Hitler's Foreign Policy and the Origins of WWII

Hitler's Foreign Policy and the Origins of WWII

1. Hitler's aims in Foreign Policy

   • Make Germany into Great Power
   • Unite all German Speaking people under his rule
   • Gain Lebensraum in East for German people
   • Achieving Aims
     • Necessary to destroy TOV
       • Change Territorial Settlement by regaining lands inhabited by German people that had been taken e.g Saar and Danzig
       • Bring the 7 million German speaking in Austria and the 4 million in Czechoslovakia and Poland into his empire
         • Involved destroying the peace settlement of 1919
       • Build up German army so he was supported by force
       • Expand in the east, probably against communist USSR
         • Hitler hated Communism
         • Aim for the future when TOV had been overturned and German was in great power in Europe
   • 1st stage was the strengthen lands in Europe
     • Could not be done alone so Hitler felt that the main enemies of Germany- France and USSR- had to be enemies of Britain and Italy who they were already allied with

2. German Rearmament

   • Germany allowed to join League of Nations in 1926
     • One aim was to maintain peace by reducing arms of all countries
       • Little success by 1932 when the Disarmament Conference began
         • German allowed to attend
           • Hitler withdrew from the Conference and LEN
             • He insisted that Germany wanted peace and would disarm if other countries did
               • 1935- Germany began to rearm
                 • 1935 Conscription in Germany
                   • Hitler's excuse was that France had increased its term of conscription from 12 to 18 months meaning the number of trained soldiers would increase
                 • Against TOV
                   • Why didn't France and Britain react?
                     • Only opposition was the short- lived Stresa Front to protest against conscription in German
                     • Soviet Russia joined the LON- afraid of Germany
                     • Many in Britain felt the TOV was unfair and unjust
                       • Differences between France and Britain
                         • Hitler took advantage to further his aims in foreign policy
                           • He often threatened to use force to achieve his aims
                             • But whenever he went against the TOV he followed it with peaceful promises
                               • Britain payed more attention to the peaceful acts than the reversal of TOV
                     • France felt TOV needed to be strengthened
                     • Could they invade Germany?
                       • Tried in 1923 when they occupied the Ruhr because Germany had fallen behind on reparation payments
                         • Failed
         • France wouldn't disarm because of fears that German would invade again

3. 10 year non aggression pact

   • 1934
     • Hitler signed with Poland
       • Guaranteed the boundaries of Poland
         • Satisfied the Poles that Hitler would not try to take the Polish Corridor
         • Pleased Britain who saw it as further proof that Hitler's aims were peaceful
           • Germany had accepted the frontier with Poland set up in TOV

4. Failed Anschluss

   • 1934
     • Hitler suffered knockback to his aims
       • He encouraged the Austrian Nazi Party to rebel
         • Resulted in murder of Austrian Chancellor, Dollfuss
           • Looked as if Anschluss would be achieved
             • But prevented by Mussolini moving his army to the frontier of Austria and guaranteeing Austrian independance
               • Hitler realised his army was not strong enough so he backed down and denied involvement with the Austrian Nazi Party!

5. Anglo- German Naval Agreement

   • More successful for Hitler
     • 1935
       • Hitler's willingness to sign was further proof to Britain of his peaceful intentions
         • TOV limited the Germany navy to 35% of British fleet excluding submarines
           • By signing, Britain were agreeing to Germany rearming
             • Britain now felt it was important to limit the size of the German navy
               • Success for Hitler because the agreement weakened the Stresa Front as Britain had not consulted France and Italy
                 • Led to Germany proceeding with rearmament without opposition
                   • 1938
                     • German Army had 800,000
                     • Navy- 47 Submarines and 2,000 aircrafts

6. Return of the Saar

   • January 1935
     • Plebiscite was held in the Saar to decide whether
       • Remained under control of LON
         • 8%
       • Returned to German control
         • 90%
           • Nazi propaganda took advantage
             • Published as being a removal of an injustice of the TOV
               • Hitler announced to the world that all cause of grievance between France and Germany had now been removed
                 • Return of the Saar was legal
                   • TOV said after 15 years a plebiscite was to be held
       • Join France
         • 2%

