Hilter's Foreign Policy
A dynamic foreign policy played a fundamental role in Hitler's rule, his decisions often revolving around his foreign policy aims. Hitler's aims were ambitions, the globalist school of thought most notably Rausching believe his 'ultimate aim was simply the maximum of power and domination'; namely ultimate power. Hitler in the future planning to gain Germen supremacy in the Middle East, Africa and finally in the USA after conquering Europe. Such notions however; as Noakes and Pridham state are based upon comments of 'vague expansion outside Europe' to be found in Mein Kampf and Zweite Buck, not actions and are thus dubious.
The more readily accepted and justifiable theory, held by the continentalist school of thought, is that 'The conquest of lebensraum was the overriding aim of Hitlers foreign policy.' Trevor Roper. Expansion of the German empire being limited to hegemony within Europe. Hitler saw the aim of lebensraum, coined as the soil policy, as the solution to the 'unhealthy relationship between rural and city population.' Mein Kampf. The racialist policy securing the utopian of Hitler's Arian society. The strength of Hitler's belief being reflected in the four year plans orientation towards future wars.
The crushing of the Treaty of Versailles was necessary if lebensraum was to be achieved also interlinked with this was the unification of all Arians. The Treaty of Versailles was damaging to Germany both socially, economically, territorially and militarily; land being removed, Germans being separated and reparations being demanded. Perhaps most devastating was the clause in which Germany had to accept full responsibility for the war, since this proved detrimental to German pride and caused widespr...
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...r' was declared between Germany and Britain, once again he faced no military opposition until 1940. Some historians argue that this move was too hasty as the four yr plan was not due to be completed to 1940 and the economy even at this point was not stable. Nevertheless Hitler had entered a war that he very nearly won.
Hitler adopted a daring dexterous foreign policy between 1933-9, which proved largely successful. Hitler securing his aims of German unity and the removal of the Treaty of Versailles and had laid the foundations for lebensraum and maybe even world domination. Often with added economic, military, territorial and social benefits; each success improving his standing within Germany and Arian pride. Hitler only failed in his inability to secure an alliance Anglo Nazi alliance, which perhaps was an unrealistic goal, and perhaps rushing into war.
Hauner, Milan. "Did Hitler Want World Dominion?" Journal of Contemporary History 13.1 (1978). JSTOR. Web. 19 Mar. 2010.
Hitler was furious with Germany’s surrender in World War I, so when he got back to his home in Munich, he was determined to enter politics and become the greatest leader in German history (Smith). He spent all of his time and effort trying to become the chancellor of Germany. Once he was voted into being chancellor, he needed a way to become the leader of all of Germany. Hitler gathered power through many acts of t...
Hitler made a number of Military actions that can be attributed to him being the major cause of World War Two. The two main actions are the rearmament of Germany and the assistance his country provided in the Spanish Civil War. Hitler secretly began the rearmament of the German armed forced in 1932, this was in direct violation of The Treaty of Versailles. “Navy: 30 warships (1932) - 95 (1939) Air Force: 36 Aircraft (1932) - 8,250 (1939) Soldiers: 100,000 men (1932) - 950,000 (1939)” These statistics show a dramatic increase in the military power that Germany had. The increase in strength gave Hitler more confidence and power over other countries most importantly Germany’s smaller neighbours. “Hitler felt confident enough to publicly announce that there would be compulsory military conscription in Nazi Germany and that the army would be increased to 550,000 men.” The reintroductio...
3. Once the war began, Germany developed a clear set of aims, already discussed before the war, to gain large territorial gains in central and eastern Europe, very similar to Hitler’s later craving for Lebensraum (‘living space’) in eastern Europe
The ideologies of the Axis Powers were brief excerpts that gave us a small glimpse into the mind and thought processes of Adolf Hitler as well as the fundamental thinking patterns of the Japanese authoritarian regime. The questions that will be addressed in this essay are: From what concrete conditions did the ideas expressed in these documents arise? Why did they achieve such widespread popularity? To what extent might persons even in the Western democracies find such ideas persuasive in the 1930’s?
