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September 1st 1939,\nGerman troops thrust deep
into Poland to win a swift\nand absolute victory.
Barely 20 years earlier, their\nforefathers had also been
on the march, but\nback into their
homeland as a defeated army.
In November 1918, after four\nyears of World War One,
Germany's Emperor,\nKaiser Wilhelm II,
had been forced to abdicate.
His armies were being ground\ndown by a remorseless
offensive by British,\nFrench and US troops.
His people faced starvation.
But already a dangerous\nmyth was taking root.
The German generals and\ntroops claimed that they
hadn't been defeated in battle,
but betrayed by their own\ncowardly politicians.
Even so, at 11 in the morning\non November 11th 1918,
the 11th hour of the\n11th day of the
11th month, World War\nOne came to an end.
The following month,\nPresident Woodrow Wilson
of the United States\narrived in Europe
promising to create\na new world order.
He persuaded the world's leaders
to sign up to a new\nLeague of Nations.
At the Treaty of Versailles,\nthey agreed that from now on
disputes between countries\nwould be resolved
not by fighting, but by\ndebate in the League.
The peoples of Europe\nwere set free.
And Germany's ally,\nthe Austro Hungarian
empire, was dismembered.
Out of it, new nations\nwere created.
Austria, Poland,\nHungary, Czechoslovakia,
Yugoslavia, Latvia,\nLithuania and Estonia.
Germany itself was\ngreatly reduced in size.
But this process\ncontained a time bomb.
Not everyone\ncelebrated the birth
of countries like\nCzechoslovakia.
Several of them contained\nsubstantial German minorities.
One day the desire\nto reunite the
German peoples would\ncome to haunt Europe.
The war torn German\npeople also had
one final indignity\ninflicted on them.
They were forced to pay a\nmassive 6.6 billion Pounds
in reparations to\nFrance and Britain,
something they could ill afford.
And when he returned to America,
Wilson's new World order\nimmediately fell apart.
The U.S. Congress\ndecided it could not
risk being sucked into\nanother war in Europe.
It refused to join\nhis League and
the U.S. withdrew\ninto isolationism.
Germany was now a very\ndifferent nation.
It was still Europe's\nbiggest country
but its militaristic\nmonarchy had gone.
It had become a democracy.
But its government, the so\ncalled Weimar Republic,
was soon struck by a\nseries of hammer blows.
Street battles erupted\nbetween extreme right wing
nationalists and Communists\ntrying start a revolution.
Then in 1923, the country was\ndevastated by hyper inflation,
which reached hundreds\nof per cent a month.
Ordinary people's\nsavings were wiped out.
This was fertile ground\nfor a new breed of
rabble rousing right\nwing politicians.
Among them Adolf Hitler.
Hitler had been born in Austria.
He had fought bravely\nas a soldier
in World War One and been\nawarded the Iron Cross.
On returning to Germany\nhe settled in Munich,
and his fiery oratory\nsoon enabled him to seize
control of the small National\nSocialist or Nazi Party.
In October 1923, Hitler and\nhis henchmen attempted an
armed coup against the\nWeimar government.
It failed, and he was\nsentenced to nine months.
In prison he wrote a\nbook, Mein Kampf,
"My Struggle", in\nwhich he blamed
Germany's ills on the Jews
and demanded that it\nrebuild its strength
and seek new territories\nin the east.
On his release, he set\nabout building the Nazis
into a proper, disciplined\npolitical party.
From now on, he would\nuse the democratic
system to achieve power.
But for the next five years,\nWeimar Germany prospered.
Support for extremist parties,\nleft and right, dwindled.
Then suddenly, Hitler's\nopportunity arrived.
In October 1929, the US\nstock market crashed.
Billions of dollars\nwere lost and an
economic depression\nswept across the world.
Unemployment in Germany\nsoared to over six million.
Only extremist politicians\nseemed to offer a solution.
Politicians like Hitler.
By 1931, his Nazis were\na true mass movement.
And they had their own\nbrownshirted thugs,
the SA stormtroops who\nnumbered almost three million.
In the 1932 elections,\nthe Nazis became the
largest party in Germany's\nparliament, the Reichstag.
But Hitler refused\nto join a coalition,
leaving parliament paralysed.
To break the impasse,\nPresident Hindenburg made
him Chancellor in January\n1933, head of the government.
