Editing Axis powers (section)

====History====

At the end of World War I, German citizens felt that their country had been humiliated as a result of the [[Treaty of Versailles]], which included a [[Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles|war guilt clause]] and forced Germany to pay enormous reparations payments and forfeit territories formerly controlled by the German Empire and all its colonies. The pressure of the reparations on the German economy led to [[Inflation in the Weimar Republic|hyperinflation during the early 1920s]]. In 1923 [[Occupation of the Ruhr|the French occupied the Ruhr region]] when Germany defaulted on its reparations payments. Although Germany began to improve economically in the mid-1920s, the [[Great Depression]] created more economic hardship and a rise in political forces that advocated radical solutions to Germany's woes. The Nazis, under Hitler, promoted the nationalist [[stab-in-the-back legend]] stating that Germany had been betrayed by Jews and Communists. The party promised to rebuild Germany as a major power and create a [[German question#Later influence|Greater Germany]] that would include [[Alsace-Lorraine]], Austria, [[Sudetenland]], and other German-populated territories in Europe. The Nazis also aimed to occupy and colonize non-German territories in Poland, the [[Baltic states]], and the Soviet Union, as part of the Nazi policy of seeking ''[[Lebensraum]]'' ("living space") in [[Central and Eastern Europe]].

Germany renounced the Versailles treaty and [[remilitarization of the Rhineland|remilitarized the Rhineland]] in March 1936. Germany had already resumed conscription and announced the existence of a German air force, the [[Luftwaffe]], and naval force, the [[Kriegsmarine]] in 1935. Germany [[Anschluss|annexed Austria in 1938]], the [[German occupation of Czechoslovakia|Sudetenland]] from Czechoslovakia, and the [[Memel territory]] from [[Lithuania]] in 1939. Germany then invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia in 1939, creating the [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] and the country of [[Slovakia]].

On 23 August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]], which contained a secret protocol dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence.{{sfn|Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|1939}} Germany's invasion of its part of Poland under the Pact eight days later{{sfn|Roberts|2006|p=82}} triggered the beginning of World War II. By the end of 1941, Germany occupied a large part of Europe and [[Wehrmacht|its military forces]] were fighting the Soviet Union, nearly capturing Moscow. However, crushing defeats at the [[Battle of Stalingrad]] and the [[Battle of Kursk]] devastated the German armed forces. This, combined with Western Allied [[Normandy Landings|landings in France]] and [[Allied invasion of Sicily|Italy]], led to a three-front war that depleted Germany's armed forces and resulted in Germany's defeat in 1945.