Hitler's ideology and planning

Question 1

what showed that Hitler wanted a sense of continuity from the Kaiser’s WW1 government?

Answer 1

a lot of the foreign ministry were allowed to keep their jobs once the Nazis took control

Question 2

Hitler’s ideologies

Answer 2

• to overturn the TofV
• the Third Reich should be a great power
• the need for lebensraum
• dealing with the threat of Jews and Bolshevism

Question 3

how did the need to overturn the TofV affect Nazi FP?

Answer 3

Hitler needed to rearm in order to take back land lost in the TofV
therefore an expansionist FP is the only way to reclaim the lost land

Question 4

what was Hitler’s view on colonies?

Answer 4

he wanted an established Reich in Europe before he focussed on colonies

Question 5

how did the need to establish the Third Reich as a great power affect Nazi FP?

Answer 5

Hitler took on an expansionist policy which aimed to create a large Empire in Europe
this was to be done through war and alliances
similar to the Kaiser’s government but without the racial ideology implemented

Question 6

how did the need for lebensraum affect Nazi FP?

Answer 6

Hitler believed lebensraum was needed to be both a great nation as well as to meet the demands of the German people

he saw lebensraum as important for the German economy as Germany lacked raw materials

similar to Kaiser’s government with the need to expand so important in his weltpolitik
BUT
Kaiser focussed on colonies
Hitler also implemented racial ideology into government policy, something the Kaiser never did

Question 7

was the need for lebensraum continuity?

Answer 7

similar to Kaiser’s government with the need to expand so important in his weltpolitik
BUT
Kaiser focussed on colonies

Hitler also implemented racial ideology into government policy, something the Kaiser never did

different to Weimar

Question 8

was the need to establish the Third Reich as a great power continuity?

Answer 8

similar to the Kaiser’s government but without the racial ideology implemented

different to Weimar

Question 9

was the need to overturn the TofV continuity?

Answer 9

the Kaiser of course had no opinion on the TofV as it did not exist

the Weimar govt held a very similar stance with the TofV
- secret rearmament was allowed
- Stresemann’s work was largely to deal with the TofV
BUT
the need to return to 1914 levels was important for the Weimar govt
INSTEAD
Hitler wanted to expand further beyond pre-war borders

Question 10

how did the need to deal with the threat of world Jewry and Bolshevism affect Nazi FP?

Answer 10

Hitler maintained his hate for Jews and believed that Nazi FP should reflect the need to purge the Jews

he was also anti-Communist so he looked eastwards to deal with the communist threat through an expansionist policy

Question 11

was the need to deal with Jewry and Bolshevism continuity?

Answer 11

NO
this was completely new for the Nazis

neither the Kaiser or the Weimar Republic sought the same aim in their foreign policy

Question 12

what were Hitler’s intentions with his early FP?

Answer 12

wanted to make Germany seem like it wanted peace
allow Germany to rearm in time
THEN
pursue conquest for expansion

Question 13

what does continuity suggest in terms of an interpretation?

Answer 13

a structuralist argument
Hitler being a system-maker

Question 14

how did Hitler signing the Rome-Berlin axis show Hitler driving Nazi foreign policy?

Answer 14

he faced major opposition from the Nazi Party who saw the treaty to be preventing Nazi ambitions in occupying South-Tyrol

Hitler instead pushed the alliance through as he saw it as more important, at the time, than overturning the TofV and achieving lebensraum

Question 15

what were the main features of Nazi FP?

Answer 15

• overturning the TofV
• strategic alliances
• expansion
• germanisation

Question 16

how did Nazi FP hope to deal with the TofV?

Answer 16

either through military force or by influencing other nations to promote Nazi sympathisers (Austria and Danzig)

Question 17

why did Nazi FP hope to form strategic alliances?

Answer 17

to prevent an ant-German power block from forming

Hitler did not want to fight a war on two fronts

Question 18

how did Nazi FP push for expansion?

Answer 18

through the use of military force or by forming alliances and spreading Nazi influenc

Question 19

how did Nazi FP push for germanisation?

