Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 88 views

    Hitler's Foreign Policy

    Uploaded by

    Ryan Keeney
    Hitler pursued increasingly aggressive and expansionist foreign policy goals between 1933-1939 that challenged the post-World War I settlement and threatened European stability. These included rearmament, remilitarization of the Rhineland, annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, and demands for territory from Poland. While other factors also contributed to rising tensions, Hitler's rejection of the Treaty of Versailles and use of threats and force to achieve German territorial gains destabilized Europe and increased the likelihood of a new major conflict.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Hitler's Foreign Policy

    Uploaded by

    Ryan Keeney
    88 views18 pages
    Hitler pursued increasingly aggressive and expansionist foreign policy goals between 1933-1939 that challenged the post-World War I settlement and threatened European stability. These included rearmament, remilitarization of the Rhineland, annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, and demands for territory from Poland. While other factors also contributed to rising tensions, Hitler's rejection of the Treaty of Versailles and use of threats and force to achieve German territorial gains destabilized Europe and increased the likelihood of a new major conflict.

    Original Title

    Hitler’s Foreign Policy

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Hitler pursued increasingly aggressive and expansionist foreign policy goals between 1933-1939 that challenged the post-World War I settlement and threatened European stability. These included rearmament, remilitarization of the Rhineland, annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, and demands for territory from Poland. While other factors also contributed to rising tensions, Hitler's rejection of the Treaty of Versailles and use of threats and force to achieve German territorial gains destabilized Europe and increased the likelihood of a new major conflict.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    88 views18 pages

    Hitler's Foreign Policy

    Uploaded by

    Ryan Keeney
    Hitler pursued increasingly aggressive and expansionist foreign policy goals between 1933-1939 that challenged the post-World War I settlement and threatened European stability. These included rearmament, remilitarization of the Rhineland, annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, and demands for territory from Poland. While other factors also contributed to rising tensions, Hitler's rejection of the Treaty of Versailles and use of threats and force to achieve German territorial gains destabilized Europe and increased the likelihood of a new major conflict.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    of 18

    Hitler’s

    Foreign Policy
    1933 - 1939
    Factors of International Relations in
    Europe 1933 - 1939
    • Financial Instability
    • Fear of Communism
    • Rise of Fascist leaders
    • Diminishing role of League of Nations
    • Fear of War
    • Admiration for German Recovery & Stability
    • Increasing dislike of Treaty of Versailles
    ‘Appeasement’
    League of Nations Failure
    (1919 – 1939)
    • USA – never joined

    • No Army – could not impose their


    Japan left in 1933
    decisions (Invasion of Manchuria)

    • Slow to React: Unanimity of


    Decision-Making Required
    Germany left in 1933
    (Treaty of Versailles)
    • Depression – created more selfish
    behaviour by individual countries
    e.g. Germany & Italy
    Italy left in 1937

    • Rise of Imperial Fascism: Germany,


    Italy & Japan
    League of Nations Complexity
    Hitler’s Foreign Policy Aims
    • Grossdeutschland: Creating a larger, more
    powerful all-German Reich that Hitler
    claimed would last 1,000 years.

    • Anschluss: Uniting Germany & Austria into


    one greater German Reich

    • Lebensraum: Creating ‘living space in the


    east’ i.e. displacement of inferior (Slavic)
    races to make way for re-population of
    Germanic peoples.

    • Destruction of Treaty of Versailles: The ‘War


    Guilt Clause’ and restrictions on German
    Armed Forces as well as the loss of
    territories & colonies was naturally a key
    focus of Hitler’s Foreign Policy

    • Eradication of ‘International Jewry’ While


    this was a facet of Hitler’s rhetorical oratory,
    it would not become a key policy until much
    later in the 1930’s, culminating in the ‘Final
    Solution’ proposed in 1942.
    European leaders 1933 - 1939
    United Kingdom:
    Neville Chamberlain
    (1937 – 1940)

    France:
    Édouard Daladier
    (1933, 1934, 1938 – 1940)

    Italy:
    Benito Mussolini
    (1922 – 1944)

    Spain:
    General Franco
    (1939 – 1975)
    1934
    German – Polish Non-Aggression Pact

    A ten-year non-aggression pact with Poland


    gave Hitler the appearance of a
    benevolent, peaceful statesman.
    However, it lulled the Poles into a false
    sense of security and weakened their
    alliance with France.

