THE INTER-WAR PERIOD 1939

On 1st March 1939, Adolf Hitler ordered Plan ‘Z’ to be instigated. Plan ‘Z’ was the name given to the planned re-equipment and expansion of the existing Kriegsmarine (German Navy). The fleet was meant to challenge the naval power of Britain, and was to be completed by 1948.The plan called for a fleet of ten battleships and four aircraft carriers which were intended to engage the Royal Navy in battle. This force would be supplemented with numerous long-range cruisers that would attack British shipping. A small force of U-boats was also to be included in this fleet.

On the 15th March 1939 the German Wehrmacht occupied Czechoslovakia. German annexation of Czechoslovakia’s northern and western border had begun in 1938. Adolf Hitler’s pretext for this action was the alleged privations suffered by the ethnic German population living in the region. Although the Czechs had warmly welcomed the Germans when they had previously entered the Sudetenland, they stood silently in despair when the Nazis entered Prague. Having annexed the Sudetenland, Hitler’s next ambition was the conquest of Czechoslovakia. As Czechoslovakia was a major manufacturer of machine-guns, tanks and artillery, Hitler recognised the importance of occupying Czechoslovakia. By his annexation, Germany had gained over 2,000 field guns, 464 tanks and 500 anti-aircraft artillery pieces. Together with 43,000 machine-guns, over 1,000,000 rifle and pistols and about a billion rounds of ammunition, Germany had sufficient weaponry to arm approximately half of the Wehrmacht.

On the 20th March 1939, Germany issued an oral ultimatum to Lithuania demanding that the Klaipeda Region be given up or the Wehrmacht would invade Lithuania. The Klaipeda Region had been detached from Germany at the end of the Great War. After years of rising tension between Germany and Lithuania, the demand was expected. The ultimatum was issued just five days after the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. Of the four signatories of the 1924 Klaipeda Convention, which guaranteed Lithuanian protection, Britain and France followed a policy of appeasement, while Italy and Japan openly supported Germany. Lithuania was forced to accept the ultimatum on the 22nd March 1939. For Germany it was the last territorial acquisition before the Second World War and for Europe it was a further escalation in pre-war tensions.

Following Adolf Hitler’s demands to return the Free City of Danzig (Gdansk) region of Poland to Germany, negotiations began on the 21st March 1939. Poland refused to agree to the demands. Germany began to move troop concentrations along the Polish border. On the 31st March 1939 in response to Nazi Germany’s Danzig demands and defiance of the Munich Agreement together with the occupation of Czechoslovakia, Britain and France pledged their support to assure Poland of her independence. Britain and France were not ready for war, and they needed time to properly re-arm and were determined to gain that time at any price. However, Polish leaders were not aware that the guarantee would not give additional support in the form of immediate military assistance.

The German-Romanian Treaty was signed in Bucharest on the 23rd March 1939. The German and Romanian governments signed the treaty for the “Development of Economic Relations between the Two Countries”, establishing German control over most aspects of the Romanian economy. The treaty had the effect of forcing Romania to join the Axis Powers because it had become a “German dependency” state.

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain drafted the British guarantee of Poland’s independence on the 30th March 1939, after making it clear that an attack would not be tolerated. This guarantee was in response to Nazi Germany’s defiance of the Munich Agreement and the occupation of Czechoslovakia. On the 6th April 1939, during a visit to London by the Polish Foreign Minister, it was agreed to formalise the assurance as an Anglo-Polish military alliance. That assurance was extended on the 13th April 1939 to Greece and Romania following Italy’s invasion of Albania.

The Spanish Civil War ended when General Francisco Franco proclaimed victory in a radio speech on the 1st April 1939. The last of the Republican forces, made up of mainly relatively urban left wing leaning citizens and supported by anarchists and communists, were forced into unconditional surrender. Franco was the leader of the Nationalist Party, consisting largely of Catholic aristocratic citizens, who had led his nation through four years of civil war. After the end of the war, there were harsh reprisals against Franco’s former enemies. Thousands of Republicans were imprisoned and at least 30,000 executed. Many others were put to forced labour, building railways, draining swamps and digging canals.

On the 3rd April 1939, Germany started planning the invasion of Poland known as “Fall Weiss”. The German military High Command finalised its operational orders on the 15th June 1939 and the invasion commenced on the 1st September 1939, precipitating the Second World War.

The Italian invasion of Albania was a brief military campaign by the Kingdom of Italy against the Albanian Kingdom between the 7th to the 12th April 1939. Albania had long been of considerable strategic importance to Italy as it allowed the Italian navy to have control of the entrance to the Adriatic Sea. It also provided Italy with a beachhead in the Balkans. The conflict was a result of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s imperialistic policies. King Zog I was forced into exile when Albania was over-run and the country was made part of the Italian Empire.

