Part 2: ​ Empires and Conquests before World War II (The Axis Powers Unite)

1 Part 3: Conquests before World War II (The Axis Powers Unite) ​ ​

Objective: Understand how the Axis Powers formed and started gaining power before WWII.

Assessment Goals: ​ 1. Explain how the Axis Powers (Germany, Japan, and Italy) started gaining World Power before WWII officially began. You must identify and explain at least three historical examples. (Learning Targets 1 & 8) ​

2. Answer: If you were ambassador of the United States (like Joseph Kennedy), ​ what would you have advised Great Britain, France, and the United States to do in response to the Axis Powers’ actions before WWII? Would you have wanted the countries to intervene? At what point? Why or why not? Use at least two pieces of historical evidence in your explanation. (Learning Target 2) ​

3. On a world map, represent the conquests of Germany, Japan, and Italy before WWII officially began. (Learning Target 4) ​

Resources: Textbook Pages 770-773, Resources in Binder ​ ​

Note Graph (Create something similar in your notes):

How did the Axis Powers team up? (notes on the and how that brought the Axis Powers together): ​ ​ Conquests of Germany Conquests of Japan Conquests of Italy (Specific notes over the details of where, how, (Specific notes over the details of where, how, (Specific notes over the details of where, how, and ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ and why.) and why.) why.) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

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Resources: Part 3 - Conquests before World War II (The Axis Powers Unite)

Video links:

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9r5nRPHSZI Chamberlain on Agreement

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WppUD9IpODU Hitler on Sudetenland

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t75ldUNc2Xw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRZ_Cf-4dbw Hitler annexes Austria

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_aZWY2Pm3g Japan and Manchuria

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHD-71Xjo_Y Longer video about Japan’s Growing Empire

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XovLtuLwcxw Mussolini and Ethiopian conquest

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvLpB6OKnjA Mussolini’s Speech about History

http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/triumph/tr-austria.htm Nazis Take Austria

Nineteen months would elapse from the day Hitler grabbed control of the German Army until the actual start of World War II. During those months, Hitler engaged in a kind of gangster diplomacy in which he bluffed, bullied, threatened, and lied to various European leaders in order to expand the borders of his Reich.

His very first victim was Dr. Kurt von Schuschnigg, Chancellor of Austria, a country being torn apart from within by Nazi agitators and also feeling threatened from the outside by Germany's newfound

3 military strength. Hoping for some sort of peaceful settlement with Hitler, Schuschnigg agreed to a face-to-face meeting at Berchtesgaden. The meeting was arraigned by Franz von Papen, the former ambassador to Austria.

On the chilly winter morning of February 12, 1938, Schuschnigg's car was met at the German-Austrian border by Papen, who joined him for the ride up to Hitler's spectacular mountaintop retreat. Papen informed Schuschnigg that Hitler was in a very good mood this morning. But, Papen added, Hitler hoped that Schuschnigg wouldn't mind if three of Germany's top generals were also present during the day's discussion.

Schuschnigg was somewhat taken aback by this, but it was too late to change anything now. He arrived at the steps of Hitler's villa and was greeted by the Führer himself. Standing behind Hitler were the three generals; , Chief of the High Command, , Commander of Army troops along the German-Austrian border, and Air Force General .

Hitler led Schuschnigg into his villa and up to the great hall on the second floor, a big room featuring a huge plate glass window with sweeping views of the Alps, and in the far distance, Austria itself. Schuschnigg, taking it all in, broke the ice with a little small talk about the view. But Hitler cut him right off. "We did not gather here to speak of the fine view or the weather!"

Thus began two hours of hell in which the quiet-spoken Austrian Chancellor was lambasted without mercy by the Führer. "You have done everything to avoid a friendly policy!" Hitler yelled. "The whole history of Austria is just one uninterrupted act of high treason...And I can tell you right now, Herr Schuschnigg, that I am absolutely determined to make an end of this. The German Reich is one of the great powers, and nobody will raise his voice if it settles its border problems."

After regaining his composure, Schuschnigg tried to settle down Hitler, telling him: "We will do everything to remove obstacles to a better understanding, as far as it is possible."

But Hitler didn't let up. "That is what you say!...But I am telling you that I am going to solve the so-called Austrian problem one way or the other...I have a historic mission, and this mission I will fulfill because Providence has destined me to do so...I have only to give an order and all your ridiculous defense mechanisms will be blown to bits. You don't seriously believe you can stop me or even delay me for half an hour, do you?"

Hitler pointed out that Austria was isolated diplomatically and could not halt a Nazi invasion. "Don't think for one moment that anybody on earth is going to thwart my decisions. Italy? I see eye to eye with Mussolini...England? England will not move one finger for Austria...And France?"

Hitler said France had the power to stop him during the Rhineland occupation but did nothing and that "now it is too late for France."

An exasperated Schuschnigg finally asked Hitler what his terms were. But Hitler cut him off again,

4 rudely dismissing him now. "We can discuss that this afternoon."

By the afternoon, the 41-year-old Schuschnigg had aged about ten years. He was then introduced to Germany's new Foreign Minister, an amoral character named Joachim Ribbentrop who presented him with a two-page document containing Hitler's demands. All Nazis presently jailed in Austria were to be freed. The ban against the Austrian Nazi Party was to be lifted. Austrian lawyer, Dr. Arthur Seyss-Inquart, a staunch Nazi supporter, was to become the new Minister of the Interior with full control of the police. In addition, Nazis were to be appointed as Minister of War and Minister of Finance with preparations made for the assimilation of Austria's entire economy into the German Reich. This was, Schuschnigg was told, the Führer's final demands and there could be no discussion. He was to sign immediately, or else.

