Hello, welcome to History here at Oak National Academy.

I'm Mr. Newton, and I'll be your teacher today guiding you through the entire lesson.

Right, let's get started.

Over the next few lessons, we will be thinking about our big inquiry question, which events turned the tide in the story of the Second World War? This is the question we will use to investigate the unfolding events of the war, the outcome of which was not certain from the outset.

After the First World War, Germany was in a weak and unstable condition.

There was anarchy after the Kaiser, the German emperor, had abdicated, and the Treaty of Versailles placed significant restrictions on Germany.

This was followed by the global poverty of the Great Depression.

Many extreme political parties claim to have the solutions to these problems. One of these was the Nazi party led by Adolf Hitler.

Hitler rose to power using German grievances to attract large crowds to his speeches.

People hoped that Hitler could restore German power.

However, he soon turned Germany into a dictatorship and developed an aggressive military policy with a determination to tear up the Treaty of Versailles.

By the end of this session, you'll be able to explain why Britain eventually declared war against Germany in 1939.

Before we begin, there are a few keywords we need to understand.

To colonise is to send people to live in and govern another country.

Reich is German for empire, and there had been two German empires previously.

So the Nazis described their empire as the Third Reich.

Demilitarised refers to an area in which military forces have been removed.

Annexation is the taking possession of a piece of land or country, usually by force or without permission.

And finally, appeasement is the act of giving the opposing side in a war an advantage that they have demanded in order to prevent further disagreements.

Today's lesson is split up into four parts.

We'll first look at Hitler and what his outlook was and what his aims were for Germany.

And then we'll look at Nazi Germany's expansion, which eventually led to the Second World War, starting with the reoccupation of the Rhineland, the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, and finally the invasion of Poland.

Okay, let's start the lesson with Hitler's struggle for power.

The photo on the left shows Hitler's book.

This book outlined his views and future plans for Germany.

The book was titled "Mein Kampf" which in English translates to "My Struggle", and the word struggle seemed to be at the core of Hitler's outlook.

Here's a quote from the book he wrote in 1925.

"Man has become great through perpetual struggle.

In perpetual peace, his greatness must decline." So broadly, Hitler is talking about the necessity of struggle, competition, and the survival of the fittest.

However, Hitler applied this in very specific ways.

Hitler believed that theories about the survival of the fittest could be applied to nations.

He saw perpetual struggle or competition as an essential part of nationhood.

Nations that were courageous and hardworking would prosper.

Those that did not would weaken and fade away.

As the leader of Germany, Hitler believed Germany was in a competition of survival with other nations.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

According to Hitler, why was competition essential for the survival of nations? A, it encouraged national sportsmanship.

B, it prevented national weakness and decline.

C, it supported diplomatic relationships.

Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you knew it was B.

It prevented national weakness and decline.

Okay, let's continue.

Given Hitler's belief in struggle, if Germany wished to survive and thrive, it must be strong and conquer other nations.

It must colonise.

If strong nations adopted peace in Hitler's view, they would go into decline and witness their territories around them being colonised by inferior nations.

Hitler aimed to build a thousand-year Reich.

This was a monumental project equivalent to the Roman Empire, but under Nazi control.

Have a look at the image on the left.

It's a map of the Greater Germanic Reich.

At some point, this is the territory that hit the aim to have in his German empire.

This was essentially all of Germanic Europe, Germanic speaking people.

So from the map, we can see this included territory from Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, Belgium, Slovenia, Poland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

However, Hitler's territorial aims, which areas he wanted to colonise, changed over time and would go beyond the area on this map.

Nonetheless, the key takeaway is that Hitler aimed to build a monumental Reich equivalent to the Roman Empire.

We should also remember that these aims were unknown in Europe, and to the extent that they may have been known, they would've been thought of as pie-in-the-sky talk, the ramblings of a loud-mouthed upstart.

Once Hitler was in power, he ruled over a reduced Germany.

So firstly, Hitler's plan was to retake the German lands lost after the First World War.

The Treaty of Versailles negotiated by the victors of the First World War, which included Britain, France, and America, had removed these lands from Germany.

Have a look at the map.

The dark pink colour represents German territory in 1936.

The light peachy yellow colour represents the German territory lost after the First World War.

So Hitler's plan was to retake these lands first.

He would then build his empire east by conquering Russia and destroying the communists.

However, Hitler also faced a threat from the west from France.

This threat would need to be neutralised before Russia could be safely invaded.

This would also provide an opportunity to avenge the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles.

Okay, let's check for understanding.

