Why did Germany invade the Sudetenland?
1 Answer
It reflected Hitler's expansionist policy.
Explanation:
The Sudetenland lying in Western Czechoslovakia, was occupied largely by ethnic Germans. Hitler had already re-occupied the Rhineland and absorbed Austria into a greater German Reich.
He saw the occupation of the Sudetenland as a logical extension of re-balancing the ignominy of the Treaty of Versailles which was seen by Hitler as an outrage against Germany.
It was also part of his strategy to expand east so as to create Lebensraum or living space for Germans. Hitler was disappointed at the Munich Peace Agreement which gave him the Sudetenland because it denied him the war he wanted.
However shortly after he occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia and then invade Poland which led to the beginning of World War 2.