Under such pressure, the Austrian Chancellor wobbled and said he would consider signing, but first sought assurances that there would be no further interference in Austria's internal affairs by Hitler. Ribbentrop, joined by Papen, gave friendly assurances that Hitler would indeed respect Austria's sovereignty if all his demands were met.

At this point, Schuschnigg was ushered back in to see Hitler. "You will either sign it as it is and fulfill my demands within three days, or I will order the march into Austria," Hitler told him.

Schuschnigg gave in and agreed to sign, but informed Hitler that under Austrian law only the country's president could ratify such a document and carry out the terms. And, he added, there was no guarantee the agreement would be accepted by Austria's president, the stubborn-minded Wilhelm Miklas.

"You have to guarantee it!!" Hitler exploded. But Schuschnigg said he simply could not. Hitler then rushed to the doorway and hollered out for General Keitel. Then he turned to Schuschnigg and abruptly dismissed him. Schuschnigg was taken to a waiting room, left to ponder what Hitler was saying to Keitel.

Schuschnigg didn't know he had just been the victim of an outright bluff. When Keitel arrived to ask for orders, a grinning Hitler told him: "There are no orders. I just wanted to have you here."

A half-hour later, Schuschnigg was ushered back in to see Hitler. He was given three days to take the agreement back to Austria and get it signed by the president, or else.

Schuschnigg departed Berchtesgaden, accompanied during the ride back to the border by a somewhat embarrassed Papen. "You have seen what the Führer can be like at times," Papen consoled him. "But the next time I am sure it will be different. You know, the Führer can be absolutely charming.

Thus ended the first of what would be several diplomatic coups at Berchtesgaden. Like Schuschnigg, all of the heads of state and various diplomats arriving there would be at a terrible disadvantage.

5 They were dealing with a man always willing to go the limit, willing to send in the troops and shed blood in order to get what he wanted.

Hitler knew that civilized men such as Schuschnigg, and those who followed, would readily compromise to prevent the loss of life. They would all learn too late that Hitler did not value life and that war was his ultimate goal.

Years earlier, Hitler had once confided to his friend Hermann Rauschning: "We must be prepared for the hardest struggle that a nation has ever had to face. Only through this test of endurance can we become ripe for the dominion to which we are called. It will be my duty to carry out this war regardless of losses. The sacrifice of lives will be immense. We all of us know what a world war means. As a people we shall be forged to the hardness of steel. All that is weakly will fall away from us. But the forged central block will last forever. I have no fear of annihilation. We shall have to abandon much that is dear to us and today seems irreplaceable. Cities will become heaps of ruins. Noble monuments of architecture will disappear forever. This time our sacred soil will not be spared. But I am not afraid of this."

Hitler's Germany was already well on the road to war. New weapons were being manufactured day and night. The whole economy had been placed on a war footing under Göring's Four Year Plan. Germany's youth, meanwhile, was being hardened like steel via the Hitler Youth paramilitary organization which elevated Hitler to god-like status and placed supreme value on duty and sacrifice. Young people were taught that the life of the individual, their life, was not important. Duty to the Führer and Fatherland was all that mattered.

Now, in mid-February 1938, Hitler had sent the Austrian Chancellor back home to convince President Miklas to ratify the ultimatum. But the stubborn Miklas refused to accept all of the demands. He was willing to amnesty the jailed Nazis but not to hand over the police to Nazi sympathizer Seyss-Inquart.

Meanwhile, Hitler ordered General Keitel to conduct military maneuvers near the Austrian border to make it appear an invasion was imminent. The bluff worked its magic and President Miklas soon caved in. He granted a general amnesty for all Nazis in Austria and appointed Seyss-Inquart as Minister of the Interior with full control of the police. Seyss immediately rushed off to Germany to see Hitler and receive his instructions.

On the night of February 20th, Hitler gave a speech in that was also broadcast throughout Austria. He depicted Austrian Nazis as a persecuted minority, saying it was "intolerable for a self-conscious world power to know that at its side are co-racials who are subjected to continuous suffering because of their sympathy and unity with the whole German race and ideology." After the speech, Nazis throughout Austria took to the streets amid wild shouts of 'Sieg Heil!' and 'Heil Hitler!'

Chancellor Schuschnigg, having regained his nerve to some degree, responded to Hitler four days later via a speech of his own in Vienna. He said Austria had conceded enough to the Nazis and would never give up its independence. "Thus far and no further," he declared. The line had been drawn.

6

But Austria was being eaten alive from within by the emboldened Nazi agitators. Mobs brazenly tore down the red-white-red Austrian flag and raised the swastika banner while police, under Seyss' control, stood by and watched.

The escalating political unrest soon caused economic panic. People rushed to banks and withdrew all of their money. Overseas orders for goods and services were abruptly canceled. Tourists stayed home. A few outer provinces were even taken over by Austrian Nazis. In Vienna, Schuschnigg's government was beginning to fold under the pressure – just what Hitler and the Austrian Nazis had hoped for.

In a desperate gamble to halt the demise and to stave off Hitler, Schuschnigg announced there would be a national plebiscite on Sunday, March 13, allowing Austrians to vote on whether or not their country should remain independent from Germany.

Hitler, on hearing of this surprise announcement, flew into a rage. He decided on the spot to send in the German Army to prevent the vote. Plans for the invasion of Austria were hastily drawn up by General Keitel and General von Manstein and involved three Army corps and the Air Force.