Within a month, the\nReichstag burned down.
Hitler accused the communists\nand demanded emergency powers.
He then used them to ban all\nother political parties.
In August 1934 President\nHindenburg died.
Hitler declared\nhimself President.
He was now absolute leader,\nthe Fuehrer, of Germany.
At first there was little\nsign of what was to come.
For the next three\nyears the Fuehrer
concentrated on rebuilding\nGermany's economy.
He spent millions on public\nworks, including the 5,000 mile
autobahn system, to\nsoak up the unemployed.
But, in secret Hitler\nwas also spending
lavishly on a huge\nrearmament programme.
Under the Versailles\nTreaty, the German army
had been limited to 100,000 men.
The country was\nforbidden to have
an air force, tanks\nor submarines.
This small army was\ntrebled in size.
Then in 1935, Hitler\ncame out into the open.
He unveiled a brand new\nair force, the Luftwaffe.
It had 2,500 planes, far\nmore than Britain or France.
Unemployment plunged,\nand the Nazis
became enormously popular.
Now emboldened, the Fuehrer made
his first expansionist move.
In 1935, he reoccupied\nthe Saarland district
on the French border,\nafter it voted to return
from League of Nations'\nto German rule.
A year later he sent German\ntroops into the Rhineland,
part of Germany which had been\ndemilitarized at Versailles.
At the time, many felt\nthat Hitler was only
claiming back what was\nrightfully Germany's.
Neither Britain nor\nFrance objected.
When Berlin hosted the\n1936 Olympic games,
the Nazis were seen by many as
firm but fair, a\ngovernment which
was restoring the\nnation's pride,
and which didn't\nthreaten anyone.
Of course there were signs.
The 1935 Nuremberg Laws,\nforbade Jews to marry true
Aryan Germans and deprived\nthem of their citizenship.
But when the first threats\ncame to world peace,
they didn't come\nfrom Hitler at all,
but from somewhere\nelse entirely.
Japan at the start\nof the 20th century
was already a military power.
It had defeated Russia\nin a war in 1905 and it
had fought alongside the\nAllies in World War One.
After the war, Japan was an\nacknowledged world power,
and it signed up to the\nLeague of Nations.
But politically, it was a\nmess of contradictions.
Nominally a\ndemocracy, the feudal
tradition was still strong.
Most Japanese revered their\nEmperor as a living god,
and regarded him as\ntheir true leader.
And the country faced\nmajor economic problems,
its population was exploding.
And it had no natural resources
to fuel its rapidly\nexpanding industries.
Its leaders needed solutions and
they saw them in\nChinese Manchuria.
Manchuria was a land\nof rich grain fields,
with plenty of\ncoal and minerals.
It was a perfect target.
Japanese troops were\nalready stationed there.
Other possible targets were\nthe colonies ruled by the
European powers, Burma, Malaya,\nand Hong Kong, controlled
by Britain; Indo China, ruled by
France; and the\nDutch East Indies.
But at this stage Japan\nhad to be cautious.
It didn't want to rouse\nthe other great power
in the Pacific, the\nUnited States.
For all its anti\nimperialist slogans,
the U.S. actually ran\nan unofficial empire
in the Pacific.
The Philippines,\nGuam and several
islands were under\nits direct rule.
It undoubtedly had the\nstrength to take on Japan,
but since the end\nof World War One,
it had had other distractions.
This was America's jazz age.
Throughout the 1920s,\nthe nation concentrated
on exploiting its\nvast resources.
There was an economic boom\nthat seemed without end.
Fortunes were made both in\nindustry and the stock markets.
America seemed lost to the\nincreasing pursuit of pleasure.
With distractions like\nthese, Japan's growing
pains in the Pacific\nseemed very far away.
America had slashed its\narmy after World War One,
and agreed a naval\nreduction treaty
with Britain, France and Japan.
This, in effect, handed\nnaval superiority
in the Pacific to the Japanese.
And then came the\nGreat Depression.
As the economic\ndevastation spread,
a quarter of the population\nlost their jobs.
Tens of thousands\nwere made homeless,
living in Shanty towns.
Whereas before it had been\ndistracted by pleasure,
now America was\ndistracted by pain.
It was time for Japan\nto make her move.
In 1931, without even\ninforming their own elected
government, the Japanese\nforces in Manchuria seized the
capital Mukden and then overran\nthe rest of the territory.
