World War II The Definitive Visual History

world THE DEFINITIVE VISUAL history war II



world THE DEFINITIVE VISUAL history war II from blitzkrieg to the atom bomb

LONDON, NEW YORK, MELBOURNE, CONTENTS MUNICH, AND DELHI 1 THE SEEDS Japan on the March 32 DORLING KINDERSLEY OF WAR 34 Senior Art Editor Senior Editor 1914 – 1938 Japan’s desire to be considered a world power. 36 Growing militarism and invasion of Manchuria. 38 Gadi Farfour Alison Sturgeon Introduction 40 Designers Project Editors Rise of the Axis 42 Amy Orsborne, Priya Kukadia, Ferdie McDonald, Sam Atkinson, Hitler and Mussolini flex their military muscle 44 Elizabeth O’Neill, Dean Morris Tarda Davison-Aitkins in the Rhineland and Abyssinia and form a 46 powerful new pact. 48 Managing Art Editor Managing Editor 50 Karen Self Debra Wolter Weakness of the Democracies Cartographers Picture Researcher The Great Depression. Attitudes of France, Encompass Graphics Ltd, Brighton, UK; Sarah Smithies Britain, and the US to the threat of fascism. Iorwerth Watkins; David Roberts 10 The Spanish Civil War Production Controller Production Editor Louise Daly Maria Elia Fascists and Socialists rehearse the greater Art Director Reference Publisher Bryn Walls Jonathan Metcalf 12 conflict to come. Associate Publisher Liz Wheeler Timeline 14 Japan invades China TOUCAN BOOKS LTD The War to End War The start of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Senior Designer Managing Editor The Great War, the bloody stalemate of trench 16 Japanese conquests. Thomas Keenes Ellen Dupont warfare, the Russian revolutions of 1917, the Designers Senior Editor entry of the United States into the war. Appeasing Hitler Nick Avery, Phil Fitzgerald, Alice Peebles The Flawed Peace German rearmament and annexations: Austria Leah Germann, Mark Scribbens and Sudetenland. France and Britain unable Versailles and the other peace treaties. War Additional Text Editors reparations. The founding of the League of 18 to prevent Hitler’s territorial demands. Donald Sommerville Natasha Kahn, Anna Southgate Nations. The United States refuses to join. 220 Editorial Assistants Fascism and Nazism Abigail Keen, Tom Pocklington 22 New nationalist political doctrines designed to First American Edition, 2009 combat the spread of communism. Published in the United States by O BENITO MUSSOLINI DK Publishing Hitler Takes Power 24 EUROPE GOES 375 Hudson Street TO WAR New York, New York 10014 Germany’s failure to create a workable democracy. The effects of the Depression. 26 1939 A Penguin Company Hitler’s rise and establishment of dictatorship. Introduction Copyright © 2009 Dorling Kindersley Limited The Nazi State Timeline 08 09 10 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The Nazi ideology is established in Germany, 28 with propaganda and anti-Jewish legislation All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, playing an important role. The Path to War stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, 30 Europe prepares for war. Germany marches O THE BERLIN OLYMPICS electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without into Czechoslovakia. The secret Molotov- prior written permission of the copyright owner. Civil Wars in China Ribbentrop Pact between USSR and Germany. Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. The wars that developed into a long, drawn-out struggle between Nationalists and Communists. A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: 978-0-7566-4278-5 DK books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. For details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets, 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 or [email protected]. Printed and bound by Star Standard in Singapore See our complete catalogue at www.dk.com

O RIFLES 52 Blitzkrieg 476 The War in the Desert 124 Declarations of War The German invasion of the Netherlands, 78 Failure of Italian invasion of Egypt. Germans under Rommel arrive to reinforce Italian army. Hitler’s invasion of Poland is followed by 54 Belgium, and France. Success of the THE WIDENING Advances and retreats across Libya. declarations of war by Britain and France. 80 WAR Wehrmacht’s fast-moving mechanized divisions backed by close air support. 82 1941 Introduction O MEDICINE IN THE FIELD 126 O ADOLF HITLER 56 Dunkirk Timeline O ERWIN ROMMEL 128 84 Poland Destroyed British Expeditionary Force trapped at Dunkirk. Conflicts in the Middle East 130 Life under the Swastika Despite their protests, Britain and France can do 58 British and French troops evacuated by the Invasion of Syria and Lebanon. The importance nothing to save Poland from Hitler and Stalin. Life in France, the Netherlands, and other Royal Navy and flotilla of small craft. conquered states. Hardships. Collaboration of Middle Eastern oilfields. War in Iraq. The Phoney War and resistance. The treatment of Jews. O THE EVACUATION OF DUNKIRK Occupation of Iran. Situation in Palestine. France and Britain await Hitler’s next move. 86 The situation on the home front. 60 100 The Fall of France O LIFE UNDER GERMAN Early Skirmishes The Balkans Invaded 132 The conquest of France. Germans enter Paris. 88 OCCUPATION Minor action on the Western Front. British French agree to an armistice. Formation of the 102 Rapid German conquest of the Balkans. bombing of German ports. Actions at sea. Governments in Exile 62 Vichy government under Pétain. British withdrawal from Crete. The Winter War The French, Polish, Czechs, and other peoples The Battle of Britain conquered by Hitler establish governments 104 USSR invades Finland. Despite early defeats, the Soviets eventually make small territorial gains. Battle for control of the skies over Britain as 90 in exile in Britain. Operation Barbarossa 134 O JOSEPH STALIN 64 Hitler plans to invade. The importance of 106 Surprise German invasion of the Soviet 3 radar. The invasion is called off. Union begins with a series of stunning victories. GERMANY O WINSTON CHURCHILL O SIEGE OF LENINGRAD 136 TRIUMPHANT 66 108 Nazi Massacres 138 1940 The Blitz Occupied Soviet Union. Einsatzgruppen and Introduction Relentless German bombing campaign targets London and other British cities. executions of communists and Jews. Babi Yar. Timeline Effect on the civilian population. 110 The Invasion of Denmark O REFUGE FROM THE BLITZ and Norway Moscow Saved 140 Britain Organizes for Total War German conquest of the two countries. German advance halted by Russian winter and Extensive new coastline under German control. Evacuation of children. The internment of aliens. New roles for women in the workforce. determined Soviet resistance. Civil defense measures. Rationing. 92 O CHARLES DE GAULLE 112 America on the Brink 142 O THE HOME FRONT IN EUROPE O PROPAGANDA Worsening relations between America and Japan America Backs Britain 68 Roosevelt’s support for Britain in the face of The Secret War 114 over China and the Japanese occupation of 94 The intelligence war, ciphers, and code- opposition from American isolationists. The French Indochina. US policy hardens. breaking. The German Enigma code and the 70 Lend-Lease Act allows the US to provide 116 96 Japanese “Purple” deciphered by the Allies. much greater material and financial aid. O FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT 144 The U-Boat War 72 Japan Gambles on War 146 Italy Enters the War Success of the German campaign against shipping from new bases in France. Japan’s decision to seize Southeast Asian Seeing Hitler’s success, Mussolini invades 98 O LIFE ON A U-BOAT 118 colonies while making pre-emptive strike against 74 southern France. Italy also at war with Greece Hunting the Bismarck US Navy. Events leading to Pearl Harbor. and with Britain in East and North Africa. Invasion of British Somaliland and Egypt. Sorties by German warships to prey on British Pearl Harbor 148 and neutral shipping. Sinking of the Bismarck. 120 Japanese surprise attack on US naval base in the Hawaiian Islands. Roosevelt declares it a 122 “Day of infamy.” America enters the war. O ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR 150

5 O ROUNDING UP THE JEWS 178 7Showdown in the Atlantic 204 Malta and the Mediterranean 180 Battle of the Atlantic 1942–43. Heavy convoy losses to German wolf packs, followed by Allied Convoys and naval battles in the Mediterranean. successes against the U-boats. Repeated bombing of Malta. O SINKING OF MERCHANT SHIPS 206 El Alamein 182 Fall of Tobruk. Rommel’s offensive against O COMMUNICATIONS 208 THE SHIFTING Egypt. British victory at El Alamein. The Invasion of Sicily 210 OVERWHELMING FORCE BALANCE O BERNARD LAW MONTGOMERY 184 Allied landings on Sicily. Island taken, but Axis troops escape to mainland. Fall of Mussolini. 1944 1942 Torch Landings 186 New Italian government seeks peace. 212 Introduction 152 US and British landings in Morocco and Algeria. Held by the Gustav Line Introduction 232 Timeline 234 German and Italian surrender in Tunisia. Landings at Salerno. Mussolini rescued by Timeline 236 German paratroops. Allied progress in Italy 238 154 halted by strong German defensive line. 240 Saving the Soviet Union 188 242 156 Relocation of industries to the east. The role of 244 246 The Japanese Onslaught women in industry and agriculture. Bombing Germany by Night 214 Battles for the Marianas 248 Japanese conquest of Southeast Asia, the 158 190 Area bombing of German cities by the RAF. Landings on Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. US Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines. The German Drive to the East 192 250 Massive raids on Cologne and Hamburg. victory in battle of the Philippine Sea—the 252 The New Japanese Empire Offensive of summer 1942 toward Caucasus “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.” 254 Japan exploits the resources and labor of and the Baku oilfields. Bombing Germany by Day 216 256 160 Soviet Triumph at Stalingrad Bombing of German cities and factories by the Return to the Philippines conquered territories. The Burma Railway. Catastrophic defeat for Germans after fiercest USAAF. Heavy losses on long-distance daylight US landings on the island of Leyte. Vast naval fighting of the war. German Sixth Army raids without fighter escorts. battle of Leyte Gulf. First systematic use of Coral Sea and Midway 162 encircled by Soviet armies. kamikaze attacks. Japanese are checked at Coral Sea, then suffer O USAAF RAID ON SCHWEINFURT 218 serious losses to their carrier fleet at Midway. O STALINGRAD 194 The German War Industry O LANDING IN THE PHILIPPINES 220 Guadalcanal 6164 Despite the bombing raids on factories, O DOUGLAS MACARTHUR Fierce battles for the island on land and at sea. 166 Germany increases its war production using Defending Australia 168 slave and forced labor. Role of Albert Speer. Suffering China US troops make Australia their base. The THE ALLIES TURN Failings of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists. bombing of Darwin. Fighting in New Guinea. 170 THE TIDE The French Resistance 222 Japanese 1944 offensive into southern China. America Organizes for Victory 172 1943 Spread of resistance after German occupation of Galvanization of American industry. Social and Introduction economic changes. Women in the labor force. 174 Vichy zone. Reprisals against local populations. Turning Point in Burma O WOMEN IN INDUSTRY Timeline Allies halt Japanese on the Indian border. 176 Secret Armies Prisoners of War in Europe 224 Operations by Chindits and Stilwell’s Chinese. Allied Leaders Plan for Victory British SOE and American OSS, promoting The fate of Allied and Axis POWs. The Red Recapture of Mandalay and Rangoon. resistance movements in Europe and Asia. Conferences at Casablanca, Quebec, Cairo, and Tehran. Decisions taken on invasion of Europe. Cross. Escapes and punishments. O ESPIONAGE The Battle of Kursk O JUNGLE WARFARE IN BURMA The Holocaust 226 German policy of comprehensive genocide of the Jews, the “Final Solution.” The building of The failure of German Operation Citadel to The Fall of Rome Auschwitz and other death camps. 196 eliminate the Kursk salient. Soviet victory in Anzio landings. The long battle for Monte 198 200 vast tank battle in summer 1943. Cassino. US forces enter Rome. Germans 202 withdraw to new defensive lines in the north. O GEORGY ZHUKOV 228 Preparing for D-Day Island-Hopping in the Pacific 230 Planning and training for the invasion of US advances in New Guinea and on the France. Germans strengthen the Atlantic Wall. Solomons bypass heavily defended Japanese positions. Landings on the Gilbert Islands. O DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

D-Day Landings 258 Battle of the Bulge 284 The Battle for Iwo Jima 310 O POSTWAR REFUGEES 336 Airdrops followed by landings on five beaches. German counter-offensive in the Ardennes. Japanese mount fierce defense of the small US troops met by heavy fire on Omaha Beach. US troops encircled in Bastogne. Beachheads established by end of the day. island from a network of tunnels and bunkers. The Fate of the Defeated 338 O GEORGE S. PATTON O OMAHA BEACH LANDING The occupation of Japan and Germany. 260 Breakout from Normandy 286 Okinawa 312 Nuremberg trials and war trials in Japan. 8262 Fierce German resistance around Caen, St. Lô, US troops fight a series of grim battles for the and Falaise before Allies can break out from 264 Normandy and advance toward Paris. island, while their ships come under repeated The Iron Curtain 340 O PERSONAL GEAR attacks from kamikaze planes. Churchill’s prophetic speech. The Marshall Plan. Berlin blockade. Permanently divided Germany. Japan under Siege 314 Bombing of Japan. Mining of Japanese waters Rebirth of Japan and West Germany 342 and submarine campaign against shipping. US aid to the two conquered nations brings democracy and economic recovery. Subjects of the Emperor 316 Hitler Bomb Plot 266 Japanese home front. Determination to fight on The End of Empires 344 Discontent in Germany. Failed attempt by a ENDGAME despite bombing and desperate food shortages. Independence for India and Indonesia, followed group of German officers to assassinate Hitler by other European colonies. Creation of Israel. at his headquarters in Rastenburg. 1945 Potsdam Conference 318 288 Conference in occupied Germany. Demand for Red China 346 Liberation of France unconditional surrender of Japan. Mao’s triumph over the Nationalists in China. and Belgium 268 Introduction 290 The foundation of a new communist state. Liberation of Paris, eastern France, and Belgium. Timeline O MEDALS 320 348 Further progress into Germany and the The Cold War 292 Netherlands delayed by lack of fuel. Hiroshima and Nagasaki 322 The US and the Soviet Union start to build vast Red Army Offensive Destruction of Germany’s cities 294 Soviet attack in Manchuria. Atomic bombs stockpiles of ever more sophisticated nuclear 270 Fire-bombing of Dresden and other German dropped on two Japanese cities. weapons. The threat of mutual destruction Operation Bagration. Soviet summer cities. At Yalta, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin prevents either side from using them. offensives reach Poland and the Balkans. discuss postwar political settlement. O HIROSHIMA 324 The War Remembered 350 Warsaw Uprising 272 O THE BOMBING OF DRESDEN 296 Japan Surrenders 326 Memorials to the dead, movies, and other Unsuccessful uprising against the Germans by Japanese reluctantly accept defeat after hearing commemorations of the war. Polish underground army. Soviets fail to come The Allies Invade the Reich 298 speech by Emperor Hirohito. to their aid. Americans, British, and French cross the Index 352 Rhine. Soviet advances in the East. Desperate 9300 Resistance and Civil War last-ditch resistance by the Germans. Acknowledgments 359 in Greece 274 Italian withdrawal. Fighting between resistance Liberating the Nazi Death Camps groups, EDES, and communist-backed ELAS. Discovery of the death camps and the realization of the full extent of the atrocities Balkan Snakepit 276 committed by the Nazis. Two main factions of partisans: royalist Cˇetniks and Tito’s communists. Latter unite with the O DISCOVERY OF BELSEN 302 Red Army to liberate Yugoslavia. 304 AFTERMATH Final Offensives in Europe 1946 – 1950 German Secret Weapons 278 Soviets and Americans meet on the Elbe. Retaliation against Britain through V-weapons: Distrust between the Allies. After desperate 328 flying bombs and rockets. house-to-house fighting Soviets take Berlin. Operation Market Garden 280 Deaths of the Dictators Introduction 330 306 332 Failure of Allied airdrop to capture bridge over Hitler’s suicide in his Berlin bunker. Admiral the Lower Rhine at Arnhem. Dönitz takes over as head of government. Timeline The killing of Mussolini by Italian partisans. O MACHINE AND SUBMACHINE Counting the Cost 334 282 GUNS The horrific death toll. Refugees, displaced O VE DAY 308 persons, and prisoners of war.