But there was still a big problem for Hitler. He wasn't sure how Italy's powerful Fascist leader, , would react to a German invasion of neighboring Austria. And so Hitler rushed off an emissary to Rome bearing a personal letter justifying the coming military action and pleading for Mussolini's approval. The letter included outrageously false claims that Austria and Czechoslovakia were both plotting to restore the old Hapsburg monarchy and attack Germany.

By Friday morning, March 11th, Chancellor Schuschnigg had become aware of the pending invasion. At 2 p.m. that afternoon, he informed Seyss-Inquart in Vienna that the plebiscite would indeed be canceled to avoid any bloodshed. A telephone call was then placed by Seyss to Göring in Berlin informing him of Schuschnigg's decision. The Chancellor's position was hopelessly weakened and Göring immediately pounced on him like a tiger.

A series of telephone calls, amounting to diplomatic extortion, now ensued. First, Göring successfully badgered Schuschnigg into resigning, then he demanded that President Miklas appoint Seyss as the new Chancellor of Austria. But Miklas refused. Göring then issued an ultimatum that Seyss must be appointed as Chancellor or German troops would invade that very night. But Miklas stubbornly held out.

Hitler by now had enough of Austria's defiance. At 8:45 p.m., he ordered his generals to commence the invasion beginning at dawn the next day. Then came the news Hitler had been waiting to hear from Mussolini. Hitler was informed by telephone that Austria was considered "immaterial" to the Italian dictator. There would be no interference with the Nazi invasion.

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Hitler's motorized troops head into a small town in Upper Austria as a crowd of townsfolk awaits their arrival. Below: The tumultuous scene in Vienna as Hitler's entourage enters.

8 Below: Hitler in Vienna with Reich Governor Arthur Seyss-Inquart (left), while behind Hitler stands , Reinhard Heydrich and others.

9 Below: in Vienna face a stark and uncertain future with nowhere to turn for help.

"Tell Mussolini I will never forget him for this!" Hitler told his envoy on the telephone. "Never, never, never, no matter what happens...I shall stick to him whatever may happen, even if the whole world gangs up on him!"

Around midnight, President Miklas, realizing his own position was hopeless, appointed Seyss as the new Chancellor of Austria. At dawn on Saturday, March 12, 1938, German soldiers in tanks and armored vehicles roared across the German-Austrian border on schedule. They met no resistance and in most places were welcomed like heroes. Many of Austria's seven million ethnic Germans had longed to attach themselves to the rising star of Germany and its dynamic Führer, a son of Austrian soil.

When news of the invasion reached Britain and France, they reacted just as they had when Hitler occupied the Rhineland a few years earlier. They did nothing. In France, internal political problems once again prevented any military response. Britain, now led by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, had already indicated it would pursue a policy of appeasement to preserve the peace. Making matters worse, Austria, proud and defiant in its hour of need, never formally requested any outside assistance.

In Germany, the Saturday editions of all Nazi newspapers printed a phony telegram supposedly sent by Chancellor Seyss to Berlin asking "the German government to send German troops as soon as possible" to restore order. There were also faked reports by Goebbels regarding rioting in Vienna and

10 street fights involving Communists. This was the version of events Hitler presented to the world, that the Austrians themselves, desperate to restore order, had requested military assistance from Germany.

Aware that his troops were getting fantastic welcomes, Hitler decided to accompany his soldiers into his birthplace at Braunau am Inn and then on to Linz, where he had been a schoolboy. He also visited his parents' grave site at Leonding and laid a wreath.

At Linz he gave an emotional speech declaring: "If Providence once called me forth from this town to be the leader of the Reich, it must in doing so have charged me with a mission, and that mission could only be to restore my dear homeland to the German Reich."

Hitler thus ordered a law drafted providing for immediate (union) of Austria with Germany. The next day, Sunday, March 13, the law was approved by the Austrian government led by Seyss. The formal announcement was then made to the world. Austria had ceased to exist. It was now a province of the German Reich. Hitler himself shed tears of joy when he was presented with the actual Anschluss document.

On Monday afternoon, he made his grand entry into Vienna, the city he had known so many years earlier as a down-and-out tramp. He stayed at the Hotel Imperial, the same hotel where he once worked as a half-starved day laborer, shoveling snow off the sidewalk outside the entrance and respectfully removing his cap as wealthy guests came and went. As a poor youth he could never go inside. Today he was the guest of honor.

Upon returning to Germany, Hitler scheduled another plebiscite, just as he had done after occupying the Rhineland. The people of Germany and Austria were now asked to approve the Anschluss. On April 10th, ninety-nine percent voted 'Ja,' with most afraid to ever vote no, knowing their vote might easily be discovered.

The Nazi occupation of Austria was marked by an outbreak of anti-Jewish violence, the likes of which had not even been seen in Germany. Vienna was home to about 180,000 Jews. Throughout the city, Jewish men and women were grabbed at random by Nazis and forced to scrub walls and sidewalks clean of any pro-independence slogans. Other humiliations including cleaning public toilets and the latrines in SS barracks with sacred Hebrew prayer cloths. Thousands were also jailed for no reason while police allowed open looting of Jewish homes and businesses.

SS Leader Heinrich Himmler, along with Reinhard Heydrich, had accompanied Hitler into Vienna. They quickly realized Jews there would pay just about anything to exit the country. Heydrich then set up an Office for Jewish Emigration run by an Austrian SS man named Adolf Eichmann which extorted money and valuables from Jews in return for their freedom. This office was so successful that it became the model for one set up in Germany.

