Historical Interpretations Flashcards
Intentionalist
The view that Individual are very important and drives history
Structuralist
The view that structures, systems and outside influence drives history.
What influenced Hitler’s foreign policy?
- Jews (engrained anti-semitic views)
- Prussian leaders ( Bismarck, Hindenburg and Hitler)
- ## Stab in the back theory.
Aryan Racial Theory( German history)
- Social Darwinism helped provide a more intellectual basis for these racial theories
- Theory of evolution and natural selection.
Aryan Racial Theory(Hitler)
- Nazis began to make alliances with racially acceptable countries, such as Britain.
- Hitler saw the Aryan race as superior to other races.
- Expansion began in the eastwards
Policies put in place for Racial belief/ events that took place.
- 1939 Nuremberg laws
- Kristallnacht, boy- cutting Jewish business.
- Propaganda (posters), blaming the Jews for war.
- Invasion of Poland ( to expand lebensraum).
- Scientific tests, to measure racial purity.
- Building, concentration camps, creating ghettos.
Glories of the past empires ( German history)
- The First Reich lasted for a thousand years by Charlemagne.
- Otto von Bismarck was the key driving force to the Unification of Germany in 1871.
- From 1897, the Empire pursued a policy called Weltpolitik.
Glories of the past empires (Hitler’s impact)
- He pursued Lebensraum.
- He carried on with the pursuit of Weltpolitik.
- Space should rightfully be allocated to people with superior cultures and forms.
- Nazi rally 1933 poster showing the faces of Frederick the Great, Bismarck, Hindenburg and Hitler.
Policies put in place For ‘Glories of the past Empires’/ events that happened as a result?
- Nazi Propaganda focused on the glory of these past Empires.
- Allies with Russia
- Pursuit of Weltpolitik.
The legacy of the First World War (German History)
- November Criminals ( signing the armistice)
- Germans were particularly united in the hatred of the Treaty of Versailles ( the feeling of Humiliation)
- German’s proud military was undermined, as the army reduced to 100,000 troops.
- The loss city of Danzig and the creation of Polish corridor were bitterly resented
because they cut off East Prussia from Germany.
As a result, 6.4 million Germans found themselves living out of German’s territory.
The legacy of the First World War (Hitler)
- Hitler wanted to reinstate the lost glory and build a Strong nation (re- armament).
- Hatred for the Country that led to the downfall of Germany in the First Word War.
- Stab in the back theory.
Policies put in place for ‘The Legacy of the First World War’ / Events that took place
- Alliance with Britain and Russia (Weltpolitik).
- Anglo- German naval agreements in 1935, which broke the Treaty of Versailles limitation on German navy.
- Re- occupation of the Rhineland.
- Para- military groups (military SS and SA)
Disarmament Conference 1933
reductions in armaments, with particular emphasis on offensive weapons. Germany, whose army and navy already were limited by the Treaty of Versailles, demanded that other states disarm to German levels and, in the event they refused to do so, claimed a right to build up its armed forces
League of Nations 1933
- the German government announced its withdrawal from the League of Nations. The ostensible reason was the refusal of the Western powers to acquiesce in Germany’s demands for military parity.
- Germany’s departure from the international organization was followed by its massive military build up, undertaken in violation of international agreements
June 1935 Naval Agreement
- was a naval agreement between the United Kingdom and Germany regulating the size of the Kriegsmarine in relation to the Royal Navy.
- However, it was controversial. it ultimately foundered because of conflicting expectations between the two countries
