Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

Adolf Hitler Part II

Austria and Czechoslovakia

On 12 March 1938, Hitler announced theunification of Austria with Nazi Germany in the Anschluss. Hitlerthen turned his attention to the ethnic German population of theSudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. On 28–29 March 1938, Hitlerheld a series of secret meetings in Berlin with Konrad Henlein of theSudeten German Party, the largest of the ethnic German parties of theSudetenland. The men agreed that Henlein would demand increasedautonomy for Sudeten Germans from the Czechoslovakian government,thus providing a pretext for German military action againstCzechoslovakia. In April 1938 Henlein told the foreign minister ofHungary that "whatever the Czech government might offer, hewould always raise still higher demands ... he wanted to sabotage anunderstanding by any means because this was the only method to blowup Czechoslovakia quickly". In private, Hitler consideredthe Sudeten issue unimportant; his real intention was a war ofconquest against Czechoslovakia.

In April Hitler ordered the OKW toprepare for Fall Grün (Case Green), the code name for an invasion ofCzechoslovakia. As a result of intense French and British diplomaticpressure, on 5 September Czechoslovakian President Edvard Benešunveiled the "Fourth Plan" for constitutionalreorganization of his country, which agreed to most of Henlein'sdemands for Sudeten autonomy. Henlein's party responded to Beneš'offer by instigating a series of violent clashes with theCzechoslovakian police that led to the declaration of martial law incertain Sudeten districts.

Germany was dependent on imported oil;a confrontation with Britain over the Czechoslovakian dispute couldcurtail Germany's oil supplies. This forced Hitler to call off FallGrün, originally planned for 1 October 1938. On 29 September Hitler,Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier, and Mussolini attended aone-day conference in Munich that led to the Munich Agreement, whichhanded over the Sudetenland districts to Germany.

Chamberlain was satisfied with theMunich conference, calling the outcome "peace for our time",while Hitler was angered about the missed opportunity for war in1938; he expressed his disappointment in a speech on 9 October inSaarbrücken. In Hitler's view, the British-brokered peace, althoughfavorable to the ostensible German demands, was a diplomatic defeatwhich spurred his intent of limiting British power to pave the wayfor the eastern expansion of Germany. As a result of the summit,Hitler was selected Time magazine's Man of the Year for 1938.

In late 1938 and early 1939, thecontinuing economic crisis caused by rearmament forced Hitler to makemajor defense cuts. In his "Export or die" speech of30 January 1939, he called for an economic offensive to increaseGerman foreign exchange holdings to pay for raw materials such ashigh-grade iron needed for military weapons.

On 14 March 1939, under threat fromHungary, Slovakia declared independence and received protection fromGermany. The next day, in violation of the Munich accord andpossibly as a result of the deepening economic crisis requiringadditional assets, Hitler ordered the Wehrmacht to invade the Czechrump state, and from Prague Castle he proclaimed the territory aGerman protectorate.

Start of World War II

In private discussions in 1939, Hitlerdeclared Britain the main enemy to be defeated and that Poland'sobliteration was a necessary prelude for that goal. The easternflank would be secured and land would be added to Germany'sLebensraum. Offended by the British "guarantee" on31 March 1939 of Polish independence, he said, "I shall brewthem a devil's drink". In a speech in Wilhelmshaven for thelaunch of the battleship Tirpitz on 1 April, he threatened todenounce the Anglo-German Naval Agreement if the British continued toguarantee Polish independence, which he perceived as an"encirclement" policy. Poland was to either becomea German satellite state or it would be neutralized in order tosecure the Reich's eastern flank and prevent a possible Britishblockade. Hitler initially favoured the idea of a satellite state,but upon its rejection by the Polish government, he decided to invadeand made this the main foreign policy goal of 1939. On 3 April,Hitler ordered the military to prepare for Fall Weiss ("CaseWhite"), the plan for invading Poland on 25 August. In aReichstag speech on 28 April, he renounced both the Anglo-GermanNaval Agreement and the German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact. Historians such as William Carr, Gerhard Weinberg, and Ian Kershawhave argued that one reason for Hitler's rush to war was his fear ofan early death. He had repeatedly claimed that he must lead Germanyinto war before he got too old, as his successors might lack hisstrength of will.