American President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote a letter Adolf Hitler on the 14th April 1939 with a request that a fear of a new world war conflict be averted by discussion and negotiation. He was aware that Hitler had repeatedly stated Germany had no desire for war, but Roosevelt required assurance that Germany would not attack or invade any other European nation. The United States would be willing to participate in an effort to bring world peace. Hitler’s reply on the 28th April 1939 that the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 heaped many injustices upon the German people. He pointed out that he had brought Germany into full employment by building a new infra-structure and restored some previously lost territories back to Germany. The reports that Germany intended to attack Poland, were a “mere invention by the international press”, which had led Poland to make an agreement with England. Hitler considered this to be a breaking of the Polish-German non-aggression pact, which was signed in 1934, was therefore no longer in existence. Hitler had not really answered Roosevelt’s question of whether he had finished with aggression and would he carry out his plan to attack Poland.

On the 18th April 1939, Russia’s President Joseph Stalin proposed an anti-Nazi alliance with Britain and France. Such an agreement could have changed the course of 20th century history. Stalin proposed moving a million Russian troops complete with supplies and weapons to the German border providing Polish objections be overcome to allow the Red Army crossing its territory. Britain and France would only enter into negotiations but were not authorised to commit to binding deals. However, on the 21st August 1939 the French made a desperate attempt to revive the talks but they were rebuffed as secret Soviet-Nazi talks were well advanced.

On the 26th April 1939, Britain reintroduced conscription. At long last, the British policy of appeasement was being abandoned. Despite this, Hitler firmly believed that there would be no retaliation from Britain and France if he attacked Poland.

On the 28th April 1939, Adolf Hitler denounced the Anglo-German Naval Agreement which had been signed in 1935. His excuse was that the British “guarantee” of Polish independence was part of the encirclement policy of Germany and to prevent the emergence of a new naval treaty. The Germans began refusing to share information about their shipbuilding which they considered to be justification of Hitler’s ordering the implication of Plan Z on the 1st March 1939.

The Battles of Khalkhyn Hol were a series of engagements beginning on the 11th May 1939 and lasted until the 16th September 1939. The battles were fought along the Soviet-Japanese border with the participants being the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Japan and Manchukuo. Mongolia was a communist state allied with the Soviet Union, and Manchukuo was a puppet state of Japan. There was dispute about the border between Manchukuo and Mongolia called the Khalkhyn Hol which resulted in skirmishes between the two sides. By the 31st August 1939, Japanese forces were nearly totally destroyed after having the Soviet army completely encircling them. The Soviet Union and Japan agreed to a cease-fire which was effective on the 16th September 1939 allowing Russia to proceed with the invasion of Poland on the 17th September 1939.

On the 22nd May 1939, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany signed a military and political alliance known as the “Pact of Steel”. Originally the pact drafted a three way military alliance between Japan, Italy and Germany. While Japan wanted the pact to be aimed at the Soviet Union, Italy and Germany wanted it aimed at the British Empire and France. The pact was signed without Japan due to this disagreement. With Italy’s resources stretched to capacity, many Italians believed Italy’s alliance with Germany would provide time to regroup. Influenced by Adolf Hitler, discrimination policies against the Jews in Italy was instituted by Benito Mussolini.

The Focke Wulf Fw 190 made its first flight on the 1st June 1939, which alongside the Messerschmitt Bf 109 became the backbone of Luftwaffe’s Jagdwaffe (Fighter Force). The Fw 190 was a German was a single seater, single engine fighter aircraft which was widely used in the Second World War. It had a twin-row fourteen cylinder radial engine which enabled it to lift larger loads allowing it to also be used as a day fighter, ground attack aircraft, fighter-bomber and occasionally night-fighter. The Fw 190 began operational flying over France in August 1941, and it soon became apparent that it proved to be superior to the RAF Spitfire. The ability to out-turn the Fw 190 was the Spitfire’s only advantage, with the German fighter having greater firepower and superior manoeuvrability especially at low to medium altitude.

The Tientsin Incident began on the 14th June 1939 when the Japanese blockaded the British concession in Tientsin, China (modern day Tianjin). The British Royal Navy and the British Foreign Office reported on the 26th June 1939 the only way to break the Japanese blockade was by deploying warships to the area. However, given the current tensions with Germany, such a deployment would not be advisable. To appease the Japanese, on the 20th August 1939 despite protest from the Chinese government, the British handed over four Chinese nationals to the Japanese. The four men had been accused of killing a pro-Japanese Chinese collaborationist and were eventually executed by the Japanese. The Tientsin Incident marked the beginning of a pattern in which Japan would seek confrontation with Western powers backing the Chinese. This practise would ultimately end with Japan going to war with the United States of America and Britain in December 1941.

On the 17th June 1939, the Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish governments rejected an offer from the German government to negotiate a mutual non-aggression pact. The German offer was spurred by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt’s suggestion that Germany’s neighbours felt threatened by aggression. These states also announced their opposition to a joint Anglo-French-Soviet guarantee of the independence of the Baltic States. The Nordic foreign ministers discussed the German offer at length, but agreed to remain aloof from all commitments to rival power groups. Relations between the Finns and the Soviets began to cool, especially as the Soviet delegation to the League of Nations blocked League approval for the fortifications of the Aaland Islands. The Danish government was the only Scandinavian power to accept the German offer.