A puppet state, Manchukuo\nwas proclaimed
under a puppet ruler.
Henry Pu Yi, the last emperor\nof China, who had been
deposed in 1911, was\ndragged out of retirement.
At its headquarters in Geneva,
the League of Nations now\nfaced its first great test.
Japan was universally condemned.
But her response was blunt.
Japan however finds\nit impossible to
accept the report adopted\nby the assembly.
The Japanese then\njust walked out,
and the League suddenly\nrealized there was
nothing it could do\nabout Manchuria.
Japan was declared an\ninternational pariah,
but it didn't care.
Its leaders had\nturned their eyes
to further conquests, in China.
These were easy pickings, China\nwas in a state of chaos.
The government of\nGeneralissimo Chiang Kai Shek
was locked in conflict\nwith the Chinese
communist party\nunder Mao Tse Tung.
There was civil war.
In 1936, as a precursor\nto invasion,
the Japanese signed\na pact with Hitler.
The aim was to guard\nagainst any attack
by Soviet Russia, were\nit to move on China.
Then, in July 1937 the\nJapanese provoked an
incident with Chinese\ntroops and invaded.
At first the Chinese\nwere taken by surprise.
But they soon fought\nback fiercely,
the Communists even joining the
Kuomintang in a united front.
The Japanese responded\nwith amphibious landings.
By the end of 1937 they had
overrun much of northern\nChina and the coast.
The Japanese fought this war\nwith exceptional brutality,
bombing cities indiscriminately.
Westerners living in\nthe commercial centre,
the port of Shanghai,\nwere now evacuated.
The city was then besieged\nfor three months.
It suffered widespread\ndamage, the Japanese forces
showing no pity or concern\nfor the native population.
But it was after the\ncapture of Nanking,
then the Chinese capital,\non December the 17th, 1937
that the Japanese\nforces really ran amok.
Over 300,000 civilians are\nestimated to have been massacred
during a six week orgy of rape\nand indiscriminate killing.
The Japanese even attacked British and U.S.\nwarships which
had been sent to protect\ntheir shipping and trade.
The worst incident came on\nDecember the 12th 1937.
The American gunboat\nPanay was sunk
by Japanese bombers,\n50 crewmen died.
Despite this, the Western\npowers refused to intervene.
So the League of Nations\ncould do nothing.
In the United States\nPresident Roosevelt
wanted to impose a naval\nblockade of Japan.
It has become clear that acts
and policies of nations in\nother parts of the world
have far reaching effects on us.
But the British would\nhave none of it,
fearing that it might\nprovoke a war.
So, all Roosevelt could\noffer was a $25 million
loan to Chiang Kai\nShek to buy arms.
Even though the Communists were
now fighting alongside\nthe Kuomintang,
the Soviet Union did\nlittle to help either.
Its only involvement was\na series of clashes
along its own border\nwith Manchuria.
But China itself\nreceived nothing.
Instead it had to\nfight on alone.
During 1938, the Japanese\noverran Canton, and pushed
the Chinese forces deeper\ninto the west of the country.
All the rhetoric of the\nLeague of Nations,
all those promises to\nstop international
aggression had come to nothing.
And by now the\nWestern powers were
facing aggression\nmuch closer to home.
Today, it is easy to laugh\nat Benito Mussolini,
the fascist dictator of Italy.
All that posturing seems\nfaintly ridiculous now.
But it didn't seem\nthat way in 1922.
Back then, Italy had seemed\nto be on the edge of anarchy.
The country was riven by\nstrikes and land seizures.
The democratic government,\njust as in Germany,
seemed powerless in the\nface of such unrest.
So Benito Mussolini,\na war veteran
and a journalist, decided\nto take a stand.
He organised a right wing\nnationalist party, the Fascists.
With the country paralysed by\na general strike in August
1922, Mussolini ordered his\nfollowers to march on Rome.
Fearing a civil\nwar, Italy's king,
Victor Emmanuel, asked him\nto form a government.
Mussolini swiftly stamped out\nany political opposition,
and assumed dictatorial powers.
By 1928, his position\nseemed secure.
Parliament was appointed rather\nthan elected, and all power
was firmly in the hands of\nthe Fascist Grand Council.
Like Hitler, Mussolini's first
acts made him immensely popular.
Massive programmes of\npublic works provided
employment and transformed\nItaly's infrastructure.