Foreword W orld War II was the largest and most destructive war in history. It shaped the world my generation grew up in, and only now are its long shadows receding. Like any hugely complex historical event, World War II is hard to describe in print. Some brilliant scholars have managed, using impressionistic strokes, to sketch out its major features in relatively few pages, although, perhaps inevitably, their purposeful lines obscure its finer detail. Others have concentrated on specific aspects: shelves groan beneath books on, say, Normandy or the fighting in North Africa. Many Western authors, writing in the chill of the Cold War, failed to recognize the pivotal importance of the Eastern Front, just as Russian historians, preoccupied with their own “Great Patriotic War,” did not do justice to the Western Allies’ efforts. In short, although there is now almost no aspect of the war that is not explored, it remains difficult to find an over-arching history of the conflict, unconstrained by national horizon or the rigid limitations of size and space, aimed at the general reader and properly supported, as such a history must be, by maps and illustrations. I warmly commend this book because it provides exactly that accessible survey that has long been missing. It recognizes that this war flared up out of the embers of the previous one, and does not simply pay proper attention to the dangerous legacy of World War I in Europe, but assesses the effect of Japan’s dissatisfaction with the fruits of its own participation. For instance events in China, too often neglected, are properly considered here. Both the war’s causes, at one end, and its consequences, at the other, are viewed in the round, embedding the conflict in its broader context. The events of the war were inter-related by long and complex threads, and it is misleading to consider any single episode, no matter how significant, in isolation. One of the many virtues of this book is that it tells, on the one hand, the stories of specific battles and campaigns but, on the other, its layout enables the reader to see how these relate to previous and subsequent events. It recognizes the role played by the machinery of war, but at the same time allows many participants to speak at length about their own experiences. The book’s coverage is global. It encompasses events on land, at sea, and in the air, and includes not simply the actions of great men but also the achievements and endurance of the countless thousands of men and women who participated, in a myriad of ways, in this most titanic of all struggles. RICHARD HOLMES, 2009





1 THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914 —1938 The treaties that ended World War I left many countries bitter and resentful and failed to establish a lasting peace. In the political and economic uncertainties of the time, right-wing Nationalist parties had a strong appeal, most ominously Hitler’s Nazis in Germany.

THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914–1938 THE SEEDS OF WAR Adolf Hitler’s rise to Germany’s The revolution of 1917 threw power gained momentum annexation of the old Russian empire into chaos, as popular support for the Austria in 1938 Nazi Party grew in the early was an indication but under Lenin’s leadership the 1930s. Here Hitler addresses of Hitler’s territorial Bolsheviks managed to establish a brown-shirted paramilitary ambitions, but was new empire in its place: the USSR, supporters at a rally in 1933, achieved without the year he took office as force and welcomed the world’s first communist state. by most Austrians. chancellor of Germany. Y EUROPE A N W E R D ICELAND NO FINLAND WE N O R WAY S SWEDEN FAEROE ISLANDS FINLAND BRITAIN (to Denmark) ic Sea AT L A N T I C GERMANY POLAND USSR FRANCE ESTONIA OCEAN I TA LY North Caspian SeaLATVIABlack Sea Sea TUNISLITHUANIA DENMARK B a l t S PA I N TURKEY A N DANZIGIT AFGHANISTA IRISH (League of Nations GER. USSR SPANISH MOROCCO CYPRUS SYRIA P E R S I A TIBET MOROCCO PALESTINE (French IRAQ FREE B R ITAI N NETH.G Administration) (British mandate) mandate) (autonomous) STATE E RMANY (British mandate) ALGERIA L I B YA KUWAIT NEPAL BEL. LUX. POLAND BAHRAIN EGYPT TRANSJORDAN QATAR (British mandate) RIO DE ORO SAAR CZECHOSLOVAKIA NEJD TRUCIAL I N D I A (League of Nations ANGLO - (Saudi) OMAN Administration) AUSTRIAHUNGARY FRENCH WEST AFRICA EGYPTIAN ASIR OMAN YEMEN HADHRAMAUT F R A N C E SWITZ. S PA I N YUGOSLAVI ROMANIA GAMBIA TOGO CAMEROONS SUDAN ADEN PROTECTORATE BULGARIA (French mandate) (British mandate) (British mandate) A LY Black Sea PORTUGUESE GUINEA NIGERIA FRENCH ERITREA FRENCH SOMALILAND CEYLON SIERRA LEONE BRITISH EQUATORIAL ABYSSINIA ITALIAN SOMALILAND PORTUGAL ALB. LIBERIA GOLD AFRICA DA SOMALILAND TOGO COAST UGAN KENYA GREECE T U R K E Y CAMEROONS Me (British mandate) (French mandate) ALGERIA d iterra BELGIAN (to France) TUNISIA CONGO DODECANESE TANGANYIKA (to France) n (to Italy) (British mandate) e a SYRIA NYASALAND INDIAN NORTHERN RHODESIA MOROCCO n Sea CYPRUS ANGOLA (to France) IRAQ LIBYA SOUTHERN MADAGASCAR OCEAN (to Italy) RHODESIA EGYPT SOUTH WEST BECHUANA- PORTUGUESE LAND EAST AFRICA AFRICA The Spanish Civil Benito Mussolini, UNION War (1936–39) was a founder of the Italian OF grim struggle between Fascist movement, forced Right and Left. Germany his way to power in 1922. SOUTH AFRICA His style of dictatorship and Italy lent greater revolved around a strong Italy’s conquest of support to Franco’s personality cult and Abyssinia in 1935–36 dreams of reviving the pitted modern European Nationalists than the glory of the Roman Empire. USSR provided for weaponry against a the Republicans. traditional African state. Here, Emperor Haile Selassie inspects Italian unexploded bombs. T he peace treaties that formally brought World War I to an end world power had not been properly recognized. Finally, there was contained many of the seeds of the wider conflict of 1939–45. Russia. The 1917 Bolshevik revolution led to its leaving the war, Germany lost its empire, had East Prussia cut off by the Polish Corridor, but it was then wracked by civil war. After a brief attempt to spread and was forced to pay the Allies huge financial reparations. The old communism into Europe, the USSR largely turned in on itself. Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires were broken up into smaller states. Among the Allies, Italy was disappointed not to have received Weak governments and economic instability began to polarize greater territorial rewards, while Japan felt that its emergence as a political opinion to the Left and Right in a number of countries. It was the Right that won out in Italy, Germany, and Japan. By the early 12

THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914–1938 1914 —1938 Japan’s conquests began in 1931. Taking advantage of the Chinese Civil War, its troops overran the northern province of Manchuria, where they established the puppet state of Manchukuo. CANADA NEWFOUNDLAND The Wall Street Crash, which began in October ONGOLIA China suffered a second onslaught Great 1929, wiped $30 billion off by the Japanese in 1937. Here Lakes the value of the New York CHINA Chinese troops take up positions stock market in one week, along the Great Wall in a vain U N ITED STATES causing unprecedented attempt to hold back the invaders. OF AMERICA panic in the financial world. J A PA N E S E EMPIRE PACIFIC MEXICO BRITISH HONDURAS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC AT L A N T I C OCEAN VIRGIN ISLANDS Mariana Hawaiian Islands CUBA LEEWARD ISLANDS Islands HAITI (Japanese mandate) IAM FRENCH PHILIPPINE GUAM GUATEMALA HONDURAS WINDWARD ISLANDS OCEAN INDOCHINA ISLANDS EL SALVADOR NICARAGUA BARBADOS BRITISH Marshall Islands TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO NORTH BORNEO (Japanese mandate) COSTA RICA BRITISH GUIANA PANAMA DUTCH GUIANA BRUNEI Caroline VENEZUELA SARAWAK Islands (Japanese mandate) Christmas CANAL COLOMBIA FRENCH GUIANA Island ZONE Gilbert MALAYA TERRITORY Nauru Islands ECUADOR DUTCH EAST INDIES OF NEW GUINEA Solomon Ellice Islands Islands Cook PAPUA Islands BRAZIL UAY PORTUGUESE New WESTERN French Polynesia TIMOR Hebrides SAMOA AMERICAN PERU SAMOA BOLIVIA Fiji Tonga PARAG AUSTRALIA New Caledonia URUGUAY ARGENTINA The Chinese Civil War The Great Depression CHILE lasted from the 1920s to began in the US in the 1949. In 1935–36 the wake of the Wall Street FALKLAND eventual victors, the Crash. As banks and ISLANDS Communists, undertook businesses failed, more the “Long March” to than 13 million men THE WORLD 1918–1938 escape the danger of became unemployed. The Frontiers 1925 encirclement by their economic slowdown soon enemies, the Kuomintang. affected all the world’s capitalist economies and lasted until World War II. 1930s Mussolini, Hitler, and the Japanese military were bent on means to enforce peace, as its failure to halt Japanese and Italian territorial expansion. Japan seized Manchuria and went on to invade aggression showed. Economic depression precipitated by the 1929 China. Italy overran Abyssinia and, after bringing Austria into the Wall Street Crash also played its part in the failure. Mutual suspicion German fold, Hitler set about dismembering Czechoslovakia. eventually proved the stumbling block to disarmament. Britain and France were forced to rearm, but they still hoped that appeasing the The Western democracies pinned their hopes for peace on the dictators might avert major war, especially since the Spanish Civil League of Nations and disarmament. The former proved to be War revealed the horrors of modern warfare only too graphically. deeply flawed. The United States did not join it and it lacked the 13

THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914–1938 TIMELINE 1914–1938 Treaty of Versailles ■ League of Nations ■ Mussolini takes power ■ Wall Street Crash ■ Great Depression ■ Japanese invade Manchuria ■ Rise of Hitler ■ Spanish Civil War ■ Anschluss ■ Sino–Japanese War ■ Italians invade Abyssinia ■ Munich Crisis 1914 – 1916 1917 – 1918 1919 – 1920 1921 – 1922 1923 – 1924 1925 – 1926 JANUARY 1919 OCTOBER 1925 Communist uprising Treaties of Locarno. in Berlin, led by the France, Germany, and Spartacists. Belgium recognize as permanent the borders FEBRUARY 1919 agreed at Versailles. Start of Polish-Soviet Germany promises War. Poles retain their not to send troops independence. into the Rhineland. AUGUST 1914 Trench Warfare JUNE 28 1919 OCTOBER 1922 Outbreak of World War I; Treaty of Versailles signed. Mussolini and about Germany invades France. APRIL 1917 Germany accepts guilt 30,000 supporters take US declares war for the war, loses all its part in the March on 1915 on Germany. colonies as well as Rome. Mussolini forms Stalemate in the trenches territories in Europe, and Fascist government. on the Western Front. agrees to pay crippling war reparations. FEBRUARY 1916 German Maxim 08/15 The March on Rome MARCH 1926 Germans launch attack machine-gun Death of Chinese leader on Verdun that develops 1923 Sun Yat-Sen. He is into six-month bloodbath. JULY 1917 Hyperinflation in Germany succeeded as leader Beginning of Third reaches its peak. of the Kuomintang by JULY 1916 Battle of Ypres. Chiang Kai-shek. Battle of the Somme. JANUARY 1923 Attempt to break through NOVEMBER 1917 French and Belgian troops MAY 1926 German lines is a costly Second Russian occupy the Ruhr to force General strike in Britain failure. 19,240 British revolution. Bolsheviks Germany to keep up in support of coal miners soldiers killed on first day. seize power. reparation payments. called off after nine days. The Treaty of Versailles OCTOBER 1922 Red Army takes Vladivostok, the last major action in the Russian Civil War. DECEMBER 1922 Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. MARCH 1918 1920 NOVEMBER 8, 1923 The Munich Putsch Russia and Germany Germany begins to Munich Putsch. Hitler sign Treaty of suffer from spiraling leads failed attempt to JULY 1926 Brest-Litovsk. inflation. overthrow Bavarian Kuomintang begins a government. campaign in northern NOVEMBER 11, 1918 China in an attempt to War ends with signing 1924 reunify the country. of the Armistice in Hitler spends eight a railway car at months in prison, where Compiègne, France. he writes Mein Kampf. Signing of the Armistice Five million mark note 14

TIMELINE 1914–1938 “ Do we wish to restore Germany to freedom and power? … Men must not sleep; they ought to know that a thunderstorm is coming up.” ADOLF HITLER AT A SPEECH IN MUNICH, APRIL 20,1933 1927 – 1928 1929 – 1930 1931 – 1932 1933 – 1934 1935 – 1936 1937 – 1938 JANUARY 1927 1929 Nazi armband JANUARY 1933 1935–1936 Inter-Allied Wall Street Crash. The Hitler appointed Italy conquers Abyssinia; Disarmament American stock market APRIL 1931 chancellor of Germany. Mussolini announces Commission collapses, throwing the Monarchy in Spain is FEBRUARY 1933 annexation of the country withdrawn United States into a dissolved and King Reichstag fire blamed in May 1936. from Germany. deep recession and Alfonso XIII leaves the on Communists. German production causing a worldwide country as Spain is MARCH 1933 OCTOBER 1935 of artillery and armor economic downturn. declared a republic. Roosevelt starts first Chinese Communists is increased. term as US president. reach safety at the Germans scavenge for SEPTEMBER 1931 end of Long March MAY 1928 coal during the Depression Mukden incident—a JUNE 1934 to Shaanxi province. Nazi Party contests section of Japanese Night of the Long elections in Germany railway in Manchuria Knives: many of Hitler’s MARCH 1936 for the first time, a year is blown up. Japan enemies and rivals German troops reoccupy after the ban on Hitler begins conquest of arrested and executed. demilitarized Rhineland. participating in politics Manchuria. SEPTEMBER 1934 is lifted, and wins just Hitler proclaims start MAY 1936 12 seats in the of 1,000-year Reich. The Popular Front, an Reichstag. alliance of Communists Nazi parade at and socialists, wins Buckeburg in Germany election in France. Japan invades China Nazi election poster APRIL 1937 Deliberate bombing JULY 1936 of civilian population Start of Spanish Civil War in Basque city of Guernica. between the Republican government and General JULY 1937 Franco’s “nationalists.” Marco Polo Bridge incident gives the Japanese an AUGUST 1936 excuse to invade China. Hitler uses Berlin Olympics as showcase for Nazi ideals. AUGUST 1928 APRIL 1930 Through the Kellogg- London Naval Treaty. The Briand Pact more than major powers agree to 60 nations sign a restrict the size of their pledge to outlaw war. navies. The Japanese sign reluctantly—this is the last such treaty they are prepared to sign. FEBRUARY 1932 The Munich Agreement Japan sets up puppet state of Manchukuo MARCH 1938 in Manchuria. Anschluss: Hitler annexes Austria. JULY 1932 Nazis win most seats SEPTEMBER 1938 in German elections Munich crisis. Britain and to the Reichstag. France accede to Hitler’s demand to annex Japanese naval ensign the Sudetenland, the German-speaking regions of Czechoslovakia. 15

THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914–1938 BEFORE During the late 19th and early 20th centuries Europe was dominated by two alliances, the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, and the Triple Entente of France, Russia, and Britain. SETTLING OLD SCORES France wanted to reclaim its former eastern provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, which had been taken by Germany after the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War. Germany was casting envious eyes over the British Empire and saw creating a navy as powerful as the Royal Navy as key to enlarging its own overseas possessions, while Italy was in dispute with Austria-Hungary over territory in the Alps. In the Balkans there was opposition from Serbia to Austria-Hungary’s annexation of Bosnia and Hercegovina, which contained large Serbian minorities. Russia, keen to encourage fellow Slavs, supported Serbia. THE CATALYST TO WAR The War to End War It was the Balkans that provided the spark that led to war. The Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip The war of 1914–18 was the culmination of growing tension in Europe, but it spread to many parts of murdered the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir the globe. It was marked by slaughter and the increasing application of technology on the main fronts, to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, when he was visiting Bosnia in late June 1914. The Austrians mobilized against Serbia, the Russians gave support to the Serbs, the Germans came in on the side of their Austrian ally, and the French then mobilized against Germany. NEW WEAPONS OF WORLD WAR I New technology—in particular, quick-firing machine-guns, allied to increasingly powerful heavy artillery—led to the unprecedented slaughter on both sides. and by the end of the conflict empires had been lost, and the map of Europe was about to be redrawn. GERMAN MG08/15 I t was widely believed by both sides Army of resources and morale at Sea during the early part of the war. MACHINE-GUN that the war would be over by Verdun during 1916, while both sides But in May 1916 they clashed at Christmas, but the opposing war lost heavily during the primarily British Jutland, off the coast of Denmark, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin plans did not work as expected. offensive on the Somme that summer. after which the German High Seas Having inspired the October Revolution in 1917, Lenin was Spring 1917 saw further Anglo-French Fleet withdrew back to port, not to elected head of state in November of that year. This poster By the end of that year the war on attacks result in little gain and also shows Lenin encouraging the workers to take control of the Western Front had become virtually mutinies in the French Army, which One major development of the war was the factories, and to seize and redistribute wealth. static, with rapid-fire weapons causing forced it onto the defensive. This left in airpower. At the outset aircraft were defense to become stronger than attack. the British to carry out the main used merely for reconnaissance, but soon Meanwhile, other theatres of war had summer offensive, which took place in came the fighter and the bomber. opened outside of Europe. There were the Ypres sector and eventually became campaigns in Africa to seize German literally bogged down in the mud. venture out again. Instead the colonies; Turkey, which had been under Germans concentrated on trying to German influence, joined the war on its The war at sea throttle Britain’s maritime supply lines side in October 1914; and troops from with their submarines. This angered India landed at Basra and opened a At sea, the Royal Navy had imposed the United States, although President front against the Turks in Mesopotamia a blockade of Germany and had only Woodrow Wilson was determined to (present-day Iraq). Likewise, the skirmished with elements of the stay outside the conflict, but Caucasus, in sourthern Russia, became German High Seas Fleet in the North a battleground between the Russians and Turks. During 1915 Italy sided “ Please to God it may soon with France and Britain and became be over and that He will involved in a prolonged fight against the protect dear Bertie’s life.” Austrians along their common border. GEORGE V DECLARING WAR ON GERMANY (BERTIE, HIS SON, BECAME GEORGE VI) On the Western Front the years 1915–17 were marked by bloody deadlock. Allied offensives during 1915 failed to drive the Germans back. The Germans attempted to drain the French 16