The Einstein-Szilard letter was a letter written by Leó Szilárd and signed by Albert Einstein that was sent to the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the 2nd August 1939. Szilárd was a Hungarian physicist, who was living in the United States at the time, had been a student of Einstein, a German-Jewish physicist who had immigrated to America when Adolf Hitler came to power. The letter warned that Germany might develop atomic bombs and suggested that the United States should start its own nuclear programme. Roosevelt took heed of the advice and prompted the action which eventually resulted in the Manhattan Project developing the first atomic bomb. The discovery of uranium fission in December 1938 was reported in the 6th January 1939 issue of Die Naturwissenschaften. Lise Meitner, a Jewish Austrian-Swedish physicist, correctly identified the process as nuclear fission which was reported on the 11th February 1939 issue of Nature.

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a neutrality pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which was signed in Moscow on the 23rd August 1939. The signatories were foreign ministers Joachim von Ribbentrop of Germany and Vyacheslav Molotov of the Soviet Union. The pact provided a written guarantee of non-belligerence by each party to the other and a secret protocol that divided the territories of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Romania into German and Soviet hands. They both anticipated “territorial and political rearrangement” of these countries. The Soviet Union had wanted good relations with Germany for years and was pleased to see that Germany embraced the same ideas.

The Germans, prompted by the British, issued one last diplomatic ultimatum to Poland on the 30th August 1939 stating they were willing to commence negotiations about the Polish Corridor. This was not in Hitler’s previous demands which was only for the restoration of Danzig. The ultimatum was that a Polish representative with the power to sign an agreement had to arrive in Berlin the following day. In the meantime Germany would draw up a set of proposals for consideration. On the night of the 30/31st August 1939 the German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop read the proposals to the British Ambassador, who requested a copy for the transmission to the Polish government. Ribbentrop refused the request on the grounds that the Polish representative had failed to arrive by midnight Ribbentrop interpreted this as bring Poland had rejected Germany’s offer and negotiations with Poland came to an end.

On the 31st August 1939, Hitler signed the order for an assault on Poland. The Germans staged a phony raid on a German radio station at Gleiwitz and were able to blame the Polish for the “unprovoked attack”, giving the Germans the excuse they needed to invade Poland.

Without declaring war, Germany invaded Poland on the 1st September 1939. The co-ordinated air and land attack was conducted with such brutal efficiency that “blitzkrieg” became a feared offensive tactic. The inter-war period ended with the invasion which initiated the start of the Second World War.

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THE END OF AN ERA

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THE INTER-WAR PERIOD 1938

On 25th January 1938, during the Nanking Massacre, John M. Allison, the consul at the American embassy in Nanjing, was struck in the face by a Japanese soldier. This incident is commonly known as the ‘Allison Incident’. The Americans demanded an apology and the Japanese Consul-General Katsuo Okazaki apologised formally on the 30th January 1938. This incident together with the looting of American property in Nanking that took place at the same time, further strained relations between Japan and the United States, which had already been damaged by the USS Panay incident less than two months earlier.

Following the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army marched rapidly into the heart of China and reached The Yellow River on the 13th March 1938. By the 6th June 1938, the Japanese had control of all North China. To stop further Japanese advances into western and southern China, Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Republic and Nationalist Government in Central China, was determined to open up the dykes on the Yellow River. The dykes were opened on 7th June 1938 but the flooding destroyed the southern bank and the water covered and destroyed thousands of square kilometres of farmland and shifted the mouth of the Yellow River hundreds of kilometres to the south. The loss of life was later estimated at 800,000 drowned.

On the morning of the 12th March 1938, the 8th Army of the German Wehrmacht crossed the border into Austria. The troops were greeted by cheering Austrians with Nazi salutes, Nazi flags and flowers. For the Wehrmacht, this was the first big test of Adolf Hitler’s demands over territorial rights. Although the invading forces were badly organised and coordination among the units was poor, the Austrian government ordered the Bundesheer [Austrian Armed Forces] not to resist. Riding in a car that afternoon, Hitler crossed the border along with a 4,000 man bodyguard. The enthusiasm displayed toward the Germans surprised both Nazis and non-Nazis, as most people believed that a majority of Austrians opposed Anschluss which refers the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany.

The Évian Conference was convened from the 6th to 16th July 1938, at Évian-les-Bains in France to discuss the Jewish refugee problem following the persecution of the Jews by the Germans. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the conference in an effort to obtain commitments from some of the invited nations to accept refugees. The conference was attended by representatives from 32 countries, presenting plans either orally or in writing. Adolf Hitler, Germany’s Chancellor, responded to the news of the conference by saying if other nations would agree to take the Jews, he would help them to leave. The conference was ultimately doomed, when delegates from 31 of the 32 participating nations failed to come to any agreement about accepting the Jewish refugees fleeing the Third Reich. The conference inadvertently proved to be a useful propaganda tool for the Nazis.

The Battle of Lake Khasan began on the 29th July 1938. It was a military incursion by Manchukuo (the Japanese puppet state in China) into the territory claimed by the Soviet Union. This incursion was founded on the in the belief of the Japanese, that the Soviet Union misinterpreted the demarcation boundary based on the Treaty of Peking agreed by Imperial Russia and the Qing Dynasty China. The Japanese also claimed the demarcation markers had been tampered with. Japanese forces occupied the disputed area and on the 31st July 1938 the Soviet army and navy responded. Despite repelling the Soviet thrusts, it became obvious the local Japanese units would not be able to hold the area without widening the conflict. On the 10th August 1938 the Japanese ambassador asked for peace. On the 11th August 1938, satisfied the incident had an “honourable” conclusion the Japanese stopped fighting and the Soviet forces reoccupied the heights overlooking the lake.