Corruption was\nrooted out and the
Mafia more or less eliminated.
Italy's armed forces\nwere built up,
including an advanced,\nmodern air force.
In the Mediterranean, Mussolini\nlaunched a powerful navy,
bigger than the\ncombined might of the
British and French\nMediterranean fleets.
When the Great Depression came,
Italy seemed to weather\nit better than most.
Mussolini became a source\nof worldwide inspiration.
Political leaders, not least\nAdolf Hitler in Germany,
saw the Fascist system\nas a role model,
strong and purposeful in\ncontrast to the weakness
of the democracies in\nBritain and France.
But Mussolini wanted\nmore than adulation.
He wanted to recreate\nthe Roman empire.
And he already had\na target in mind
for his first\nimperial land grab.
His target was Abyssinia,\ntoday's Ethiopia.
Italy already had\ncolonies on its borders
in Eritrea and\nItalian Somaliland.
In December 1934, Italian\nforces provoked a clash
with Abyssinian troops at an\noasis in the Ogaden region,
well inside\nAbyssinian territory.
Mussolini then sent\nreinforcements to Eritrea
and Italian\nSomaliland, demanding
that Abyssinia pay reparations.
The Emperor of Abyssinia,\nHaile Selassie appealed
in person to the\nLeague of Nations.
He called on it to\nlive up to its ideals.
Here was a small\nnation under threat
from another member\nof the League.
This was the supreme test.
But the League did nothing.
Britain's Foreign Minister\nAnthony Eden at least tried
to broker a peace deal, but\nMussolini would have none of it.
In early October 1935 the\nItalian army invaded
from Eritrea and\nItalian Somaliland.
The primitive Abyssinian\nforces stood little chance
against a modern army equipped\nwith artillery and tanks.
The Italian air force had\ntotal command of the air,
and harried the Abyssinians.
On occasions dropping gas bombs\neven though gas had been
outlawed at Versailles as a\n"crime against humanity".
After six months, Abyssinia\nwas completely overrun.
The Emperor Haile Selassie\nfled into exile in Britain.
From its headquarters\nin Switzerland,
the League of Nations\nwrung its hands.
It did impose\neconomic sanctions,
but they had little effect.
Mussolini's aggression\nhad revealed two things.
The League of\nNations, that great
hope for peace, was impotent.
And both Europe's\nsupposed major powers,
the democracies\nBritain and France,
no longer had the\nstomach for a fight.
Both Britain and France had\nbeen shattered by World War One
and their economies had\nnever really recovered.
Both had witnessed waves\nof strikes and unrest.
Both had suffered\nmass unemployment
even before the\nGreat Depression.
Both also faced the cost\nof controlling empires,
now swollen by taking on\nGermany's former colonies
and the Middle\nEastern territories
once run by the Turkish\nOttoman empire.
And above all, both\nhad been traumatised
by the horrific casualties\nof World War One.
A succession of British\nleaders, Lloyd George,
Ramsay Macdonald and above\nall Stanley Baldwin,
all resolved to keep Britain\nout of future conflicts.
Despite horrific casualties\non the Western Front,
Britain had ended\nWorld War One with
a large and very effective\nconscript army.
This was immediately run\ndown to a small professional
force designed to police\nits sprawling empire.
And when the Great\nDepression struck,
any ideas of modernising\nthe army were abandoned.
It meant that Britain\nwent into the run up
to war economically\nand militarily weak.
French losses during\nWorld War One
had been even worse\nthan the British.
Ever mistrustful of the Germans,
a large conscript\narmy was maintained,
but throughout the 1920s,
France's birth\nrate had declined.
It became clear that\nthere would be a
manpower shortage by\nthe mid to late 1930s.
France realised it could\nnever compete with
Germany on the size\nof its army alone.
The solution was to adopt an\nentirely defensive mentality.
The Maginot Line, a series\nof fortifications was begun
in 1930 along the\nfrontier with Germany
and ran as far as\nthe Belgian border.
There it theoretically\nlinked up with
fortifications planned\nby the Belgians.
This new French military\napproach meant that France
was only capable of\nwaging a defensive war.
It just did not have the\nability to launch an attack
on Italy, even if the British\nhad had the troops to help.
And of course, both countries\nknew that their navies in the
Mediterranean were outnumbered\nby Mussolini's new fleet.