THE WAR TO END WAR AFTER Under the terms of the Armistice, German forces in the West withdrew across the Rhine. Allied troops followed them and occupied the east bank of the river. END OF EMPIRE The war itself had resulted in the breakup of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires. Three of Europe’s principal monarchies came to an end, with the former tsar of Russia being murdered. Indeed, Russia itself was now gripped by civil war, as the so-called Whites, aided by contingents from the wartime Allies, struggled to overthrow the Bolsheviks. Austria-Hungary and Germany suffered the threat of revolution 18
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in the aftermath of the fighting. BATTLE FATIGUE Many of the Allies were also exhausted. France had suffered massive losses and much of its northern regions were ravaged by war. Italy, too, was drained, while Britain was economically weak and was faced with having to police former Turkish territory in the Middle East. French troops attack at Verdun, 1916 NEW WORLD ORDER The battle lasted from February until December and The victorious Allies now gathered to work cost the French 540,000 and the Germans 435,000 out peace terms designed to ensure that casualties. It was the longest battle of the war. Europe would never again suffer as it had done during 1914–18. At the same time they established the League of Nations 18
gg, a global structure designed to prevent future war. intelligence that the Germans were the state as a whole was beginning to 24 MILLION people the British and the French to snatch proposing an alliance with Mexico led disintegrate. In March 1917 the tsar was died in victory before the Americans arrived in the president to ask for a declaration of deposed, although the country remained the influenza pandemic that swept strength. They failed to break through war in April 1917. in the war. More sinister forces were through Europe and many other parts the Allied lines and were forced onto the at work, however. Left-wing elements of the world during 1918 and 1919. defensive. In August the Allies launched The war in the East were stirring up discontent within the a series of successful attacks, and began army and there were increasing Sweden from where he reached Russia to drive the Germans steadily back. On the Russian front it was the Central incidents of units refusing to fight. and in October fomented a revolution Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) Then the Germans allowed Vladimir that overthrew the government and By fall, the Allied naval blockade, who enjoyed victory. In spite of an Ilyich Lenin, the exiled Bolshevik leader, took Russia out of the war. pressure on the Western Front, and initially successful offensive in 1916, to travel by train from Switzerland to rising political unrest at home, forced not just the Russian war machine, but With US troops beginning to arrive in Germany to seek an armistice at the KEY France in ever-increasing numbers, the beginning of November. 14 Troops mobilized Germans realized that they would soon Military deaths face overwhelming superiority on the Signing the Armistice 13 Troops mobilized Western Front. Consequently, during The German delegation arrives in the early hours Military deaths spring and early summer 1918 they of November 11, 1918, to sign the Armistice, which 12 launched a series of offensives against brought the fighting to an end on the Western Front. 11 10 9 8Troops in millions Russia 7 France British Empire 6 Italy USA 5 Others Germany Austria-Hungary Turkey Bulgaria 4 Mobilization and 3 Central Powers casualty figures 2 The human cost to both 1 sides was horrific. These 0 figures do not take account of the estimated Allied Powers 20 million wounded. 17

THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914–1938 The Flawed Peace The end of the war in November 1918 brought turmoil to many of the defeated nations as various groups struggled for power. The wartime Allies gathered to draw up peace treaties to ensure that never again would Europe experience the horrors that it had just lived through. I n January 1918 President Woodrow general agreement that the armed Conference, a communist attempt to severity and tried to get them Wilson had published his so-called forces of the defeated nations should seize power in Berlin was put down watered down. The Allies were Fourteen Points that were to form be restricted in size so that they could with great severity by the so-called adamant and on June 28 the basis of peace in Europe. He called not pose a threat. In addition, France Freikorps—organized groups of Germany reluctantly signed the for the return of all territory that had and Britain wanted Germany and its anti-communists. A general election Treaty of Versailles. The country been seized by the Central Powers allies to make financial reparation for brought a socialist government into lost all its colonies and, through (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the the physical damage they had caused. power, but fearing for its safety, it the granting of independence to Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria) in the established itself at Weimar, 150 miles Poland, East Prussia was isolated war, and for ethnic groupings within Negotiating the peace (240 km) southwest of Berlin, and was geographically from the rest of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, together known as the Weimar government. In Germany by the so-called Polish with Poland, to be allowed self- It took a number of months to sort May 1919 the unforgiving Allies determination. Wilson advocated the out the details and in the meantime establishment of a “general association there had been some presented Germany with the terms of nations” throughout the world to major developments in on which they were prepared to ensure future peace. There was also Germany. Just before make peace. The Germans the Paris Peace were aghast at their “ Six million men lie in graves, and four old men sit in Paris partitioning the earth.” “NEW YORK NATION”, JUNE 1919 BEFORE The German forces retreated across the Victorious leaders Rhine in good order after the Armistice French prime minister, Georges had been signed. They returned to a Clemenceau (left), and British prime Germany seething with unrest. minister, David Lloyd George, arrive for a session of the Paris Peace Conference. THE END OF MONARCHY Kaiser Wilhelm had been persuaded to abdicate on November 8 and the new Social Democrat government found itself facing a communist- inspired insurrection, with Bavaria declaring itself an independent socialist state. The Austro-Hungarian monarchy had also ended and the disparate parts that had made up its empire began to go their separate ways. The Bolshevik government in Russia, which was doing much to foment this unrest, was now deeply embroiled in civil war with anti-communist elements attempting to depose it. Contingents from the Allies were supporting the Whites, as the latter were called, in the extreme north of the country, the south, and in the extreme east. But the Whites lacked a central command and the ideological fire of the Reds. A NEW HOPE It was in this climate that the peacemakers gathered in Paris in January 1919 to deliberate over treaties with the vanquished states that would formally bring World War I to an end ff
16 and ensure that there would be no major war in the future. 18

THE FLAWED PEACE US PRESIDENT (1856–1924) WOODROW WILSON Corridor, which gave the The Versailles Treaty An academic and a lawyer, Woodrow Wilson AFTER Poles access to the Baltic through the This page of the treaty bears the seals and signatures did not seriously take up politics until 1910, port of Danzig (present-day Gdansk). of the major delegates to the peace conference, when he was elected Governor of New The reparations that Germany had been The Rhineland was demilitarized, with including President Wilson and Lloyd George. Jersey as a Democrat. Two years later he Allied troops remaining in occupation, became US President and was successful forced to pay under the Treaty of Versailles and France attaining control of the free association of states, rather than a in keeping the United States out of the coal-rich Saarland. Germany was to be military alliance, whose purpose would European war during his first term; he was soon brought about galloping inflation. A allowed no arms industry or offensive be to maintain peace throughout the re-elected in 1916 largely on this policy. weapons like tanks and aircraft. The world through disarmament and to When his country entered the conflict weak central government was unable to German army was to be reduced to a provide the machinery to resolve Wilson concerned himself more with 100,000-man service force and the disputes peacefully. It was to be based shaping the postwar world than with the improve economic navy also drastically restricted. Further, in Geneva, Switzerland. conduct of the war itself. His Fourteen Germany was also required to pay the Points were to be the blueprint for this conditions, and The toothless enforcer and he was the first president to 44 countries were travel abroad while in office, when German political represented at the first The League suffered from flaws at the he attended the Paris Peace session of the League of outset. Most serious was that the Conference in 1919. Prone to ill opinion became Nations Assembly held in United States, whose president had health, his efforts to establish the Geneva, Switzerland, in November 1920. League of Nations resulted in him polarized been its architect, declined to suffering a stroke, while the refusal Allies $33 billion (some $400 become a member. The US of Congress to ratify the Treaty of between the billion today) within two Senate refused to ratify it, Versailles also affected his health. years, an impossibility given extreme Left the state of the country. Germany’s private armies reflecting the fact that the majority The badge of the Marine Brigade of Americans no longer wanted to and the 5 MILLION The other Axis powers Ehrhardt, which fought the be embroiled in European affairs extreme Right. MARK NOTE also suffered. Hungary Communists for the government. and desired a return to traditional was given independence isolationism. In addition, none of VERSAILLES REVERSED and the new states of the defeated nations, nor Russia, Turkey, too, was dissatisfied by the Treaty of Czechoslovakia and were invited to join, and the League Sèvres, which brought it peace. In 1922 Turkish Yugoslavia formed, had no authority to enforce peace. troops drove the Greeks from mainland Turkey leaving an Austria much and forced the British to evacuate their reduced in size and Even before the League of Nations garrison at Chanak. Subsequently the Allies forbidden to form any sort Assembly had met for its first session, dropped all claims to territory on the Asian of union with Germany. war broke out in Europe. Newly side of the Bosphorus. Turkey lost all its territories in independent Poland was dissatisfied the Middle East. These became with its border with Russia and had mandates of Britain and France, while during 1919 swallowed up much of the Greeks were allowed to occupy western Ukraine. In April 1920 the land on both sides of the Bosphorus. Poles made a further advance, but were flung back by the Bolsheviks, who had Apart from the peace treaties, the all but been victorious in the civil war. Paris Peace Conference also produced A subsequent peace treaty left Poland the League of Nations. It was to be a with most of what it had gained in 1919. All this had taken place without any League of Nations involvement. Revolution in Berlin FUTURE PROBLEMS Soldiers loyal to the socialist Weimar government Yet two of the victors were also dissatisfied. Italy engaging communist insurgents (known as Spartacists) had gained territory from Austria, including the on the streets of Berlin, January 1919. port of Trieste, but was disappointed not to be given any of Germany’s African colonies. A series of weak governments served to increase discontent and political instability in Italy. This would result in Mussolini seizing power 20
gg. Japan had gained German concessions in China and some minor Pacific islands, but did not feel that it was being treated as a major world power. Rapid population growth and a lack of natural resources would result in Japan’s invasion of Manchuria 32
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THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914–1938 BEFORE Fascism and Nazism Fascism and Nazism were characterized The rise of Communism in Europe, encouraged by the October 1917 Russian Revolution, helped to by extreme nationalism and militarism, trigger the creation of extreme right wing movements—Fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany. as well as rabid anti-Communism. Weak central government and general domestic discontent also encouraged this polariziation. UNREST IN ITALY B enito Mussolini was a teacher Economically weak before the war, 1914–18 turned journalist, who had merely served to weaken Italy further. The fought in World War I. Russian Revolution inspired a wave of industrial Disillusioned with the Italian Socialist strikes, as well as land seizures by peasants, which the Italian government was powerless to government,in March 1919 he and a prevent. There was also much disappointment at the outcome of the peace treaties ff
18. small group of men with mixed This first manifested itself in September 1919, when a group of nationalists seized the former political persuasions formed the Fascio Austrian port of Fiume, which was now part of the new state of Yugoslavia, and held it for 15 di Combattimento (literally, Fighting months before being evicted. By this time another, much larger, nationalist movement had Band) in Milan. While the group materialized in northern Italy. was essentially nationalist, its policies GERMANY FRUSTRATED Two major factors served to fan the flames of were incoherent and as a result, it right wing extremism in Germany. The first was disgust in some quarters that the Weimar gained few votes in the October 1919 government had accepted the harsh Allied peace terms without more of a fight. There elections. Shortly after this Mussolini was also a body of opinion that argued that the German Army had not been defeated in was arrested for plotting to overthrow the field and that the politicians had stabbed it in the back by signing the November 1918 the government by force, but he Armistice agreement ff
16. A new political group was about to be created that would reflect was released these views and more. without charge, KEY MOMENT as the Fascist THE MARCH ON ROME movement was On 27 October 1922 Fascist-instigated riots broke out in several Italian towns not considered Italian parliament. He Fighting the Communists and its leadership called on the Italian Blackshirts manning a barricade outside the Fascist HQ prime minister to resign. Next morning to be a threat. advocated an alliance in Milan just prior to the March on Rome. Their main four columns of Blackshirts set out from aim was to oust the Communists from town councils. the north of the country for Rome. The Successive with the Socialists in government wanted to declare martial years Mussolini gradually assumed law, but King Victor Emmanuel refused, ineffectual order to broaden his dictatorial powers. This culminated in and while Mussolini was in Milan the a law, passed on Christmas Eve 1925, king summoned him to Rome to form governments political base, but his which made him no longer accountable a government. The following day he to parliament. By now he had become accepted the King’s offer in person. His attempted to followers objected. known as “Il Duce” (The Leader) and men were still some way from Rome, three years later all political parties, and the king agreed that they could placate both the Finally, in August other than the Fascists, were banned. come by special train to the capital and parade. Mussolini’s government featured Left and the Right 1922 a general In the case of Germany the path to Social Democrats, Catholics, Liberals, and power for the Nazis proved to be a only four Fascists. This would change. in Italy, but strike was called, much longer one. Like Mussolini, Adolf 20 without success, at which point and as 1920 wore Mussolini declared on political unrest that if the government increased. Mussolini failed to prevent it, the seized on the instability Fascists would. To of the time to change Fascist badge reinforce the point they his essentially Socialist The Fasces is an ancient Roman symbol burned Socialist buildings platform for a of authority. The bundle of reeds indicates in several cities in the virulently anti- collective strength and the ax, power. north. Two months later Communist one. Mussolini decided that the moment had come to march on the Fascist law and order seat of government in Rome and seize Mussolini’s supporters wore black power for himself (see left). shirts, giving them their nickname, and frequently clashed with the The great dictator Communists. They also worked to Once appointed prime minister, remove Communist-dominated town Mussolini obtained full powers for councils in northern Italy. Soon an a year from parliament to carry out increasing number of Italians began to essential reforms. He also personally view the Fascists as a bulwark of order took over the key ministries, even in an otherwise fractured society. In though his Fascists were merely a May 1921 Mussolini and 34 of his minority in what was a coalition followers were elected to seats in the government. During the next three “Either the Government will be The Beer Hall Putsch given to us or we shall seize it Hitler makes a speech in 1940 during the annual by marching on Rome.” commemoration of the “Beer Hall Putsch.” The coup attempt was launched during a rally in the same hall. MUSSOLINI, TO HIS FOLLOWERS, OCTOBER 1922

