Hitler's foreign policy aims

Question 1

What were the key principles of Hitler’s foreign policy?

Answer 1

1) To acquire “Lebensraum”
2) To unite German-speaking people
3) To destroy the Treaty of Versailles
4) To defeat communism

Question 2

Why did Hitler want to acquire Lebensraum?

Answer 2

• The German population was growing. Hitler said that the German nation needed more Lebensraum (‘living space’). He was determined to get Lebensraum by conquering land in eastern Europe.
• This was connected with his racial beliefs that the Aryan race was “genetically superior” and destined to rule over others.
• Hitler believed he had the right to invade eastern Europe and make the Slav peoples (such as the Poles and the Russians) Germany’s slaves.

Question 3

Why did Hitler want to unite all German speaking people?

Answer 3

• Hitler believed that he should create a “Greater Germany” in which German-speaking peoples were united.
• A key part of this policy was schieving “Anschluss”, the uniting of Germany and Austria (which was specifically forbidden under the Versailles Treaty.

Question 4

Why did Hitler want to destroy the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 4

• The Germans hated the Treaty, especially: the depleted armed forces, the fact that the Saar was under League of Nations control, that the Rhineland was demilitarised, that Anschluss (union) with Austria was forbidden, that Germans were forced to live in Czechoslovakia (the Sudetenland) and Poland, that Danzig was under League of Nations control.
• The Treaty was a constant reminder to the Germans of their humiliation in World War I. Hitler did not accept that the German army had lost the war, and he was determined to make Germany great again.

Question 5

Why did Hitler want to defeat communism?

Answer 5

• Hitler claimed that communism was a major enemy of Germany, an enemy he often mentioned in “Mein Kampf”.
• During the trial for his involvement in the Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler claimed that his singular goal was to assist the German government in “fighting Marxism” (= communism).
• Soviet Russia was communist, following 1917 Revolution, British political leaders were also wary of communism in 1930s

Question 6

What was Lebensraum?

Answer 6

“All human culture, art, science, and technology that we see before us today, are almost exclusively the creative product of the Aryan race.
The pure Aryan Germans need more Lebensraum (living space) – this is their right and their destiny!
We will look east to our neighbours and to Communist Russia for this new land.”

Question 7

What was nazi Racial views?

Answer 7

• Hitler and the Nazi Party believed in a concept of so-called “racial purity”. He believed the pure Germanic people (or “Aryans”) were superior and should not mix with other races.
  He was worried that the ‘inferior’ Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe might outnumber and overwhelm the Germanic people if the Aryans did not gain more ‘living space’.
• Hitler therefore aimed to expand Germany’s borders to allow the Germanic race to multiply and spread.

Question 8

What did Hitler do when he became Fuhrer?

Answer 8

Hitler quickly started to move towards a ‘Greater Germany’, particularly once he became Fuhrer in 1934:
In 1935 the Saar became German again and, in 1936, German troops reoccupied the Rhineland. Unification with Austria was achieved in 1938.
In addition, Hitler also instigated a massive re-armament programme. Conscription was reintroduced in 1935 and industry was geared towards producing tanks, planes, ships and guns.
The British and French did nothing/little to stop this – this policy became known as appeasement.