History Question? War?

Question

I'm usually really good at history, but we got a packet and I think I have an idea as to what the answers are but don't want to get them wrong. Can I have some other opinions?


1. Describe two examples of Allied appeasment of the facist actions during the 1930s.

2. Consider the US polocy of containment of communism after WW2. Prepare a list of actions and conflicts that the US initiated or participated in to contain communism.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

1.) (a.) The treaty of Versailles also specified the de-militarization of the entire area to provide a buffer between Germany on one side and France, Belgium and Luxembourg (and to a lesser extent, the Netherlands) on the other side, which meant, that no German forces were allowed there after the Allied forces had withdrawn. Furthermore (and quite unbearable from the German perspective) the treaty entitled the Allies to reoccupy the Rhineland at their will, if the Allies unilaterally found the German side responsible for any violation of the treaty.

In violation of the Treaty of Versailles and the spirit of the Locarno Pact, Nazi Germany remilitarized the Rhineland on Saturday, March 7, 1936. The occupation was done with very little military force, the troops entering on bicycles, and could easily have been stopped had it not been for the appeasement mentality of post-war Europe. France could not act due to political instability at the time. In addition, since the remilitarization occurred on a weekend, the British Government could not find out or discuss actions to be taken until the following Monday. As a result of this, the governments were inclined to see the remilitarisation as a fait accompli.

Hitler took a risk when he sent his troops to the Rhineland. He told them to 'turn back and not to resist' if they were stopped by the French Army. The French did not try to stop them because they were currently holding elections in their country and no president wanted to start a war with Germany.

The British government agreed with the act in principle, "The Germans are after all only going into their own back garden" Lord Lothian, but rejected the Nazi manner of accomplishing said act.Winston Churchill, however, advocated military action through cooperation by the British and the French.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhineland

1.) (b.) The Anschluss[1] (German: connection, or political union), also known as the Anschluss Österreichs, was the 1938 annexation of Austria into Greater Germany by the Nazi regime.

The events of March 12, 1938, marked the culmination of historical cross-national pressures to unify the German populations of Austria and Germany under one nation. However, the 1938 Anschluss, regardless of its popularity, was enacted by Germany. Earlier, Hitlerian Germany had provided support for the Austrian National Socialist Party (Austrian Nazi Party) in its bid to seize power from Austria's Austrofascist leadership. Fully devoted to remaining independent but amidst growing pressures, the chancellor of Austria, Kurt Schuschnigg, tried to hold a plebiscite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluss

or

The Munich Agreement and the first Vienna Award
After the Austrian Anschluss, Czechoslovakia was to become Hitler's next target. Hitler's strategy was to exploit the existing Sudeten German minority problem as a pretext for German penetration into eastern Central Europe (see Germans in Czechoslovakia, 1918–1938).

Sudeten German leader Konrad Henlein offered the Sudeten-German Party (SdP) as the agent for Hitler's campaign. Henlein met with Hitler in Berlin on March 28, 1938 and was instructed to raise demands unacceptable to the Czechoslovak government lead by president Edvard Beneš. In the Carlsbad Decrees, issued on April 24th 1938, the SdP demanded autonomy for the Sudetenland and freedom to profess Nazi ideology. If Henlein's demands were granted, the Sudetenland would be in a position to align itself with Nazi Germany. Partly as a result of the resulting ethnic unrest and Munich Agreement, in October 1938, Edvard Beneš resigned from office.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Czechoslovakia


2.) a.) The Truman Doctrine was an American foreign policy designed to contain Communism by giving Greece and Turkey economic aid. Gaining the support of the Republicans who controlled Congress, President Harry S Truman proclaimed the Doctrine on March 12, 1947. It stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent their falling into the Soviet sphere. The Doctrine shifted American foreign policy towards the Soviet Union from Détente to, as George F. Kennan phrased it, a policy of containment of Soviet expansion. It is often used by historians as the starting date of the Cold War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Doctrine

(b.) The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation[2] (NATO; French: Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord ("OTAN"); also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance, the Western Alliance, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium,[3] the organisation establishes a system of collective security whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atlantic_Treaty_Organization

(c.) NSC-68 or National Security Council Report 68 was a 58 page classified report issued April 14, 1950 during the presidency of Harry Truman. Written in the formative stages of the Cold War, it has become one of the classic historical documents of the Cold War. NSC-68 would shape government actions in the Cold War for the next 20 years and has subsequently been labeled its "blueprint." Truman officially signed NSC-68 on September 30, 1950. It would be declassified in 1977.
It calls for a military capable of:

Defending the Western Hemisphere and essential allied areas in order that their war-making capabilities can be developed;
Providing and protect a mobilization base while the offensive forces required for victory are being built up;
Conducting offensive operations to destroy vital elements of the Soviet war-making capacity, and to keep the enemy off balance until the full offensive strength of the United States and its allies can be brought to bear;
Defending and maintain the lines of communication and base areas necessary to the execution of the above tasks; and
Providing such aid to allies as is essential to the execution of their role in the above tasks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSC-68#Content_and_Meaning

Answer 2

1. I believe the European powers allowed Germany to take back the Sudentenland without firing a shot.
Nothing was done as Germany re-armed, in violation of the Versailles Treaty.
Munich accords

2. Berlin Airlift
Radio Free Europe
Formation of NATO
Bases where US troops were stationed
Yugoslavian revolt
Korea
Viet Nam