FASCISM AND NAZISM Hitler had been a combat soldier, but he was not the founder of what became the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or Nazi Party. This had been formed in Munich as the German Workers’ Party by a small group of nationalists in the immediate aftermath “ There is no such thing as treason against the traitors of 1918.” HITLER, AT HIS TRIAL AFTER THE FAILED MUNICH PUTSCH, APRIL 1924 of the 1919 civil war in Bavaria. Hitler was still in the army and was sent to Bavaria to investigate nationalist groups and promptly joined this party. Within two years he had become chairman and had changed its name. The Nazi philosophy created the Sturmabteilungen (SA) as staged a coup in Munich. It misfired Nazi armband his storm troops and the Schutzstaffel and he was imprisoned for nine The swastika is an ancient symbol from South Asia that Hitler was determined to break the (SS) as his personal bodyguards. months, during which time he wrote was often regarded as a good luck charm. The Nazis shackles of the treaty of Versailles and his political testimony, Mein Kampf (My saw it as representing the ancient Aryan race. This red to make Germany a great nation again. By 1923 Germany was in a desperate Struggle). Hitler was thereafter banned cotton armband with an oak leaf border would have Race issues were also at the forefront of economic situation. It was unable to from speaking in public. In 1924 the been worn by a high-ranking Nazi Party official. his political manifesto. Hitler believed meet the reparations payments, so Allies relaxed their demands on the the Aryan race to be superior to all French troops occupied the industrial reparations payments and Germany’s AFTER others, and that the Jews were as great Ruhr region. Hitler believed the Weimar economic situation began to improve. an evil to the world as communism. government was near to collapse and Like Mussolini, he believed in strong- arm tactics to maintain order and Hitler’s attack on Munich Extreme nationalism had taken hold of Nazi storm troopers are trucked into Munich for Hitler’s Italy, but in Germany Hitler had completely unsuccessful 1923 coup. The uprising in November also misjudged the mood of the country. The had the support of Erich von Ludendorff, the wartime economy had strengthened, and people chief of staff of the German Army. were optimistic about their future. IL DUCE The Italy that Mussolini created was certainly more efficient and stable than that which had gone before it. Much of the rest of Europe, as well as the US, was impressed by what he had been able to achieve; as it was said, Mussolini “made the trains run on time.” But behind it all, Mussolini had another agenda with two principal aims: the Mediterranean was to be an Italian sea and he was determined to expand Italy’s African empire 34
gg. FREEDOM TO SPEAK The ban on Hitler’s political activity was lifted in 1927. By this time, thanks to the relaxation of the conditions on the reparations payments, life for the average German had improved considerably, with Berlin having taken over from Paris as the most vibrant capital in Europe. Germany had also been admitted to the League of Nations and was regaining its self-respect. With support for the Nazis waning, Hitler now decided that the only way to gain power was to take control of the country through its parliament 24
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THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914–1938 ITALIAN DICTATOR Born 1883 Died 1945 Benito Mussolini “I want to make Italy great, respected, and feared.” BENITO MUSSOLINI, 1925 E leven years before Adolf Hitler came to power as the leader of Nazi Germany, Mussolini was already turning Italy into Europe’s first centralized fascist state. The first fascist dictator in Europe, he coined the term “Fascism” and developed its associated ideology. He went on to rule Italy as a dictator for the next 20 years; it was his disastrous involvement in World War II that ultimately led to his downfall. Rise to power The Battle for Grain In 1925 Mussolini launched a “Battle for Grain,” in which Mussolini began his political life as a thousands of new farms were built on land reclaimed socialist but, always prone to dramatic by draining the Pontine Marshes in central Italy. Grain changes of mind, he abandoned the output was increased, but at the expense of other crops. tenets of socialism in favor together at a congress to found the of an extreme form of Fascist Party, which had a strong nationalism that he right-wing nationalist, anti-liberal, dubbed “Fascism.” In and anti-socialist program. 1919 he launched the Fasci di Combattimento, Postwar Italy was in economic, social, local-based fascist and political turmoil, and Mussolini, groups mainly a vain and egotistical man, presented attracting young himself to his nation as the only patriotic war individual capable of restoring order. veterans. In 1921 His emphasis on nationalism and the these groups need to rid Italy of socialists won were brought increasing support, particularly from the lower middle classes, industrialists, and wealthy agriculturalists. In 1921 Mussolini was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, and his Fascist Party gained 35 seats in the Italian parliament. In 1922, as Italy’s political crisis worsened, King Victor Emmanuel III was forced to invite Mussolini to form a government. The “Il Duce” In reality a short man, Mussolini required photos and other depictions of himself to project the sense of a powerful and commanding physical presence.

BENITO MUSSOLINI following year the Fascist Party gained Addressing his followers TIMELINE more than 60 percent of the vote and An emotional orator and skilled propagandist, Mussolini Mussolini’s hold on power was assured. addressed mass crowds in his drive to promote a cult O
July 29, 1883 Mussolini is born in the rural of personality around himself. The Italian public were town of Predappio, near Forlì, Romagna. His Over the next few years, using a constantly told that Mussolini was always right. mother is a teacher; his father a blacksmith skilfull mix of propaganda and force, and socialist. Mussolini centralized control into his Roman emperor own hands. He suppressed political Mussolini made much of O
1910 Becomes secretary of the Forlì socialist opposition, took over the press, and his “Roman” features; in party; a committed pacifist, he describes himself dismantled the parliamentary process. this propaganda painting as an “anti-patriot.” Marries Rachel Guidi. By 1928 he had turned Italy into a he is even superimposed totalitarian state. over an image of Rome. O
1911 Opposes the war between Italy and Turkey Yet Mussolini and is imprisoned for pacifist propaganda. Moves Dictatorial powers invaded Abyssinia to Milan and takes up editorship of the socialist (present-day newspaper Avanti! (Forward!). As dictator, Mussolini personally Ethiopia) that same year, bringing headed the Fascist Party and militia condemnation from the League of O
1914 Abandons socialism after the outbreak of and controlled many Nations, and from 1936 he provided World War I, and founds a pro-war group, Fasci government ministries. massive military support to General d‘Azione Rivoluzionaria, a prototype fascist At one point he was organization. Called up for military service and is personally responsible wounded in an undistinguished military career. for eight key ministries, ranging from public O
March 1919 Launches the Fasci Italiani di works through to Combattimento, a fascist organization that foreign policy. He spent attracts many unemployed war veterans. much of his time promoting himself as Italy’s war aims and victory, his nation O
1921 Launches the National Fascist Party supreme leader and was not ready for war. He sent troops in Rome and is elected to the Chamber of indoctrinating the into Greece, but they were ill-prepared Deputies. His armed squads, or Blackshirts, population with the and German troops had to be sent to terrorize his former socialist colleagues. ideology of Fascism, help. In 1941 Mussolini followed which he described as Hitler’s lead by declaring war on the O
October 28, 1922 Rome slips into political the essential doctrine United States. His obvious dependence chaos. Mussolini and his followers threaten of the 20th century. on Hitler, and the introduction of to march on Rome. King anti-Jewish laws in Italy, lost him Victor Emmanuel III He also increasingly brought industry much support. So, too, did the constant invites Mussolini to and agriculture under state control. military defeats. By 1943 Italy had lost Rome to form a Free trade unions were banned and a prized possessions in Africa and government. suffered defeat on all fronts. O
1925 Mussolini Mussolini’s colleagues turned against him, and he was removed from office assumes dictatorial and imprisoned. Rescued by German paratroopers, he was taken to northern powers. He adopts Italy, where under Hitler’s instructions he set up a puppet government. In the title “Il Duce,” 1945, as Allied troops advanced “ The alliance between Italy and Germany through Italy, Mussolini was captured takes over is not only between two states or two trying to escape to Switzerland, and armies … but between two peoples.” was executed by Italian partisans. government BENITO MUSSOLINI, SPEECH DELIVERED IN ROME, FEBRUARY 23, 1941 ministries, and sets out to establish Italy as a great power. O
October– “THE DOCTRINE November 1925 OF FASCISM” BY Signs the Locarno MUSSOLINI Pact with Britain, “corporative state” developed, dividing Franco in the Spanish Civil France, Belgium, and Germany, which the economy into different sectors and War. Both actions alienated organizing employers and workers into France and Britain and guarantees Germany’s existing frontiers. party-controlled groups. In practice, moved Italy closer to Nazi Mussolini’s new state was unwieldy, Germany. In 1938 Mussolini O
1935 Invades Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia) corrupt, and inefficient. Only party posed as a mediator at the in defiance of the League of Nations. His actions bureaucrats and the wealthier classes Munich Conference but went alienate Britain and France. received much benefit from his policies. on to sign a Pact of Steel with Germany, committing both O
1936–39 Sends troops and equipment to Spain Imperial dreams and defeat their countries to mutual to support nationalist General Franco. His actions support in the event of war. bring him closer to Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Mussolini dreamed of establishing Italy as a significant European power, and When war began, Mussolini O
October 1936 Signs a friendship treaty with saw himself as a great statesman. He initially kept Italy neutral, Germany. At a speech in Milan in November, he wished to expand Italian influence in waiting to see how events describes their relationship as an “axis” around the Mediterranean and Africa, and progressed. After Germany’s which European countries would revolve, a term sought to achieve this by diplomatic successful invasion of France, subsequently used to describe the Axis powers. manoeuvring. He signed the Locarno Mussolini eventually sided Pact guaranteeing the borders of with Germany and declared O
1938 Attends the Munich Conference, ostensibly Belgium, France, and Germany, and war on France and Britain. as a moderate working for peace. by 1929 he was seen by Winston Despite Mussolini’s talk of Churchill as a “Roman genius.” From O
June 1940 Declares war on Britain and France. the mid-1930s, however, he took a An ignominious death Having already annexed Albania in 1939, more aggressive attitude. He was The bodies of Mussolini and his mistress, Mussolini now invades Greece. opposed to German designs on Austria, Clara Petacci, were displayed at a gas and in 1935 joined with Britain and station in Milan. Passers-by mutilated the O
1943 Allied troops land in Sicily and rout Italian France to form an anti-Hitler front. bodies in a humiliating end for Il Duce. forces. Mussolini is overthrown and imprisoned, but rescued by German forces. O
April 28, 1945 As Allies advance through northern Italy, Mussolini is captured and shot. 23

THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914–1938 BEFORE Hitler Takes Power During the mid-1920s Germany began to Unlike Mussolini, Hitler gained power through democratic means. recover economically and support for the It was only after he became chancellor of Germany that he showed political extremes was reduced. his true colors, and in the space of a few weeks established an authoritarian regime that would brook no political opposition. 1928 ELECTIONS The failure of Hitler’s Munich putsch ff
20–21 I n March 1930 Germany’s coalition to political lobbying by the army. caused him to change his strategy. He would government, led by the Social Brüning’s government did not enjoy a now pursue power through the ballot box. His Democrats, resigned, unable to majority in the Reichstag and could not first opportunity came with the elections to the agree a coherent policy for dealing get a bill to reform the national finances Reichstag, the German parliament, in May 1928. with the country’s worsening economic passed. Brüning therefore had it enacted He himself could not run since he was still situation. The president, the venerable as an emergency decree, which was technically an Austrian citizen. The elections wartime hero, Field Marshal Paul von allowed by the Constitution, but the proved a disappointment, with the Nazis gaining Hindenburg, appointed the conservative Reichstag still blocked it and Brüning a mere 12 seats out of 491. A further boost to financial expert, Heinrich Brüning, as felt forced to go to the country. the German economy came the following year chancellor. This was in response when the wartime Allies eased the reparations Changed political climate payments ff
18–19 still further, extending “ We have become them until 1988. once more true The situation in Germany was now Germans …” very different from what it had been in WALL STREET CRASH 1928. Both Communists and Nazis In October 1929 the US stock market collapsed. ADOLF HITLER, MARCH 1933 were vociferous in their Economies all round the world suffered, efforts to drum up especially that of Germany, which was still more popular support fragile than most. This led to increasing unrest and there were and presented Hitler with a new opportunity. The bad old days Under Nazi rule, scenes like this one showing men, women, and children scavenging for coal in the 1920s would become a thing of the past.

H ITLER TAKES POWER Nazi election poster Hague ruled that this was against political opinion. And so, in July The new chancellor and the old president The party’s slogan for the May the Versailles Treaty—but it was all 1932 another general election was In 1933, the first year of his chancellorship, Hitler sits 1928 elections was aimed clearly too late to raise his popularity. called. Street brawls were even more next to Hindenburg at the annual commemoration of at the unemployed, promising widespread than in 1930. The Nazis, the German defeat of the Russians at Tannenberg in “Work, freedom, and bread.” In the spring of 1932 Hindenburg’s with 209 seats, became the largest August 1914. On the right is Hermann Goering. term as president came to an end. party in the Reichstag, but Hitler refused frequent street fights Brüning saw the Field Marshal as his to join in any coalition and so another weeks overt opposition to Hitler had between the two. The best protection against the Nazis and election was held that November. The been crushed. Germany was now a upshot was that the other extremists and wanted him Nazis won slightly fewer seats, partly dictatorship in all but name. two extremist parties to remain in office. The Nazis and because Papen had been taking a tough radically increased their other nationalists objected and so stand at the International Disarmament The final end to democratic Germany share of the votes, with Hindenburg had to stand for re- Conference and also because the came with Hindenburg’s death on the Communists gaining election. This time Hitler—who had economic situation had improved. August 2, 1934. Hitler was now head 77 seats and the Nazis This was not enough to save Papen, of state and free to realize his dreams 107. This meant that the Nazi headquarters from 1931 to 1933 was however. The army refused to support of a new Greater Germany. more moderate parties the Brown House, a palatial former private him, so to counter this Hindenburg were no longer able to residence on Briennerstrasse, Munich. made its spokesman, General Kurt von AFTER form a parliamentary Schleicher, chancellor. majority and Brüning finally gained German citizenship—and The new Germany soon found itself subject increasingly had to rule by the Communist leader, Ernst Thälmann, This was not what Hitler wanted to unprecedented levels of state control. decree. His severe financial stood against him. After a re-run at all. He moved to isolate Schleicher The Nazis instilled a sense of discipline in measures, which included Hindenburg was re-elected, winning by allying himself to Papen, thus the German people that would contribute drastically cutting public 53 percent of the vote, with Hitler preventing the general from forming to their early successes in World War II. expenditure, made him runner-up after gaining over one a government. Accepting the inevitable, increasingly unpopular. True, third. His star was clearly rising. on January 30, 1933, Hindenburg NAZISM’S APPARENT SUCCESS in 1932 at the Lausanne appointed Hitler chancellor, with Papen The German economy quickly recovered Conference, he did manage Jockeying for power as vice-chancellor. With only two other 26–27
gg largely due to measures conceived to negotiate an end to the Nazis in the cabinet, Papen believed under the Weimar republic, and accelerated reparations payments and also Hindenburg wanted Brüning to form that Hitler could be controlled, but he rearmament. There were dramatic technological tried to establish an economic a more right-wing cabinet to reflect was soon proved wrong. developments, some again already in existence as union with Austria—although the changing political face of Germany, concepts, but implemented by the Nazis, ranging the International Court at The but the latter refused and resigned. He Hitler’s first step was to call another from aircraft to the highways. The organizational was succeeded by Franz von Papen, general election for March 5. Then, ability of the Nazi regime was demonstrated at the who was rejected by all shades of on February 27 there was a fire at the 1936 Olympic Games 28–29
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and annual Reichstag (see left). In the election that Nuremberg rallies. Many outside observers “The star of Germany will rise followed the Nazis gained only 44 were impressed and approved of the new order. and yours will sink … I do not percent of the vote, but it was enough. want your vote. Germany will Building on the restrictions he had THE DARK SIDE be free, but not through you!” persuaded Hindenburg to put in place As well as banning political dissent, Hitler could now concentrate on creating a racially pure HITLER, TO THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS IN THE ENABLING ACT DEBATE, MARCH 23, 1933 17,277,180 Germans country 26–27
gg. At the same time he was voted for intent on breaking the shackles of Versailles, KEY MOMENT the Nazi Party in the democratic elections even to the extent of redrawing the map of of March 1933, the last to be held Europe 34–35
gg. The Western democracies THE REICHSTAG FIRE in the country until after 1945. had their own problems and were slow to realize that Hitler’s policies were a threat to peace On the evening of February 27, 1933, a fire in parliament, appeared in court at Leipzig after the Reichstag fire, Hitler 36–37
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and that he needed to be confronted. suddenly broke out in the Reichstag, the that September. Van der Lubbe alone was succeeded in getting his Enabling Act German parliament building in Berlin. found guilty and executed. Whether he was into the statute book on March 23. This Hermann Goering, Hitler’s Minister of actually responsible for the fire or whether gave him the right to rule by decree the Interior, was quickly on the scene. it was started by the Nazis themselves has and effectively banned all political A feeble-minded Dutchman, Marinus van parties other than the Nazis. Within der Lubbe, was arrested on the spot and never been sufficiently publicly accused by Goering of being a proved either way. communist agent. The next day Hitler informed Hindenburg of the existence of a communist plot to subvert the state and persuaded him to sign an Emergency Decree for the Defense of People and State. This not only provided the government with emergency powers, it suspended basic civil liberties such as freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. Some 4,000 people were arrested in connection with the fire, but only five, including the leader of the Communist Party 25

THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914–1938 BEFORE The Nazi State Even before Hitler came to power in Hitler’s Germany was designed to prove that National Socialism could March 1933, he had the backing of his own deliver the country from the misery of the postwar years. At the powerful paramilitary forces, established same time Nazism was a brutal ideology and a threat to peace. in the early years of the Nazi Party. THE SA, SS, AND HITLER YOUTH The SA (Sturmabteilungen) took its name from the small units of storm troops used in German offensives toward the end of World War I ff
To reinforce his place at the head Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD) badge of the German nation, Hitler was The RAD (State Labor Service) was formed in July 16–17. Established in 1920 to protect Nazi Party known as the Führer, or Leader. 1934 as a means of reducing unemployment. Its His aim was to reshape the German members worked on various construction projects. meetings against attacks from left-wing people through the elimination of divisions of class, religion, and ideology, liberal politicians and trades unionists opponents, the SA were known as the Brown and by purifying the race. Hence the to freemasons, homosexuals, and introduction of concentration camps gypsies. It was, however, the Jews, Shirts to distinguish them from HITLER YOUTH to remove “undesirables.” whom Hitler hated above all else, the black-shirted members of who came to predominate. DAGGER The Nazis began to establish special camps in March 1933, almost as soon Anti-Jewish legislation the SS (Schutzstaffel) ff
as they had come to power. The first Unsurprisingly, large numbers of Jews inmates were Communists, rounded up Hitler’s first action against the Jews was left the country—over half the 600,000 20-21. The latter was a more in the aftermath of the Reichstag Fire to proclaim a boycott of Jewish shops Jews in Germany in 1933 emigrated (see p.25). The camps came to be run in April 1933. By the end of the year over the next six years. Among those sinister force, personally loyal to Hitler by the SS and soon contained a wide Jews were banned from holding public who fled the Nazi regime were physicist variety of prisoners. These ranged from office, from teaching and farming, and Albert Einstein and novelist Thomas and steeped in his anti-Semitic from the arts. Then, in September 1935 Mann—not Jewish himself, but his Nazis on parade came the Nuremberg Laws. Through wife was Jewish—who both went to ideology. The Hitlerjugend (Hitler The choreography of Nazi rallies presented a picture of a these the Jews lost their citizenship and the US, as did many other prominent highly motivated and disciplined mass, aided by stirring were prohibited from marrying Aryans. figures in the arts and sciences. Youth) was established in 1926 music and immaculate drill, as demonstrated here at the Later they were outlawed from the Harvest Thanksgiving festival at Buckeberg in 1937. legal and medical professions. Propaganda and prosperity to train future members of these There was little overt objection by forces. Following the failure of the the German people as a whole to this persecution and for a number of 1923 Putsch ff
20–21 the SA and reasons. In the first place the Nazi propaganda machine under Josef the SS were disbanded, but were reestablished by 1926. NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIVES The SA were half a million strong when Hitler came to power. Ernst Röhm, their leader, argued that they were the true national defense force and should take over this role from the army, the Heir. Hitler saw Röhm as a potential rival and in June 1934 ordered the whole of the SA on a month’s leave. On the night of June 30 Hitler sent in his SS, and murdered many leading SA members, including Röhm. A number of other people whom Hitler thought of as a threat also lost their lives in the “Night of the Long Knives.”

TH E NA ZI STATE Goebbels was highly effective. Its 7 21 3,500 AFTER primary aim was restore German pride and ranged from the Nazi banners that 6 18 Annual military investment (in billions of Marks) Annual production of military aircraft3,000 1935 In parallel with his domestic overhaul, bedecked public buildings in every 1936 Hitler planned to restore Germany’s town and city to the massive parades Unemployed (in millions) 5 15 2,500 1937 prewar borders in order to give his people at the annual Nuremberg Rally and the 1938 more Lebensraum (living space). electrifying speeches by Hitler and his 4 12 2,000 lieutenants. The success of the 1936 THE ARMED FORCES Berlin Olympics (see p.28) was also a 39 1,500 Because they were banned from building tanks great boost to national morale, besides and aircraft, German officers secretly went impressing the rest of the world. 26 1,000 to Russia to experiment with forbidden weapons in exchange for training the Russian Education was another key Nazi 13 500 1933 armed forces. This meant that the groundwork weapon. Pupils were taught according to 1934 for expanding and modernizing the German National Socialist principles. Textbooks 0 armed forces was already in place when Hitler were hastily rewritten and all teachers 0 0 came to power. One of his first acts was to put had to take an oath of loyalty to Hitler 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 German economic recovery this into effect, including creating an air force himself. Much emphasis was placed on The tables demonstrate how rapidly Hitler reduced from scratch. He understood that without physical fitness and boys were expected KEY unemployment and increased military spending. The powerful armed forces he could not realize his to join the Hitler Youth. German unemployment Luftwaffe quickly became the largest air force in Europe. territorial ambitions. German military investment Hitler also brought full employment by Night of the Long Knives (see BEFORE) GREATER GERMANY revitalizing industry and encouraging cheap motoring in much the same way to keep them in check. He brought the Hitler’s short-term aims were to reoccupy new technology, especially in the field as Henry Ford had done in the US with armed forces firmly under control by the demilitarized Rhineland and then of armaments. There were also massive his Model T. making them swear an oath of personal to reclaim the Saarland 34–35
gg. Beyond public works programs directed by the loyalty to him in return for confirming this he looked to form a union with Austria, State Labour Service, the RAD. German Hitler as ruler their position as defenders of the state. removing the hated Polish Corridor, and males aged 19–25 were conscripted for dismantling what he saw as the artificial state six months’ service in agriculture or When it came to running the country After the February 1933 fire the of Czechoslovakia. All these plans ran counter to public works, such as constructing Hitler showed little interest in the Reichstag moved to the Kroll Opera the Treaty of Versailles, and it was to be largely Germany’s impressive new network of routine work of government. He was House in Berlin. Hitler made many of dependent on the reactions of Britain and Autobahnen (highways). As a means of content merely to spell out the overall his most famous speeches there, but the France 34–37
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as to whether Hitler could raising the standard of living Hitler policy to be followed and delegate the parliament itself became a mere rubber reverse what had been agreed in 1919. encouraged the development of the details to his subordinates. If any of his stamp to endorse Hitler’s policies. Volkswagen (“People’s Car”) to provide lieutenants became overly ambitious, there was always the memory of the GERMAN POLITICIAN (1897–1945) JOSEF GOEBBELS Goebbels came from a Rhineland working-class Catholic family and received a university education. Unfit for military service in World War I, he developed nationalist and racist views and joined the Nazi Party in 1922. His intelligence and opportunist flair soon impressed, but not until 1926 did he ally himself with Hitler, who made him his propaganda chief three years later. Goebbels proved highly skilled in this role and remained close to Hitler until the end, dying with him in the Berlin Bunker.

EYEWITNESS August 1, 1936 The Berlin Olympics For Adolf Hitler the 1936 Berlin Olympics was to be a showcase for Nazi achievement. The Games, which opened on August 1, 1936, was a spectacular event and Germany won 33 gold medals, more than any other country. But Hitler’s dreams of demonstrating Aryan athletic supremacy were smashed by the achievements of black American Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals. “The opening ceremony of the eleventh Olympic Games took place here this afternoon in the Stadium at the Reich Sports Field … It was probably the longest ritual that has ever heralded the opening of these Games … On top of the towers which flank the Marathon gate, a steel-helmeted military band was posted, the gestures of the conductor clear and tiny against the western sky and it was a sudden burst of music from them which announced the arrival of Herr Hitler. Amid a continuous thunder of cheering he appeared through the Marathon gate, followed by members of the International Olympic Committee in frock coats and chains of office. They slowly descended the steps and walked along the track to their places in the stand, after which the whole great audience joined in singing ‘Deutschland über Alles’ and the ‘Horst Wesel’ song with a tremendous-voiced fervour … then a sudden ‘Achtung’ from the announcer, followed by the command ‘Raise colours’ … The flags of the competing nations were hoisted … the Olympic ”bell was tolled … The Games were open. THE “MANCHESTER GUARDIAN” CORRESPONDENT, E.A. MONTAGUE, DESCRIBING THE OPENING OF THE GAMES “In Berlin we Greeks were especially honored coming from the mother country of the Olympics, but this did not make us blind to the fascist regime and the many showy majestic festivities which tried to show the world Germany’s strength! I will never forget the athletic parade in the Berlin Stadium where the Greek team—as always—entered first and was saluted with great enthusiasm, and the coming into the stadium of the last torch-bearer with the Olympic flame. I will never forget my emotion and pride at that moment, but I wished that it was not Hitler and his regime that ”had the inspiration of the Olympic torch relay! GREEK ATHLETE DOMNITSA LANITIS DESCRIBING THE OPENING CEREMONY Running the last leg The opening ceremony of the 1936 Olympic Games saw the introduction of the torch relay, and the lighted torch was carried through seven countries—Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Germany. Fritz Schilgen of Germany was the final touch bearer. 28



The cost of change Civil Wars in China The impact of the civil wars on the ordinary Chinese people was often dire, with homelessness and starvation becoming common. BEFORE China became a republic in 1912, ending 2,000 years of Imperial rule, but much of the country did not recognize the new regime. The result was civil strife as the government tussled with the warlords and At the turn of the 20th century China was then with the Communists for control of the country. The situation was not resolved until 1949. under the feudal rule of the emperors and was being economically exploited by H aving become head of state, Sun Promoting unity crush the power of the warlords and to Western powers. Yat-sen’s first priority was to win A Kuomintang poster proclaims remove the foreign trade settlements. over the commander of the army the Northern Expedition will He set out for Shanghai, China’s SUN YAT-SEN in northern China, Yuan Shikai. He unify the country and remove principal treaty port, which contained Among those who wanted to right injustices promised Yuan the presidency of the the foreign trade settlements. the main foreign settlements, in 1926. and modernize China was Sun Yat-sen, who new republic in return for his support Defeating a number of warlords en had been partially educated in Hawaii and had of the revolution. Yuan obliged, but Military Academy, route, he made rapid progress. The qualified as a doctor. Labeled a revolutionary, after the emperor abdicated Yuan placing his protégé, he spent many years in exile in Europe and became drunk with power, proclaiming Chiang Kai-shek, in the United States, and was very impressed by charge. He then levied the American system of government. In 1911, 50,000 The number of troops heavy taxes in order to while Sun Yat-sen was still in exile, there was a massed for Chiang pay for the war that was successful military uprising by the Kuomintang Kai-shek’s fifth and final drive against to come, but this made (Nationalist Party) in Wuchang, 400 miles the Communists in southern China. him unpopular with the (644 km) west of Shanghai. Its leaders people. He also allied his immediately summoned Sun Yat-sen and himself emperor, and when Sun Kuomintang party with proclaimed him head of state. Yat-sen mounted an unsuccessful revolt the Communists in against him Sun was exiled again. After Russia and obtained a THE NEW REPUBLIC Yuan’s death in 1916 northern China large amount of military Sun Yat-sen created a national assembly and became dominated by warlords. aid and money from Moscow. the Republic of China came into being on New Year’s Day 1912. But only the southern half In 1917 Sun Yat-sen returned to Attack on Shanghai of the country recognized him as their leader. China where he established a government in Guangzhou province. Sun Yat-sen died in 1925 so it was left 30 He prepared to take on the northern to Chiang Kai-shek to mount the warlords by establishing the Whampoa Northern Expedition. Its aims were to

CIVIL WARS IN CHINA Mountains in the south. Beginning CHINESE GENERAL AND POLITICIAN (1887–1975) in 1930, Chiang mounted a series of offensives, known as drives, to dislodge CHIANG KAI-SHEK them. During the third drive he forced the Communists to withdraw further Born in 1887 of middle-class parents Chiang attended a south, but they were not defeated. military academy in China before furthering his military education in Japan. While there, he became imbued with 100 THOUSAND men and women republican ideas and, after service with the Japanese originally set out on Mao Army, returned to China when the Wuchang Uprising Zedong’s Long March. took place in 1911. On becoming leader of the 5 THOUSAND of those who Kuomintang in 1925, he made great efforts to marched survived, having modernize China, attempting to enthuse the covered 6,000km (3,700 miles). people with Confucian moral values and self-discipline, but was constantly diverted Finally, in November 1933, and now by waging war. His conflicts with the with a German general as his principal Communists intensified after 1945, adviser, Chiang Kai-shek launched leading to a final defeat in 1949. He and his followers then withdrew to his fifth drive. Using aircraft and a Formosa (present-day Taiwan), where he considerable amount of artillery, he remained as head of state until his death. isolated the Communists from the “ The Long March … has local communities that had been announced to 200 million people sustaining them. Hemmed in by that the road of the Red Army is rings of blockhouses, which the their only road to liberation.” Nationalists had built to prevent their escape, the Communists MAO ZEDONG, 1935 faced total destruction. Western powers sent troops to reinforce relative safety of Shaanxi province in AFTER their garrisons in Shanghai, but on the The beginning of the March the extreme northwest of the country. outskirts of the city Chiang halted. Here they joined up with the remnants By the end of the Long March it appeared Surrender was out of the question of two other Communist armies. that Chiang Kai-shek had China under total Rifts had been growing between his and so the Communists decided control. But he would continually struggle Kuomintang and the Communists, to break out. In June 1934 the first The Long March was a feat of epic to enforce his rule. who wanted to remove not just the group moved out. This was a diversion endurance. While the military strength foreigners, but China’s landlord class as and it was largely destroyed. Four of the Communists had been severely THE COMMUNISTS well. Chiang, however, realized that to months later the main body began its reduced, the experience provided Mao unify the country he needed funding break out. It suffered heavy casualties, Zedong with a framework on which he Shaanxi province and that this could only come from the but the survivors pressed on westward. and his party could build a strategy to landlords and foreign trade. As a result, It was at this time that Mao Zedong took remove the Kuomintang from power. provided the in April 1927 he turned against the over the military leadership. Communists, arresting some of their Having been constantly harassed by leaders and expelling his Soviet advisers. Nationalist forces, as well as by hostile locals, the Communist army reached This marked the beginning of a new the Tibetan border before turning civil war in China. The Communists north. Eventually, after crossing in the cities were quickly routed out, numerous mountain ranges and rivers, and having suffered great losses along “ Internal pacification, the way, Zedong’s army reached the then external resistance.” Communists with a SLOGAN USED BY CHIANG KAI-SHEK relatively safe haven. including in Beijing, which Chiang They attracted secured in 1928. The remainder withdrew to the hinterland, the main local inhabitants group taking refuge in the Jing Gang to their ranks, A STAMP HONOURING Marching to salvation Mao Zedong’s soldiers on the Long March in October largely because of Mao THE LONG MARCH 1934. It was his leadership and their discipline and self-belief that drove them on. It helped ensure that Zedong’s insistence on fostering good relations the Communists were eventually triumphant. with them. Mao Zedong was thus able to rebuild his forces and develop his strategy of revolutionary warfare. This was built around cadres of Communists who would go out into the countryside, establish bases, and recruit, train, and indoctrinate the local people. Eventually the Communists would be strong enough, and have enough popular support, to force the collapse of the Nationalist government and take control of the entire country. THE JAPANESE THREAT The Japanese, desperate for more living space, had been casting covetous eyes on China. They had already made their first move by invading Manchuria ff
32–33 in 1931. 31

THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914–1938 Japan on the March While it had all the trappings of a modern power, Japan in 1919 still operated under a feudal system. Forced to import raw materials, because of its lack of natural resources, and suffering a population explosion, which was causing severe unemployment, the country had become a powder keg. 0 800 km USSR T he agreements reached at the naval disarmament 0 800 miles Amur ri talks in Washington DC (see BEFORE) served to increase Ussu HonshuSouth Sakhalinagitation in Japan for a form of (Karafuto) government that would be better PA N respected by the outside world. MONGOLIA HEILUNGKIANG This was realized in 1924 when MANCHURIA Harbin Hokkaido universal suffrage was introduced, but the transformation was far too MONGOLIA KIRIN Vladivostok quick. Corruption and a long history of insubordination by junior Liao Ho Sea of military officers were too deeply FENGTIEN Japan embedded to be eradicated INNER JEHOL Mukden overnight and the result was a series of political scandals. This Peiping Seoul drove many younger Japanese Tientsin towards extreme nationalism. KOREA Tokyo Natural resources Yellow Yellow River Kaifeng Kyoto Japan’s difficult strategic position had also been driven home by a CHINA Sea Shikoku JA Yangtze Nanking Kyushu Chungking Hankow Shanghai East N China Okinawa PACIFIC major earthquake, which struck Sea (to Japan) OCEAN Tokyo and the Kanto region on September 1, 1923. The principal Hungshui-ho Canton Taihoku KEY naval base at Yokosuku also suffered, Japanese empire 1930 as significant oil supplies—enough for Formosa Japanese sphere of influence 1930 two years’ operations—were lost. If the Japanese conquests 1931–33 country had been at war when the Macao Hong Kong earthquake had struck, the navy would (to Portugal) (to Britain) Hainan BEFORE have been crippled. It highlighted Taking control of Manchuria Japan’s severe shortage of indigenous Japanese troops begin the occupation of Manchuria in 1931–32, which was the prelude to the second Japan’s empire natural resources. Sino-Japanese War. The disunited Chinese forces in the region were unable to repel the invading army. The map above shows the Japanese empire as it was Nationalism ran strongest in Japan’s convinced that the only way to secure After its dazzling victory over the Russians in 1933. Manchuria was an important source of raw armed forces and both the army and a reliable supply of raw materials and to gain respect on the world stage in 1905 Japan was determined to become a materials for Japan and was hotly disputed with Russia. navy, and many officers became was through territorial expansion. Manchuria was the obvious target. world power and take its place at the top As a result of the 1904–05 Russo- Japanese War Japan had been granted table of nations. “Daily we submit to hypocrisy rights over the southern part of the and lies; While national honor territory. Some Japanese were settled WORLD WAR I there and were protected by the Through a treaty it had made with Britain, Japan Japanese Kwantung Army. Manchuria joined the Allies in 1914, capturing German was, however, still nominally part of China, but this did not prevent the concessions in China and occupying islands lingering dies.” Japanese from investing large sums owned by the Germans in the Pacific. Otherwise of money in exploiting its resources. it contributed little, apart from sending a small They had hesitated, however, from overrunning the whole of Manchuria naval force to help counter the submarine threat JAPANESE NATIONALIST ARMY OFFICERS’ SONG for fear of falling out with Europe in the Mediterranean. The Japanese were and the United States. As it was, the rewarded with some Pacific islands and Control of the skies A Japanese aircraft crew in action during their virtually former German concessions in China. unopposed invasion of Manchuria in 1931. Rather than creating a single air force, Japan remained wedded to NAVAL DISARMAMENT the idea of separate army and navy air forces. To reduce the threat to its interests, the US held a naval disarmament conference during 1921–22. Restrictions on the size of ships were agreed and Japan was committed to maintaining a navy that was only 60 percent the size of those of Britain and the US. Japan also agreed to uphold Chinese territorial integrity. All this angered younger and more nationalist Japanese. 32

JAPAN ON THE MARCH AFTER Japan cemented its hold over Manchuria by renaming it Manchukuo and, to add insult to injury, it installed the last in the line of the Manchu dynasty, Henry Pu Yi (right), as its puppet monarch. WAR ON CHINA The Chinese, wracked by civil war between the government and the Communists ff
30–31, were in no position to reclaim their lost Manchurian territory. HENRY PU YI Aware of this and encouraged by the weakness of the League of Nations, the Japanese now prepared to take on China itself 40–41 gg. EUROPEAN FRIENDS The Japanese also began to look for allies and it was inevitable that they should turn to the Fascist states in Europe, since both Italy and Germany were also demonstrating that they cared little for the League of Nations 34–35 gg. In addition, Germany would prove a valuable counterweight to the Soviet Union, which Japan also saw as a potential enemy and a threat to its hold on newly renamed Manchukuo. Sign of the navy WIDER AMBITIONS The Japanese Navy ensign The dream of creating a Japanese empire in was inspired by its defeat oil-rich Southeast Asia began to take hold of the Russian fleet at the in some quarters of the government. Battle of the Tsushima Straits in May 1905. region was dominated by a Chinese protestations were ignored, not least the situation. While recommending minister, Inukai Tsuyoshi, at his home warlord, Marshal Zhang, whom the because Tokyo had effectively lost that Japan withdraw from Manchuria, in May 1932. Thereafter it was the Japanese had on more than one control over the Kwantung Army. The it also concluded that the territory military who held the strings of power occasion tried to assassinate. In June League lacked the wherewithal to take should be a semi-independent state in Japan, and it was able to manipulate 1928 they were eventually successful: military action and its members were and that Chinese forces should not be governments as it wished. The League two Kwantung Army staff officers unwilling to impose sanctions on Japan, allowed back into the region. of Nations’ recommendations on the organized the dynamiting of his since they did not want their trade with future of Manchuria was not to the personal train. the country affected at a time of general In the meantime a group of officers taste of the military leadership, so in economic slump. Eventually the League had begun a series of assassinations of March 1933 Japan, one of the five Japan invades Manchuria sent out a commission to investigate corrupt politicians and financiers. It permanent members, left the League. culminated in the murder of the prime The civilian government in Tokyo had TECHNOLOGY the world, including the Japanese, began to not sanctioned Zhang’s murder and with a flat-top configuration, was HMS Furious, convert ships too large to conform to the tried to keep the Kwantung Army in AIRCRAFT CARRIERS a converted cruiser. It was built at Newcastle- Washington Naval Treaty (see BEFORE) into upon-Tyne, England, and entered service in aircraft carriers. By 1939 the Americans, 12 THOUSAND soldiers were in It was the British who first developed the March 1918. While aircraft takeoffs were British, and Japanese had a number of the Kwantung Army in 1906 aircraft carrier. During 1914–18 they quickly reasonably straightforward, safe landings were aircraft carriers in their fleets, which would appreciated the value that aviation could much more difficult. The introduction of soon prove themselves superior to 700 THOUSAND soldiers were in have in reconnaissance for the fleet. The arrester wires did, however, make them more battleships as naval weapons. the Kwantung Army in 1941 Royal Navy converted vessels into seaplane viable. In the early 1920s the leading navies of carriers and also installed facilities on their JAPANESE CARRIER “AKAGI” check, but it increasingly began to larger warships that would enable them to ignore their orders. Finally, in September launch aircraft. The first true aircraft carrier, 1931 an explosion took place on the South Manchurian Railway, close to a Chinese barracks. On this pretext Japanese troops occupied Mukden (present-day Shenyang) and steadily overran the rest of Manchuria. China made a protest to the League of Nations over this naked aggression. The League demanded that the Japanese halt their hostile activities, but their 33

THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914–1938 Rise of the Axis In the course of the 1930s Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy became increasingly belligerent in their foreign policies—Germany within Europe and Italy in Africa. As it had over Japan and Manchuria, the League of Nations showed itself incapable of preventing their acts of aggression. T he aim of the Geneva disarmament Hitler was to enjoy better fortune in Proclaiming the Axis conference of 1932–34 was to 1935. A referendum in the state of This 1938 German postage stamp celebrates persuade all European nations to Saarland resulted in an overwhelming the ever closer relationship between Hitler and Mussolini that developed after 1936. The slogan reduce their armed forces to the size of vote for a return to Germany, and this on the top reads: “Two peoples and one struggle.”. those of Germany. France, however, duly occurred in March. In the same viewed the move as weakening its month, Hitler announced to the world security. Germany, on the other hand, the creation of a German air force, the “ A Rome-Berlin axis around which all European states that sought to increase its military strength Luftwaffe, and that he was dramatically desire peace can revolve.” to that of its neighbors. When this was increasing the size of his army. This MUSSOLINI ON THE OCTOBER 1936 TREATY WITH GERMANY refused, in October 1933 Hitler was in flagrant breach of the Versailles withdrew not only from the talks but treaty, but there were only muted also from the League of Nations. protests from Britain and France. The following year Hitler turned his attention to Austria, where Chancellor Conquest of Abyssinia Engelbert Dollfuss, under threat from Mussolini, meanwhile, was also flexing both Left and Right, had ruled without his muscles. He had initally hoped to a parliament for two years. Hitler use peaceful means to expand Italy’s encouraged a Nazi African empire by it to be Italian territory, the emperor A new partnership having gone into exile in Britain. The coup and in July 700,000 The number of securing Abyssinia. League’s response had been to impose Another consequence of the Abyssinian 1934 Dollfuss was limited economic sanctions, but these crisis was that Mussolini turned his well-armed Italian He had signed a did not include coal and oil. Not being back on Britain and France because League members, neither Germany nor of their part in imposing sanctions on murdered; but troops, along with 150 aircraft, who treaty of friendship the US were bound by these sanctions. his country. In October 1936 Germany and Italy signed a treaty of friendship, government troops faced 550,000 ill-equipped Abyssinians. with Emperor Haile The Rhineland agreeing to recognize each other’s interests: Germany’s north of the Alps regained control Selassie in 1928, In March 1936 Hitler took advantage and Italy’s to the south. It was at the of the fact that much of the world was signing of the treaty that Mussolini first and Mussolini made clear his but the latter wanted to open his wringing its hands over Abyssinia to spoke of a Rome-Berlin axis. send his troops into the Rhineland. It opposition to a Nazi takeover by country to all nations and not just to was a calculated gamble, since Hitler’s AFTER army was by no means ready for war massing troops on the border with Italy. Mussolini became increasingly and a firm response by Britian and Abyssinia proved to be almost the last nail France would probably have forced in the coffin of the League of Nations. Its Austria. Hitler was forced to back off. irritated over this. In December 1934 a climb-down. But they were in no feeble response and the muted protests position to fight another European war. from Britain and France served merely Italian and Abyssinian forces clashed to encourage Hitler and Mussolini. Leaving his empire BEFORE inside Abyssinia. Abyssinia appealed to Emperor Haile Selassie rides out of Abyssinia during THE AXIS GATHERS STRENGTH the League of Nations, but it was more the closing stages of the Italian invasion. He escaped to The Anglo-French efforts to keep the two Europe, where in June 1936 he delivered a moving, but dictators apart had failed. Italy and Germany concerned about German rearmament. fruitless, appeal to the League of Nations in Geneva. intervened together in the Spanish Civil War 38–39 gg
and the bond between Hitler and Indeed, in April 1935 Britain and Mussolini would be reinforced by the Pact of Steel 50–51 gg
signed in 1939. Japan, too, Hitler’s principal aim was not only to France, whose main objective was would become allied to the Axis, signing the Anti-Comintern Pact 40–41 gg
with restore Germany’s 1914 borders, but to to ensure that Mussolini did not ally Germany in November 1936. This alliance to counter the threat of Communism was joined expand them, while Mussolini was bent himself to Hitler, met the Italians to by Italy in the following year. on enlarging Italy’s African empire. discuss this problem, but did not raise Although he was still opposed to the idea of the annexation of Austria by Germany, Mussolini the subject of Abyssinia. could no longer oppose his close ally’s territorial ambitions. When, in 1938, Hitler managed to GERMAN TERRITORIAL AMBITIONS Sensing the weakness of the Western achieve Anschluss with Austria 42–43 gg
without a single drop of blood being spilled, When Hitler came to power in 1933 Germany European democracies, Mussolini’s there was scarcely any protest from Fascist Italy. was still severely restricted by the Treaty of forces invaded Abyssinia in October Versailles ff
18–19. The Allies had withdrawn 1935. By May 1936 the country had the last of their troops from the occupied been overrun and Mussolini declared Rhineland in 1930, but under Versailles the region was to remain demilitarized. There was also the industrially rich Saarland, which had been placed under League of Nations control and delegated to France. In the east there was the Polish Corridor, which separated East Prussia from the remainder of Germany and included part of resource-rich Silesia. ITALIAN AFRICA Italy’s colonies comprised Eritrea and Italian Somaliland in the Horn of Africa, established in 1890 and 1905 respectively, and Libya, wrested from the Ottoman Empire in 1912. In the 1890s Italy had failed to conquer Abyssinia (present- day Ethiopia), and it was to that country that Mussolini’s imperialist ambitions now turned. 34

Reoccupation of the Rhineland German troops re-enter the Rhineland on March 1, 1936. The operation was very much a symbolic gesture, with just three infantry battalions crossing the Rhine. Had the French attacked, the Germans would have had to withdraw.

THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914–1938 BEFORE The democracies sought to achieve global disarmament through conferences sponsored by the League of Nations and through treaties designed to prevent war. In 1925, at the Treaty of Locarno, Italy and Britain agreed to be the guarantors of existing international borders in Europe. Then, in 1928, came the Kellogg-Briand Pact, when more than 60 nations pledged to outlaw war altogether. But hopes for disarmament and peace unraveled when Hitler withdrew from the League of Nations in 1933 during the Geneva Disarmament Conference ff
34–35. THREATS TO DEMOCRACY Europe’s democracies came under threat from both Left and Right. Violent confrontations between the two political extremes had helped the Fascists to take power in Italy ff
20 and Hitler’s Nazis to do the same in Germany ff
24–25. In the 1920s and 30s France lived in fear of a Communist revolution, BRITISH FASCISTS and Britain, even though its unions were weaker, was hit by a General Strike in 1926. Britain also had to face the threat of Oswald Mosley’s home-grown Fascists. Weakness of the Democracies The Western democracies had, apart from the US, been exhausted by World War I. They were convinced that Europe could never afford another such conflict and pinned their hopes on the League of Nations and disarmament. They also had to weather severe economic depression. F ollowing the signing of the Treaty foreign policy, refusing to join the gradually diminished, and a significant The coalition government had to award of Versailles in 1919, the principal them all pay raises in order to persuade aim of the Western democracies League of Nations and turning in portion of the country, especially the them to go back to work. was to switch from a wartime to a peacetime economy. This meant on itself. The US became gripped by industrial north, had been devastated. Foreign policy and the Maginot Line demobilizing most of their now swollen armed forces and converting their a “get rich quick” mentality. Set against But like other European countries, In terms of foreign and defense policy, munitions industries to the production French governments of all shades were of non-military goods. the freneticism of the Jazz Age, France was bedeviled by a series of determined that never again should Germany be allowed to invade, as it For the US this was easier than for Americans in increasing weak governments, usually had done twice within the past Britain and France, since its late entry century. One strategy was to encircle into the conflict meant that its numbers began to gamble coalitions of Left or Right. Germany with alliances. Thus the munitions industry had hardly been French supported Poland from the established on a wartime footing. At on the stock market, Some trades unions were outset, but left-wing governments also the same time, especially through loans reestablished a rapport with Russia. to its European allies, its economy had whose rapid growth vehemently Communist Alliances were also made with states been made stronger by the war. The in southeast Europe. As for Germany United States also had few overseas reflected an ever and took their line from itself, successive French governments possessions, so could reduce its armed alternated between insisting on the forces to the bare minimum. While it expanding economy. Moscow. Strikes were a terms of the Versailles Treaty being encouraged international disarmament, followed to the letter to a more it otherwise adopted an isolationist frequent occurence and conciliatory attitude over reparations. Political instability the economy remained For Britain and France fragile.When the Popular the transition from war Front, a left-wing coalition to peace proved much led by the socialist Léon more difficult. Both Blum, was elected in economies had been National Hunger March badge 1936, the immediate drained by over four On this march to Washington DC in December response of the more years of war. France’s 1932, delegates of unemployed associations combative industrial manpower, in met government representatives to explain workers was to occupy particular, had been the desperate plight of the country’s jobless. their own factories. 36

