To what extent did Hitler Shape Nazi Foreign Policy Flashcards
Questions to be asked?
Was Nazi foreign policy a continuation or a radical change - shaped by Hitler?
How far were Hitler’s aims the only drivers of Nazi Foreign Policy?
Hitler’s first aim?
Complete control in Germany and a build up of Germany’s military strength
Subsections of Hitler’s ideology?
Treaty of Versailles had to be overturned
Nazi Third Reich should be a large and powerful world power
Third Reich needed Lebensraum
Europe was under threat from world Jewry and Bolshevism
Treaty of Versailles had to be overturned?
Germany had to rearm - gain lost land - occupy the Rhineland - not pay reparations
Kaiser’s government has no view of the treaty and the Weimar Gov were “revisionists” ; overturn Treaty but also wanting to return to Germany in 1914 with lost colonies
Hitler’s ideology didn’t cross with any of this as he wanted the Third Reich to expand beyond its pre-war borders in Europe
Nazi Third Reich should be large and powerful
Aimed to create a large German empire (expansionist) ; achieved by war and alliances - wanted alliances with countries that were ethnically acceptable (UNLIKE KAISER’S GOVERNMENT)
But this did not mean he was not willing to make temporary alliances with Russia who were racially inferior
Weimar government didn’t want to expand beyond borders but wanted to be a world power
Kaiser definitely wanted to extend its power and saw war as a viable way of doing so - didn’t care about the ethnicity of allies or of the people in the lands it conquered
3rd Reich needed Lebensraum
Germany needed to expand, taking Lebensraum to meet the needs of its people and economic shortcomings (shortage of raw materials and farmland)
Said this should come from countries in the east with Slavic speaking populations ; should be cleared to simply allow pure Germans to exist
Weimar government never integrated ideas about race into government policy
Kaiser’s government had similar ideas about the way in which German expansion should occur but unlike Hitler - they wanted to gain many colonies
Europe was under threat from Jewry and Bolshevism
Hitler regularly repeated idea of Hews taking over governments and felt there was a definite Jewish strategy to stir up anti-German feeling in other countries (USA AND BRITAIN) ; Hitler saw communism and Jewry to be in league with each other ; this + Lebensraum meant he was convinced that Germany would have to go to war with Eastern Europe
CONCERN WAS TO DELAY WAR TO REARM AND FORGE ALLIANCES
THUS HIS EARLY FOREIGN POLICY (ANGLI GERMAN ALLIANCES ETC) WERE DIRECTED AT CONVINCING WEAT THAT GERMANY WANTED PEACE ; BUT REAL INTENTIONS WERE MORE EXPANSIONIST
Did Hitler drive Nazi a foreign policy?
Followed Hitler’s ideology as close as possible - always his final decisions which went against advice offered by others. Hitler faced opposition for his desire for an alliance with Italy because it meant not occupying Tyrol which had a high German -speaking population (also one of the irredente lands for Italy) ; but Hitler pushed through and for him the alliance was more important than overturning TOV and Lebensraum (both which would suggest reoccupation of South Tyrol)
How was Nazi Foreign policy ruthless?
1934 Germany signed a non-aggression pact with Poland that was simply a temporary move to cut France off from its Eastern European allies ; Poland would then be leans that would be taken by Nazis moving eastwards - CYNICAL MOVE
Main features of Nazi Foreign policy?
Overturning Versailles - spreading Nazi influence in those areas it wanted to reclaim (Austria/Danzig)
Strategic alliances - stop anti-German power blocs building up and make sure that when it came to warm Germany did not have to fight a war on two fronts ; made with individual countries to divide the other nations and make treaties easier to break
Expansion - by spreading Nazi influence and forming alliances
Germanisation - spreading racial ideas, oppression and removal of undesirables
Evidence for Hitler’s master plan? Intentionalist?
- Until 1936 he kept many foreign ministry officials - could be used to suggest he had no long -term plan that he implemented but also could be long term planning (wanted full control of Germany before going to war thus this continuity would make him see more moderate and help gain support)
- Comparison of Nazi land gains between 1935 to 1939 with Hitler’s own views expressed in Mein Kampf and speeches could show planning if there was a significant match with policies of lebensraum and overturning Versailles ; however these policies like eastward expansion may just be broad aims
- Analysis of how prepared they were before each foreign policy move might be used to show that Hitler hadn’t planned them ; but they may very well have been planned and affected by other factors (takeover of Austria happened earlier than he may have planned because of actions of Austrian Nazis) + he had planned for war 26th September 1938 with Czechoslovakia but this didn’t happen due to Munich conference and underestimating extent of intervention
Speeches?
Everyone agrees he was a hypnotic charismatic speech maker - he worked hard at speech-making and in a Mein Kampf he said that it was vital to controlling the population ; much of his bursts of out of control fury in speeches and meetings were real/stages are open to question as is whether he was more temperamentally suited to long term planning or opportunism ; signs of both
Did Hitler always intend war?
Built up an army from the moment he came to power and he did it openly from 1935, defying the TOV ; conscription was reintroduced, tanks and armoured vehicles and Hitler’ 4 year plan of 1936-39 stressed Germany’s need to put militarisation first and develop synthetic oil/other war materials so Germany would not depend on other countries for materials during war
What about when Hitler spoke of rearming for defence?
He stressed idea of diplomacy but privately he told his generals that it would be a disaster to provoke a military attack until they had built up armed forces - he intended expansion and not defence
Could Hitler achieve his aims without war?
May have believed making Germany a superpower without war but not Lebensraum
Hoped to avoid conflict with Britain and France - Blitzkreig did not suit a long drawn out war like the World War (so maybe not intended)
Hitler believed that Britain and France would not go to war with Germany over Eastern Europe - Germany remilitarised the Rhineland and took Austria by invasion without causing war so he did not expect military opposition to his next claim of the Sudetenland
BUT Sudetenland was part of Czechoslovakia and they had signed a deal with France and Yugoslavia so it seemed that war may break out in 1938 but war was averted at Munich conference where Hitler agreed his expansion would stop at Sudetenland ; some historians argue he wanted war over Czechoslovakia because he made big promises over the date to go to war (26th September 1938)
6 months later Hitler took advantage of other disputes and restored order (“supposedly’”) now he had broken his promise at Munich Conference
