HI136 The History of Germany Lecture 14

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HI136 The History of GermanyLecture 14

• The Second World War

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German Foreign Policy, 1933-1937
Oct. 1933 Germany leaves League of Nations and Disarmament Conference
Jan. 1934 Non-Aggression Pact with Poland
Jan. 1935 The Saar votes to return to Germany
March. 1935 Hitler announces reintroduction of conscription
April 1935 Stresa conference, Britain, France, and Italy protest against German infringement of Versailles
June 1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement on an enlarged German Navy
Oct. 1935 Italy invades Abyssinia
January 1936 Mussolini ends Italian guarantee of Austrian independence
March 1936 German troops reoccupy the demilitarised Rhineland
July 1936 Germany sends military to help the nationalist rebels in Spain
Nov. 1936 Rome Berlin Axis announced Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan
Nov. 1937 Italy joins Anti-Comintern Pact
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German Foreign Policy 1938-1939
March 1938 Invasion of Austria (Anschluss)
Sept. 1938 Munich conference of Germany, Italy, France, Britain
Oct. 1938 Germany takes Sudetenland, Teschen to Poland
March 1939 Germany occupies Czechoslovakia
March 1939 Germany occupies Memel
March 1939 Britain and France guarantee Poland
One womans reaction to the German entry into the
Sudetenland, Sept. 1938.
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The Nazi-Soviet Pact, 23 August 1939

• Article I. Both High Contracting Parties obligate
  themselves to desist from any act of violence,
  any aggressive action, and any attack on each
  other, either individually or jointly with other
  Powers.
• Article II. Should one of the High Contracting
  Parties become the object of belligerent action
  by a third Power, the other High Contracting
  Party shall in no manner lend its support to this
  third Power.
• Secret Additional Protocol
• Article I. In the event of a territorial and
  political rearrangement in the areas belonging to
  the Baltic States (Finland, Estonia, Latvia,
  Lithuania), the northern boundary of Lithuania
  shall represent the boundary of the spheres of
  influence of Germany and U.S.S.R. In this
  connection the interest of Lithuania in the Vilna
  area is recognized by each party.
• Article II. In the event of a territorial and
  political rearrangement of the areas belonging to
  the Polish state, the spheres of influence of
  Germany and the U.S.S.R. shall be bounded
  approximately by the line of the rivers Narev,
  Vistula and San.
• The question of whether the interests of both
  parties make desirable the maintenance of an
  independent Polish States and how such a state
  should be bounded can only be definitely
  determined in the course of further political
  developments.
• In any event both Governments will resolve this
  question by means of a friendly agreement.
• Article III. With regard to Southeastern Europe
  attention is called by the Soviet side to its
  interest in Bessarabia. The German side declares
  its complete political disinterestedness in these
  areas.
• Article IV. This protocol shall be treated by
  both parties as strictly secret.

Rendezvous, by David Low, The Evening Standard,
20 September 1939
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Blitzkrieg

• Germany had only begun to rearm in 1935 they
  needed tactics to offset their numerical
  inferiority.
• Emphasis on speed and movement use of modern
  technology (tanks, air power, paratroops etc.) to
  avoid the long drawn-out war of attrition.
• Break through enemy lines, seize key objectives,
  present the enemy with a fait accompli before
  they can react.
• Schwerpunkt (focal point) concentrate forces to
  break through enemy lines at a single point.
• Speed of movement would then allow the Germans to
  paralyse the enemys decision-making and limit
  their freedom of action.

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The Polish Campaign, 1-28 Sept. 1939 Source R.
Overy, The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Third
Reich
Right Campaigns in western Europe and the
Mediterranean, April 1940-April 1941 Source The
Encyclopaedia of the German Army in the 20th
Century
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The Battle of Britain

• Air superiority necessary if Germany to mount an
  invasion of the British Isles.
• Reasons for failure to do so
• German aircraft have limited range were
  designed to support land forces.
• British fighters superior.
• Britain building more fighters more quickly than
  the Germans.
• Radar.
• Change of tactics.

