Hitler's aims and the Saar vote

G2 Full History - syllabus K227, 2027

What this lesson teaches

  • I can explain how leaders, governments and the League took steps that led to World War II.

    Syllabus K227, War in Europe and the Asia-Pacific, Learning Outcomes. Explain the roles played by individuals and groups in developments leading to the outbreak of World War II.

Make a guess

In 1935 the Saar, an industrial region, returned to Germany. How do you think it happened?

  1. German troops marched in and took it by force.
  2. Its people voted to rejoin Germany, as the peace settlement planned.
  3. France sold it back to Germany to pay off its war debts.
Show the answer

Its people voted to rejoin Germany, as the peace settlement planned.

The Saar was under League control for 15 years, then held a plebiscite. Voters chose Germany in January 1935.

Hitler wanted to tear up Versailles and win land in the east; the Saar came back by an agreed vote, not by force.

Hitler had three main aims. He wanted to overturn Versailles. He wanted to bring German-speaking people under German rule. And he wanted more land and resources, especially in eastern Europe. The Nazis called this Lebensraum, or living space. It meant conquering and controlling land where other people already lived.

These were different aims. Changing a treaty limit, uniting German speakers and conquering neighbours are not the same thing. Rearmament gave Hitler force to back his demands, while promises of peace reassured other governments and reduced their resistance.

The Saar was an industrial region on Germany's western border. The peace settlement put it under League control for 15 years, then gave its people a vote on their future. This kind of vote is called a plebiscite. In January 1935, voters chose to return to Germany, and it was handed back in March.

The result boosted Hitler's prestige, or standing, and returned an industrial area to Germany. But it followed the procedure already agreed in the peace settlement. It was not an invasion. When explaining Hitler's gains, separate what he gained from how he gained it: a vote, a threat and an attack are different methods.

Lebensraum
Living space: Nazi aim to take land in the east.
Plebiscite
A public vote on a region's future.
January 1935
Saar votes to return to Germany.

Real examples to use

Saar plebiscite, 13 January 1935

About 90.8 per cent of voters chose to rejoin Germany and under 0.5 per cent chose France. The region returned on 1 March 1935.

What Germany gained

The Saar's coal mines came back to Germany, in return for a payment of 900 million francs to France.

Worked example: Two gains, two methods

The Saar returned in 1935; German troops entered the Rhineland in 1936.

  1. Saar: an agreed vote under the peace settlement.
  2. Rhineland: troops sent in, breaking the treaty.
  3. Both helped Hitler, but one was legal and one was not.

Watch out for this

The Saar's return was an early case of Germany taking land by force.

The Saar returned through a vote set up by the peace settlement.

Check your understanding

How did the Saar return to Germany?

  1. Through a vote agreed in the peace settlement.
  2. German troops invaded it in 1935 without a fight.
  3. France sold it to Germany to pay its war debts.
Show the answer

Through a vote agreed in the peace settlement.

Yes. It was legal, unlike later moves.

Sources and context

Background reading for this chapter.

  • A public commitment to consultation

    Anglo-German declaration signed by Hitler and Chamberlain, 30 September 1938, as read in Chamberlain's House of Commons statement on 3 October. Paraphrase of the declaration, not the whole speech.

  • Chamberlain defends Munich

    Neville Chamberlain, British prime minister, addressing the House of Commons, 3 October 1938, after returning from Munich. Paraphrase of passages on the agreement, Czechoslovakia, future peace and rearmament.

  • Churchill challenges the settlement

    Winston Churchill, Conservative MP and critic of the government's appeasement policy, speaking in the House of Commons, 5 October 1938. Paraphrase of passages on deterrence and Czechoslovakia.

  • A record of Hitler's private discussion

    Colonel Friedrich Hossbach's memorandum, dated 10 November 1937, recording Hitler's meeting with senior military and foreign-policy officials on 5 November. Paraphrase of the recorded discussion; the memorandum is not a word-for-word transcript.

  • Munich Pact, 29 September 1938, clauses 1-4

    Munich Pact, dated 29 September 1938 and signed by Germany, Britain, France and Italy in the early hours of 30 September. Paraphrase of clauses 1-4; Czechoslovakia was later represented on the implementation commission.

  • a cartoon about Munich, October 1938

    An original cartoon drawn for these notes in the style of a British newspaper cartoon by a critic of appeasement, published in early October 1938, days after the Munich Agreement. It is not a copy of a real cartoon.

  • Munich Pact, 29 September 1938, clauses 1-4

    Extract from the agreement signed at Munich by Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, dated 29 September 1938 and signed in the early hours of 30 September. Czechoslovakia was not represented at the conference. Text from the Avalon Project (English text as published by the British government).

  • Chamberlain in the House of Commons

    Extract from Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's statement in the House of Commons, 3 October 1938, opening the debate on the Munich Agreement. Hansard, House of Commons, 3 October 1938. Parliamentary copyright, reproduced under the Open Parliament Licence.

  • Churchill in the House of Commons

    Extract from Winston Churchill's speech in the House of Commons debate on the Munich Agreement, 5 October 1938. Churchill was a Conservative MP and the best-known critic of the government's policy. Hansard, House of Commons, 5 October 1938. Parliamentary copyright, reproduced under the Open Parliament Licence.

  • a record of Hitler's secret meeting

    Extract from the memorandum by Colonel Friedrich Hossbach, Hitler's military adjutant, of a secret meeting between Hitler and his foreign minister and military chiefs on 5 November 1937, dated 10 November 1937. It was written from memory, not as a word-for-word record, and was used as evidence at the Nuremberg trials. English translation from Documents on German Foreign Policy, published by the US State Department; text from the Avalon Project.

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