Hitler noted Europe’s lack of authority and realised that he could go further. His next aim was to absorb the German- speakers in Czechoslovakia into the Reich. The majority German-speaking regions of Czechoslovakia were together called the Sudetenland. The Germans living there were encouraged to campaign for independence. Nazi propaganda made it look as though the Czechoslovakian state had been mistreating the Sudeten Germans.
Sudetenland Nazi propaganda poster reading ‘We did it! Alch [the area shown on the map] is free! Heil Hitler!’
GERMANY Prague Bohemia Moravia
C Z E C H O S L O V A K I A Slovakia
AUSTRIA
Sudetenland: Czech territory given to Germany at Munich, 30 September 1938
Czech territory given to Hungary by Germany and Italy at Vienna, 2 October 1938
HUNGARY ROMANIA
Czech territory annexed by Poland 1 November 1938
Remainder of Czechoslovakia, annexed by Germany, 15 March 1939
CHECKPOINT!
1. What were Hitler’s foreign policy aims? 2. What was Lebensraum? 3. How did Hitler try to dismantle the Treaty of Versailles? 4. What occurred in the Rhineland in 1936? Why is this an important milestone on the road to war? 5. What was the Anschluss? How was it achieved? 6. What was the Sudetenland?
7. How did Britain and France react to Hitler’s foreign policy? Explain your answer using at least two examples.
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I can explain Hitler’s foreign policies and how he carried them out.