Himmler also established the first concentration camp outside Germany at Mauthausen, located near

11 Linz. About 120,000 persons would be worked to death there in the camp's granite quarry or 'shot while attempting escape.'

As for Dr. Kurt von Schuschnigg, the man who had defied Hitler, he was arrested by the Gestapo and spent several years in a variety of Nazi concentration camps including Dachau and Sachsenhausen.

Hitler had taken Austria without firing a single shot. Czechoslovakia next door now trembled at the thought that it was surrounded on three sides by the German Army. Hitler wasted no time in pressing his advantage. He began to consider plans for the occupation of the Sudetenland, the western portion of Czechoslovakia home to about three million ethnic Germans.

A month earlier, Hermann Göring had assured the nervous Czech government, "I give you my word of honor that Czechoslovakia has nothing to fear from the Reich."

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Sino-Japanese War

History of WW2 http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-ww2/sino-japanese-war

There were about 800 Japanese present, some of whom were in sedan chairs . . . the binding of prisoners and shooting kept up until 2 o'clock in the morning.

Captain Liang Ling-fang testimony to Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal on the Nanking Massacres

In the 1930s, China was a divided country. In 1928 Chiang Kai-Shek had formed a Nationalist Government – the Kuomintang (the KMT), but his dictatorial regime was opposed by Mao Tse Tung’s

12 Communists (CCP). Civil war between the Communists and Nationalists erupted in 1930 – the period of Mao’s legendary ‘Long March’.

In 1931, Japan, eager for the vast natural resources to be found in China and seeing her obvious weakness, invaded and occupied Manchuria. It was turned into a nominally independent state called Manchukuo, but the Chinese Emperor who ruled it was a puppet of the Japanese. When China appealed to the League of Nations to intervene, the League published the Lytton Report which condemned ​ ​ Japanese aggression. The only real consequence of this was that an outraged Japanese delegation stormed out of the League of Nations, never to return.

In the 1930’s the Chinese suffered continued territorial encroachment from the Japanese, using their Manchurian base. The whole north of the country was gradually taken over. The official strategy of the KMT was to secure control of China by defeating her internal enemies first (Communists and various warlords), and only then turning attention to the defence of the frontier. This meant the Japanese encountered virtually no resistance, apart from some popular uprisings by Chinese peasants which were brutally suppressed.

In 1937 skirmishing between Japanese and Chinese troops on the frontier led to what became known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. This fighting sparked a full-blown conflict, the Second Sino-Japanese War. Under the terms of the Sian Agreement, the Chinese Nationalists (KMT) and the CCP now agreed to fight side by side against Japan. The Communists had been encouraged to negotiate with the KMT by Stalin, who saw Japan as an increasing threat on his Far Eastern border, and began supplying arms to China. China also received aid from western democracies, where public opinion was strongly anti-Japanese. Britain, France and the US all sent aid (the latter including the famous ‘Flying Tigers’ fighter-pilot volunteers). Because of historic ties, China also received aid from for a short period, until Hitler decided to make an alliance with Japan in 1938.

Although the Japanese quickly captured all key Chinese ports and industrial centres, including cities such as the Chinese capital Nanking and Shanghai, CCP and KMT forces continued resisting. In the brutal conflict, both sides used ‘scorched earth’ tactics. Massacres and atrocities were common. The most infamous came after the fall of Nanking in December 1937, when Japanese troops slaughtered an estimated 300,000 civilians and raped 80,000 women. Many thousands of Chinese were killed in the indiscriminate bombing of cities by the Japanese air force. There were also savage reprisals carried out

13 against Chinese peasants, in retaliation for attacks by partisans who waged a guerrilla war against the invader, ambushing supply columns and attacking isolated units. Warfare of this nature led, by the war’s end, to an estimated 10 to 20 million Chinese civilians deaths.

By 1940, the war descended into stalemate. The Japanese seemed unable to force victory, nor the Chinese to evict the Japanese from the territory they had conquered. But western intervention in the form of economic sanctions (most importantly oil) against Japan would transform the nature of the war. It was in response to these sanctions that Japan decided to attack America at Pearl Harbor, and so initiate World War II in the Far East.

Italo-Ethiopian War Italian soldiers being transported by truck during the Italo-Ethiopian War in Ethiopia.Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Neg. no. ​ LC-USZ62-59754)

Italo-Ethiopian War, (1935–36), an armed conflict that resulted in Ethiopia’s ​ subjection to Italian rule. Often seen as one of the episodes that prepared the ​ ​ way for World War II, the war demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the League ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ of Nations when League decisions were not supported by the great powers. ​

Ethiopia (Abyssinia), which Italy had unsuccessfully tried to conquer in the 1890s, was in 1934 one of the ​ ​ ​ few independent states in a European-dominated Africa. A border incident between Ethiopia and Italian ​ Somaliland that December gave Benito Mussolini an excuse to intervene. Rejecting all arbitration offers, ​ ​ ​ the Italians invaded Ethiopia on October 3, 1935.

