World War II

Treaty of Versailles created German resentment: war guilt, £6.6bn reparations, 100,000 army limit, lost colonies and 13% territory. League of Nations failed to stop aggression (Japan in Manchuria 1931, Italy in Abyssinia 1935). Hitler aimed to destroy Versailles Treaty, rearm Germany, expand for Lebensraum. Key events: remilitarized Rhineland 1936, Anschluss with Austria 1938, Munich Agreement gave him Sudetenland 1938, invaded Czechoslovakia 1939. Appeasement policy (Chamberlain) gave Hitler what he wanted, encouraged more demands. Nazi-Soviet Pact August 1939 let Hitler invade Poland without Soviet opposition. Britain and France declared war 3 September 1939 after Germany refused to withdraw from Poland.