    Stresa Front
    In July 1934, Austrian Nazis staged a coup
    d’etat. Vice-Chancellor Schuschnigg quickly
    suppressed it and Hitler was kept at bay by the
    threat of Italian intervention. Hitler declared that
    he had no interest in Austria. However, Britain,
    France and Italy did not believe him and formed
    the Stresa Front to formally oppose German
    interference in Austria
    1935
    Anglo-German Naval Agreement
    In March 1935, Hitler announced that
    Germany was rearming, thereby
    repudiating the terms of the Treaty of
    Versailles. The British concluded a
    naval agreement (Anglo-German
    Naval Agreement) with Germany
    showing that even the Allies regarded
    the Treaty as a ‘dead letter’

    Saar Plebiscite

    In January 1935, the people of the Saar


    region in France voted (Saar Plebiscite) to
    re-unite with Germany, which greatly
    encouraged Hitler’s dream of creating a
    larger German Reich
    1936
    Re-militarisation of the Rhineland
    On the 7th of March 1936, Hitler took an enormous gamble by sending
    German troops into the de-militarised Rhineland, which had formed a buffer
    zone of safety for France since the Treaty of Versailles. The gamble paid off,
    as Britain was unwilling to go to war over this and showed that France either
    could not or would not resist open German defiance of the Treaty of
    Versailles regulations.

    Spanish Civil War


    German involvement in the Spanish Civil War from 1936 on placed
    Franco in Hitler’s debt with the Supply of German dive-bombers
    (STUKAS), expertise and manpower.

    Rome-Berlin Axis
    The closer links between Germany and Italy were
    reflected in the drawing up of the Rome-Berlin Axis, an
    agreement by the two countries to follow a common
    foreign policy
    1937
    Joachim Von Ribbentrop
    Foreign Minister 1938 - 1945
    • Appointed Foreign Minister in
    February 1938. Replaced the
    conservative & cautious Neurath
    • Radical & pro-war, Von Ribbentrop
    was both feared and hated. His
    appointment was a signal that Nazi
    Germany was moving to a much
    more aggressive foreign policy.

    • "Ribbentrop belongs to the category


    of Germans who are a disaster for
    their country. He talks about making
    war right and left, without naming an
    enemy or defining an objective”
    - Benito Mussolini (1938)
    1938 Sudetenland & Munich Conference:
    “Peace in our Times”
    Hitler demanded that the 3 million
    German – speaking inhabitabants of
    the Sudetenland region of
    Czechoslovakia be ‘returned’ to the
    German Reich.
    Hitler fully realised that his German
    army was not yet ready for all-out
    war. With a secure relationship
    already established with Mussolini,
    he secretly asked him to call a
    conference of European leaders. On
    the 28th of September 1938,
    Chamberlain, Hitler, Daladier &
    Mussolini met at Munich.

    Czechs had little choice but to


    secede to Hitler’s demand for
    control of Sudentenland.
    1938: Anschluss & Sudentenland
    Annexation
    Throughout 1936 and 1937,
    pressure from Hitler’s Germany
    forced the Austrian Chancellor
    (Schuschnigg) to legalise the Nazi
    party and place key ministries
    under the control of Nazis.

    When Schuschnigg tried to hold a


    referendum to ensure Austrian
    independence, Hitler threatened to
    invade if Schuschnigg did not
    resign. He did so, and Seyss
    Inquart (Austrian Nazi Party)
    became Chancellor. Inquart invited
    the Germans into Austria. to
    “preserve law and order”

    In April 1938, 99% of Austrians


    voted to accept Anschluss –
    Union with Germany
    Annexation of Czechoslovakia

    1939
    Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

    Urged on by Hitler, Poland and Hungary annexed the


    region of Teschen and Ruthenia, while Slovakia
    declared its independence in March 1939.
    Hitler persuaded the Czech President Hatcha To ‘invite’
    German troops into what was left of the country to
    ‘preserve law and order’. Czech Army was disbanded
    On the 23rd August, 1939, Nazi Germany & and the Skoda factories fell into German hands. Major
    USSR signed a ten year military coup for Germany even before WWII had
    ‘Non-Aggression Pact’. started.
    This contained secret clauses to partition Hitler continued to put pressure on Poland as he did not
    Poland and divide it between themselves. take the Anglo-French guarantee to Warsaw seriously.
    He demanded concessions from the Poles in the
    regions of Danzig and the Polish Corridor.
    1939 Invasion of Poland

    On the 1st September 1939, German


    forces staged an attack on a German
    border checkpoint. Hitler declared war on
    Poland and invaded on the same day.

    On the 3rd of September, after an


    ultimatum to withdraw from Poland passed
    with no response, Britain & France
    declared war on Germany.
    The Second World War had begun
    Lebensraum
    Past Exam Questions
    2006 – 2011 = 0 Questions

    2003 – D.1. Hitler and Mussolini: Foreign Policy


    “To what extent were the foreign policies pursued by Hitler and Mussolini
    responsible for the outbreak of WWII.”

    2000 – D.3. International Relations, 1933-1939


    “Discuss critically the view that ‘Hitler’s aggressive foreign policy was the main
    cause of WWII’’’.

    You might also like