WEAKNESS OF THE DEMOCRACIES Reviving the US economy AFTER The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public works program introduced by President Roosevelt By the mid-1930s the Western economies as part of his New Deal to lift the United States had slowly begun to recover and the British out of depression. and French were starting to take their first hesitant steps toward rearming. The British defense budget suffered Britain began to strengthen its air force in 1935 along with all other areas of public after Hitler had revealed the existence of the Luftwaffe ff
34–35. France followed a year spending. The government later, but was more limited in what it could do because of the money being spent on the introduced a rule that defense Maginot Line and a slower economic recovery. planning was to be done on the PACIFISM AND APPEASEMENT The 1930s also saw the emergence of a powerful premise that there would be no war pacifist movement, especially in Britain. This was vocal in its demand that the horrors of 1914–18 in Europe for ten years at least. The must not be repeated. In 1933 the Oxford University Union debated the motion: “ This Ten Year Rule, as it was called, was House under no circumstances will fight for King and Country.” When the motion was renewed annually throughout the passed by 275 votes to 173, the story was given extensive coverage in the press. The right-wing 1920s, after which it was reduced to popular newspapers expressed horror and alarm that pacifism was so prevalent among the students five years. Priority was given to the of England’s oldest university. Nevertheless, there were men in powerful positions who had lived defense of the empire, in particular through World War I and agreed with the students. Some British and French politicians India, and policing the former Turkish began to believe that if they gave Hitler much of what he wanted 42–43 gg
a new possessions of Iraq, Transjordan, and European conflict would be avoided. Palestine. Consequently there was poor, in the following year. But the US economy did not recover fully until, become not just a physical barrier, but little left to spend on the armed forces like the economies of Western Europe, it was once more on a war footing. a pyschological shield behind which for British home defense. Union strength in France the French people felt safe and secure. Workers leave the Renault works in Paris after successfully striking for more pay. Inflationary awards The Great Depression slowed France’s recovery from the Depression. Disillusion in Britain In October 1929 came the Wall Street Britain had not suffered France’s Crash, when the US stock market physical devastation but was equally bubble finally burst. Tens of thousands exhausted by the end of the war. The of Americans were made bankrupt government’s overnight, banks dream was to 30 BILLION dollars was collapsed, and the create a “land fit lost on the country went into for heroes” and for US stock market in a single week in deep recession. The a short time there October 1929, more than the US had shock waves of this was an economic spent on the whole of World War I. quickly spread boom, but it did not around the world last. Traditional British industries fell and the struggling European economies into decline, with overseas customers were badly affected. It was little wonder having developed their own during that the Western democracies were in Marching for work the war. Coal had been a major export, no position to counter German, Italian, In Britain the 1936 Jarrow Crusade was designed to draw public attention to the drastic economic situation but with oil now taking over from it and Japanese aggression. in the north of England, even though by this time the overall economy was slowly improving. there were no longer the markets for Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected to As a physical deterrent to any future coal that there had been before 1914. his first term as US president in 1933, German invasion, the French came up with a plan to construct a line of High interest rates deterred new introduced his New Deal, based on modern fortifications along their eastern frontier. This was to be called business start-ups and the result public work schemes and relief for the the Maginot Line, after defense minister, André Maginot, who had was a massive increase in been badly wounded during World War I. By 1930 work had started on it. unemployment. Spending It was to consume a massive portion of the French defence budget and would on postwar reconstruction also had to be drastically cut and, as in France, industrial relations worsened, with strike action becoming commonplace as workers struggled to protect their jobs and wages. “the false and demoralizing notion … that once we have fortifications the inviolability of our country is assured …” FRENCH GENERAL, ADOLPHE GUILLAUMAT, 1922 37

THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914–1938 BEFORE The Spanish Civil War Like other European countries, Spain The bitter conflict between the Left and Right in Spain drew in both the Axis powers and Soviet Russia suffered political turbulence after World between 1936 and 1939. The Western democracies stood helplessly by, apparently powerless, but in War I, even though it had remained neutral fact unwilling, to intervene and end the involvement of external forces in the war. throughout its duration. DICTATORSHIP A constitutional monarchy under Alfonso XIII, Spain briefly became a dictatorship when General Primo de Rivera seized KING ALFONSO XIII power in 1925. For a while the country was stable, but de Rivera was unable to cope with the effects of the Depression ff 36–37 and in early 1930 he was forced to resign. FURTHER INSTABILITY Democracy returned to Spain with left-wing parties in the ascendancy. They abolished the monarchy in 1931, declared the country a republic, and sent King Alfonso XIII into exile. Right- and left-wing governments followed amid increasing political unrest. Matters came to a head in 1936 when an alliance of left-wing parties called the Popular Front, defeated a coalition composed of Conservative Catholics and the more extreme right-wing Falange Party. The new government immediately banned the Falange, provoking a new wave of violence. KEY MOMENT GUERNICA Guernica is a town in the Basque country on the north Spanish coast. In spring 1937 it had some 5,000 inhabitants, its numbers being swollen by Republican refugees. On April 26, in support of Nationalist operations designed to secure the city of Bilbao, aircraft of the German Condor Legion, with a few Italian planes, attacked the town. It was market day and besides destroying much of the town the bombing raid caused over 2,500, largely civilian, casualties. It brought home the nature and horrors of modern warfare to the outside world and inspired Spanish artist Pablo Picasso to paint one of his most famous paintings—Guernica. DESTRUCTION OF GUERNICA The war at home Republican troops attacking rebel army elements during the early days of the civil war. They were often merciless to those they captured, as were the Nationalists. Controlling Spain’s cities was key to Franco’s success. 38

THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR T he street fighting that broke out Early Nationalist gains to the extent that by the end of 1937 increasing numbers of refugees began in 1936 as a result of the banning General Francisco Franco (fifth from the left) with some the whole of the western half of the to cross the Pyrenees to camps that of the Falange was accompanied of his senior generals in Burgos, just after it had been country and most of the north was in had been set up by the French. The by Left-inspired land seizures and a won by the Nationalists in August 1936. his hands. At the beginning of 1938 he Republican government itself fled in wave of strikes. The Nationalists, as the formed his first proper government and February 1939 and Britain and France right wing was collectively labeled, of the Spanish Atlantic coast; Italy six months later the last of the foreign were forced to recognize the Franco feared a Communist takeover and and Germany did the same in the volunteers had left the country. It was regime. Madrid fell to the Nationalists decided to take action. Mediterranean, but stressed that they now only a matter of time before at the end of March in the same year would not withdraw their forces until and the war came to an end. In July 1936 General Francisco Franco’s victory was assured. A further Franco gained total control and Franco, commanding the troops in drawback was that the agreement did AFTER Spanish Morocco, rebelled against the government. Similar not cover aircraft, a weakness that The Spanish Civil War did not in itself military revolts took was forcibly hasten the onset of World War II. But it place in cities on the brought home did showcase modern German and Russian mainland, although at Guernica (see weaponry, and provide an insight into how those in Madrid and p.38) at the end the war would be fought. Barcelona were quickly of that month. crushed. Russia agreed WEAPONS LABORATORY to send equipment and Taking control The Axis powers and Russia used the civil war volunteers to help the to test new weapons and tactics, besides giving government, while Franco’s better- troops and airmen combat experience. Germany provided the equipped forces Germany reaped the most benefit. It was in aircraft to transport continued to Spain that the Luftwaffe perfected the technique Franco and his men remorselessly drive of divebombing, especially using the Junkers across to the mainland. back the Republicans Ju87 Stuka, which became one of the weapons most feared by Allied ground troops during the International support Condor Legion Crest early years of World War II. They were also able The Condor Legion was the cover to improve the design of their tanks. Britain and France now name for the Luftwaffe in Spain. Some stepped in, or rather didn’t. of Germany’s leading pilots of World War II Both declared that they would honed their skills in Spain fighting the Nationalists cause. not intervene, although volunteers did flock to Spain, most to join the International Brigades on the Republican side, but a few to fight with the Nationalists. While Germany and Italy agreed, in principle at least, to Anglo-French proposals on non- intervention, they began to send troops and supplies to Franco, as did the Russians to the Republicans. In November 1936 the Germans and Italians recognized Franco as the Spanish head of state, after he had forced the Republican government to leave Madrid and then besieged the capital. The Republicans also suffered increasing splits among their various 375,000 The number of soldiers and civilians killed during the Spanish civil war. A further 135,000 were executed or died in concentration camps in its aftermath. factions, with Russian agents playing WRONG LESSONS a sinister game among them in an The Russians, however, came away with attempt to establish a government the wrong lessons in terms of armored that was subservient to Moscow. warfare. They had developed the concept of using large formations of tanks as a decisive The Western democracies continued weapon, but their officers in Spain concluded to try to defuse the situation. In April that tanks were best suited to operating with 1937 new non-intervention measures infantry rather than on their own. Stalin, who were agreed upon by all the powers was in the midst of purging his senior officer involved. To prevent further soldiers corps, accepted this flawed view, but would and weapons being sent to Spain, later regret it. Many Western observers also the British and French governments concluded that the anti-tank gun was now established a joint naval blockade more powerful than the tank, forgetting that much of Spain consists of mountainous terrain, The International Brigades which favored defensive tactics. This poster praises the International Brigades for their support of the Popular Front in its struggle 39 against the Nationalists.

THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914–1938 Japan Invades China 0 800 km USSR 0 800 miles When Japan manufactured an excuse to invade China in 1937 it sparked a conflict that would last until the Japanese surrender in 1945. The Amur ri invasion can be said to mark the start of World War II in the East. Ussu Honshu South Sakhalin PA N(Karafuto) I n 1934 the Japanese government Japan’s conquests in China by 1939 Nomonhan MANCHUKUO issued a highly provocative policy The Japanese rapidly conquered large areas of northern statement declaring that from now and central China, and in 1938–39 turned their attention MONGOLIA (MANCHURIA) on it would be the guardian of peace to coastal regions and ports, successfully cutting off in East Asia and that it would brook most of China’s trade links with the rest of the world. INNER MONGOLIA Harbin Hokkaido no interference in China’s affairs by Vladivostok any other foreign state. At the end officials hostile to the Japanese in some Liao Ho of the same year it declared that after northern provinces. The Kuomintang two years it would be no longer bound generally agreed, preferring to maintain Mukden Sea of by the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty a veneer of sovereignty over these on restricting the size of navies. The provinces rather than risk losing more Peking Japan West was startled, but felt powerless territory through force. The Japanese Tientsin to do anything about it, especially then attempted to split the five Seoul since Japan was no longer a member northernmost provinces from China. Tokyo of the League of Nations. This brought about a popular outcry, KOREA with demonstrations against the Yellow River Kaifeng Yellow Kyoto Threats to the truce Japanese in many Chinese cities. CHINA Sea Shikoku JA Japan also began to nibble away Significantly, Mao Zedong and the further at Chinese territory, claiming Communists also proclaimed their Yangtze Nanking Suchow Kyushu that the Chinese had violated the resistance to Japanese expansion. Hankow Shanghai Tanggu Truce by failing to crush This was not just because Moscow Chungking N anti-Japanese sentiment. It began had declared a united front against East to demand the removal of Chinese Fascism, which included Japan, but also because if China took up arms China PACIFIC BEFORE against Japan it would relieve OCEAN the Kuomintang pressure on the Foochow S e a Okinawa Encouraged by its success in securing Communists. Although he talked about (to Japan) Manchuria, and driven by the fanatical military resistance, Chiang Kai-shek Hungshui-ho Amoy Taihoku nationalism in its armed forces, Japan had was afraid of Japan and continued with Canton KEY turned its attention to northern China. his campaign against the Communists. Nanning Formosa Japanese empire 1930 THE LIMIT OF JAPANESE CONQUESTS Pretext for war Macao Hong Kong Japanese conquests 1931–33 Before the end of the conflict in Manchuria (to Portugal) (to Britain) ff
32–33, the Japanese overran the extreme Matters eventually came to a head in northern Chinese province of Rehe and drove July 1937. The Japanese, like the other Hainan Japanese conquests 1937–39 the Kuomintang forces south of the Great Wall of countries with foreign legations in China. The Japanese emperor had given specific Peking, maintained a small garrison “ The Chinese soldier is excellent orders for his troops not to penetrate south of there. These soldiers left the city material, wasted and betrayed the Great Wall and so they halted. for maneuvers, but on July 7 by stupid leadership.” they exchanged fire with THE TANGGU TRUCE Chinese troops in the COLONEL JOSEPH STILWELL, US MILITARY ATTACHÉ IN CHINA, 1938 Hostilities were brought to an end by the Tanggu area of the Marco Truce of May 1933. The Japanese demanded a Polo Bridge, 12 The West’s view of Japan British and US naval and merchant demilitarized zone extending 60 miles (100 km) miles (19 km) This cartoon, published in Germany vessels on the Yangtze River, just south of the Great Wall and extending from southeast of the in 1935, shows Japan as a predatory upstream from the city. President Peking (present-day Beijing) to Tientsin, with city. Japanese Roosevelt proposed that the British and Japanese patrols ensuring that it remained so. troops began to octopus extending its tentacles Americans should impose a joint naval Chiang Kai-shek, engrossed as he was with pass through the to all parts of the world. blockade on Japan to cut it off from its trying to crush the Communists ff
30–31, Great Wall into imports of raw materials. The British, acquiesced in this and also formally recognized the demilitarized succeeded for three fearing this would lead to war, declined. the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, zone and demanded months before the The Japanese then apologized. as Manchuria had now become. the withdrawal of Japanese broke Chinese troops from in. By now China Nanking fell to the Japanese on While the truce did bring relative peace to northern China. Chiang had gained the December 14, 1937. Over the next six northern China for a while, its people considered Kai-shek finally came off the sympathy of the weeks the occupying soldiers carried out its terms humiliating. Furthermore, it did not fence and refused to comply with the Western world, but diminish the Japanese military’s desire to gain Japanese. The result was all-out war. nothing more than 42,000 The number of Chinese control of more of northern China. that. The Soviet Union, civilians murdered The Japanese quickly secured Peking meanwhile, concerned over in the Rape of Nanking according to the and Tientsin and then advanced rapidly Japanese expansionism, signed a International Relief Committee of 1938, southward. They placed Shanghai non-aggression pact with China, and but the true number was much higher. under siege. Chiang ordered the Mao Zedong and his Communists also defenders to hold the city and they began to fight the Japanese. the most appalling atrocities, torching As the Japanese swept southward buildings, looting, torturing and killing their next target was Nanking, the seat civilians, and raping young women. of the Kuomintang government. On The rest of the world was shocked, but December 12, 1937, however, Japanese did nothing. The Chinese estimate that shore batteries and aircraft attacked some 300,000 people were murdered. 40

Chiang Kai-shek and his government Japanese troop train JAPAN INVADES CHINA had meanwhile withdrawn to Hankow, A large detachment of the Kwantung Army is AFTER 400 miles (650 km) up the Yangtze transported south through Manchukuo by rail to Japanese territorial ambitions were not limited to China; they also had their eyes River from Nanking. He was convinced reinforce the troops fighting in northern China. on Soviet territory and Outer Mongolia. that, however great its losses in terms SOVIET-JAPANESE CLASHES Moscow’s support for China resulted in tension of people and territory, China would Foreign aid to China on the border with Manchukuo. In 1937 there were clashes along the Amur River, and the outlast Japan. He therefore began to The Soviet Union had been supplying following year the Soviets repulsed a more serious incursion in the east, near Lake Khasan. trade space for time. The Chinese troops, Mao Zedong with weaponry and In 1939 the Japanese in Manchukuo turned both Kuomintang and Communists, air support, but it was not until the west to Outer Mongolia, with which the Russians had a non-aggression pact. The Japanese the latter now called the Eighth Route end of 1938 that Chiang Kai-shek attempted to annex territory and in August the Soviets mounted a major attack, decisively Army, did enjoy local victories, but received any material aid from the defeating them at Nomonhan (Khalkhyn Gol) and driving them back into Manchukuo. these were never West. Amid A ceasefire agreement was signed on decisive enough to Chiang Kai-shek was much helped by his increasing 15 September. Thereafter the Japanese turned their attention toward Southeast Asia 146–47, halt the Japanese wife, Soong May-Ling, sister-in-law of Sun clamor from the 158–59
gg, and not until the very end of World War II would there be any further Russo- invaders for long. Yat-sen. Beautiful and highly intelligent, US media to Japanese conflict 320–21
gg. In the early she had been educated in the US. provide help for Relentless progress A Japanese artillery column advances in southern China. summer of 1938 China, President The war demonstrated the hardiness of the Japanese soldier, which would be a decisive factor in the conquest the Japanese began to advance on Roosevelt agreed to make a $25 of the European colonies in Southeast Asia in 1941–42. Hankow. Chiang Kai-shek’s troops were million loan to the Kuomintang unable to hold them and in August he so that it could purchase weapons. and his government were forced to Although the Chinese were a divided withdraw to Chungking, which would force and poorly organized and badly be their base for the next eight years. armed compared to the Japanese, Between October and December the they still enjoyed the advantage of Japanese overran the southern province fighting on home soil. But whether of Canton and virtually isolated the they could outlast the Japanese British colony of Hong Kong. remained to be seen.

