Practical Considerations Outweighed Ideology in Foreign Policy in Relation to Germany from 1933-1941

Practical Considerations Outweighed Ideology in Foreign Policy in Relation to Germany from 1933-1941

Adolf Hitler was made Chancellor of Germany in 1933, and had a

practical set of objectives on how to re-establish Germany as a super

power once again. Bullock argued, ‘Hitler had clearly identified

aims’. Treaty of Versailles shattered the whole of Germany and Hitler

saw it as a national humiliation, he promised to reverse the treaty

and restore Germany’s borders. Hitler dreamed of building a vast

German Empire sprawling across Central and Eastern Europe. Lebensraum

could only be obtained and sustained by waging a war of conquest

against the Soviet Union: German security demanded it and Hitler's

racial ideology required it. In his book Mein Kampf he argued that the

Aryan race demanded Lebensraum in the East, and how he hoped for a

united Germany.

Nazi ideology was centred around the importance of belief in racial

purity, in the importance of balancing population, resources and soil,

and the necessity of acquiring 'living space' in the East - which made

Hitler's foreign policy so dynamic and so difficult to combat.

Taylor's interpretation of Hitler's foreign policy aims after 1933 is

now seen as fatally flawed because it completely ignores the dynamic

ingredient of Nazi ideology. Hitler’s foreign policy aims accorded

with the goals and ideologies of Germany's traditional rulers in that

the aim was to make Germany the most powerful state in all of Europe.

Where Hitler departed from this traditional scenario was his obsession

with his ideology of racial supremacy.

In 1936 Hitler was informed by the regime's top officials that Germany...

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... bitter political

divisions paved the way for Hitler to seize the initiative. Their long

term strategy was once conquering France to dominate continental

Europe. This could not be achieved without the destruction of France.

At the end of 1941 Europe was ‘scared’ to an extent. Even though

Hitler and Germany were eventually defeated Hitler met his foreign

policy in what he got. In answering the question did practical

considerations outweighed ideology in foreign policy, I believed both

did play a part in achieving Hitler’s foreign policy aims as both

factors did compliment each other for example, Hitler’s search for

East expansion(Lebensraum) good not be done without a strong economy

and strong military support. Also Hitler’s talent of be being able to

seize the opportunity was vital in securing foreign policy success.