So when Italy\nconquered Abyssinia,
it made sense for both\npowers to do nothing.
It just seemed too remote.
Too much someone else's problem.
By now they both\nhad to deal with
all the traumas of the\nGreat Depression.
That seemed so much\nmore pressing.
And above all, they\nwere now faced with a
military threat far\ncloser to home.
A resurgent and\nrearming Germany.
And Germany's power and\nthat of Italy too,
was soon about to\nbe demonstrated.
In supporting the rise of\nanother dictator, in Spain.
In 1936, civil war\nerupted in Spain.
It was exceptionally vicious,\nsetting family against family,
communist against fascist,\nbelievers against atheists.
In 1931, a left wing government\nhad come to power determined
to get rid of the centuries\nold Spanish monarchy.
The king was forced into exile\nand a republic was declared.
In February 1936, the parties\nof the left combined in a
Popular Front to\ntake on the forces
of the right in a\ngeneral election.
The Popular Front won narrowly.
Even though its reform\nprogramme was modest,
the wave of strikes and\nland seizures led the right
to fear that a communist\ntakeover was inevitable.
Within the Spanish army, long\na bastion of conservative
and Catholic thinking,\nsenior officers began
to consider the\npossibility of a coup.
Among them was General\nFrancisco Franco,
a former chief of staff who\nhad been effectively exiled
to command Spain's forces\nin the Canary Islands.
On July 17th 1936, the\nunits of the army fighting
guerrillas in Spain's\ncolony in Morocco mutinied.
The next day Franco\nflew to join them,
proclaiming a new\nNationalist movement which
would save Spain from communism.
Mainland garrisons now\njoined this revolt.
The Popular Front\nresponded by calling
for volunteers to\ndefend the republic.
Battle lines had been drawn.
At first, Franco faced problems.
He and his army were in\nNorth Africa and he had
to get across the straits\nof Gibraltar back to Spain.
So he turned to the one\nperson he thought might help.
Adolf Hitler.
Within a month, transport\naircraft from Hitler's
new Luftwaffe had\nbegun an air lift,
taking Franco's battle hardened
veterans over to southern Spain.
At this stage, the\nRepublic still
seemed to have the advantage.
The pro Franco military\nuprisings in Madrid
and Barcelona, were quickly\ncrushed leaving it
in control of most of the\neast of the country.
Franco's Nationalists\nwere confined largely
to the north west and\npart of the south.
But the Nationalist situation\nwas transformed when Hitler
and Mussolini started to\npour in troops and weapons.
The German dictator seized\nthe opportunity to test his
new equipment and\nexpanding armed forces.
The first Panzer tanks were sent
along with some 12,000 troops.
And the Luftwaffe deployed\nits Condor Legion with
its ultra modern new\nbombers and fighters.
Mussolini sent a so\ncalled volunteer corps
of 50,000 men and more\nthan 700 aircraft.
In vain did the Republicans\nappeal to Britain,
France and the Soviet\nUnion for help.
But London and Paris were scared
of setting off a European war.
They declared a policy\nof non intervention.
Cynically, both Germany and\nItaly signed up to this.
But when it became obvious\nthat they were still sending
arms to the Nationalists, Josef\nStalin, the Soviet leader,
announced that he would\nhelp the Republic.
Stalin's worry was the rise\nof Fascism in Germany.
Hitler had made it abundantly\nclear that he believed
communism to be Nazism's\nultimate enemy.
Stalin saw the Spanish\nconflict as a way of keeping
Germany and Italy occupied\nwhile building up
the Soviet Union's\nmilitary strength.
About 700 military\nadvisers were sent
along with tanks and\nfighter aircraft.
It was something,\nbut no match for
the support Franco had received.
In fact the largest source of\noutside help for the Republic
didn't come from a\ncountry at all but
from volunteers, the\nInternational Brigades.
About 30,000 left wing\nAmericans, British, French
and Germans signed up\nto fight in Spain.
With their new Fascist\nsupport, the Nationalists were
able to open two\nfronts, one advancing
towards Barcelona\nfrom the North.
The other led by Franco pushing
up towards Madrid\nfrom the south.
By the end of 1936,\nMadrid was enveloped
on three sides and\nvirtually under siege.
The fighting was intense\nand often accompanied
by appalling atrocities\nagainst civilians.
The Republicans hunted down and
murdered Roman Catholic priests.
