Nazi Foreign Policy - Hitlers influence Flashcards
What main ideas drove Hitler’s approach to domestic and foreign policy?
- The ToV had to be overturned
- The Nazi Third Reich should be a large and powerful world power
- The Third Reich needed lebensraum
- Europe was under threat from World Jewry and Bolshevism
How would Germany achieve Hitlers idea of overturning versailles?
Would have to rearm, regain lost land, reoccupy the rhineland and not pay reparations.
How would Germany achieve Hitlers aim of rearming?
Making alliance where possible (with acceptable ethnic mixes) and going to war if necessary
How would Germany achieve Hitlers aim of Lebensraum?
Needed to expand into places with a high Slavic population and German speaking population. Also to acquire raw materials and farmland
How would Germany keep “safe” from Hitlers idea of the threat of world Jewry and Bolshevism
He felt there was a Jewish strategy to stir up anti-German feeling in countries like the USA and Britain.
This added to the notion of lebensraum and meant Germany would have to go to war with Eastern Europe and expand
How did the Kaiser and Weimar Government feel about the ToV compared to Hitler?
Weimar were revisionist and wanted to overturn the treaty and return to 1914 Germany, unlike Hitler who wanted the Third Reich to expand beyond its prewar borders without the issue of managing colonies until Germany was fully established in Europe. Kaiser had no view.
How did the Kaiser and Weimar Government feel about the a ‘Third Reich’ compared to Hitler?
Hitlers ideas about race were repeated often and publicly and earlier governments may have shared them but not interstates them into policy. The Kaiser’s government has similar ideas about the need to expand and the direction but wanted to acquire colonises whereas hitler didn’t
What were the main features of Nazi foreign policy?
- Overturning Versailles
- Strategic Alliances
- Expansion
- Germanisation
Nazi foreign policy of Overturning versailles
Spreading Nazi influence in those areas it wanted to reclaim (Austria and Danzig) and where necessary using military force
Nazi foreign policy of strategic alliances
To stop anti-german power blocs building up and make sure that when it came to to war Germany did not have to fight a war on two fronts. These were made with individual countries wherever possible this was to divide other nations and make treaties easier to break
What is the evidence for Hitler’s ‘masterplan’?
- Until 1936 Hitler kept many foreign ministry officials
- Nazi land gains from 1935 to 1939 with aims talked about in Mein Kampf, speeches and meetings
- How prepared Nazi’s were for each foreign policy move
How can Hitler keeping foreign ministry officials be interpreted in a structuralist way?
Because it can be used as evidence to suggest he didn’t interfere or impose a plan
How can Hitler keeping foreign ministry officials be interpreted in a intentionalist way?
It could show long term planning, for example Hitler wanted full control of Germany and far greater military strength before going to war, a show of continuity with a liberal government policy would make him seem more moderate
How can Nazi land gains from 1935-39 and Hitler’s aims expressed in Mein kampf, meetings and speeches be interpreted in a structuralist way?
It can be argued these policies such as eastward expansion were simply broad aims rather than a plan
How can Nazi land gains from 1935-39 and Hitler’s aims expressed in Mein kampf, meetings and speeches be interpreted in a intentionalist way?
Could show planning if there was a significant match as with the overturning of versailles and the policy of lebensraum
How can the Nazi’s level of preparation for foreign policy be interpreted in a structuralist way?
Might use evidence or their unpreparedness as evidence that Hitler had not planned the move
How can the Nazi’s level of preparation for foreign policy be interpreted in a intentionalist way?
It could be argued that while the move was planned it was brought on early by other factors such as his takeover of Austria happened earlier than he might have planned because of the actions of Austrian Nazis
What did historians agree about Hitlers speaking skills?
He was an excellent, almost hypnotic speech maker in the flesh and there is evidence that he worked hard at speech making because he believed as he says in Mein Kampf, that effective speech making was vital, to controlling a population. They also believe he was bad at personal relationships
From when did Hitler openly defy the ToV and how?
From 1935 by reintroducing conscription which was forbidden and also tanks and other armoured vehicles were built As dictator, Hitler didn’t need the Reichstag’s permission to gear the economy for war
How does Hitler’s four year plan for 1936-39 suggest he had war in his mind from before he became Fuhrer in 1934?
It stressed Germany’s need to put militarisation first and to develop synthetic oil and other war materials so Germany would not depend on other countries for these materials
What did Germany do without causing war?
Remilitarised the Rhineland and took Austria by invasion
How was war averted at the Munich conference?
Hitler agreed Germany’s territorial expansion would stop with the sudetenland
