German Annexation

Austria

The first country germany invaded was austria which was now a separate country from hungary. The third Reich wanted the nation because It had german speaking and german people. Hitler's plan was to gain more land for the third Reich because germany was becoming overpopulated and needed more land to feed and house its people. On march 12th 1938 germany marched into austria one day after the chancellor of austria Kurt von Schuschnigg resigned his position and then was imprisoned until the end of WWII. Austria existed under a state of germany until the Third Reich collapsed in 1945.

Czechoslovakia

Unlike austria Germany did not take all of czechoslovakia. Germany was only able to take the northwest region bordering Germany known as the Sudetenland. Germany's claim to invading the country was that the czechoslovakian government was killing ethnic Germans in the sudetenland. Germany's enemy the Soviet Union tried to come to aid the czechs however the country declined because they wanted the support of the western european powers. with the UK and France not doing anything to stop the german takeover they issued an ultimatum stating that France had commitment to Czechoslovakia contingent upon acceptance. The very next day Czechoslovakia surrendered to Germany and let them keep the land that they wanted. the munich Agreement was then signed and germany the took control.

Rhineland

Back when the Treaty of Versailles ended WWII one agreement by Germany was that there would be a demilitarized or buffer zone between itself and france to try and prevent a conflict. hitler's reasons were that france was weakened because the government was losing power and a temporary government was currently in charge, it would boost natzi popularity, Britan was too busy dealing with italy and its invasion of ethiopia, and also because Hitler did not want to wait any longer. on March 7th 1936 Germany marched into the Rhineland and militarized the french border which sent alarm bells throughout France and Britain. France then mobilized its military but did not have Germany back down even though germany would have because of france's military strength at the time.

Poland

The next thing hitler wanted was poland. He wanted poland because the country was split off germany from its prussian territory. However that was easier said than done because germany feared it would have the soviet union, Britain, and france declare war on Germany and spark WWII. However germany knew that poland would not let russia cross through poland to get to germany so Hitler started secret meetings with the soviets. The end product was a non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union promising to never attack each other. Germany then invaded without Italy on september 1st 1939. poland then requested military action from france and britan however they did not declare war on germany til mid afternoon. Warsaw held out until september 27th but was finally defeated by German forces. the invasion of poland sparked WWII and was the first territory to be invaded by germany through war.

My reaction

My reaction to all of this was astonishment. i was astonished that great britan and france along with the rest of the league of nations did nothing to stop germany from taking over other countries. i was also also ished that other countries depended on the league of nations to solve this problem which was one of the reasons it was replaced by the united natons.

works cited

• http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germany-annexes-austria
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_occupation_of_Czechoslovakia
• http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/german-occupation/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remilitarization_of_the_Rhineland
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/invasion_poland_01.shtml