On the 27th September 1938 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote to the German Chancellor Adolf Hitler regarding the threat of war in Europe. Hitler had been threatening to invade the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia over their natural and industrial resources. Roosevelt’s letter and subsequent follow-up letter failed to find a peaceful solution. Hitler’s response was that the Treaty of Versailles had treated Germany in a “shameful way” and given the Sudetenland to the state of Czechoslovakia. Therefore the invasion of “Sudetenland” was justified by returning the area to its cultural and historical roots. Hitler assured Roosevelt that he also desired to avoid another large-scale war in Europe.

The Munich Agreement was a settlement permitting Nazi Germany’s annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia along the countries border mainly inhabited by German speaking people. The new territory was given the designated name of “Sudetenland”. The agreement was signed in the early hours of the 30th September 1938 after being negotiated at a conference held in Munich. The agreement was signed by Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy but excluded Russia. The Sudetenland was of immense importance to Czechoslovakia, as most of its border defences and financial institutions were located there. Czechoslovakia had not been invited to the conference and therefore did not have the opportunity to protest. They realised Britain and France had betrayed them in the face of the demands made by Adolf Hitler. The agreement later proved to be a failed act of appeasement to Germany. The British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, attended the conference wishing for peace in Europe. On the 30th September 1938, upon his return to Britain, Chamberlain delivered his controversial “peace for our time” speech to crowds of spectators.

Herschell Grynszpan was a seventeen year old German born Polish Jew who was living in Paris when he assassinated Emst vom Rath. Grynszpan was one of thousands of Polish Jews who were expelled from Poland by the Nazis. On the morning of the 7th November 1938, he purchased a revolver and a box of bullets. He went to the German Embassy and asked to see an embassy official. After he was taken to the office of vom Rath, Grynszpan fired five bullets at him, two of which hit him in the abdomen. Vom Rath was a professional diplomat with the Foreign Office who expressed anti-Nazi sympathies, largely based on the Nazi’s treatment of the Jews, and was under Gestapo investigation for being politically unreliable. Grynszpan made no attempt to resist or escape, and he identified himself correctly to the French police. He confessed to shooting vom Rath saying his motives were to avenge the persecuted Jews. He was arrested but never appeared in court. He was transported to various prisons and his fate is unknown. Some sources say he was executed in 1940 while others state he was seen as late as 1960. Despite the best efforts of French and German doctors, vom Rath died on the 9th November 1938. The Nazis used Grynszpan’s action as ‘justification’ for further violent assaults on the German Jews. Within hours, the Nazis began a pogom against Jewish communities throughout Germany, known as Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”), which lasted all night and into the next day. More than 90 people were killed, over 30,000 Jews arrested and sent to concentration camps. Thousands of Jewish shops, homes, offices and synagogues were smashed up or burned. These events shocked and horrified world opinion and helped bring an end of support for appeasement of Hitler in Britain, France and the United States. They also caused a new wave of Jewish emigration from Germany.
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THE INTER-WAR PERIOD 1937

Franklin D. Roosevelt began his second of four terms in office as President of America with his inaugural speech on the 20th January 1937. His first inauguration was held in March 1933 but the 20th Amendment made the 20th January the official inauguration date for future presidents.

In January 1937, the American Congress passed a joint resolution outlawing the arms trade with Spain. The “Neutrality Act 1937” was passed in May 1937 and included the provisions of earlier acts although an expiration date was not included. The Act was extended to cover civil wars. U.S. ships were prohibited from transporting any passengers or articles to warring nations, and U.S. citizens were forbidden to travel on these nation’s ships. In a concession to President Roosevelt a provision of ‘cash-and-carry’ was also added. This allowed the warring nations to obtain materials and goods from America as long as purchaser arranged transport and paid immediately in cash. The thinking was that this arrangement would not draw America into the conflict. Roosevelt believed the cash-and-carry would aid Britain and France in the event of a war with Germany. Both Britain and France were able to take advantage of the provision as they were the only countries who had control of the seas.

The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (German Sturzkampffugzeug meaning “dive bomber”) made its combat debut on 11th April 1937 with the Luftwaffe’s Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War. The aircraft first flew on the 17th September 1935 but needed considerable modifications to the original design to produce a successful aircraft that was easily recognised by its inverted gull wings and fixed undercarriage. Fitted to the leading edges of the main gear legs were wailing sirens which became the propaganda symbol of German air power. The Stuka was able to dive between sixty degrees and vertical prior to releasing a bomb on target before recovering to normal level flying.

Arthur Neville Chamberlain was a British statesman of the Conservative Party who took the place of retiring Stanley Baldwin as Prime Minister on the 28th May 1937. His premiership was dominated by the question of policy towards an increasingly aggressive Germany. He sought to conciliate Germany and make the Nazi state a partner in a stable Europe, He believed Germany could be satisfied by the restoration of some of her colonies. Chamberlain is best known for the foreign policy of appeasement and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938. By conceding the German Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Germany he announced on his arrival back in the U.K. what he believed would be ‘peace for our time’.

