The Influence of German History Upon Nazi Foreign Policy

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The Influence of German History upon Nazi Foreign Policy

The Treaty of Versailles

  • There were three fundamental factors regarding what Hitler perceived as 'German history', which influenced the Nazis' foreign policy:
  • 'Racial History' - which was largely fictional and biased.
  • Prior empires, and the associated nostalgia felt in regard of them.
  • The Treaty of Versailles and its consequences.
  • France had wished for the harshest clauses; largely in light of the fact that it was the country worst affected by war (due to a considerable level of land destruction, consequent to most conflict having been fought on French territory) - and also because France was worse threatened by prospective potential German attacks, bordering the country.
  • Though Lloyd George promised Britons to ensure the implementation of harsh clauses, he personally felt that this was an undesirable choice as he wished for the Germans to not develop a greater sense of resentment towards Britain. He did ultimately suggest that the treaty terms were overly harsh, and were probable to result in the breakout of war within the following 25 years.
  • The USA entered the war later than Britain and France; and so were least affected by the conflict. Woodrow Wilson felt that clauses should not be overly harsh, and that all nations that had participated within the war should join the League of Nations (though Germany wasn't granted access until 1926).
  • Germany had its military powers reduced significantly; whilst considerable loss of money (with the reparations bill being set at 132 million marks in 1921) made the nation even more so vulnerable, and equally resentful towards the Allies. In further regard of economics, a counterfactual argument developed - suggesting that the reparations would be affordable if it hadn't been for a global decline in trade. The Allies were here further to blame; as France had cut off trade links with Germany (in response to war guilt, or Clause 231), whilst the USA promoted a policy of isolationism.
  • 6.4 million Germans would now be living upon foreign land; as 13% of Germany's European territory had been lost.
  • Secret rearmament took place - to which other countries threw a blind eye. Germany here held the support of the Russian Soviets. From 1926, German soldiers would be trained at the Kazan Tank Training School; whilst tanks would be produced and tested in Russia on the behalf of Germany from 1928. In 1927, the Phoebus Film Company began to fund Germany's secret rearmament. When such was exposed, defence minister, Otto Gessler, was forced into resignation. In 1935, an Anglo-German Navy Agreement was settled; here breaking the militaristic clauses of the Treaty of Versailles.
  • A Diktat - or dictated peace - and so Germany was unable to negotiate clauses.
  • It is disputable as to whether the Treaty of Versailles set the foundations for war. It left both Germany and Italy in socio-economic turmoil; and resentful towards Britain, France and the USA. Meanwhile, it allowed for the establishment of new nations (e.g. Yugoslavia) and subsequent border disputes.

The Third Reich

'Racial History'

  • Weimar politicians were revisionists; who wished to restore Germany to its pre-war state - under Otto von Bismarck's Second Reich, formed after German victory at the 1871 Franco-Prussian War.
  • The Nazis held more sentimentality surrounding the First Reich - the Holy Roman Empire of Charlemagne. Both empires were admired for strength evident in good diplomacy and consistent land acquisition. In making links with prior empires, the Nazis would hold a sense of history, and would be admired for having continued prior political trends towards which the struggling nation felt nostalgic.
  • The 'stab in the back' theory was developed by Paul von Hindenburg in November 1919; blaming the 'November Criminals' for war loss - despite the fact that, as part of the military high command during the First World War, he and Eric von Ludendorff had actually warned Kaiser Wilhelm II that war was set to be lost, and so the establishment of a parliamentary democracy was perceived as a favourable mean of shifting blame away from the three. It was thenceforth used as a campaigning point by politicians, including Adolf Hitler. Those political parties that spoke out against the Treaty of Versailles would be appreciated by Germans, and so this elevated the Nazis' popularity at a time of immense desperation amongst the German people.
  • Hitler himself had been a soldier at World War I, who retrospectively felt as if he had fought for nothing. Thence, he became a politician - joining the DAP (here a political group with no HQ or real aims), to become the NSDAP in April 1920. He demonstrated violence through the 1923 Munich Putsch, before following such with more constitutional, diplomatic means after his subsequent nine month prison sentence at Landsberg Prison.
  • The 'Aryan' race was developed in the late nineteenth century; as the Germanic and Nordic races were perceived as superior to those alternative.
  • Hitler acknowledged that certain races held some similarities - with an example being in the British race. Therefore, he appeared more willing to make agreements with such countries. Those perceived as completely inferior would only be dealt with diplomatically if such was completely necessary.
  • He particularly discriminated against those that were black, Asia or Slavs (thus of Russia/Eastern Europe). Hence, he aspired to invade eastward.
  • Pan-Germanism refers to the concept of the Nazis wishing to unite all Germans within one country. In order to ensure there be sufficient land for them, "undesirables" would be evicted from their land.
  • Those with 3-4 Jewish grandparents were considered Jewish, and so would be subject to harsh anti-Semitic laws. On 7th April 1933, all Jews were purged from civil service roles, whilst they were banned from the vast majority of public places. Jewishness was assessed in line with the 1935 Nuremberg Race Laws.

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