communists. He wanted a buffer
between his Reich and the Russians, so he invaded
Poland. The poor Poles could not resist the new
military doctrine that the Germans
usedBlitzkrieg, or lightening warPoland
felland World War II began.