The Marco Polo Bridge Incident was a battle between the Republic of Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army. On the night of the 7th July 1937, Japanese units stationed at Fengtai crossed the Chinese border to conduct military excercises. Japanese and Chinese troops exchanged fire outside the town of Wanping, 10.2 miles southwest of Beijing. Later in the night Japanese infantry attempted to breach Wanping’s walled defences but were repulsed. At 02.00 on the morning of the 8th July 1937 the acting commander of the Chinese Army sent the mayor of Wanping alone to the Japanese camp to conduct negotiations. This proved to be fruitless as the Japanese insisted they be admitted into the town to investigate the cause of the exchange of fire. A couple of hours later reinforcements on both sides began to arrive. The Chinese Army opened fire on the Japanese Army and attacked them at the Marco Polo Bridge along with a modern railway bridge on the outskirts of Wanping. The Japanese Foreign Service began negotiations in Beijing with the Chinese Nationalist government and a verbal agreement was reached and ceasefire declared. However, heightened tensions of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident led to a full scale Second Sino-Japanese War that continued until 9th April 1945.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the Quarantine Speech on the 5th October 1937 calling for an international ‘quarantine’ against the ‘epidemic of world lawlessness’. The speech intensified America’s isolationist neutrality and was aimed at specifically aggressive nations. No countries were directly mentioned, although it was interpreted as referring to the Empire of Japan, the Kingdom of Italy and Nazi Germany. Roosevelt suggested a forceful response of economic pressure rather than outright aggression.

In Rome on the 11th December 1937 Italian dictator Benito Mussolini took his nation out of the League of Nations. In October 1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia and in May 1936 they occupied Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian Emperor Hail Selassie pleaded with the League for assistance but this was not forthcoming. The League did, however, rule against Italy and voted to apply economic sanctions. His disagreements with the League occured when his delegates walked out of a lively League Council meeting after it had voted to continue economic sanctions against her over the Ethiopian war. Mussolini addressed a crowd of 100,000 black-shirts and asked them if they would prefer to stay in the League or not and their overwhelming response was that Italy should leave. At this point Italy abandoned the League of Nations.

The USS Panay Incident was a Japanese attack on the American gunboat Panay while she was anchored in the Yangtze River outside Nanking, China (now spelt Nanjing) on the 12th December 1937. Japan and the United States were not at war at the time. The Japanese claimed they did not see the American flags painted on the deck of the gunboat, apologised and paid an indemnity. On that morning the Japanese air forces received information that fleeing Chinese forces were in the area of Nanking. While anchored at Nanking, Panay and three Standard Oil Tankers came under attack from the Japanese naval aircraft. The result was Panay and the three oil tankers sank with the loss of three American lives and forty three wounded. The sinking of USS Panay caused the U.S. opinion to turn against the Japanese.

During the Sino-Japanese War, Nanking, the capital of China fell to the Japanese Army and the Chinese government fled to Hankow which is further inland along the Yangtze River. On the 13th December 1937, Japanese General Matsui Iwane ordered the city of Nanking be destroyed. Much of the city was burned and Japanese troops launched a campaign of atrocities against the civilian population. In what became known as the “Rape of Nanking”, the Japanese butchered an estimated 150,000 male “war prisoners”, massacred an additional 50,000 male civilians. They raped at least 20,000 women and girls of all ages, many of whom were mutilated or killed. Shortly after the end of the Second World War, Matsui Iwane was found guilty of war crimes by the International Tribunal for the Far East and was executed.

The Chinese Civil War, began on the 12th April 1927 between the Chinese Communists and the Chinese Nationalists. The war was carried out sporadically until the latter part of 1937, when the two parties came together to form the Second United Front in order to resist the Japanese invasion.

In America during 1937, a Committee sat for the purpose of defending Russian Leon Trotsky of the charges made against him in Moscow. Having fallen out with Joseph Stalin, the charges against Trotsky was that of a terrorist conspiring against Stalin, found guilty and sentenced to death. The American Committee found that Trotsky was innocent of the charges made against him. Stalinist assassins raided Trotsky’s Mexico City home on the 20th August 1940, and drove a pickaxe into his skull. He survived for 30 hours, dying on the 22nd August 1940 at the age of 60.

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THE INTER-WAR PERIOD 1935

Following the ending of the Great War the Saar region was separated from Germany and administered by the League of Nations. France was given control of the Saar’s coalmines. Toward the end of 1934 the League of Nations Council proposed a referendum after fifteen years administration and it was scheduled to take place on the 7th January 1935. The Council was also convinced that a peacekeeping force would be necessary during the plebiscite period. The German and French governments agreed to allow an international force to enter the Saar region. The Council unanimously approved a resolution calling for such a force on the 8th December 1934. The League appointed British General John Brind as commander with overall operational control of the force. Troops patrolled but did not police the Saar region. They were not to respond except to emergencies and at the request of local authorities. There was little or no violence during the plebiscite and the peacekeeping was regarded as a success. In the referendum, voters were asked whether the Saar region should remain under the League of Nations administration, return to Germany or become part of France. The result was that over 90% of the vote was in favour of the Saar Region being returned to Germany. Although the Saar region returned to Germany entirely in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, many historians regard it as an essential “first step” on Hitler’s Road to War.

