Nazi Foreign policy: notes Flashcards
Who were intentionalists?
those who believe that what Hitler and Nazis wanted drove whether war broke out
–> idea that Hitler had a master plan from the start (outlined in Mein Kampf)
–> Step-by-step plan to either a) take over Eastern Europe or b) take over first Europe, then middle east and british colonies then the entire world
Who were structuralists?
Those who believe that external factors were as significant/ more significant than nazi foreign policy for the outbreak of war
–> German rulers historically followed a policy of expansionism
–> events in the rest of the world had a significant effect on whether world went to war or not
Other pressures within germany affected Hitler’s foreign policy:
- pressures inside party
- pressure from other social groups
- external factors like world economy
Hitlers 3 main aims for foreign policy
Lebensraum
Third Reich as a world power
Treaty of Versailles to be overturned
Lebensraum: what is it
‘living space’
Germany needed to expand to become a great world power + to meet economic needs
- Hitler saw that Germany had a shortage of raw materials and farm land so he said that the living space should come from eastern countries that had high slavic population + german speaking
Overturning the treaty of Versailles
Germany had to: rearm, regain lost land, reoccupy the Rhineland, and leave reparations unpaid
- Hitler wanted Third Reich to expand beyond its pre-war borders in Europe ( did not want problems of managing colonies yet)
Nazi Third Reich as a large and powerful world power
Hitler wanted alliances with countries that had acceptable ethnic mixes e.g. Britain
What racial factor did Hitler also believe in?
The fact that Europe was under threat from Jewish people and Bolshevism
- Hitler always repeated the conspiracy that Jews wanted to control govt + anti-german strategy in countries like USA and Britain
- with regards to Bolshevism, Hitler added to his notion of lebensraum as he knew he would eventually go to war with East Europe (wanted to delay war as long as possible to rearm)
How did the Aryan racial theory drive foreign policy?
- wanted Germany to be a great Aryan empire
Pan-Germanism (idea that all german speaking peoples should be united and live in one country)
–> this meant clearing out ‘inferior’ races/ people to give ‘pure germans’ enough living space
–> influenced nazi foreign policy as they made alliances with countries they saw as racially acceptable (e.g. Britain)
How did Hitler overturn and destroy the treaty of Versailles?
by introducing rearmament and conscription in 1935 (exploitation of a favourable diplomatic climate)
- Rhineland being reoccupied in 1936 was taken at a time of greatest advantage to Hitler (French were preoccupied with their legislative election problems)
- German army was still weak and under-armed (couldn’t have resisted the French army at all)
Saar plebiscite + Anglo-German naval agreement 1935 showed Germany’s peaceful diplomacy (allowed to occur as people in Britain and France felt Germany was reclaiming what was theirs initially anyway)
Allies were distracted by Mussolini’s invasion of Abyssinia on Oct 2nd 1935
What was the ideological importance of the destruction of Versailles?
destruction of ToV was the root of his ideology as he had come to power vowing to destroy it
- trauma and humiliation post war + driving force to continue until his goals were achieved
- had wrote in Mein Kampf about the destruction of it (2nd point of 25 point programme= tearing up of ToV
- his anger and humiliation was a national feeling that garnered him support from important groups during crucial moments like the 1930s (He was able to translate the hopes and dreams of many Germans into a reality)
Hitler’s 2 attempts at anschluss
March 1934: Failure
- Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss was assassinated by Austrian Nazis however badly planned and no direction from Berlin given
- Italians troops blocked the Brenner Pass at the Austro-Hungarian border (German military was too weak and politically isolated to exploit the Crisis)
March 1938: Success
-Austrian chancellor Schuschnigg was pressured by Nazis both inside and outside of Austria so he held a plebiscite
- infuriated Hitler invaded and achieved anschluss
What external factors allowed Hitler to succeed at anschluss ( Structuralist)
successful japanese invasion of China in 1937 showed boldness & aggression could be rewarded + French paralysed by political divisions + Neville Chamberlin was committed to policy of appeasement to Germany
Importance of Anschluss to Hitler
First point of 25 point programme was ‘ union of all germans into a greater Germany’
- Hitler believed that the 1871 state of Germany was incomplete as it did not include Austria ( made Hitler feel foreign in Germany as he was half austrian)
How did the conquest of Czechoslovakia start? (Structuralist)
Encouraged by anschluss success, Nazis in Sudentenland led by Conrad Henlein agitated a similar for a similar union
Hitler was able to exploit the vulnerable state of Czechoslovakia:
1. Allies were bitterly divided (Britain, France feared communism spreading whilst Stalin though tBritain and France had an agreement with Germany)
2. USSR was severely weakened due to 1930 purges + difficult geographical location as Poland was hostile to USSR (Czechoslovakia was too remote for British/ French troops)
Conquest of Czechoslovakia: which of Hitler’s 3 aims did it align with?
Destruction of Versailles treaty: Sudenten land was lost post WW1
Lebensraum: eastward expansionism was a mainstay in HItler’s ideology
CZECHOSLOVAKIA WAS DESTROYED DUE TO THE RUTHLESS AND CALCULATED EXPANSIONISM OF HITLER