The Nationalists\nslaughtered anyone
accused of being communist.
German and Italian\nair power was used
indiscriminately against\ncivilian targets.
Madrid was heavily bombed,\nbut the worst incident came
in April 1937, when the\nBasque town of Guernica was
virtually obliterated with\n6,000 civilian deaths.
The area controlled\nby the Republic
was steadily ground down.
It's forces fought with great\ngallantry, but under trained
and under equipped amateurs\nwere no match for the
professional soldiers led\nby Franco or for the
combined modern weaponry\nof Italy and Germany.
As the war dragged on, the\nfighting around Madrid became
a symbol of the left's\ndetermination not
to be crushed by a\nFascist dictatorship.
But behind the scenes,\nthe Republican
alliance was falling apart.
The communists and\nsocialists wanted to
concentrate on winning\na military victory.
But the more idealistic\nanarchists and syndicalists
saw the war as an\nopportunity for a
mass revolution by the workers.
These disagreements burst out\ninto the open in May 1937.
Fighting broke out in Barcelona
between the anarchists\nand communists.
It was a fatal weakening\nof the Republican cause.
By the end of 1938,
the Nationalists had\npenned their enemy
into a small enclave\naround Barcelona,
and another stretching eastward\nfrom Madrid to the coast.
Madrid continued to\nhold out, but the
international brigades\nwere withdrawn.
More and more nations began to\nrecognise Franco's government
as his forces closed in for\nthe final assault on Madrid.
At the end of March 1939,\nits defenders exhausted
after nearly three\nyears of fighting,
the capital finally surrendered.
A month later, Franco\nformally declared
hostilities at an end.
The scars of Spain's civil\nwar took years to heal
and, in some ways,\nthey never have.
And internationally,\nFranco's victory
over the Republic\nproved a disaster.
Hitler and Mussolini\nwere confirmed in their
belief that the democracies\nof Britain and France
were impotent to resist\nany real pressure.
While Stalin despaired of their
willingness to confront Fascism.
Hitler in particular saw\nhis way open to begin
the aggressive policies\noutlined in Mein Kampf.
Even before the\nSpanish civil war
ended his armies\nwere on the march.
From the moment he became\nChancellor of Germany
on January 30th 1933,\nHitler had begun to put his
long term ambitions into action.
On February the 3rd he told\nhis top commanders that
his ultimate aim was "to\nconquer territory in the"
"east and ruthlessly\nGermanise it".
They were instructed to prepare\nfor a massive expansion.
Although Germany had been\nforbidden tanks, a secret treaty
with the Soviet Union in\n1923, had allowed the
development of tank designs\nand experimentation
with new mobile\narmoured tactics.
Energetic young German\nofficers like Heinz Guderian
read the theories of\nBritish thinkers like
Basil Liddell Hart and\nColonel John Fuller.
They even watched exercises\nbeing carried out by
the British during the\n1920s on Salisbury Plain.
It was from these that\nthey came up with the idea
of fast moving units combining\ntanks artillery and infantry
that could thrust fast and\ndeep into enemy territory.
Hitler adopted their\nideas with enthusiasm,
the new army was to have\nthree Panzer divisions.
Similarly, the new air\nforce, the Luftwaffe,
under former World War One\nfighter ace Hermann Goering,
had had a framework to build on.
Throughout the years in\nwhich its air force was
officially banned, Germany\nhad kept up its design
skills by building\ncivilian machines.
And gliding and\nflying clubs provided
a reserve of potential aircrew.
Hitler revealed the existence of
the Luftwaffe in March 1935.
He then announced that the\narmy was to be increased to
300,000 men and conscription\nwas reintroduced.
Britain and France\nprotested feebly at this
flagrant breach of the\nVersailles Treaty.
But soon they reluctantly\nand slowly began to rearm.
Until this point, Hitler had\nbeen modest in his goals.
He had only taken\nback what was his,
the Rhineland and Saarland.
But now he had a grander\ntarget in mind.
His homeland Austria.
In 1934, Austrian Nazis\nhad attempted to seize
power and unify the\ncountry with Germany.
Austrians, after all spoke\nGerman, even if they
had never been part\nof a German state.
In February 1938, another\nNazi plot was discovered.
Austrian chancellor\nKurt von Schuschnigg
protested to Hitler.