In March 1935 Hermann Göring was appointed commander-in-chief of the new German Air Force (Luftwaffe). He held this position until the 29th April 1945. Shortly after his appointment, two new aircraft became available to the Luftwaffe. The first was the Messerschmitt BF 109 which made its first flight as a German single seater fighter aircraft possibly on the 29th May 1935. The ME109 was the most produced fighter of all time, with more than 35,000 built. Consequently the ‘109’ pilots scored more aerial victories than those of any other aircraft. The second was the Junkers JU87 or Stuka which was a German dive bomber and ground attack aircraft. It first flew on the 17th September 1935 and was easily recognised by its inverted gull wings and fixed undercarriage which were fitted with wailing sirens becoming the propaganda symbol of German air power.

The Anglo-German Naval Agreement was signed on the 18th June 1935 between the United Kingdom and Germany. This agreement allowed Germany to build a fleet whose total tonnage was less than 35% of the tonnage of the British fleet. In this way Britain hoped to limit German naval re-armament.

The “Neutrality Act of 1935” was signed by the United States Congress on the 31st August 1935 which imposed a general embargo on trading in arms and war materials with all parties in the event of a war. It also declared that American citizens travelling on warring ships travelled at their own risk.

The Nuremberg Laws were introduced in Germany on the 15th September 1935 by the Reichstag at a special meeting convened at the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). One of the two laws introduced was the Law for the Protection of German Blood, and the other was for the Protection of German Honour. These laws forbade marriages, extra-marital intercourse between Jews and Germans and the employment of German females under the age of 45 in Jewish households. The Reich Citizenship Law declared only those of German or related blood were eligible to be Reich citizens, the remainder were classed as state subjects without citizenship rights. A supplementary decree outlining the definition of who was Jewish was passed on the 14th November 1935 and the Reich Citizenship Law officially came into force the same day. These laws were later expanded to include Romani people and Afro/Asian people. A supplementary decree defined Romanies as “enemies of the race-based state” and given the same category as Jews.

The Second Italo-Ethiopian War was a colonial war which began on the 2nd October 1935 when Italy invaded Ethiopia. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was determined to show the strength of his regime. The war was fought between the armies of the Kingdom of Italy and those of the Ethiopian Empire (also known as Abyssinia). The Italian army sent a force of a few hundred thousand troops to Africa with an abundance of weaponry, transportation and food. Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie had a larger army, but very few had military training and almost all fought with spears, bows and arrows and antiquated guns. The ill-equipped Ethiopians were no match for Italy’s modern tanks and aircraft, and the capital Addis Ababa was quickly captured. Ethiopia was defeated, annexed and subjected to military occupation. The Ethiopian Empire became part of the Italian colony of Italian East Africa and incorporated into the new Italian Empire.

The Hawker Hurricane first flew on the 6th November 1935 and was the beginning of the Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter force. The aircraft design owed a great deal to the technology of the biplane era of the Great War. The Hawker Aircraft Company began the development as a private project involving a manufactured air frame which was covered in dope impregnated fabric. With the availability of the Rolls Royce Merlin engine, the Air Ministry wrote a specification around Hawker’s proposals and the development of the prototype began. The Hurricane alongside the Spitfire did more than any other aircraft or defence system in 1940 to save Britain from Nazi invasion.

In Britain Conservative Stanley Baldwin replaced Labour’s Ramsey MacDonald as Prime Minister of the National Government on the 14th November 1935. The National Government was formed by MacDonald in 1931 but most of the ministers were Conservative. As leader of the Conservative Party Baldwin took over many of the Prime Minister’s duties owing to MacDonald’s failing health. This government gave Dominion status to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. It also introduced an Act delivering increased self-government for India, and established the first steps toward the Commonwealth. Baldwin made many striking innovations such as the use of film and radio. This made him highly visible to the public and helped to strengthen Conservative appeal. The Conservatives won the 1935 General Election with a large majority. During this time Baldwin oversaw the beginning of the rearmament process of the British military, as well as the difficult abdication of King Edward VIII. Baldwin’s government saw a number of crises in foreign affairs, including the public uproar over the Hoare-Laval Pact, the remilitarisation of the Rhineland and the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. During his time as Prime Minister he presided over high unemployment in the 1930’s and was one of the “Guilty Men” who tried to appease Adolf Hitler. He was also thought of as not having rearmed sufficiently to prepare for the Second World War. Despite all the set-backs he was regarded as a popular and successful Prime Minister.

The Hoare-Laval Pact was proposed on the 8th December 1935 when British Foreign Minister Samuel Hoare discussed with his French counterpart Pierre Laval how to end the Second Italo-Abysinian War. The Pact was initially discussed during a secret meeting. However, on the 9th December 1935 the British press revealed leaked details of an agreement by the two men to give Ethiopia to Italy to end the war. The press denounced the Pact stating the British public would not recommend the League of Nations approve the Pact as a fair and reasonable basis for approval. The Pact was met with a wave of moral indignation in Britain and in France the Popular Front condemned it. The British government withdrew the plan and Hoare resigned. In early 1936 Italy began a new larger advance on Ethiopia.

