Study History notes on Hitler's Foreign Policy for Secondary. Useful for revision, homework, and exam preparation in Zimbabwe.
A free account is needed to download. Sign in or create one
This is the History notes. It is a free notes for revision.
8/28/13 Hitler's Foreign Policy Hitler's Foreign Policy historyhome.co.uk Hitler's Foreign Policy Brief Summary 1933Germany left the League of Nations. 1934Attempted Nazi coup in Austria crushed. Poland and Germany sign alliance. 1935Germany broke the military clauses of the Treaty of Versailles 1936German troops reoccupied the Rhineland. Rome-Berlin Axis signed 1938Anschluss with Austria. Sudetenland handed to Germany as a result of the Munich conference. 1939Rest of the Czech lands occupied by the Germans. Germany invaded Poland. WWII began. Hitler's Foreign Policy Aims When Hitler came to power he was determined to make Germany a great power again and to dominate Europe. He had set out his ideas in a book called Mein Kampf (My Struggle) that he had written in prison in 1924. His main aims were 1. To destroy the Treaty of Versailles imposed on Germany after her defeat in World War One. Hitler felt the Treaty was unfair and most Germans supported this view. 2. To unite all German speakers together in one country. After World War One there were Germans living in many countries in Europe e.g. Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland. Hitler hoped that by uniting them together in one country he would create a powerful Germany or Grossdeutschland. 3. To expand eastwards into the East (Poland, Russia) to gain land for Germany (Lebensraumliving space). His tactics involved using the threat of violence to achieve his aims. He realised that his potential foes, France and Britain, were reluctant to go to war and were prepared to compromise to avoid a repeat of World War One. He was also an opportunist who often took advantage of events for his own benefit. His foreign policy successes in the 1930s were to make him a very popular figure in Germany. As one German political opponent described: "Everybody thought that there was some justification in Hitler's demands. All Germans hated Versailles. Hitler tore up this hateful treaty and forced France to its knees.... people said, "he's got courage to take risks" 1933-4 Hitler protested at the fact that the Allies had not disarmed after World War and he left the disarmament conference and the League of Nations in 1933. He intensified the programme of secret rearmament. In 1934, Germany and Poland concluded an alliance, the first of his infamous ten year non-aggression pacts. This caused a surprise in Europe at the time. The alliance broke Germany's diplomatic isolation while also weakening France's series of anti-German …