Under Generals Rodolfo Graziani and Pietro Badoglio, the invading forces steadily pushed back the ​ ​ ill-armed and poorly trained Ethiopian army, winning a major victory near Lake Ascianghi (Ashangi) on April 9, 1936, and taking the capital, Addis Ababa, on May 5. The nation’s leader, Emperor Haile Selassie, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ went into exile. In Rome, Mussolini proclaimed Italy’s king Victor Emmanuel III emperor of Ethiopia and ​ ​ appointed Badoglio to rule as viceroy. ​ ​

In response to Ethiopian appeals, the League of Nations condemned the Italian invasion in 1935 and voted to impose economic sanctions on the aggressor. The sanctions remained ineffective because of general lack of support. Although Mussolini’s aggression was viewed with disfavour by the British, who ​ had a stake in East Africa, the other major powers had no real interest in opposing him. The war, by giving ​ ​ substance to Italian imperialist claims, contributed to international tensions between the fascist states and the Western democracies. It also served as a rallying point, especially after World War II, for developing ​ ​ African nationalist movements."Italo-Ethiopian War". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.Encyclopædia Britannica ​ ​ ​ Inc., 2016. Web. 20 Dec. 2016. ​ ​

14

The Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War(1936-39), was a military revolt against the Republican government of Spain, supported by conservative elements within the country. When an initial military coup failed to win control of the entire country, a bloody civil war ensued, fought with great ferocity on both sides. The Nationalists, as the rebels were called, received aid from Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The Republicans received aid from the , as well as from , a great number of volunteers who came from other European countries and the United States.

The war was an outcome of a polarization of Spanish life and politics that had developed over previous decades. On one side were most of the Roman Catholic Church in Spain, important elements of the military, most landowners, and many businessmen. On the other side were urban workers, most agricultural laborers, and many of the educated middle classes. Politically their differences often found extreme and vehement expression in parties such as the Fascist-oriented Falange and the militant left-wing anarchists. Between these extremes were other groups covering the political spectrum from monarchism and conservatism through liberalism to Socialism, including a small Communist movement divided among followers of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his archrival Leon Trotsky. Assassinations and other acts of violence were not uncommon. In 1934 there were general strikes in Valencia and , fighting in Madrid and , and a bloody rising by miners in that was suppressed by troops led by Gen. . A succession of governmental crises culminated in the elections of Feb. 16, 1936, which brought to power a government supported by most of the parties of the left and opposed by the parties of the right and what remained of the center.

A well-planned military uprising began on July 17, 1936, in garrison towns throughout Spain. By July 21 the rebels had achieved control in Spanish Morocco, the Canary Islands, and the Balearic Islands (except Minorca) and in the part of Spain north of the Guadarrama Mountains and the Ebro River, except for Asturias, Santander, and the Basque provinces along the north coast and the region of Catalonia in the northeast. The Republican forces had put down the uprising in other areas, except for some of the larger Andalusian cities, including , Granada, and Córdoba. The Nationalists and Republicans proceeded to organize their respective territories and to repress opposition or suspected opposition. A minimum estimate is that more than 50,000 persons were executed, murdered, or assassinated on each side--an indication of the great strength of the passions that the Civil War had unleashed.

The captaincy of the Nationalists was gradually assumed by General Franco, leading forces he had brought from Morocco. On Oct. 1, 1936, he was named head of state and set up a government in Burgos. The Republican government was headed, beginning in September 1936, by the Socialist leader Francisco Largo Caballero. He was followed in May 1937 by Juan Negrín, also a Socialist, who remained premier throughout the remainder of the war and served as premier in exile until

15 1945. The president of the Spanish Republic until nearly the end of the war was Manuel Azaña, an anticlerical liberal. Each side, seeing itself too weak to win a quick victory, turned abroad for help. Germany and Italy sent troops, tanks, and planes to aid the Nationalists. The Soviet Union contributed equipment and supplies to the Republicans, who also received help from the governments of France and Mexico. About 40,000 foreigners fought in the International Brigades on the Republican side, and 20,000 others served in medical or auxiliary units.

By the Nationalists had advanced to the outskirts of Madrid. They laid siege to it but were unable to get beyond the University City area. They captured the Basque northern provinces in the summer of 1937 and then Asturias, so that by October they held the whole northern coast. A war of attrition began. The Nationalists drove a salient eastward through , reaching the Mediterranean and splitting the republic in two in April 1938. In December 1938 they moved upon Catalonia in the northeast, forcing the Republican armies there northward toward France. By February 1939, 250,000 Republican soldiers, together with an equal number of civilians, had fled across the border into France. On March 5 the Republican government flew to exile in France. On March 7 a civil war broke out in Madrid between Communist and anti-Communist factions. By March 28 all of the Republican armies had begun to disband and surrender, and Nationalist forces entered Madrid on that day.

The number of persons killed in the Spanish Civil War can be only roughly estimated. Nationalist forces put the figure at 1,000,000, including not only those killed in battle but also the victims of bombardment, execution, and assassination. More recent estimates have been closer to 500,000 or less. This does not include all those who died from malnutrition, starvation, and war-engendered disease. The political and emotional reverberations of the war far transcended those of a national conflict, for many in other countries saw the Spanish Civil War as part of an international conflict between--depending on their point of view--tyranny and democracy, or Fascism and freedom, or Communism and civilization. For Germany and Italy, Spain was a testing ground for new methods of tank and air warfare. For Britain and France, the conflict represented a new threat to the international equilibrium that they were struggling to preserve, which in 1939 collapsed into World War II.