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THE INTER-WAR PERIOD. 1934

The German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact was an international treaty between Nazi Germany and the Second Polish Republic and signed on the 26th January 1934. Relations between the two countries were formalised after being strained by border disputes arising from the Treaty of Versailles. The pact agreed, both countries pledged, to resolve any problems by negotiation and would forgo armed conflict for a period of ten years.
The Austrian Civil War was fought between the 12th and the 16th February 1934 in various cities in Austria. The war was in fact a series of skirmishes between socialist and conservative-fascist forces. The clashes started in Linz and took place principally in the cities of Vienna, Graz, Bruck an der Mur, Judenburg, Weiner Neust and Steyr. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire following the Great War, the State of Austria comprised mostly German speaking parts of the former empire. Two major factions dominated politics in the new nation. The socialists were represented by the Social Democratic Worker’s Party who found their strongholds in the working class districts of the cities, and the conservatives represented by the Christian Social Party built their support of the rural population and the upper classes. Armed skirmishes had periodically occurred between the two sides but the Great Depression had brought high unemployment and massive inflation to Austria. When Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany many National Socialist sympathisers threatened the Austrian state from within. These sympathisers wished to have unification of Austria with Hitler’s Germany. When Christian Social Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss suspended the Austrian Parliament on the 4th March 1933, he used this opportunity to declare that parliament had ceased to function and assumed dictatorial powers. The Social Democratic Party lost its major platform for political action. The conservatives began to face pressure and violence from incoming Nazi Germany but also from the Austrian left wing party. However, by the 16th February 1934 Dollfuss and the Christian Social party had suppressed the Socialist movement which ended with an “Austrofascist” victory.
On the 20th April 1934 in Germany the Gestapo was passed to the administration of Schutzstaffel (SS) Commander Heinrich Himmler,. The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and German occupied Europe. It was formed shortly after Hermann Göring was named as Ministry Without Portfolio in the new government of 1933 when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.
The Night of the Long Knives, also known as the “Röhm Affair”, was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from the 30th June to the 2nd July 1934. The National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazis, carried out a series of political executions intended to consolidate Adolf Hitler’s absolute hold on power in Germany. Many of those who were killed were leaders of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazis’ own paramilitary organisation known as “Brownshirts”. The best known victim was of the purge was Ernst Röhm, the SA’s leader and one of Hitler’s long-time supporters. Also killed were establishment conservatives and anti-Nazis, such as former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and Bavarian politician Gustav Ritter von Kahr. It was von Kahr who had suppressed Hitler’s Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. The murder of the SA leaders were also intended to improve Hitler’s government image with the German public that was increasingly critical of thuggish Brownshirt tactics.
On the 20th July 1934, as a reward for its role in the Röhm purge of the 3oth June-2nd July 1934, Hitler decreed the SS, under Reichsführer SS Heinreich Himmler, to be an independent formation of the Nazi Party. The SS would be directly subordinate only to Hitler himself as Führer (leader).
On the 25th July 1934, Austrian Engelbert Dollfuss was assassinated by Austrian Nazis who entered the Austrian Chancellery building and shot him. The assassination was an attempted but failed coup d’état known as the July Putsch against the Austrofascist regime which took place between the 25th – 30th July 1934. Dollfuss had taken the role of dictator when his Christian Social Party defeated the Austrian Social Democratic Worker’s Party (Nazi Party) following the Austrian Civil War of February 1934. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had no hesitation in attributing the attack to the German dictator Adolf Hitler. Mussolini also mobilised a part of the Italian army on the Austrian border and threatened Hitler with war in the event of a German invasion of Austria to thwart the putsch. This was the greatest moment of friction between Italian Fascism and German National Socialism. The assassination of Dollfuss was accompanied by uprising in many regions of Austria, resulting in further deaths. In the Southern Austrian town of Carinthia, a large contingent of northern German Nazis tried to seize power but were subdued by the Italian units nearby. At first Hitler was jubilant, but the Italian reaction surprised him. Hitler became convinced that he could not face a conflict with the Western European powers, and officially denied liability, stating his regret for the murder of the Austrian Prime Minister. Kurt Schuschnigg, previously Minister of Education, was appointed new chancellor of Austria after a few days, assuming the office from Dollfuss’ deputy Ernst Rüdger Starhemberg.
When President Paul von Hindenburg died on the 2nd August 1934, Adolf Hitler combined the positions of chancellor and president into one office and took the title of ”Der Fuhrer” [The Leader] whereby he took control as a dictator. Hitler formed the Third Reich under his dictatorship, using the Gestapo to stifle all dissent. Hitler’s policy, however vague, included a planned economy, in which the unemployed were put to work on government projects. Labour was forbidden to organise into unions, but working hours were reduced to open up employment and jobs. The government oversaw all functions of the economy and education, free speech was strictly controlled. The school curriculum and textbooks written to reflect Nazi ideology and all cinemas, newspapers, radio and art were regulated by the vigilant Ministry of Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels. One of the Ministry’s main tasks was to generate German anti-Semitism in support of the Nazi persecution of German Jews. This persecution was a major step in Hitler’s plan to conquer all of Europe for the Aryan race, which resulted in the outbreak of the Second World War.
On the 8th August 1934, Defence Minister General Werner von Blomberg and General Walther von Reichenau drafted the Oath of Allegiance to Adolf Hitler. The oath pledged personal loyalty to Hitler instead of loyalty to the constitution of the country. The oath was sworn by the officers and soldiers of the German Armed Forces and by the civil servants of Nazi Germany between the years 1934 to 1945.
On the 18th September 1934, the Soviet Union accepted the offer to join the League of Nations as a permanent member of the Council. On France’s initiative 30 member countries proposed the USSR to join the league on 15th September 1934. A total of 63 countries were members of the League of Nations from 1920 to 1946. However, the United States of America was never a member despite President Woodrow Wilson’s enthusiastic proposals at the end of the Great War. The League of Nations was the international organisation founded in 1919-1920 to preserve order in the world, with the official languishes being English, French and Spanish.
In Russia, on the 1st December 1934 Sergei Kirov, head of the Leningrad communist party was murdered on the orders of Joseph Stalin. It would appear Stalin used the murder of his political rival as a pretext for eliminating many of his opponents in the Communist Party, the government and the armed forces. The Kirov assassination marked the beginning of Stalin’s massive purge of Soviet society, in which millions of people were imprisoned, exiled or killed.
The Abyssinia Crisis began on the 6th December 1934 when Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (then known as Abyssinia) protested Italian aggression on the border of Ethiopia at Walwal. Italy’s “Il Duce” Benito Mussolini had been impressed with Japan’s invasion of China, and he was determined to show the strength of his regime. He invade Ethiopia who were ill-equipped to match Italy’s modern weapons and the capital, Addis Ababa, was quickly captured. Mussolini incorporated Ethiopia into the new Italian Empire. The League of Nations ruled against Italy and voted for economic sanctions, but they were not fully applied. Italy ignored the sanctions, left the League of Nations and made deals with Britain and France. The crisis discredited the League and moved Fascist Italy closer to an alliance with Nazi Germany.
On the 29th December 1934, the Japanese government gave formal notice that it intended to terminate both the Washington and The London Naval Treaties. The Washington Naval Treaty was signed in 1922 by the major nations, including Japan, limiting naval construction. The London Naval Treaty of 1930 modified the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty and sought additional limitations of warship building. Many Japanese considered the 5.3 to 3 ratio as a way of being snubbed by the West, which was the main reason for the termination of the treaties.
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THE INTER-WAR YEARS 1931