Answer 19

by spreading key Nazi racial ideas and the need to remove ‘undesirables’ in German-controlled lands

Question 20

how is Hitler perceived by historians?

Answer 20

a step-by-step planner
SO INTENTIONALIST

OR

an opportunist
SO STRUCTURALIST

Question 21

what can be used to support/criticise the concept of Hitler having a master plan?

Answer 21

• Hitler had retained most of the Foreign Office when he came to power
• Hitler’s expressions in Mein Kampf and the speeches and meetings he held

Question 22

Hitler had retained most of the Foreign Office when he came to power

SUPPORT concept of master plan

Answer 22

shows that he had a long-term plan in mind

Hitler wanted strong military strength

a show of continuity would appease the members of the German Army as well as the German people

Question 23

Hitler had retained most of the Foreign Office when he came to power

CRITICISE concept of master plan

Answer 23

shows that Hitler did not look to interfere or impose a plan

he wanted to CONTINUE the work done under the Kaiser’s govt

Question 24

Hitler’s expressions in Mein Kampf and the speeches and meetings he held

SUPPORT concept of master plan

Answer 24

shows that there was planning from an early age

matched Hitler’s aims of overturning the TofV and establishing lebensraum

Question 25

Hitler’s expressions in Mein Kampf and the speeches and meetings he held

CRITICISE concept of master plan

Answer 25

suggestions of eastward expansion were more broad aims instead of concrete plans

these suggestions were made at a time where Hitler was either in no power at all or was trying to appease to the German people

does not suggest concrete planning

Question 26

how can Hitler be seen to have intended for a war?

Answer 26

the large-scale rearmament which he pursued in defiance of the TofV

the switch to a command economy in 1936 suggested an economy geared towards a war (appointment of Goring) and the Second Four-Year-Plan

implementation of Blitzkrieg

Question 27

how did the Second Four-Year-Plan suggest intention?

Answer 27

appointment of Goring as man in charge of economy

switch to war economy being masterminded by Hitler

a timeframe set up in order for both the military and the economy to be prepared for war by 1940

Question 28

what showed that Hitler hoped to avoid war with France and Britain?

Answer 28

Blitzkrieg suggested a tactic of quick rapid action warfare
NOT a long war which would occur if France and Britain joined the war

Question 29

how did Hitler breaking his Munich promise by invading Czechoslovakia show taking advantage of situations?

Answer 29

he had took advantage of disputes over Czechoslovakia and invaded them

Question 30

three points suggesting Hitler intended for war

Answer 30

rearmament

switch to a command economy

the need for expansion without diplomacy

Question 31

why had Hitler not expected military intervention over his claim over the Sudetenland?

Answer 31

there was no intervention when Anschluss and the remilitarisation of the Rheinland occurred

suggests he was an opportunist

Question 32

how did social darwinism reflect Hitler’s FP?

Answer 32

he believed that life was the survival of the fittest

and he believed the Aryan race to be the most fit and superior race in the world

Question 33

what did Hitler call the Aryan race?

Answer 33

the Herrenvolk

(master race)

Question 34

what task did Hitler believe was held by the Aryan race?

Answer 34

he believed that it was their task to remain pure and dominate the inferior races

Question 35

who was at the lower end of Hitler’s racial pyramid?

Answer 35

slavs
gypsies
blacks
JEWS

Question 36

what was significant of Hitler’s hatred of Jews and Slavs and how did this reflect in his FP?

Answer 36

the Jews and Slavs were to be found mainly in Eastern Europe

Hitler’s primary plan to expand eastwards can therefore be linked to achieving the expansion and dominance of the Aryan race

Question 37

important quote from Mein Kampf on German world dominance

Answer 37

Germany will either become a World Power or will not continue to exist at all

Question 38

what shows Nazism was perhaps a continuation of other influences?

Answer 38

the work of the composer Richard Wagner

the work of other right-wing organisations like the Pan-German League

Europe was seeing a rise in Nationalism - Italy and Mussolini