A project by History World International http://history-world.org/spanish_civil_war.htm

16 http://spartacus-educational.com/SPgermany.htm

Germany and the Spanish Civil War

On the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War the leaders of the military uprising immediately asked the German ​ ​ ​ government for help. The first request was for ten transport planes to ferry Nationalist troops from Morocco to Spain. ​ ​ ​ ​ Constantin von Neurath, the German foreign minister, initially rejected the request, expressing fears that such a ​ move could lead to a European war. did not agree with Neurath and after consulting with Herman ​ ​ ​ Goering, Wilhelm Canaris and , he told General Francisco Franco on 26th July 1936 that ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Germany would support his rebellion.

Hitler justified his decision by arguing that he was attempting to save Europe from "communist barbarism". Another reason was that it brought Germany closer to Italy, a country that was also supporting the military uprising in Spain. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Hitler also knew that a Nationalist victory would give him an important ally in his struggle with Britain and France. He ​ ​ ​ ​ was especially interested in obtaining iron, copper, mercury and pyrites from Spain for his armaments industry.

Another factor in Hitler's decision was that providing military aid to the Nationalist Army would give him the ​ ​ opportunity to test out his commanders, weapons and tactics.

On 27th July, 1936, Adolf Hitler sent the the Nationalists 26 German . He also sent 30 52s ​ ​ from Berlin and Stuttgart to Morocco. Over the next couple of weeks the aircraft transported over 15,000 troops to ​ ​ Spain. The fighter aircraft soon went into action and the Germans suffered their first losses when airmen Helmut Schulze and Herbert Zeck were killed on 15th August.

In September 1936 a Non-Intervention Agreement was drawn-up in London and signed by 27 countries including ​ ​ ​ ​ Germany, Britain, France, the Soviet Union and Italy. Hitler continued to give aid but attempted to disguise this by ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ sending the men, planes, tanks, and munitions via Portugal. ​ ​

Lieutenant Colonel Walther Warlimont of the German General Staff arrived as the German commander and military ​ ​ adviser to General Francisco Franco in September 1936. The following month Warlimont suggested that a German ​ ​ Condor Legion should be formed to fight in the Spanish Civil War. ​ ​ ​

Hitler hoped this would not be necessary as General Francisco Franco claimed he was on the verge of victory. This ​ ​ prediction proved to be wrong and in November the International Brigades and aircraft and tanks from the Soviet ​ ​ ​ Union began arriving in Madrid. ​ ​ ​

Spanish Civil War Encyclopedia

Hitler now gave permission for the formation of the Condor Legion. The initial force consisted a Group of ​ ​ three squadrons of Ju-52 ; a Fighter Group with three squadrons of He-51 fighters; a Reconnaissance Group with two squadrons of He-99 and He-70 reconnaissance bombers; and a Seaplane Squadron of He-59 and He-60 floatplanes.

The Condor Legion, under the command of General Hugo Sperrle, was an autonomous unit responsible only to ​ ​ 17 Franco. The legion would eventually total nearly 12,000 men. Sperrle demanded higher performance aircraft from Germany and he eventually received the Heinkel He111, Junkers Stuka and the Messerschmitt Bf109. It ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ participated in all the major engagements including Brunete, Teruel, Aragonand Ebro. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

During the war Werner Moelders was credited with fourteen kills, more than any other German pilot. In the Asturias ​ ​ campaign in September 1937, experimented with new bombing tactics. This became known as carpet ​ ​ bombing (dropping all bombs on the enemy from every aircraft at one time for maximum damage). German aircraft dropped 16,953,700 kilos of bombs during the war and air units expended 4,327,949 rounds of machine-gun ammunition.

Adolf Hitler also sent four tank companies under the command of Colonel Wilhelm von Thoma. He was also in ​ ​ ​ charge of all German ground troops in Spain. He later commented: "Their numbers were greatly exaggerated in ​ ​ newspaper reports - they were never more than 600 at a time. They were used to train Franco's tank force and to get battle experience themselves."

A total of 19,000 Germans served in the Spanish Civil War. Of these, 298 were lost, with 173 being killed by the ​ ​ enemy. This included 102 aircrew, 27 fighter pilots and 21 anti-aircraft crew. A large number were killed in accidents and others died of illness. The Condor Legion lost 72 aircraft to enemy action. Another 160 were lost in flying accidents.

By John Simkin ([email protected]) © September 1997 (updated August 2014). ​ ​

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Primary Sources

(1) Hermann Goering, statement at Nuremberg War Crimes Trial (October 1946) ​ ​ ​ ​

When the civil war broke out in Spain Franco sent a call for help to Germany and asked for support, particularly in the air. Franco with his troops was stationed in Africa and he could not get his troops across, as the fleet was in the hands of the communists. The decisive factor was, first of all, to get his troops to Spain. The Führer thought the matter over. I urged him to give support under all circumstances: firstly, to prevent the further spread of communism; secondly, to test my young in this or that technical respect. (2) William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1959) ​ ​ ​ ​

Though German aid to Franco never equalled that given by Italy, which dispatched between sixty and seventy thousand troops as well as vast supplies of arms and planes, it was considerable. The Germans estimated later that they spent half a billion marks on the venture 37 besides furnishing planes, tanks, technicians and the Condor Legion, an Air Force unit which distinguished itself by the obliteration of the Spanish town of and its civilian inhabitants. Relative to Germany's own massive rearmament it was not much, but it paid handsome dividends to Hitler. It gave France a third unfriendly fascist power on its borders. It exacerbated the internal strife in France between Right and Left and thus weakened Germany's principal rival in the West. Above all it rendered impossible a rapprochement of Britain and France with Italy, which the Paris and London governments had hoped for after the termination of the Abyssinian War, and thus drove Mussolini into the arms of Hitler.

