Nazi: Foreign Policy

Question 1

What were Hitlers main aims

Answer 1

1. Lebensraum
2. Overturning treaty of Versailles
3. Union of all German speaking people

Question 2

Lebensraum

Answer 2

Living space, idea of getting territory in Eastern Europe especially

Question 3

What happened in 1935 in Saarland

Answer 3

A plebiscite was held, with over 90% of people voting in favour of rejoining Germany. Seen as very big triumph.

Question 4

How did Hitler start to try to overturn the Treaty of Versailles in 1935

Answer 4

March 1935 - announces Germany military force and week after announces starting conscription to build army of 750,000. Allies did nothing but denounce the Germans

Jun 1935 - naval agreement with Britain limiting navy to 35% of Britain’s. Also have bilateral agreement that breaks stresa front against Germany, in order to lead to broader agreement with Britain.

Question 5

Demilitarisation of Rhineland

Answer 5

In march 1936, 20,000 soldiers went into the Rhineland, after Hitler rejected advice from his generals and gambling on the fact of 0 French military response. The troops entered unchallenged, emboldening Hitler

Question 6

Anti-Comintern pact

Answer 6

Led to alliances with japan and italy, therefore strengthens their opposition to the allies. He also increased military assistance to Franco in Spanish civil war, allowing him to gain military experience, economic concessions and closer links to Mussolini.

Question 7

How did the ‘Hossback meeting’ further oppose the treaty of Versailles

Answer 7

In 1937, Hitler told his generals to prepare and increase rearmament for a major war in the mid 1940’s.

Question 8

How did Hitler annexe Austria and how did it contribute to Lebensraum

Answer 8

He encouraged Nazi pressure in Austria. Chancellor Schuschnigg is bullied into accepting Nazi ministers o his visit to Berlin and tries to call a plebiscite on Anschluss. Hitlers pressure caused it to be postponed, with Germany army invasion being well received. They then annexed Austria

Question 9

Sudetenland handover (1938)

Answer 9

Chamberlain had met with Hitler over transfer of Sudetenland to Germany. Hitler insisted on immediate transfer, and at a Munich conference, it was given on the 10th October.

Question 10

Pact of steel

Answer 10

Signed in may 1939, it was a pact with italy. Military support was to be provided if either one went to war.

Question 11

Why did Hitler want the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia

Answer 11

It was the richest part of Czechoslovakia, and contained:

• coal/copper mines
• power stations
• good farming lab
• Skoda arm works, biggest in Europe
• countries most important area of defence
• 3 million people there spoke German

Question 12

How far had the Kaiser, and Weimar attitudes to Versailles, influenced Nazi foreign policy

Answer 12

Kaiser - had no real opinion on the treaty
Weimar - ‘revisionist’ government who wanted to overturn it and return back to 1914 Germany, including the lost colonies in Africa

Nazi - also wished for overturning of the treaty. He would (theoretically) achieve this through rearming, regaining lost land, Rhineland reoccupation and not paying reparations. But he had little thought of returning back to a 1914 German-like state.

Question 13

How far had the Kaiser, and Weimar, attitudes to World power influenced Nazi foreign policy

Answer 13

Kaiser - wanted to extend their power, and saw war as way of doing so. But unlike Hitler, didn’t care of the ethnicity of his Allies
Weimar - never openly discussed expansion beyond borders in 1914

Nazi - had ‘expansionist’ policy to create a large German empire through alliances. Wanted acceptably ethnic alliances, but wasn’t opposed to other short-term ones in order for germany to benefit

Question 14

How far had the Kaisers attitudes to Lebensraum influence Nazi foreign policy

Answer 14

Kaiser - like Hitler, had ideas about expansion and the direction of it. However he also wanted to aquifer large number of colonies

Nazi - Hitler had a belief that Germany lacked raw materials and farmland so ‘living-space’ was ‘much needed’ as they looked east for it. Looked towards the Slavic/German speaking populations.

Question 15

How had racial polices differed from previous governments

Answer 15

While ideas about race may have been shared before in other governments, it was never before implemented into their policy like it had with the nazis.

Question 16

Who could not join the third Reich

Answer 16

• ideological opponents: communists, socialists, free-masons, confessing church etc
• asocial - LGBT, criminals, prostitutes etc
• biologically inferiors - Jews, non-white people, disabled

Question 17

What measures did the nazis take to implement the Nazi racial theory

Answer 17

Devised series of ‘scientific’ test measuring racial purity. They tested things such as eye and hair colour, shape and size of noses etc.

Question 18

How many Jewish grandparents did you need to be classified as Jew

Answer 18

3/4 Jewish grandparents

Question 19

How did harking back to previous governments help the Nazi cause, and how did they do this

Answer 19

They were seen as having credibility, appealing to Germans who indulged in historical political parties. They would be able to stress ‘continuity’ and restoring Germany back to power.

Utilised propaganda, eg. Postcards were sold with faces of Fredrick the Great ( Prussian ruler ), Bismark, Hindenburg and Hitler all facing the same way, creating sense of unification and continuity from past great rulers

Question 20

Why was the Nazi-Soviet pact signed

Answer 20

In response to Anglo-French guarantee of Poland and attempts to make agreement with USSR, it was signed by Ribbentroop.

Question 21

What was the nazi-soviet pact

Answer 21

10 year non-aggression pact, with secret carving up of Poland and the Baltic states

Question 22

How did views towards Jewish threat shape his policy

Answer 22

Hitler regularly repeated his conviction of a worldwide conspiracy of Jews to control governments which would, sooner or later, have to be stopped. He felt that there was a definite Jewish strategy to stir up anti-German feeling in other countries, especially the USA and Britain.

Question 23

How did views towards Bolshevik threat shape his policy

Answer 23

Hitler was anti-communist and often saw the Jews and communists as being in league with each other.

His opposition to these groups, added to his notion of lebensraum, led to a conviction that Germany would have to go to war in Eastern Europe at the very least, to take land and to defeat communism. But, his concern was to delay war for as long as possible, to rearm and make useful alliances to prevent attacks.

Question 24

How do some historians argue Hitler drove foreign policy a

Answer 24

Nazis certainly tried to argue with Hitler on policy, but policy followed Hitler’s ideology as closely as possible.

Eg. Hitler had asked different Party members for advice, but in the end he made his own decisions, and they often went against the requested advice.

For example, Hitler faced opposition in his party, over desire for alliance with Italy as it meant not trying to occupy parts of the Tyrol area which had a significant German-speaking population. But, Hitler pushed through the alliance, despite objections, because for him the alliance was more important than the policies of overturning the Treaty of Versailles.