Hitler's Foreign Policy and the Origins WW2

?

Hitler's Aims

Hitler's Foreign Policy:

  • He took his country out of the League of Nations.
  • He promised to reverse the effects of the Treaty of Versailles as he saw it as the cause of Germany's problems as well as taking the land stolen from them.
  • He planned to expand into Eastern Europe to give the people Lebensraum, which Hitler believed they needed.

Hitler's Steps:

  • Took over some terrirtory and convinced Britain that once the land was reclaimed, no further demands would be made
  • Hitler had the benefit of seeing another country, Japan, successfully deny the league
  • He eventually developed close relations with Mussolini who also withdrew from the league 
  • Return of the Saar: a plebiscite was held amoung the population to decide whether it should be returned to Germany. 90% voted in favour and Hitler viewed it as a great triumph; it was the first injustices of Versailles to be reversed. 
1 of 12

Hitler and Rearmament

The Disarmament Conference:

Germany had now been accepted by most people and they thought that the terms of the treaty should be lighter. The question was whether everyone should disarm down to the level of Germany. Germany left both conferences and said that if "in 5 years all other nations destroyed thier arms", he would destroy thiers. Shortly after they refused again, he left the league.

Non-Aggression Pact with Poland:

  • Hitler was hoping to weaken the existing alliance between France and Poland.
  • He hoped to reduce Polish fears of German aggression.
  • He wanted to show that he had no quarrel with Poland, only with the USSR.
2 of 12

Hitler and Rearmament (2)

Rearmament in Germany:

In 1935, Hitler staged a massive military rally celebrating German armed forces. He also re-introduced conscription and announced an army of 550,000. An air ministry was made to train pilots and build 1,000 aircraft. He got away with rearmament.

Britain, Italy and France condemned German rearmament. This was known as the Stresa Front against German aggression, but this did not last long. It collapsed due to the Abyssinian Crisis, destroying all close relations. 

Anglo-German Naval Treaty:

  • Britain believed that the limits imposed by the Treaty were very harsh and too tight and a strong Germany could act as a buffer against communism
  • In 1935, Britain agreed to sign a naval agreement with Germany that allowed the Germans to build thier navy up to 35% of Britain's and same number of submarines.
  • Britain was accepting Hitler's breach of the Treaty
3 of 12

Hitler and Rearmament (3)

Remilitarisation of the Rhineland:

  • The occupation of the Rhineland was a clear breach of the Treaty and was a calculated risk.
  • German troops were in no position to stand up to the French if they reacted.

Anschluss with Austria:

  • Hitler bullied the Austrian Chancellor into accepting a Nazi (Seyss-Inquart) as the Austrian Minister of Interior.
  • Schuschnigg ordered a plebiscite to be hled tofind out whether the Austrians wanted a union with Germany
  • Seyss-Inquart, the Nazi Austrian Minister, became Chancellor of Austria and invited German troops into the countryso the anschluss was complete
  • The nazis hosted thier own vote about union with Germany and 99% voted in favour of the anschluss and Austria became part of the German Reich (empire).
  • This was another clear breach of the Treaty but Britain and France did nothing as they viewed treaty as harsh. 
4 of 12

Appeasement

For Appeasement:

  • Many people remember WW1 and wanted to avoid war at all costs
  • Many people believed that Germany had been treated too harshly under the Treaty
  • Some people viewed communism as a greater threat so thought Germany could act as a buffer 
  • Britain wasn't ready for war so rearmament only started slowly in 1936
  • Britain was preoccupied with the Depression, unemployment and wanted to stay out of unnecessary foriegn involvement.
  • Event of the Spanish Civil war gave us an insight on how powerful Germany was and gave us a glimse of what war was going to be like 

Against Appeasement:

  • Gave Hitler the advantage as he grew stronger and stronger
  • It was a word of weakness as Hitler broke too many rules already
  • Britain misjudged Hitler and didn't realise that appeasement encouraged Hitler to do anything
  • The appeasers missed excellent opperunities to stop Hiter, such as the Rhineland
5 of 12

The Sudeten Crisis

The Sudeten Crisis:

  • Hitler ordered Henlin (leader of Sudeten Germans) to stir up trouble because this area known as Sudeten had German-speaking people in it.
  • German newspapers produced allegations of crimes apparently committed by Czechs against Sudeten Germans.
  • Hitler threatened war if a solution wasn't found
  • Chamberlain tried to find a peaceful solution so persuaded the Czech President to meet Hitler's demands of a self-government, but when he made new demands for it to be part of the Reich, they refused. 