7. Remilitarisation of the Rhineland

   • Events
     • 7th March 1936
       • German soldiers marched into the Rhineland
         • Against TOV and Locarno Pact
           • The German Government had willingly signed in 1925
         • Followed with promising that Germany would sign a 25 year non aggression pact and had no further territorial ambitions in Europe
           • France, Britain and LON should have acted against this
             • All that happened was that German action was condemned by the League
               • When the vote was held, only Soviet Russia voted in favour of imposing sanctions on Germany
             • Hitler had chosen the right moment
               • Britain and France were more concerned about Mussolini
                 • He had invaded Abyssinia
                   • French government were divided and didn't want to react without the help of Britain
                     • Britain didn't think Hitler was doing anything wrong
                       • The TOV was unjust and so Hitler had a right to take back his own territory
                         • Unlike Mussolini who was invading another country
                           • No-one wanted war
                           • Took more notice of the promise that followed
                             • End of March 1936, Hitler held a vote in Germany on his policies
                               • 99% in favour of them
                     • Hitler could have been stopped!
                       • He sent his soldiers against the advice of his generals who said the army were not strong enough
                         • He also went against the advice of his financial ministers who feared the effect that economic sanctions could have on Germany
                           • Hitler dismissed all of this advice
                             • He judged foreign reactions perfectly
                               • Germany could have been stopped but there was no support for opposition
                           • Sanctions would have crippled Germany
                         • When the soldiers were sent the generals ordered that if there was any opposition against them from the french they were to immediately withdraw
                         • French army were much stronger than that of Germany in 1936

8. Anschluss with Austria

   • Union of Germany and Austria
     • Forbidden by TOV
   • Hitler was born in the boundaries of Austria and said in his book, "Mein Kampf" that he felt the rightful place of Austria was in union with Germany.
   • In 1934 the Austrian Nazis, encouraged by Hitler, had tried to seize power after the murder of Dollfuss
     • This had been prevented by Mussolini who had previously been prepared to give support to Austria
       • 1938
         • Situation had changed
           • Mussolini was not allied with Germany and occupied in the Spanish Civil War
             • He was unlikely to give help to Austria
               • Hitler wanted to unite all German speaking people
                 • Austrians were German speaking
   • Nazi Party remained strong in Austria in 1938
     • There were rumours of another Nazi plot to overthrow the Austrian government
       • Schuschnigg, the Austrian Chancellor, appealed to Hitler for help to end the plotting
         • Hitler refused
           • Instead of helping he put pressure on Schuschnigg and forced him to appoint Seyss- Inquart
             • Leader of the Nazi Party in Austria
               • This was followed by riots and demonstrations by the Nazis in Austria
                 • In spite of his position, Seyss Inquart supported the demonstrations and did nothing to stop them
                   • Schuschnigg, however, made a bold move the end them and save the independence of Austria
                     • He called a plebiscite on whether the Austrian people wanted to remain independent or not
                       • Alarmed Hitler
                         • Hitler wasn't prepared to take the risk!
                           • It was clear that Schuschnigg had defied Hitler by calling the plebiscite without asking his permission
                             • He could not afford anything other than an overwhelming vote in favour of unification with Germany
                               • To make this certain Hitler moved German troops to the border
                                 • He forced Schuschnigg to call off the plebiscite and resign from the office
                                   • Schuschnigg was probably expecting Britain and France to give assistance to Austria
                                     • When it was clear this wouldn't happen, Schuschnigg resigned to avoid blood shed
                                       • Seyss- Inquart replaced
                                         • He invited the Germans into Austria to restore order
                                           • German army entered on 12th March
                                             • 1st- Opponents of Hitler were removed
                                               • Around 80,000 were rounded up and put in concentration camps
                                                 • Power was handed to Hitler and Anschluss was proclaimed
                                                   • 14th March
                                                     • Hitler processed in triumph through Vienna
                                                       • Followed by plebiscite in April
                                                         • 99.75% of voters agreed with Anschluss
                                                           • Hitler could now claim he was only fulfilling the idea of self determination expressed in Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points
                                                             • Britain and France protested
                                                               • LON was not consulted
                                                                 • Anschluss was against the TOV but Britain had sympathy for Germany because the Austrians were German speaking and traditionally German
                                                                   • British government feared communism in the USSR more than it did Nazism
                                                                     • Britain welcomed a strong Germany because it saw it a a barrier to the USSR and communism
                                                                       • Hitler's anti communist views strengthened this
                       • Many Austrians favoured Anschluss because they felt that the Austrian economy was too weak to remain independent