Foreign policy – impact of Nazi ideology on German foreign policy to September 1939 Flashcards
Focus study
The Influence of pre-existing ideas on Hitler foreign policy
Hitlers ideas were not only reactions to events in 1918-1919 but were derived in large part from philosophies expounded in the previous century and government.
Racism and social Darwinism
Imperial conquests gave rose to pseudo-scientific attempts to legitimise racist colonial polices through social darwinism, a perversion of natural selection theory applied to the human race
Ernest Haeckel, placed caucasian at the top as the most civilised. Friederich Ratzel was a German philosopher who argued that a nation wasn’t defined but it’s borders, a nations geographic expansion was determined by it’s racial vivacity → clearly influenced hitler thoughts about the relationship between German nations and other inferior ‘races’
His view legitimise his plan to enslave non-aryan were not of his own creation
Joseph Arthur De Gobineau transformed the word ‘aryan’ from one previously used to denote indo-germanic peoples to a racial term
According to Fischer, mixing of races would cause the degeneration of the Europeans - strict separation of the races was required to ensure the superior Western culture endured
Hitler was given a copy of Fischer’s book while imprisoned
Not only trauma in WW1 lead Hitler towards racially motivated foreign policy-pseudo-scientific theories were discussion areas long before 1918 → created a social and political environment where they could gain acceptance
Anti-semitism
Were present in ‘civilised’ Western society before they guided Hitlers foreign policy
Discrimination and violent programs targeting Jewish communities had been a reality across Europe for 2,000 years
In the middle ages Jews were convenient scapegoats - blamed for black death → Judamsim was viewed as non religious identity that could be converted to Christianity but rather a negative racial characteristic
The Kaiser had written himself ‘jews and mosquitoes are a nuisance that humanity mist get rid of in some way or another. I believe maybe gas?
Anti-semitism
Were present in ‘civilised’ Western society before they guided Hitlers foreign policy
Discrimination and violent programs targeting Jewish communities had been a reality across Europe for 2,000 years
In the middle ages Jews were convenient scapegoats - blamed for black death → Judamsim was viewed as non religious identity that could be converted to Christianity but rather a negative racial characteristic
The Kaiser had written himself ‘jews and mosquitoes are a nuisance that humanity mist get rid of in some way or another. I believe maybe gas?
Importance of foreign policy
By 1935
Political opposition had been eliminated
Hitler was both head of state and head of government
The police state had become a reality
The threat from the SA had been eliminated
The German army had taken an oath of loyalty to hitler himself, who was now their commander-in-chief
The economy was recovering rapidly and a policy of rearmament had begun
Foreign policy was initiatives and decisions were made by Hitler himself
Shaped by his time in Vienna and, in particular, by the impact of war and Germany’s defeat and humiliation in 1918
Mein Kampf was in large the measure the policy sought to carry out in the 1930s
Policy of aggression was stated in the first page
At the heart of foreign policy was Hitler determination to restore germany to the position of a great power. Hitler believed it was his historic mission to save the German people from this fate
Both national and racial → involved the restoration of German national greatness at the expense of ‘inferior’ people
Believed Germany lost ware due to demoralisation → needed to recover inner unity the nation had to be purified and inspired
Hitler believed Germany lay in the vast land of Eastern Europe → aim to acquire eastern europe at the expense of the soviet union → Germany’s living space
Hitler saw the Slavs as inferior people incapable of creating civilian states of their own
Eastern Europe would ensure the survival of the of the herrenvolk (master race), which would subjugate slavs and other inferior races
Eastern Europe contained relatively weak nations, some of which came into being after WW1. One of them, Poland contained people and territory taken from germany in 1919. Three million Germans lived in the Sudetenland a religion of Czechoslovakia and there were Germans living in the Polish corridor. German speaking Austria. Hitlers concept of volk, sought to unite all Germans into a great Germany (Grossdeutschland)
Nazisim and foreign policy
Nazism foundation is violence → Hitlers polices made a European conflict inevitable
The struggle between nations and war was a necessity → man has become great through his perpetual struggle
He believed Germany had to regain it’s status as a world power and that dominant power in Europe. This required rearmament
Germany needed the restoration for its inner strength and a strong government that would carry out and a determined foreign policy
The restrictions of the treaty of versailles had to be eliminated
Hilter believed in the idea of the Volk and that all Germans had been cut off from Germany and lived in other European nations had to be brought back as part of a greater Germany
Germany was not interested in creating an overseas empire of colonies
Germany’s destiny was to acquire territory in Eastern Europe to carve out living space (lebensraum) for the German people
This new territory had to be won in the states of Eastern Europe at the expense of Russia, which, Hitler believed, was weakened and ready for destruction because of the Jews and communism. German foreign policy also saw the need to destroy communism in Europe
1936 remilitarisation of the Rhineland
1919 demilitarisation meant to avoid French fears of invasion. Hitler order his troops into the Rhineland (most risky move) if France responds the troops will withdraw.
- France Britain only protest
- Germany position is strengthened
- Proves hitlers military genius
Axis agreement - Rome and Berlin announce the creation of Rome-Berlin-Axis
Anti-comintern pact - Germany and Japan sign the anti-comintern pact which is aimed at the soviet union
1938 - Anschluss and Munich conference
Anschluss - The counsellor called a plebiscite into the Austrian independence
- Hitler sends troops into Austria to “restore order”
- Anschluss is quickly achieved
- Britain and France follow no action and Hitler demands the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia or he will start a European war - contains 3 million ethic germans and vital resources
- Munich conference attended by Britain, France, Italy, and France
- Hitler is given the Sudetenland
1939 German invasion of Czechoslovakia
Germany invades the rest of Czechoslovakia
- Hitler has ripped up the Munich agreement
- Britain’s policy of appeasement is over
- Hitler now demands to Poland that it:
- Return Danzig
- allows construction for a road across the Polish corridor which separates east Prussia from Germany
- Britain offered a guarantee to Poland that if it is invaded it will be supported
- Hitler invaded anyway
Rome berlin axis and anti-comintern
Mussonli invasion of Abyssinian destroyed the Franco-Italian friendship
October 1936: Mussonli signed October protocols with Hitler, which he called the rome berlin axis
November 1936: Germany and Japan signed the comintern pact and Italy joined in 1937
