Hitler's Goal: Global Conquest

From the time Hitler and the Nazi’s took control of Germany in 1933 until the collapse of the Third Reich in 1945, the aim of the regime under the calculating guidance of Hitler himself sought no less than global conquest. This ambitious objective can be further dissected into short term and long term goals that provide insight into Hitler’s character, thoughts and actions.

Hitler’s extreme sense of nationalism and his perception that great nations are identified by their military power and their cultural contributions must have weighed heavily on his mind when he considered the state of the Germanic people throughout history. Hitler thought highly of the classical civilizations of Rome and Greece, especially their architectural and artistic contributions to society, yet his own people had few comparable achievements, either artistically or in terms of conquest, which the Romans had also done effectively. Rectifying this, at least for Hitler, required military and political action that dwarfed Germany’s best efforts even during the First World War. Additionally, upon the establishment of a powerful new German empire, Hitler wanted “to create a German culture state where the arts were supreme and where he could construct his buildings, hold art shows, stage operas, encourage artists and promote the music, painting and sculpture he loved.” (Spotts, 9) Hitler’s main aspiration was to create a neo-classical state that would be the dominant power in a new world order; one which placed heavy emphasis on culture, race and the spatial needs of the German people. These ambitions resulted in German rearmament, expansion and the mass murder and internment of Jews, “gypsies,” Slavs and other “inferior” races and peoples.

Germany’s policies...

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.... On the question of peace, one of Hitler’s close confidants Rudolph Hess wrote:

World peace is certainly and ideal worth striving for; in Hitler’s opinion it will be realizable only when one power, the racially best one, has attained complete and uncontested supremacy. That power can then provide a sort of world police, seeing to it at the same time that the most valuable race is guaranteed the necessary living space.” (Weinberg, 28)

It is in this light that we can clearly see Hitler as a man motivated by more than a few limited objectives for Germany’s future. It is unlikely that he would have settled on the submission of France and Britain and the conquest of Eastern Europe and Russia. It is far more likely that he would have continued to pursue wars of conquest throughout Africa, and eventually the Western hemisphere given the proper opportunities.