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Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939
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Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

Dec 15, 2015

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Page 1: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

Hitler’s Foreign Policy

1933 - 1939

Page 2: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

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’

Page 3: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

League of Nations Failure(1919 – 1939)

• USA – never joined

• No Army – could not impose their decisions

• Slow to React: Unanimity of Decision-Making Required

• Depression – created more selfish behaviour by individual countries e.g. Germany & Italy

• Rise of Imperial Fascism: Germany, Italy & Japan

Japan left in 1933 (Invasion of Manchuria)

Germany left in 1933

(Treaty of Versailles)

Italy left in 1937

Page 4: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

League of Nations Complexity

Page 5: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.
Page 6: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

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.

Page 7: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

European leaders 1933 - 1939United Kingdom:

Neville Chamberlain (1937 – 1940)

France: Édouard Daladier

(1933, 1934, 1938 – 1940)

Italy: Benito Mussolini

(1922 – 1944)

Spain: General Franco

(1939 – 1975)

Page 8: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

1934

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.

German – Polish Non-Aggression Pact

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

Page 9: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

1935

Anglo-German Naval Agreement

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

Saar Plebiscite

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’

Page 10: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

1936

Re-militarisation of the RhinelandOn 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 WarGerman 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 AxisThe 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

Page 11: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

1937

Page 12: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

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)

Page 13: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

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.

Page 14: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

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

Page 15: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

1939

On the 23rd August, 1939, Nazi Germany & USSR signed a ten year ‘Non-Aggression Pact’.

This contained secret clauses to partition Poland and divide it between themselves.

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

Annexation of Czechoslovakia

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 and the Skoda factories fell into German hands. Major military coup for Germany even before WWII had started.

Hitler continued to put pressure on Poland as he did not take the Anglo-French guarantee to Warsaw seriously. He demanded concessions from the Poles in the regions of Danzig and the Polish Corridor.

Page 16: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

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

Page 17: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

Lebensraum

Page 18: Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933 - 1939. Factors of International Relations in Europe 1933 - 1939 Financial Instability Fear of Communism Rise of Fascist.

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’’’.