Why didn't the allies stop Hitler when he violated the terms & conditions of the Treaty of Versailles? Why did they let Germany annex Austria and key parts of Czechoslovakia?
France didn't mind being a bully, and taking over Germany's industrial sector (the Ruhr), by using the treaty of Versailles to justify strangling the German economy. "The Ruhr was the industrial heart of Germany; To cut off these resources from the rest of Germany, as the French proceeded to do, was to bring the economic ife of the whole country to a standstill" (Remak 90). As long as the Germans were willing to submit to the harsh conditions of the treaty, the French were going to take full advantage of it. But when push came to shove, and Hitler stood up to France and her allies at The Disarmament Treaty in 1933, they backed down. France proved they didn't have the stomach to enforce the terms of the treaty. "In March 1935, Hitler declared that Germany was no longer bound by the Versailles strictures regarding its military ...but none of the signatories—first and foremost France—did anything" (Hoerle, Lec. 10).
On top of that, in "the following month Britain went on to negotiate an agreement that would allow Germany to build a navy up to 35% of the size of the British navy" (Hoerle, Lec. 10). France saw as a traitorous move but they were unwilling to take on Germany themselves. It was clear from these reactions that the countries involved in the Treaty did not see Germany's re-armament as a real threat (at that point in time) and they were unwilling to get involved in another war after suffering so many casualties of their own during World War I. It wasn't worth the trouble.
Hitler was allowed to annex Austria because no other European country was willing to join Austria in her fight to stay independent from Germany. "Believing that Austria was not worth a war, Britain and France informed the unfortunate chancellor [Schuschnigg] that they would not help in the event of a German invasion. Schuschnigg then resigned, and Austrian Nazis began to take control of the government. Under the cover of 'preventing violence,' Hitler ordered his troops into Austria" (Hoerle, Lec. 10). So the allies turned their backs on Austria. They weren't worth fighting for.
Hitler was allowed to re-claim parts of Czechoslovakia, because the ethnic German people living there (the Sudeten Germans) did not want to be part of a minority in a Slavic country, where they were being subjected to discrimination. The Czech army might have moved against Hitler with some backing, but "British officials believed that the Sudeten Germans were, indeed, a suppressed minority entitled to self-determination... Sudetenland...was not worth a war...[so] they decided to negotiate and convinced the French to do the same" at the Munich conference in 1938. The Czechs just let it go.
In short, the allies did nothing to stop Germany for a couple of key reasons. One, was they figured she was beaten and no real threat anymore. For instance, Britain thought it would take many years for Germany to build up their navy, even to the 35% limit. Secondly, the allies also saw German people wanting to unite with other ethnic German people (Sudetenland and Austria) as "not their problem." It was just a "German" issue and not worth France or Great Britain, or anyone else risking their own people or finances to resolve. No one thought it was worth the trouble.
There was really no way they could have imagined the scope of Hitler's plans at that point, but they also made a conscious choice not to come to the aid of the Austrian chancellor, and that was a weak move.
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