What I want you to do here is fill in the missing key word of the sentence below.

Pause the video, have a go, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

Let's see how that sentence should have read.

Hitler aimed to build a thousand-year Reich, a monumental project equivalent of the Roman Empire, but under Nazi control.

Okay, let's move on to task A.

What I want you to do here is working with your partner, give reasons why Hitler wanted Germany to struggle against other nations.

So pause the video, have a quick discussion or jot down a few bullet points on a piece of paper and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you had some great discussions there, or you managed to jot down some points on a piece of paper.

So you may have said that Hitler believed that theories about the survival of the fittest could be applied to nations, that if Germany pushed forward with struggle, it would prosper and not be weak, and that Germany could regain the land it lost after the First World War, and that if Germany wished to survive and thrive, it must be stronger and conquer other nations.

It must colonise.

And finally, you might have said that Hitler aimed to build a thousand-year Reich equivalent to the Roman Empire, but under Nazi control.

Okay, great, let's move on to the second part of the lesson, the reoccupation of the Rhineland.

So against the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany's factories were manufacturing military planes, tanks, and battleships.

Have a look at the photo on the left.

It shows Nazi troops at the Nuremberg Rally in 1936.

This really gives us an idea of the scale of the German rearmaments, and these rallies were conducted on an epic scale and reinforced the idea to the German people that Hitler was a great leader restoring German power.

Leaders in Britain were slow to recognise that Hitler poses a major threat to European peace.

However, there were a few exceptions.

As early as 1934, the conservative MP Winston Churchill, in the photo on the left, had been arguing for increased military spending and preparations for war.

Churchill acknowledged that Hitler would at some point need to be stopped.

The British government began to increase defence spending rather modestly at first.

This programme of rearmaments came not a moment too soon.

In 1935, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini invaded Abyssinia in Africa.

Noticing that Britain and France did little to stop Mussolini, Hitler saw an opportunity.

In 1936, Hitler ordered German soldiers to reoccupy the Rhineland.

You can see the green arrow points the Rhineland on the map.

The Rhineland was on the western border of Germany.

It had been made at the militarised zone to create a safe buffer for France.

However, it was once a vital industrial region to Germany.

By reentering the Rhineland with the military, the Nazis were going against the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

The international community was divided as to what to do.

They watched, apparently powerless to act.

Everyone was keen to avoid a repeat of the horrendous experience of the First World War.

Britain was also distracted by its global empire.

Developments in Central Europe seemed of small concern.

Furthermore, many in Britain and across western Europe agreed that Germany had been too harshly treated after the First World War.

It seemed fair for Germany to peacefully station troops in its own territory.

In Germany, Hitler was seen as a hero.

News clips showed cheering crowds welcoming troops back into the Rhineland.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What was a direct consequence of Hitler moving his troops into the Rhineland in 1936? A, he became unpopular in Germany.

B, he decided to pursue peaceful policies.

C, he felt encouraged to acquire more territories.

Pause video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew it was C, he felt encouraged to acquire more territories.

Why was Britain reluctant to take action against Germany? Select three correct answers.

A, Britain's focus was beyond what was happening in Europe, it had its global empire.

B, Britain was keen to avoid another world war after the horrors of the First World War.

C, it seemed fair for Germany to peacefully station troops in its own territory.

D, it seemed fair for Germany to build a large Reich after how they had been treated post-World War I.

Pause the video, select your three correct answers, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew the correct answer was A, B, and C.

Okay, let's move on to task B.

And I've got a statement here for you.

"Germany had every right to reoccupy the Rhineland." I want you to discuss this statement with a partner.

One of you should give reasons for why some people at the time would've supported this statement and the other should give reasons for why some would have been against it.

So pause the video, have a quick discussion, then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and hopefully you had some really interesting discussions and debates over that statement.

So you may have discussed the following.

So some people at the time thought that Germany had been treated too harshly after the First World War and that they deserved to have control of their own territory.

Moreover, the Rhineland was a vital industrial region.

On the other hand, some people argued that Hitler was defying the Treaty of Versailles as the Rhineland had been made a demilitarised zone to create a safe buffer for France after the First World War.

Okay, great, let's move on to the third part of the lesson, annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia.

So after Hitler had reoccupied the Rhineland, there was a muted international response and Hitler's popularity surged at home.

So this emboldened Hitler to further expand the Reich.

In 1937, Hitler decided to seize the living space that he believed Germany needed.

He was convinced that more living space was needed for the German people and their economy to survive.