The Geneva Convention regarding treatment of prisoners of war entered into force on the 19th June 1931. Under the terms of the Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Geneva July 27th, 1929, prisoners are bound to give name, rank and serial number. They may not be forced into giving any further information. Apart from weapons and horses, prisoners’ personal possessions may not be taken from them.

The Mukden Incident was a staged event engineered by Japanese military personnel on the 18th September 1931. Japanese Lt. Suemoni Kawamoto detonated a small quantity of dynamite close to a railway line owned by Japan’s South Manchuria Railway near Mukden (now Shenyang). The explosion was so weak that it failed to destroy the track, and a train passed over it shortly after. The Imperial Japanese Army accused Chinese dissidents of the act, which led to a Japanese invasion.

The Japanese invasion of Manchuria began on 19th September 1931 when the Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan entered Manchuria following the Mukden Incident. The Japanese established the puppet state Manchukuo and the occupation lasted until the end of the Second World War. Manchuria was a land rich in natural resources, and the conquest of Manchuria enabled Japan to access the commodities she would need to conduct her ambitions. The Manchurian Crisis had a significant negative impact on the moral strength and influence of the League of Nations. As critics had predicted, the League was powerless should a strong nation decided to pursue an aggressive policy against neighbouring states, allowing a country such as Japan to commit blatant aggression without serious consequences. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini were also aware of this. Within three years both would follow Japan’s example in attacking their neighbours. In the case of Italy the aggression was against Abyssinia and for Germany the aggression would be against Czechoslovakia and Poland.

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THE INTER-WAR PERIOD 1930

The London Naval Treaty was signed in London on the 22nd April 1930. The United Kingdom, United States, France, Italy and Japan agreed to regulate submarine warfare and limiting naval shipbuilding. The terms of the treaty were an extension of the conditions agreed in the Washington Naval Treaty, in an effort to prevent an arms race after the Great War.

France withdrew its remaining troops from the German Rhineland on the 30th June 1930. The German nation was obliged to agree to the terms of the 1918 Armistice, whereby the victorious powers occupied Germany. The purpose of the occupation was to give France security against a renewed German attack, and to serve as a guarantee for German repatriation obligations. The Young Plan of 1929 achieved the re-negotiated repatriation terms, and the occupation of the Rhineland, which began on the 1st December 1918 and ended on the 30th June 1930.

On the 1st September 1930 the Young Plan came into effect over Germany’s repatriation payments for the Great War. However, hardly had the Young Plan started the depression of the 1930’s began and Germany’s ability to pay dwindled to virtually nothing.

In Germany the Great Depression had provided a political opportunity for Adolf Hitler to exploit. The elections on the 14th September 1930 resulted in the break-up of the grand coalition government. The National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP} rose from obscurity to win 18.3% of the vote with 17 parliamentary seats in the 1930 election, becoming the second-largest party in parliament.

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