THE SEEDS OF WAR 1914–1938 BEFORE Appeasing Hitler Hitler’s aim was to unite all the German As the 1930s wore on and Nazi Germany grew ever stronger, Britain and France continued to peoples living in the various countries of rearm, but they were still loath to threaten force against Hitler. This encouraged Hitler to become Central and Eastern Europe. The largest increasingly aggressive in the territorial demands he made from Germany’s neighbors. number of these were the Austrians. T hroughout 1937 the Germans AUSTRO-GERMAN RAPPROCHEMENT fomented trouble in Austria Having been thwarted in his attempt to unite through their Nazi cells. Matters Austria with Germany ff
34 in 1934, Hitler came to a head in January 1938. now planned to annex Austria by peaceful means. Hearing of an assassination plot against him, Chancellor Schuschnigg ordered From June 1933 any German who his police to raid a house used by a visited Austria had to pay 1,000 marks Nazi cell. They found plans for a Nazi for the privilege. This penalty, which revolt, which would provide the excuse remained in force until 1936, ruined the for German forces to enter Austria to Austrian tourist industry, encouraging prevent German fighting German. Germans to visit Bavaria instead. Outrageous demands the referendum. The Austrian Nazis Cheering the invaders The first breakthrough came in July 1936 with the had done their work well. The German German troops occupying Austria in signing of the Austro-German Agreement. Horrified by this, Schuschnigg went soldiers were greeted by cheering crowds March 1939 are given an enthusiastic This ostensibly recognized Austria’s sovereignty, to Germany to complain in person and there was no attempt to oppose welcome by the people of Salzburg— but secret clauses within the agreement were to Hitler. He was forced to listen to a them. The following day Schuschnigg complete with Nazi salutes and swastikas. very much in Germany’s favor. The Austrians lecture on the treatment of the Austrian resigned, was arrested, and spent until agreed to release political prisoners, including Nazis. Hitler then demanded that all the end of the war in concentration population, and Hitler Nazis, and to allow the political opposition a Austrian Nazis be released from jail camps. Anschluss had been achieved, instructed its leader, Konrad say in government.
While Austrian chancellor, and that the head of the Austrian Nazis with Austria now little more than Henlein, to campaign for Kurt Schuschnigg, believed this agreement be made interior minister and another a province of Greater Germany. greater autonomy. He put Austro-German relations on a firm footing, Nazi sympathizer defense minister. also began to threaten Hitler saw it as a lever to undermine Austrian Furthermore Austria’s economy was Britain and France made diplomatic Czechoslovakia, which independence. His pact with Mussolini ff
34 to be absorbed by that of Germany. protests over the annexation of mobilized its armed later in 1936 also helped to isolate Austria. The Austrian chancellor refused to give Austria, but that was all. Neither was forces and called on its in to these demands and organized a prepared for war and, in any event, ally, France, for support. PREPARING FOR WAR referendum of the Austrian people there appeared to be little protest In 1936 Hitler launched his Four-Year Plan, over whether they wanted to maintain by the Austrian people themselves. The French turned to designed to put the German economy on a war their independence or accept Anschluss the British and prime footing. He appointed Goering to implement the (union) with Germany. The Sudeten Germans minister Neville plan, giving him extraordinary powers over private Chamberlain went to industry as well as government agencies. If he Fearful that the vote would go the The British and French soon had to Prague to try to persuade was to pursue his territorial demands, Hitler now wrong way, Hitler ordered his troops face another crisis provoked by Hitler. Czechoslovakia’s president, felt that war in Europe was inevitable. into Austria on March 12, the eve of During 1937 Hitler had also set his Eduard Benes, to agree sights on Czechoslovakia, a new state to Henlein’s demands. KEY MOMENT created by the Treaty of Versailles, The Germans, meanwhile, and had drawn up plans for a surprise concentrated troops on KRISTALLNACHT attack on it. The annexation of Austria the Czech border. Hitler meant that the Czechs were now told his generals that he On November 7, 1938, a young German surrounded on three sides by Germany. would take military Jewish refugee shot and fatally wounded a action if the matter had German diplomat in Paris. Two nights later Hitler made his first move almost as not been resolved by there was a wave of violent demonstrations soon as Austria had been secured. The October 1938. throughout Germany. These had been Sudetenland, the westernmost part of carefully orchestrated by Goebbels and Czechoslovakia, had a sizeable German Reinhard Heydrich, head of the security services. The target was Jewish property— “ … a quarrel in a faraway shops, private houses, and synagogues. The country between people destruction was widespread—the name of whom we know nothing!” Kristallnacht (Crystal Night) comes from the vast quantities of broken glass that littered NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN IN A RADIO BROADCAST, SEPTEMBER 27, 1938 the streets—and almost 100 Jews were murdered. One outrageous consequence was that decrees were issued fining the Jewish population for the damage. Many countries protested and the US recalled its ambassador, but Hitler declared that this was of no concern to outsiders, accusing Britain of harboring a world Jewish conspiracy. BROKEN SHOP WINDOWS AFTER KRISTALLNACHT 42

APPEASING HITLER Chamberlain’s triumphant return Neville Chamberlain arrives back at Heston Aerodrome, after signing the Munich Agreement with Hitler. He declared that he had brought “peace with honour,” which he believed was “peace for our time.” The brink of war The infamous piece of paper Hitler and Chamberlain met privately and produced a Hitler continued his saber-rattling and short version of the Munich Agreement, which they both this resulted in an uprising by the signed. This was the piece of paper that Chamberlain Germans in Sudetenland in mid- waved to the crowd on his return to Britain. September, which the Czech Army quickly crushed. Fearful that Hitler persecution of the Jews. The night of would now invade, the British prime November 9/10,1938, which became minister, with French support, decided known as Kristallnacht (see far left), that he should meet Hitler in person to saw the most widespread and defuse the situation. In the meantime concerted outbreak of violence yet both Britain and France carried out a directed against Germany’s Jews. partial mobilization. Chamberlain felt strongly that Sudetenland was not worth the horrors of another European war. Through the Munich Agreement of September 29, Sudetenland had a population of two ambitions. The agreement was signed peace. The British and French expressed million ethnic Germans and 800,000 by Britain, France, Italy, and Germany, wholesale relief that war had been Czechs when it passed into German hands. but the Czechs had no say in the averted, but Hitler was frustrated that matter. On October 1 German troops he had been denied the opportunity to the German parts of Sudetenland were marched into Sudetenland, while deal with the Czechoslovakian problem. exchanged for a declaration by Hitler Chamberlain returned in triumph to that he had no further territorial Britain, declaring that he had secured While Hitler planned his next moves on the European stage, attention in Germany and outside it turned to a dramatic new phase in the The Polish Corridor, AFTER which divided East Prussia from the rest of Hitler soon made it clear that he had Germany, was Hitler’s no intention of honoring his side of the next territorial target. Munich Agreement with regard to making no more territorial demands. The postmark includes a swastika and FURTHER DESIGNS ON CZECHOSLOVAKIA the triumphant slogan “Wir sind frei!” (“We Adopting the same strategy he had employed in are free!”). Sudetenland, Hitler set out to encourage internal Slovakia would be persuaded by Hitler to unrest in other parts of Czechoslovakia. He turned declare independence in 1939, putting an end to to the provinces of Slovakia and Ruthenia, the Czechoslovak state. which enjoyed a fair degree of autonomy, and Proud Nazi postcard This German postcard of 8 encouraged them to October 1938 celebrates the annexation of Sudetenland, demand even greater the main German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia, just independence. This seven days before. eventually sealed Czechoslovakia’s fate and allowed German troops to march into Prague 50
gg
in March 1939. OCCUPATION OF PRAGUE Austria is shown as fully All the German-speaking regions in DEMANDS FROM POLAND incorporated into the new Czechoslovakia are indicated by red stripes. On October 28, 1938, four weeks after the Greater Germany, although Sudetenland, which lay along the border Munich Agreement, Hitler called on the Poles Anschluss had only taken with Germany, was occupied by German to hand over the port of Danzig and allow place eight months before. troops on October 1, 1938. the Germans to construct road and rail links across the Polish Corridor to East Prussia. The Poles refused to agree to these demands, but on this occasion Hitler backed down. Less than a year later he would start World War II with a full-scale invasion of Poland 58–59
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2 EUROPE GOES TO WAR 1939 The German and Soviet invasions of Poland, followed by a Soviet invasion of Finland, made it clear that a major European war could no longer be averted. Britain and France declared war against Germany but were powerless to save Poland.

EUROPE GOES TO WAR 1939 EUROPE GOES TO WAR German forces attack Over 1.7 million German Finnish “ghost” troopsY Poland using Blitzkrieg troops advance into repel Red Army forces after tactics. The invasion follows Poland. Despite pledging to Athey attack Finland on three the Polish government’s defend Poland, Britain and N France have made no plans for fronts in November. The refusal to hand over military action to aid the Poles Finns unexpectedly force the the port-city of Danzig, in case of an attack. They mobilize their forces but Russian’s into retreat. claimed by Germany. take no significant offensive Poland is defeated action against Germany. FINLAND in four weeks and W ICELAND E Germany occupies roughly two-thirds of the country. R D EUROPE NO WE S Faeroe Islands NORWAY BRITAIN (to Denmark) SWEDEN FINLAND POLAND USSR tic Sea GERMANY AT L A N T I C FRANCE ESTONIA OCEAN I TA LY Caspian Sea TUNISIABlack Sea North IT LATVIA S PA I N TURKEY Sea DENMARK B a l LITHUANIA SYRIA N AFGHANISTA IRISH GER. MOROCCO IRAQ PERSIA TIBET FREE B R ITAI N NETH. POLAND U S S R ALGERIA L I B YA NEPAL STATE EGYPT INDIA BEL. LUX. NEJD RIO DE ORO (Saudi) GERMANY SLOVAKIA OMAN HUNGARY F R A N C ESWITZ. FRENCH WEST AFRICA ANGLO - ASIR HADHRAMAUT EGYPTIAN YEMEN ADEN PROTECTORATE CAMEROONS YUGOSLAVIA ROMANIA GAMBIA (British mandate) SUDAN BULGARIA Y ALB. Black Sea PORTUGUESE GUINEA NIGERIA FRENCH ITALIAN FRENCH SOMALILAND CEYLON GOLD EQUATORIAL EAST AFRICA BRITISH A SIERRA LEONE SOMALILAND LIBERIA AFRICA L PORTUGAL DA COAST UGAN KENYA (to Italy) CAMEROONS S PA I N (French mandate) G R E EC E T U R K E YM e diterr BELGIAN TANGANYIKA CONGO TUNISIA SYRIA (British mandate) (to France) a n (French NYASALAND INDIAN mandate) IRAQ e a n DODECANESE ANGOLA NORTHERN RHODESIA (British S e a (to Italy) (to Portugal) CYPRUS OCEAN MOROCCO PALESTINE mandate) SOUTHERN MADAGASCAR (to France) (British mandate) RHODESIA ALGERIA LIBYA SOUTH (to France) (to Italy) EGYPT WEST AFRICABECLHAUNADNA- PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA SWAZILAND UNION OF BASUTOLAND SOUTH AFRICA Britain and France Soviet armored declare war on vehicles enter Poland Germany after under the terms of the Germany’s refusal to Russo-German Non- Aggression pact of 1939 and withdraw from occupy roughly one third of Poland. The British the country. This second invasion results in the Expeditionary Force collapse of Polish resistance. (BEF) sets off for France in good spirits. A t the beginning of 1939 there was still hope that a major war would be a gamble, but found a valuable ally in Joseph Stalin, who in Europe might be avoided. But Hitler’s relentless aggression decided that a cynical deal with the Nazis, though they were his at last goaded the British and French governments into taking a ideological enemies, offered the best prospects for Soviet security. stand. After German troops occupied Prague, Czechoslovakia, in March, the Western democracies committed themselves to support The Nazi–Soviet Pact in August opened the way for the German Poland, which was the next nation to come under pressure. Hitler invasion of Poland on September 1. Reluctantly, Britain and France knew that to fight the Poles, British, and French at the same time honoured the letter of their obligations to Poland and declared war on Germany two days later, though they did nothing to prevent 46

EUROPE GOES TO WAR 1939 1939 Japanese forces bomb the Chinese city of Chungking killing 5,000 people. The two countries have been at war since 1937 and many more Chinese will to lose their lives during World War II. Alaska (to US) CANADA NEWFOUNDLAND Albert Einstein sends a letter to US President ONGOLIA MANCHUKUO U N ITED STATES Roosevelt regarding OF AMERICA developing the atomic PACIFIC bomb before the OCEAN Germans and the other Axis power can do so. HINA KOREA J A P A N BURMA MEXICO DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Formosa CUBA VIRGIN ISLANDS A TLANTI C HAITI LEEWARD ISLANDS OCEAN Mariana Islands BRITISH HONDURAS (Japanese mandate) GUATEMALA IAM FRENCH PHILIPPINE GUAM Marshall Islands EL SALVADOR HONDURAS WINDWARD ISLANDS INDOCHINA ISLANDS NICARAGUA (to US) BARBADOS BRITISH (Japanese mandate) TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO NORTH BORNEO COSTA RICA VENEZUELA ALAYA BRUNEI Caroline PANAMA BRITISH GUIANA DUTCH GUIANA SARAWAK Islands COLOMBIA (Japanese mandate) FRENCH GUIANA Gilbert As a result of the Battle of Nauru Islands ECUADOR TERRITORY (to Britain) the River Plate, the first major OF NEW GUINEA DUTCH EAST INDIES (British mandate) PAPUA Solomon Ellice naval battle of the war, the BRAZIL Islands Islands UAY pocket battleship Graf Spee is (to Britain) (to Britain) WESTERN PERU PORTUGUESE New SAMOA AMERICAN scuttled. Having been followed to TIMOR (NZ mandate) SAMOA the port of Montevideo, escape Hebrides BOLIVIA (to france Fiji was deemed impossible but PARAG and Britain) (to Britain) capture was out of the question. AUSTRALIA New Caledonia (to France) NEW CHILE URUGUAY ZEALAND ARGENTINA THE WORLD IN DECEMBER 1939 Following Britain’s declaration of war on Germany on September 3, Germany many Commonwealth governments, German conquests to Dec 1939 including Australia, take steps to Japanese Empire Japanese conquests to Dec 1939 provide men and aid for the war effort. Allied states Neutral states Territory occupied by USSR Frontiers Sep 1939 Poland being overrun by German forces, abetted in the east by the neither battles on the Western Front nor bombing raids on London Soviets. The atrocities committed by both the Nazis and the Soviets or Paris. The most dramatic action was at sea, where German in conquered Poland were but a foretaste of the wider horrors that U-boats and surface raiders threatened Allied shipping. When Finland World War II held in store. was attacked by the Soviet Union in November, Britain and France were almost tempted to send their idle forces to intervene in defense While Poland suffered, the British and French endured the of the Finns. Meanwhile, the United States stood on the sidelines, minor inconveniences of the “Phoney War.” Although civilian life rooting for Britain and France but hoping to keep out of any fighting. was disrupted by blackouts and the evacuation of cities, there were 47

EUROPE GOES TO WAR 1939 TIMELINE 1939 Spanish Nationalists capture Barcelona ■ German troops occupy Prague ■ Germany invades Poland ■ Russia invades eastern Poland ■ Britain and France declare war on Germany ■ British Expeditionary Force is sent to France ■ The Winter War ■ Battle of the River Plate JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE FEBRUARY 14 APRIL 7 Launch of the German Italian forces invade battleship Bismarck, Albania. The country is the largest ship of its overrun and Albanian class and significant King Zog flees. threat in the Atlantic. Kindertransport passport German troops in Prague JANUARY–AUGUST FEBRUARY 27 MAY 3 Physical examination of Refugee Jewish Britain and France Vyacheslav Molotov a young British conscript children from recognize Nationalist replaces Maxim Germany, Austria, and leader, General Franco, Litvinov as Soviet JUNE Czechoslovakia are as ruler of Spain. foreign minister. 20-year-olds in Britain brought to Britain by begin registering for the Kindertransport military service. organization. MARCH 15 MAY 11 Mussolini and Hitler JANUARY 1 German troops occupy Japanese and postage stamp Fresh restrictions are Prague after Slovakia, Soviet-Mongolian forces imposed on Jews in at the instigation of APRIL 27 clash on the border Germany; they are the Nazis, declares British government between Manchuria banned from jobs in independence from introduces a limited and Mongolia. the retail trade and Czechoslovakia. The form of conscription, from work as artisans. Czech territories of just for young men MAY 22 Bohemia and Moravia aged 20–21. Hitler and Mussolini JANUARY 25 become a German sign the Pact of Steel, a In the Spanish Civil protectorate. ten-year political alliance. War, Franco’s Nationalists capture MARCH 22 MAY 25 Barcelona. Germany annexes the Britain and France Baltic port of Memel agree to open JANUARY 27 from Lithuania. exploratory talks with Hitler approves the the Soviet Union. Z Plan for a massive MARCH 28 expansion of the Madrid surrenders to German naval fleet. Franco’s Nationalists, JANUARY 30 ending the Spanish In an address to the Civil War. Reichstag, Hitler warns that a second world war France’s defence against would result in “the Germany: The Maginot Line annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.” MARCH 31 JUNE Britain and The 937 Jewish France pledge refugees aboard the to aid Poland SS St Louis are turned in the event away by the US and of a threat to its Cuba. The ship is independence from forced to sail back Nazi Germany. to Europe. Adolf Hitler 48