In 1937, Hitler ordered the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Have a look at the map.

At this point, Nazi Germany had already reoccupied the Rhineland in the west of Germany, and we can see Austria and Czechoslovakia towards the East.

Hitler reasoned that these were German-speaking people that would want to be part of his Reich and by annexing this territory, it would secure Germany's eastern borders.

In March, 1938, Hitler sent an ultimatum to the Austrian government.

If Austria refused to unite with Germany, Hitler would invade.

The Austrian government asked for Britain to step in.

The British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said he could not risk escalating the matter to a wider European conflict.

The Austrians were out of options, and the next day German troops were welcomed into Austria.

Hitler had returned to his country of birth and he quickly drove to his parents' grave where he laid flowers.

The photo on the left shows cheering crowds greeting the Nazis in Austria.

Obviously, not everyone would welcome the arrival of a new power into their country.

Austria was now part of the Third Reich and would soon experience the brutal rule of the Nazi party.

As he had done in Germany, Hitler applied his theory of struggle to race.

Humans were divided into competing races.

Hitler saw Germans as the master race and other races as inferior.

They were persecuted in order to stop them from weakening his Reich.

Political opponents were imprisoned in concentration camps and the windows of Jewish homes and businesses were smashed.

An example of Jewish persecution is shown in the photo on the left.

The photo shows Jewish people being made to clean the streets in Austria in 1938.

True or false? After annexing Austria, Hitler ordered for his homeland to be ruled fairly.

Is that true or false? Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew that was false.

But why is that false? I want you to justify your answer.

Is it false because A, Nazi rule involved more war in Austria and the surrounding countries in Europe, or B, Nazi rule involved the persecution of political opponents and Jewish people? Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew the answer was B, Nazi rule involved the persecution of political opponents and Jewish people.

Okay, let's continue.

Hitler was soon agitating for further expansion into a German-speaking part of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland.

Have a look at the map.

It shows the Nazi annexation of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia.

Germany is coloured purple, Czechoslovakia orange, and the Sudetenland is the pink area along the borderlands of Czechoslovakia and Germany.

As with Austria, many German speakers were keen to join a German empire.

The British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, determined to maintain peace, flew to Munich in 1938 to negotiate with Hitler.

The photo shows Adolf Hitler and Neville Chamberlain in 1938, and we can see them holding discussions whilst it appears there is a large map on the table.

In return for the Sudetenland, Hitler agreed not to take any further territory from Germany's neighbours.

Chamberlain's policy became known as appeasement, bending to some of Hitler's demands in order to avoid war.

Okay, let's check your understanding.

What was Chamberlain's policy of appeasement? A, a military policy to rapidly expand territorial control over hostile nations.

B, a policy of bending to some of Hitler's demands in order to avoid a war.

C, an economic policy to improve a nation's domestic industry through war preparation.

Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew it was B, a policy of bending to some of Hitler's demands in order to try and avoid a war.

Chamberlain arrived back in Britain with the Munich Agreement declaring that he had returned from Germany with peace for our time.

Have a look at the photo on the left.

Chamberlain had just landed in England, greeted by a crowded airport runway.

He spoke to the world's press holding the Munich Agreement signed by both Hitler and himself and declared peace for our time.

However, Hitler took the Munich Agreement as a further sign that Britain was weak and would never fight.

Hitler now aimed to take the rest of Czechoslovakia.

The striped pink area on the map shows the extent of German expansion.

To some in Britain, including Churchill, it was becoming increasingly obvious that war was inevitable.

In an attempt to deter further German expansion, Chamberlain offered Poland a security guarantee.

Britain would go to war to defend Polish independence.

The blue arrow points to Poland on the map.

However, Hitler had his own ideas.

He had just concluded the Nazi-Soviet Pact.

Hitler made this pact with Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union.

Have a look at the photo.

It shows Molotov, the Soviet foreign minister on the left, and Ribbentrop, the German foreign minister, shaking hands in Moscow after agreeing to their pact.

Both powers had agreed not to engage in military action against each other and secretly, they had also agreed to carve up Poland between them.

True or false? After the Munich Agreement, Hitler did not expand beyond Sudetenland.

Is that true or false? Pause video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew that was false.

But why is that false? I want you to justify your answer.

Is it false because A, Hitler ignored the agreements and now aimed to invade Britain, or B, Hitler ignored the agreements and now aimed to take the rest of Czechoslovakia? Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew it was B, Hitler ignored the agreement and now aimed to take the rest of Czechoslovakia.

