Nazi foreign Policy (1 Viewer)

[hef...]

Can someone please give me some info on Nazi foreign Policy i'm stuck.

 

[historykidd]

Can someone please give me some info on Nazi foreign Policy i'm stuck.

The main ideas of Nazi foreign policy were implicit before their rise to power > most can be found in Mein Kampf. Foremostly, aimed to “recover…and unite the inner will of the German people” which was attempted successfully through the process of Gleichschaltung. Democracy was replaced by the strong one-party solution and organisations were brought under the control of the state.

Another integral aspect of Nazi foreign policy was the concept of Lebensraum which was living space for the German people > Hitler needed more land to facilitate the expansion of the Aryan. Specifically, this living space had to be gained through struggle and had to be achieved through the dominance of the weaker Slavs in Eastern Europe.

Hitler also vehemently opposed the Treaty of Versailles > whilst Germany was prepared to accept the Western Boarders, it would not accept its part of Eastern Europe - Three million Germans still lived in the Sudetenland and the Polish corridor. In his ultimate quest for land; Hitler would have to deal with the Eastern states including Russia.

Hitler took his first foreign policy movement by withdrawing from the League of Nations in 1933 and during this period he often spoke of his desire for peace.

Hence, Germany signed a non aggressive pact with Poland in 1934 - surprising both Britain and France. However, this was deceptive > Germany planned to invade Poland, thus this signing was useful for propaganda purposes - to deceive the world into thinking they were seeking peace.

The rearming of Germany was a necessary aim of the Nazi foreign policy and thus:

The Luftwaffe Air Ministry in 1933 - aimed to build a German air force.

In October 1934 - Hitler authorized an increase in the size of the German army and by the end of 1934 - it had grown to 280 000 soldiers.

By 1935 - plans to build up the army to 500 000 - thus ignoring the rearming clause of the Treaty of Versailles.

Hitler publicly announced the German air force in 1935.

1936 saw the beginning of work on the Bismarck and the Tirpitz - the naval program had been underway since the 1920’s and U-boat development was pinned as a necessary development.

Hence, the German force became known as the Wehrmacht; solidified by the passing of the Defence Law 1935.

Hitler took the cautious step of reoccupying the Rhineland in 1936 - clearly breeching the clauses of the Treaty of Versailles which stated that the area had to remain de-militarised. France and Britain did not react.
This occupation of the Rhine was significant:

The western democratises stood down in the face of German aggression > signalled the policy of appeasement was beginning.

The reoccupation of the Rhineland and the lack of reaction from Britain and France convinced Hitler that France was no longer an offensive threat to the German western boarder.

The thought of war sparked fear within the Allied forces and this could be exploited by Hitler.

Following 1936 - the Nazi’s pursued a more daring Foreign policy by implementing the Four year plan which was geared towards war developments and pursuing military alliances. Prominently - this included the Italians who eventually formed the “Rome-Berlin axis” in 1937.

Expansion into the East:

Hitler made his plans clear for war > the Hossbach Memorandum was the summary of a meeting in 1937 between Adolf Hitler and his military leadership, laying out his plans to precipitate an aggressive war that would eventually be known as World War II in Europe.

1938 - Hitler undertook the Anschluss March - after pursuing diplomatic means to, unsuccessfully, attempt to bridge together the economies of Austria (which contained a strong German presence) and Germany.

However > Hitler was worried about Italian intervention who had a pact with Austria and was concerned for own interests in that area. However, more cohesive relations with Italy meant that Mussolini allowed Hitler to undertake the Anschluss.

Hitler used threats to have pro-German minister appointed as Chancellor - thus, this lead to Hitler sending troops into Austria to subdue it and expand Germanys Eastern boarder.

Furthermore - Hitler wished to expand into the newly founded area of Czechoslovakia as it contained over three million German persons. Ordered the German party within Czechoslovakia to increase pressure on the demands to return to Germany. Also, prepared for Operation Green > aimed to assimilate Czechoslovakia into Germany.

The Munich Conference took place in September 1938:

A deal was reached, however, and on September 29, Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Benito Mussolini and Édouard Daladier signed the Munich Agreement. The Czechoslovak government capitulated and agreed to abide by the agreement. The settlement gave Germany the Sudetenland starting October 10, and de facto control over the rest of Czechoslovakia as long as Hitler promised to go no further. To ensure this > Britain signed a defensive pact with Poland.

Sparked enthusiastic celebrations in Britain - however, Winston Churchill claimed : “We have suffered total and unmitigated defeat”

Despite his claim that he would not “go further” - Hitler made plans to invade Poland in 1939 - planned Operation White. Thus, he took steps:

Playing upon Joseph Stalin’s distrust of the Western Nations - reinforced by the Munich Conference in which the USSR believed it was excluded - the Nazi party made plans to approach, ironically, the communist Russian nation.

The German foreign Minister Ribbentrop flew to Moscow in August and signed the Soviet-German non aggression Pact - it was actually an aggression pact against Poland in which the USSR and Germany decided to split up the nation.

On September 1st 1939 - USSR and Germany invaded Poland. War World II begins.