HITLER AND THE ROAD TO WAR, 1939-1945.

-Hitler became the chancellor of Germany in 1933.

-His policies abroad led to crisis which culminated into the Second
World War in Sept.1939.
Hitler’s aims.
1. Reversal of the Treaty of Versailles.
-He had never accepted the Treaty of Versailles and was determined to
restore the pride of Germany.
-He intended to retrieve the lost lands and build up the German armed
forces.
2. To unite all the German speaking people.
-He wanted to create a greater Germany by uniting all the Germans into
one homeland.
-The Treaty of Versailles was against self-determination (independence)
of German nationals.
-A treaty with Austria stopped a possible reunion of Germany and
Austria (Anschluss).
-There were also Germans in Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia.
3. Living space (Lebensraum).
-The greater Germany would have a population of 85 million people
which Germany could not have enough food for and raw materials.
There was need to expand to the East and take Poland and to the West of
USSR. Hitler hated these countries because USSR was a communist
country, the Poles and Russians were Slavs whom Hitler regarded as
slaves.