Okay, great, let's move on to task C.

What I want you to do here is starting with the earliest, sort these events into time order.

And you can see I've given you four events on the left-hand side, and I want you to put these into the correct time order in the boxes on the right.

Pause the video, have a go at the task and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

Let's check those answers.

So the first event was Winston Churchill argued for increased military spending, and this was as early as 1934.

And by 1936, Hitler ordered German soldiers to reoccupy the Rhineland.

And by 1938, Hitler annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia.

And finally, Chamberlain promised that Britain would defend Polish independence.

Okay, great, let's move on to the final part of the lesson, the invasion of Poland.

It was the last day of the holiday.

Niusia was 10 years old and she'd spent a hot and dry summer at her grandparents' cottage in a small village in west Poland near the border of Germany.

Niusia looked out across her garden lawn, which the blazing sun had turned a shade of brown.

She threw her polka dot ball high in the air and in the clear blue sky, she caught sight of an aeroplane.

The guttural roar of the engine shuddered the cottage windows.

Niusia assumed it was an aeroplane exercise, but then several more roared across the sky like angry hawks.

Niusia's grandpa said, "It's war." As dusk came, a rumble of thunder in the distance was punctuated with gunfire.

The distant explosions illuminated the sky red.

Suddenly a neighbour shouted, "There's a German soldier in the fields." What Niusia, her grandpa, and the villages of Poland couldn't have known was that Hitler had ordered one and a half million soldiers and over a thousand aircraft to invade Poland with the instructions to show no mercy to Polish men, women, and children.

On the 1st of September, 1939, German soldiers marched into Poland.

On the left is a photo of a 10-year-old Polish girl.

She's crouched over her older sister who is dead after being shot by a German aircraft.

Two days later, when Hitler refused to reverse his decision, the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was left with no choice but to declare war.

The Second World War had begun.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What did Niusia spot in the sky when she was playing in her grandparents' garden? Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

So hopefully you remembered that Niusia spotted multiple German aeroplanes in the sky, and at first she thought that they were doing a training exercise, but her grandfather realised it meant war was coming.

How many Nazi soldiers invaded Poland in 1939? Is it A, one and a half thousand soldiers, B, 100,000 soldiers, or C, one and a half million soldiers? Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew it was one and a half million soldiers.

Why did Britain declare war after the Nazi invasion of Poland? A, because Chamberlain had promised that Britain would go to war to defend Polish independence.

B, because Germany declared war on Britain first, and so they needed to retaliate.

C, because Poland and Britain were next to each other and all neighbouring countries have alliances.

Pause the video, have a think, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew it was A, because Chamberlain had promised that Britain would go to war to defend Polish independence.

Okay, great, let's move on to the final task, task D.

What I want you to do here is explain why Britain declared war against Germany in 1939.

And to help you to do that, I want you to include in your answer the following words, Reich, annexed, appeasement, and Poland.

So using all the knowledge from today's lesson and with those bullet points to help you, explain why Britain declared war against Germany in 1939.

Pause the video, have a go at the task and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

So there's many ways you could have written your answer, but do compare what you have with the example answer I have here.

So your answer may include the following.

Britain declared war against Germany in 1939 because Hitler was trying to build his Reich and so was colonising large areas of Europe.

By 1938, Nazi Germany had reoccupied the Rhineland, a demilitarised zone, and annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Britain was keen to avoid another world war, and so Chamberlain adopted a policy of appeasement.

However, some people like Winston Churchill had warned that Hitler would at some point need to be stopped.

In an attempt to deter further German expansion, Chamberlain promised that Britain would go to war to defend Polish independence.

On the 1st of September, 1939, Germany invaded Poland.

As a result of the promise Chamberlain made, two days later, Britain declared war in Germany.

Okay, great, let's summarise today's lesson, appeasement and the declaration of war.

Hitler believed that if Germany wished to thrive, it must be strong and colonise other nations and build a Reich.

Hitler ordered the reoccupation of the Rhineland, a demilitarised zone, and the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia.

The international community was divided as to what to do.

Germany had been harshly treated after the First World War and leaders wanted to avoid another war.

Britain adopted a policy of appeasement.

However, some people like Churchill warned Hitler needed to be stopped.

To stop further German expansion, Britain promised to defend Polish independence.

When Germany invaded Poland on the 1st of September, 1939, Britain declared war.

Okay, well done on a brilliant lesson, and thank you for joining me for the story of how the world was led into a Second World War.

I will see you next time when we continue our inquiry.

See you in the next lesson.