The harshness of the Treaty and the way in which it blamed Germany for World War I crippled Germany. Much of its territory was taken away from it, including West Prussia that went to form a new Polish Corridor to the sea. Plus the Treaty forced Germany to reduce its army, demilitarise the Rhineland and get rid of its navy. The Treaty also forced harsh reparations for the War resulting in a great deal of the German people resenting the Allies. And it was later that Hitler used the bitter memories of Versailles to gain public support for his actions.
...ief that the Germans were superior to all other nations, religions and ethnic groups. He created concentrations camps in various locations in Europe that he used to exterminate others, especially the JYDS. Hitler’s hate and his belief that the Jews were an enemy of the Germans lead to a terrible tragedy that has never been forgotten. Europeans have never quite recovered up to this day from the terrible tragedy. This however has in many ways lead to a united Europe and organizations such as the European Union in the hope to prevent something like this ever reoccurring.
On 30 January 1933, the German president, Paul von Hindenburg, selected Adolf Hitler to be the head of the government. This was very unexpected. Hitler was the leader of an extreme right-wing political party, the National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party. Hitler sought to expand Germany with new territories and boundaries. Hitler also focused on rebuilding Germany’s military strength. In many speeches Hitler made, he spoke often about the value of “racial purity” and the dominance of the Aryan master race. The Nazi’s spread their racist beliefs in schools through textbooks, radios, new...
Studying history through his lens of objectivism, Taylor’s theory is that Hitler’s design wasn’t one of world domination; rather his methods, especially his foreign policies, didn’t differ from his predecessors. However, when confronted with a strict policy of appeasement, by both the French and the English, the stage was set for a second World War. Taylor constructs a powerful and effective argument by expelling certain dogmas that painted Hitler as a madman, and by evaluating historical events as a body of actions and reactions, disagreeing with the common idea that the Axis had a specific program from the start.
middle of paper ... ... The Treaty of Versailles, initially created to keep peace in Europe and ensure that another war like World War I wouldn’t happen again, had in fact, backfired and spiraled the world down into a deeper, bloodier battle. The treaty discriminated strongly against Germany, with the loss of territories, military restrictions, economic reparations, and the War Guilt Clause. It caused humiliation and anger within Germany, and led to Hitler and the Nazi Party coming to power.
Throughout the 20th century many people influenced the world for better or worse. However one man completely changed history for even those alive today. This man was Adolf Hitler. He was a anti-semitic, anti-Marxist dictator that dominated Europe into believing that Jews were the root of all evil. Adolf Hitler is one of the most influential figures of the 20th century because his reign and military leadership of Germany lead to World War II, he killed millions of Jews trying to perfect humanity through the Holocaust and his efforts of world domination influenced history forever.
...t, Hitler believed that the British government would reconsider its policy of appeasement. He thus decided to invade Poland on September 1st 1939, on 3rd, British declared war against Hitler (Scaife 121). Hitler’s invasion of Poland was from the hope that the policy of appeasement would be used to solve the matter, but it failed.
Hitler (like most Germans) hated the Versailles Treaty and he didn’t want to follow the rules made by it. In fact, step by step he broke the laws. The first step he took was to increase the German army. Germany was only allowed to have an army of 100,000 men, no airforce, no tanks and no submarines. But in an interview with the Daily Mail on March 9, 1935, Goering revealed that there was a German airforce. One weak later Germany also announced that it had an army of 500,000 men. France and England didn’t even object to this. In 1936 Germany signed a treaty with England saying that Germany was allowed a navy one third the size of the British navy. Germany was rearming fast. It wasn’t hard thanks to the good economic growth. But the rearmament was so expensive that in 1936 it was clear that Germany was soon to go into an economic crisis if nothing was done.
Examinations of Hitler's role in the formulation of Nazi foreign policy and his goals of that foreign policy leads to questions of the limits of his goal of Lebensraum. This introduces the debate between 'globalists' and 'continentalists'. Expanding on Trevor-Roper's emphasis on Hitler's goals of Lebensraum, historian Gunter Moltmann argued that Hitler's aims were not confined to Europe but at world domination. Andreas Hillgruber expands on this idea with his concept of a three-stage plan he calls the Stufenplan as the basis for Nazi foreign policy. This plan involved Germany gaining mastery over Europe, followed by the Middle East and British colonial territory, and later the USA and with that the entire world.
Hitler’s first goal was to gain absolute power. Propaganda played a major role in Hitler’s successful rise to absolute power. (Cps News 1)