18 From the very beginning the Fuehrer's Spanish policy was shrewd, calculated and far-seeing. A perusal of the captured German documents makes plain that one of Hitler's purposes was to prolong the Spanish Civil War in order to keep the Western democracies and Italy at loggerheads and draw Mussolini toward him. (3) Ulrich von Hassell, German Ambassador in Italy (December 1936) ​ ​ ​ ​

The role played by the Spanish conflict as regards Italy's relations with France and England could be similar to that of the Abyssinian conflict, bringing out clearly the actual, opposing interests of the powers and thus preventing Italy from being drawn into the net of the Western powers and used for their machinations. The struggle for dominant political influence in Spain lays bare the natural opposition between Italy and France; at the same time the position of Italy as a power in the western Mediterranean comes into competition with that of Britain. All the more clearly will Italy recognize the advisability of confronting the Western powers shoulder to shoulder with Germany. (4) Alan Bullock, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny (1952) ​ ​

In the course of the next three years Germany sent men and military supplies, including experts and technicians of all kinds and the famous Condor Air Legion. German aid to Franco was never on a major scale, never sufficient to win the war for him or even to equal the forces sent by Mussolini, which in March 1937 reached the figure of sixty to seventy thousand men. Hitler's policy, unlike Mussolini's, was not to secure Franco's victory, but to prolong the war. In April 1939, an official of the German Economic Policy Department, trying to reckon what Germany had spent on help to Franco up to that date, gave a round figure of five hundred million Reichsmarks, not a large sum by comparison with the amounts spent on rearmament. But the advantages Germany secured in return were disproportionate - economic advantages (valuable sources of raw materials in Spanish mines); useful experience in training her airmen and testing equipment such as tanks in battle conditions; above all, strategic and political advantages. It only needed a glance at the map to show how seriously France's position was affected by events across the Pyrenees. A victory for Franco would mean a third Fascist State on her frontiers, three instead of two frontiers to be guarded in the event of war. France, for geographical reasons alone, was more deeply interested in what happened in Spain than any other of the Great Powers, yet the ideological character of the Spanish Civil War divided, instead of uniting, French opinion. The French elections shortly before the outbreak of the troubles in Spain had produced the Left-wing Popular Front Government of Leon Blum. So bitter had class and political conflicts grown in France that - as in the case of the Franco-Soviet Treaty - foreign affairs were again subordinated to internal faction, and many Frenchmen were prepared to support Franco as a way of hitting at their own Government. (5) The Manchester Guardian (25th July 1936) ​ ​

A pessimistic view is taken here of events in Spain. There is no indication yet whether the Government or the insurgents are likely to prevail. Everything points to a protracted and sanguinary civil war. The insurgents have the advantage of getting outside help whereas the Government is getting none. The latter has applied to the French Government for permission to import arms from France, but so far at least permission has not been given. The insurgents, on the other hand, are being assisted by the Italians and Germans. During the last few weeks large numbers of Italian and German agents have arrived in Morocco and the Balearic Islands. These agents are taking part in military activities and are also exercising a certain political influence. For the insurgents the belief that they have the support of the two great 'Fascist Powers' is an immense encouragement. But it is also more than an encouragement, for many of the weapons now in their hands are of Italian origin. This is particularly so in Morocco. The German influence is strongest in the Balearic Islands. Germany has a great interest in the victory of the insurgents. Apparently she hopes to secure concession in the Balearic Islands from them when they are in power. These islands play an important part in German plans for the future development of sea-power in the Mediterranean.

19 The civil war is of particular interest to Germany because the victory of the insurgents would open the prospect (closed by Anglo-French collaboration and by the existence of a pro-British, pro-French, and pro-League Spanish Republic) of action in Western Europe. That is to say, a 'Fascist' Spain would, for Germany, be a means of 'turning the French flank' and of playing a part in the Mediterranean. On the Spanish mainland Germany disposed of a numerous and extremely well-organised branch of the National Socialist party. This branch has been strongly reinforced by newcomers from Germany during the last few weeks. She also disposes of a powerful organization for political and military espionage, which works behind a diplomatic and educational facade. Barcelona in particular has a large German population, the greater part of which is at the disposal of the National Socialists. The fate of Morocco is naturally of the highest interest to Germany, for if the insurgents are victorious she may hope to secure territorial concessions in Morocco and therefore a foothold in Northern Africa. (6) Statement issued by German government on 18th November 1936.

Following the taking possession by General Franco of the greater part of Spanish territory and now that the developments of the past weeks have shown with increasing clarity that there can be no longer any talk of a responsible Government in the other portions of Spain, the Reich Government has decided to recognise the Government of General Franco and to appoint a Charge d'Affaires for the opening of diplomatic relations. The new German Charge d'Affaires will proceed in due course to the seat of government of General Franco. The German Charge d'Affaires, who up to now has been in , has been recalled. The Charge d'Affaires of the former Spanish Government left Berlin by his own decision at the beginning of November. (7) The Manchester Guardian (16th January 1937) ​ ​

