nazi foreign policy Flashcards
to bag the A*
How was Hitler’s Aryan racial theory a motivation behind WW2?
- saw Aryans as superior to all other races
- Pan-Germanism: all German speakers should be united into one country + clear it of ‘impurity’
- lebensraum
Evidence to support that Aryan Racial theory was a driving factor
- 1935 Nuremberg laws: created categories of Jewishness including ‘mischling’, banned from shops, star of David cross all show he was acting on his theory and war was part of this
- blitzkrieg tactics: powered through the enemy, ruthless tactic which shows he wanted to clear the land and people for lebensraum
- Operation Barbarossa 1941- wanted to destroy ‘judeo-bolshevism’
How was the 3rd Reich a factor in Hitler’s desire for war?
- wanted to return Germany to its rightful power
- 1st Reich= HRe 800-1806
- 2nd Reich= German Empire founded 1871, Otto Van Bismark who carefully created alliances (Hitler employed a similar tactic)
- returning back to the old power gave him credibility- as seen through the propaganda he implemented
Evidence to support the 3rd Reich as being a motivating factor (alliances + propaganda stats)
Evidence of the initial peaceful alliance: Rome-Berlin axis 1936, Molotov-Ribbentrop 1939)
Use of propaganda: featured Fredrick the Great and Bismark
How did the terms of the ToV play a role in driving Hitler to war?
- France pushed for the greatest reparations, Britain were fearful of resentment and Wilson pushed for a reasonable treaty
- lost land: Brest-Litovsk, Upper Silesia, Lorraine, Danzig, Polish corridor (cut of Germany from East Prussia)
- told to disarm (could only have 100,000 troops)
- X enter the Rhineland
- 123 million gold marks in reparations, 1921
- ToV was a diktat + had to sign a clause making them responsible
Effects of the ToV
- many members turned a blind eye to the treaty
- politicians openly protested e.g Stresemann
- secret rearmament with the USSR on their soil e.g Russian tank school near Kazan which by 1928 trained soldiers and were building tanks for Germany
- Phoebus film company were financially supporting the rearmament
- opposing it gave them popularity
- Lloyd George and even France viewed it as unfair so turned a blind eye
- 1935 Anglo-German naval agreement broke ToV (discussed how many the navy could have)
How did Hitler’s ideology play a role in the cause of WW2?
- Notes from General Liebemann 1933 show youth, ToV, lebensraum + anti bolshevism all factors
- were overturning ToV to rearm and take back land
- lebensraum: shortage of supplies would come from the Slavs
- Jewry + bolshevism: Nuremberg, Barbarossa, the eternal jew and the ‘soviet paradise’ posters
Evidence to support the view that Hitler drove NFP
- followed his ideology as close as possible
- would ask members for advice but made all decisions e.g there was opposition surrounding him over his deals with Italy (X claim South Tyrol) but he pushed through
- overturning ToV, making alliances all him
Evidence to support the view that Hitler had a ‘masterplan’
comparison of lands gained 1935-39 match with his writing in Mein Kampf (1936 Rhineland, 38 Asutria, 38 Sudetenland, 39 Czechoslovakia)
Evidence to counter the view Hitler had a ‘masterplan’
Until 1936, he kept many foreign ministry officials before he came to power (however this could have been a longer-term plan of seeming more liberal)
While he had a rough plan, other forces brought them up for example Anchluss was sped up by the Nazis in Austria as well as the allies’ appeasement policies
Did Hitler always intend for war?
- built up an army the moment he came to power (his army was limited to 100,000 but by 1939 the Wehrmacht was 3 million)
- conscription, secret tanks being built
- ruled as a dictator and ensured he did this legally after the Munich Putsch
- 4 year plan 1936-39: focus on militarisation, synthetic materials such as oil + buna
Evidence that Hitler could have achieved his aims without war
- war averted at the Munich conference
- took the Rhineland and Austria without a war breaking out
- may have hoped to avoid war with Britain
Evidence Hitler needed war for his aims
- had set a date for Czechoslovakia + had made numerous speeches
- 26 Sept 1938 was his last speech about war after Munich but then 6 months later he invaded and had all of Czechozlovakia
Background of the reasons for Hitler invading Poland
- ToV gave land to Poland along with 800,000 Germans
- Polish Corridor and Danzig decision bitterly resented
- Poland was fearful of Germany as could not trust nearby neighbors (both G + the USSR wanted it)
- Had gone to war with the USSR 1920 over land in Ukraine and took Teschen from CZS 1938
What were the Nazi-Polish relations like up to 1936
- 1934: signed a non-aggression pact which came as a surprise to everyone
- Poland was geographically good for Germany
- Danzing- German trading port, 96% of the population in 1914 were German
1935: presented as wanting to be diplomatic
1935-37: meetings to turn the pact into an alliance (mutual war against the USSR, offering Poland a chunk of Ukraine if they won). Poland resisted
