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Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany in January 1933. By August 1934, he had transformed Germany from being a democratic country with a parliament, into a dictatorship with only one political party, the Nazi party.
When Field Marshal Hindenburg died in 1934 he made himself both President and Chancellor using the title Fuhrer. Now he was in full charge of the Third Reich.
In his book 'Mein Kampf,' Hitler had written of his wish for a Greater Germany to provide 'lebensraum' (living space,) for all the Germans of Europe. This included all those Germans who now lived outside Germany because of the Treaty of Versailles.
To achieve his aims he had to overthrow this treaty. It was very unpopular with the Germans because they felt that it humiliated them and blamed them unfairly for WW1.
In 1934, Hitler had secretly started to build up Germany's armed forces which had been limited by the treaty. In 1935, he introduced conscription and in 1936 he re-occupied the Rhineland, both of which had been forbidden by the treaty.
In the following years he was encouraged by the lack of any military action from Britain or France who were following a policy of appeasement.
In March 1938, he occupied Austria (the Anschluss,) and then he demanded the return of the Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia where 2.5 million Germans lived. In Munich 1938, Hitler met with the British Prime Minister, Chamberlain and the French minister Daladier and they agreed to partition the country. Despite promises to the contrary, in March 1939, Hitler marched into other areas of Czechoslovakia and Britain and France at last realised the dangers.
Hitler now demanded the return of the Polish Corridor and Britain and France promised to guarantee Polish independence. In August, Hitler and Stalin signed a non - aggresion pact and the way was now clear for Hitler to invade Poland.
On September 1, 1939, Hitler's troops invaded Poland.
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