Two thousand 'S.S.' (Blackshirts) have been assembled at Munich and are about to leave for Spain. The assembled 'military division' of the SS are a fully trained and equipped military formation, 30,000 or 60,000 strong, and have the value of a Regular Army. Their function in case of war is chiefly the maintenance of order at home - this, as the German authorities conceive it, is a military task, for the menace of rebellion at home is reckoned with as the accompaniment of war abroad. The reason why SS and not Regulars () are being sent to Spain would seem to be, partly at least, that they are to gain experience in street fighting. The 2,000 men have been withdrawn from various 'divisions' of the SS and tanks have been assigned to them. They are to go via Austria to Italy, and will embark for Spain at an Italian port. There is some discontent in the SS because their men are being sent to Spain as 'volunteers'. A good deal of grumbling is heard, and some SS men have been saying that the Regulars ought to go to Spain because 'that is what they are there for'. The fact that German troops are fighting on the side of the Spanish rebels is becoming more and more widely known in Germany, in spite of the recent official German denial that there is a single German soldier in Spain. Reports of German casualties are spreading and have, no doubt, influenced the attitude of the SS. (8) Resolution passed by the on 27th March 1937. ​ ​

We the members of the British working class in the British Battalion of the International Brigade now fighting in Spain in defence of democracy, protest against statements appearing in certain British papers to the effect that there is little or no interference in the civil war in Spain by foreign Fascist Powers. We have seen with our own eyes frightful slaughter of men, women, and children in Spain. We have witnessed the destruction of many of its towns and villages. We have seen whole areas which have been devastated. And we know beyond a shadow of doubt that these frightful deeds have been done mainly by German and Italian nationals, using German and Italian aeroplanes, tanks, bombs, shells, and guns. We ourselves have been in action repeatedly against thousands of German and Italian troops, and have lost many splendid and heroic comrades in these battles. We protest against this disgraceful and unjustifiable invasion of Spain by Fascist Germany and Italy; an invasion in our opinion only made possible by the pro-Franco policy of the Baldwin Government in Britain. We believe that all lovers of freedom and democracy in Britain should now unite in a sustained effort to put an end to this invasion of Spain 20 and to force the Baldwin Government to give to the people of Spain and their legal Government the right to buy arms in Britain to defend their freedom and democracy against Fascist barbarianism. We therefore call upon the General Council of the T.U.C. and the National Executive Committee of the Labour party to organise a great united campaign in Britain for the achievement of the above objects. We denounce the attempts being made in Britain by the Fascist elements to make people believe that we British and other volunteers fighting on behalf of Spanish democracy are no different from the scores of thousands of conscript troops sent into Spain by Hitler and Mussolini. There can be no comparison between free volunteers and these conscript armies of Germany and Italy in Spain. Finally, we desire it to be known in Britain that we came here of our own free will after full consideration of all that this step involved. We came to Spain not for money, but solely to assist the heroic Spanish people to defend their country's freedom and democracy. We were not gulled into coming to Spain by promises of big money. We never even asked for money when we volunteered. We are perfectly satisfied with our treatment by the Spanish Government; and we still are proud to be fighting for the cause of freedom in Spain. Any statements to the contrary are foul lies. (9) The Manchester Guardian (10th January 1938) ​ ​

Germany's new Messerschmidt aeroplanes have been tested in the Spanish civil war. The pilots are pledged before they leave Germany never to let their planes fall into the hands of the enemy. Each pilot has orders to set fire to his plane if it is brought down or has to make a forced landing on enemy soil. Each plane has a special tank of inflammable matter that can be ignited at once for this purpose. The German pilots in Spain are used more in combined infantry and air attacks than in air raids, which are chiefly carried out by the Italians. The German military experts are particularly interested in developing the art of offensive operation by all arms combined, the air arm included, and Spain is proving to be a valuable experimental field. They are of opinion that the decisive blow in future wars will be delivered by combined operations of this kind. (10) Wilhelm von Thoma was interviewed by Basil Liddell Hart after the war for his book The Other Side of the Hill ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ (1948)

I was in command of all the German ground troops in Spain during the war. Their numbers were greatly exaggerated in newspaper reports - they were never more than 600 at a time. They were used to train Franco's tank force and to get battle experience themselves. Our main help to Franco was in machines-aircraft and tanks. At the start he had nothing beyond a few obsolete machines. The first batch of German tanks arrived in September, followed by a larger batch in October. They were the . Russian tanks began to arrive on the other side even quicker - at the end of July. They were of a heavier type than ours, which were armed only with machine-guns, and I offered a reward of 500 pesetas for every one that was captured, as I was only too glad to convert them to my own use. By a carefully organized dilution of the German personnel I was soon able to train a large number of Spanish tank-crews. I found the Spanish quick to learn though also quick to forget. By 1938 I had four tank battalions under my command - each of three companies, with fifteen tanks in a company. Four of the companies were equipped with Russian tanks. I also had thirty anti-tank companies, with six 37 mm guns apiece. General Franco wished to parcel out the tanks among the infantry-in the usual way of generals who belong to the old school. I had to fight this tendency constantly in the endeavour to use the tanks in a concentrated way. The Francoists' successes were largely due to this. I came back from Spain in June, 1939, after the end of the war, and wrote out my experiences and the lessons learned. (11) Luis Bolin, Spain, the Vital Years (1967) ​ ​ ​

In 1936-9 Great Britain and other European and American countries were beginning to think in terms of the coming world conflict. The fact that Hitler and Mussolini helped the Spanish Nationalists was a cause of great and perhaps natural prejudice in those countries, though it should be noted that those who criticized us for accepting Hitler's help saw nothing strange in the acceptance of Stalin, who had invaded Poland with Hitler, as their ally in World War II. When men are fighting for all that is dear to them they accept help from wherever it comes. But the loose habit of referring to all authoritarian regimes other than the Communist as 'Fascist' made it hard for people to appreciate the vast differences that separate the Spanish Falange from .

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