War seemed a real possibility so Chamberlain appealed to Hitler to give him more time to find a settlement. 

6 of 12

The Munich Agreement

The Munich Agreement:

  • He met with Daladier (French Leader), Hitler and Mussolini at Munich in a final bid to resolve the Sudeten Crisis
  • Czech Representatives weren't invited to this meeting.
  • Czechs were forced to hand over the Sudetenland to Germany and a commission was set up to decide precisely which terrirtory the Czechs would lose.

Chamberlain and Hitler had a further meeting in Munich to agree that Britain and Germany would not go to war. Hitler promised not to take the rest of Czechslovakia. But, the consequences for Czech were extremely serious for them:

  • The Czech Government was completely humiliated
  • The vital area of the Sudetenland was lost and Hungary and Poland also occupied other parts of Czech territory. 
  • Britain and France had given in to Hitler and had increased the pace of thier rearmament programs
7 of 12

The Collapse of Czechoslovakia: March 1939

  • Hitler invaded and ocupied what was left of Czechoslovakia
  • Bohemia and Moravia became under German control
  • Slovakia remained independant but dominated by Germany
  • Ruthenia was handed over to Hungary

End of Appeasement:

  • Hitler's promises made at Munich were clearly completely worthless
  • Britain and France were rapidly rearming and accepted appeasement had failed

The Pact of Steel: May 1939:

  • In March, Hitler forced the Lithuanians to hand over the Baltic town of Memel as well as a portion of land aloung thier South-West border.
  • In April, General Franco's nationalist forces, supported by Germany and Italy, took power in Spain
  • In May, Mussolini followed Hitler and invaded Albania

Hitler and Mussolini signed the Pact of Steel in which they promised to act side by side in future events. Europe was now divided; Britain and France decided to look to USSR as support 

8 of 12

The Collapse of Czechoslovakia: March 1939 (2)

Poland: 1939

Poland was Hitler's next target. Following his success in Czechoslovakia, Hitler demanded Danzig and Polish Corridor.

  • In April, they gave promises of support against German aggression to the Polish, Greek and Romanian Governments
  • They increased production of arms and equipment. 
9 of 12

The Role of the USSR: 1938-39

USSR felt that Britain had been trying to direct Hitler to the East. But clearly the future of Czechoslovakia was more important to them. Britain and France showed no urgancy in making an agreement with the USSR. This made Stalin more suspicious of thier aims.

The Nazi-Soviet Pact:

  • The Soviets and Germans agreed not to fight each other in the event of war in Europe.
  • Both powers secretly agreed to divide up Polish terrirory should war occur
  • Hitler gave Stlin a free hand to occupy part of Romania and the other states in the Baltic

This stunned the world as Hitler and Stalin had opposing ideologies, but had so much to offer for each other.

  • For Hitler, the pact removed the threat of war on 2 fronts and give him the oppertunity he needed to deal with Poland, despite the threats from Britain and France.
  • For Stalin, Hitler offered more to the Soviets. Britain and France had shown little friendship to the USSR and had been suspicious of thier approaches. 
10 of 12

Poland and the Outbreak of War

  • The Pact allowed him to deal with the Polish problem without having to worry about Soviet attack
  • The British and French promised support for Poland in April 1939. They were too late to convince Germany that they were willing to go to war
  • The Policy of appeasement had given Hitler the impression that Britain and France would to almost anything in order to prevent another war with Germany. 
  • Poland was too far away from Britain and France to provide practical support for Poland and it would be over so quickly.

September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Britain and France soon declared war soon after. USSR also invaded Poland taking thier part of it fulfilling the Nazi-Soviet Pact. Within 6 weeks, it had been defeated, like Czechoslovakia.

11 of 12

Responsibility for the Outbreak of War

Germany:

Hitler made impossible demands on Poland and eventually invaded on September 1939

USSR:

Stalin made a deal with Hiter that cleared the way for German invasion

Poland:

Signed an alliance with Britain and France that encouraged it to resist German demands

Britain and France:

Thier Policy of Appeasement made Hitler believe they would not resist his invasion of Poland. Thier guarantees to Poland encouraged Poland to refuse Hitler's demands.

12 of 12

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar History resources:

See all History resources »See all Causes and effects of WW2 resources »