Source R. Overy, The Penguin Historical Atlas of
the Third Reich
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The Blitz
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Operation Barbarossa

• The largest land invasion ever seen.
• Three Army Groups made up of German, Italian,
  Hungarian and Romanian troops aim to capture key
  strategic areas the Baltic coast and Leningrad
  (North), the Ukraine Moscow (Centre) and the
  oil fields of the Caucuses (South).
• Intended to be a repeat of the successful
  Blitzkrieg in the West.
• Armies covered vast distances but didnt achieve
  their objectives.
• Flaws
• Operation started too late armies at the mercy
  of the Russian winter.
• Deep penetration into Russia left supply lines
  exposed.

Source R. Overy, The Penguin Historical Atlas of
the Third Reich (1996)
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The Home Front

• Hitler convinced that the collapse of the home
  front had led to defeat in 1918 determination
  to avoid a similar situation in WWII.
• Continued provision of leisure entertainment.
• A reluctance to ask the public to bare
  sacrifices (Craig), initially led to limited
  state interference in the economy a failure of
  mobilize the full resources of the state.
• Women not brought into the war effort on
  ideological grounds.
• Surveillance of the population the security
  forces on the look-out for signs of defeatism.
• Intensification of propaganda cult of the
  Führer.
• Exploitation of occupied territories and forced
  labour.

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Fritz Todt (1891-1942), Minister of Armaments,
1940-42
Albert Speer (1905-1981), Minister of Armaments,
1942-45
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Source R. Overy, The Penguin Historical Atlas of
the Third Reich
Source R. Overy, Russias War (1997)
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The New Order in Europe

• By 1942 Germany dominated Europe even those
  states that remained neutral had to keep on good
  terms with the Germans.
• Germany ruthlessly exploited occupied
  territories, expropriating assets, raw materials,
  art treasure etc.
• Use of foreign workers to solve the labour
  shortage 7 million foreign workers in Germany,
  and a further 7 million in the occupied
  territories by 1944.
• Ambitious plans to colonize the east
  ghetoization liquidation of Jews, slavs etc.
  to make way for colonists.

Poster inviting Dutchmen to join the SS
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The Turning of the Tide, 1942-43

• 7 Dec. 1941 Japan attacked the US naval base at
  Pearl Harbour.
• 11 Dec. 1941 Hitler declared war on the USA,
  globalizing the conflict.
• 5 Sept. 1942 German forces reached the Russian
  city of Stalingrad.
• 23 Oct. 5 Nov. 1942 Battle of El Alamein the
  British 8th Army defeated the Germans in North
  Africa and pushed them into retreat.
• 8 Nov. 1942 Anglo-American forces invaded
  Morocco Algeria, cutting off the German retreat
  and trapping them in Tunisia.
• July-August 1943 The British Americans invade
  Sicily.
• Sept. 1943 Anglo-American forces move onto the
  Italian peninsula. Germany occupies Italy.

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Stalingrad

• Confrontation between the two dictators over the
  City of Stalin neither would give in.
• Russian counter-attack in November 1942 encircled
  the German 6th Army.
• The Germans lost 750,000 men (killed or missing)
  and 91,000 were captured.
• A turning point in the war after Stalingrad the
  Germans did nothing but retreat on the eastern
  front.

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Source R. Overy, The Penguin Historical Atlas of
the Third Reich
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Aerial view of Dresden after allied bombing
Allied troops enter Berlin, 1945
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Russian soldiers wave the Hammer Sickle flag
from the roof of the Reichstag building, Berlin,
May 1945
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Reasons for Defeat

• The role of Hitler.
• Fighting on multiple fronts.
• The failure to fully mobilize the population and
  the economy.
• Flexibility.
• Morale.
• Key texts
• Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich at War (2008)
• Richard Overy, Why the Allies Won (2006)