Hitler responded by demanding\nthat Austria stop mistreating
the Austrian Nazis and\nunite with Germany.
Schuschnigg promptly called\na referendum so that
the Austrians could vote on\nwhether to remain independent.
But on March 12th 1938, the eve\nof the referendum, Hitler,
fearing that it might\nproduce the wrong result,
sent in his troops.
Complete surprise and\nan enthusiastic welcome
by Nazi sympathisers made\nit a bloodless invasion.
Within hours Hitler\nannounced Austria's
incorporation into\nthe Third Reich.
A sovereign nation had\nfor the first time,
been subsumed into\na greater Germany.
Once again the western\ndemocracies failed to react.
In the summer of 1938 he turned
on his next prey,\nCzechoslovakia.
A substantial German minority\nlived in the north west
of the country, an area\nknown as the Sudetenland.
These Sudeten Germans had\nbeen part of the old
Austrian empire but\nhad been cut off when
Czechoslovakia was\ncreated in 1919.
This was the time bomb\nthat had started ticking
at the signing of the\nTreaty of Versailles.
Hitler encouraged Sudeten\nGerman demands for autonomy,
and then threatened\nthe Czech government
with force if it\nrefused to agree.
Undaunted, the Czech\ngovernment ordered
general mobilisation and\nprepared to resist.
The Czechoslovak army was\nlarge and well equipped,
with formidable fortifications\non its frontier with Germany.
Hitler backed off.
But then at the\nbeginning of September,
concerned that war\nmight be imminent,
the British prime minister,\nNeville Chamberlain
decided to act as a peace maker.
He flew to meet Hitler twice.
The Nazi dictator assured\nhim that if he could
have the Sudetenland he\nwould make no further
territorial demands in Europe.
In Munich, on\nSeptember 29th 1938,
with Mussolini acting as\nmediator, France and Britain
signed an agreement\ngiving the Sudetenland to
Germany in return for a\nformal declaration by
Hitler that he had no more\nterritorial ambitions.
Chamberlain flew back to\nBritain waving the piece
of paper which he claimed\n"Guarantees peace in our time."
So, on October the 1st,\nGerman troops occupied the
Sudetenland and seized the\nCzech frontier fortifications.
Hitler now began sizing up\nhis next target, Poland.
Again the nominal cause\nwas a German minority
marooned as a result of\nthe Versailles Treaty.
Hitler demanded the return\nof the port of Danzig
to German control, so that\nEast Prussia could be
linked up with the\nrest of Germany.
The Poles refused, and\nHitler hesitated.
He was not quite ready\nfor all out war
and he had unfinished\nbusiness with Czechoslovakia.
In March 1939, the Eastern\npart of the country,
Slovakia, which was\nethnically different to the
Czech lands, appealed\nto Hitler for help
in achieving greater\nindependence.
Hitler summoned the Czechoslovak\nprime minister Emil Hacha
to Berlin, and browbeat\nhim into putting
his country under\nGerman "protection".
German troops now\nmarched into the
rest of Czechoslovakia,\nunopposed.
Most of the country was\nannexed into the Reich.
Slovakia was declared\na protectorate.
For the first time,\nHitler had seized
non German speaking territory.
But again there\nwas only a feeble
protest from Britain and France.
At the end of March,\nhe again repeated
his demand that Poland\ngive up Danzig.
This time France and Britain\ndeclared unequivocally that
they would declare war\nif he attacked Poland.
But by now Hitler cared little\nwhether they did or not,
he was sure that\nthey would be weak
and indecisive opponents.
In Russia, Stalin\nhad also become
increasingly concerned\nby Hitler's aggression.
In April Stalin\nproposed an alliance
with Britain and France.
But negotiations made\nlittle progress,
and finally Stalin despaired,\ndeciding that there
was another solution\nto the German threat.
On August the 23rd the Soviet\nUnion and the Third Reich,
who everyone had believed\nwere sworn enemies,
announced a non aggression pact.
The agreement secretly\nspecified that Poland would be
split between the two countries\nand Stalin would have a
free hand to take over Estonia,\nLatvia, and Lithuania.
Now free from any Russian\nthreat, Hitler ordered his
armed forces to prepare for\nan immediate invasion.
On the evening of\nAugust the 31st,
the German Wehrmacht\nprepared for the assault,
its Fuehrer had\nmade the decision
which would plunge\nthe world into war.