Hitler's foreign policy from 1933-1939 focused on three goals: destroying the Treaty of Versailles, uniting German speakers, and gaining Lebensraum. He withdrew Germany from the League of Nations in 1933 and began secret rearmament. Through threats and appeasement, he annexed the Rhineland, Austria, and the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. In 1939, he invaded Poland, prompting Britain and France to declare war, starting World War II in Europe.

1. Hitler’s Foreign Policy
1933-1939
MR. RAKOCHY
IBDP HISTORY

2. Basis of Foreign Policy
1. Destroy the Treaty of Versailles
 Hated by Germans
 Considered unfair by German people
 Disallowed Anschluss
2. Unite German speakers into one country
 Especially: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland
3. Lebensraum
 At expense of inferior Polish and Russian Slavs
 Feed greater Germany (85 million)

3. 1933 (caution)
 Goodbye to the League of Nations
 Upset with lack of disarmament by other nations
 Promised no intention of war
 Seen as a hero by the German people
One political opponent described people’s reaction
“Everybody thought that there was some justification
in Hitler’s demands. All Germans hated Versailles.
Hitler tore up this hateful treaty and forced France
to its knees…. people said, “he’s got courage to take
risks”
 Secretly begins provisions for rearmament
 Secret meetings with military (see document and discuss)

4. 1934 (caution)
 German-Polish 10 year Non-aggression pact
 Strategic move by Hitler (Polish invasion 1939)
 Good anti-French maneuver, as treaty with Poland went against
French rhetoric of Nazi expansionism
 Fed into Britain’s policy of appeasement toward Germany
 Austrian coup (by Austrian Nazi group)
 Supported initially by Hitler
 PM Dollfuss killed
 Italian troops sent by Mussolini
 Hitler disclaims support to avoid war

5. 1935 (some caution)
 The Saar willingly goes back to Germany (90% vote
after terms of Versailles expired)
 Rich source of coal, iron, transportation link
 Huge propaganda victory for Hitler
 Return of Conscription
 Number of divisions 36 (approx 750,000 men)
 Luftwaffe
 Naval Expansion
 Public Announcement of rearmament

6. German
Expansion
Germany expanded
rapidly from 1935-1939
in her attempt to
prepare for war, unite
German speakers and
in an attempt to further
Lebensraum.

7. Stresa Front 1935
 Agreement between France, Britain and Italy
 Supposed to stop German aggression
 Outlawed any more infractions of Versailles
 Reaffirmed no Anschluss to be permitted
 Spirit of Locarno invoked
 Ultimately a failure (Anglo-German Naval agreement followed
by Abyssinian Crisis)
 Failure of Stresa Front gave Mussolini an
opportunity for aggression
 Mussolini looked upon Anglo-German agreement as
permission to ignore Stresa Front agreements
 Hitler in turn supported Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia

8. 1936
 The Rhineland (7 March 1936)
 No resistance despite T.O.V. being broken again
 British sympathy
 French apathetic behind Maginot Line
 A major gamble
 Impact of Rhineland
 “The forty-eight hours after the march into the Rhineland were the most
nerve-racking in my life….If the French had then marched into the
Rhineland, we would have had to withdraw with our tails between our
legs, for the military resources at our disposal would have been wholly
inadequate for even moderate resistance.”
 Hitler convinced that France and Britain are
politically weak alliance with Italy

9. 1936-37 (spreading the love)
 Support of General Franco in Spain
 Spanish Civil war
 Aid to Franco from Mussolini and Hitler
 Tightened fascist alliance “Rome-Berlin Axis” Oct (lead to
“Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis” Nov. or the “Anti-Comintern Pact”
which Italy signed in 1937)
 Spread of Fascism seen as good by both leaders
 Support extended further in 1939 with Pact of Steel

10. 1938 - Austria
 Meeting at Bechtesgaden in Bavarian Alps
 Hitler and Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg meet
 Hitler forces Schuschnigg to free Nazis and appoint Arthur
Seyss-Inquart Minister of Interior
 German Annexation of Austria
 Hitler’s coercion of Schuschnigg sets stage for invasion and
annexation with Austria
 Soon after Schuschnigg resigns under pressure-replaced by
Seyss-Inquart (Anschluss goal completed – March 13 with no
action by West)

12. 1938 – Czechoslovak Crisis
 Pro-Nazi Sudetenland party (Konrad Henlein) issue
Karlsbad program
 Demands autonomy for Sudetenland
 Refusal to meet demands leads to increased protests
 Sudetenland or war! (British appeasement and end of end of
French/Czech alliance under British pressure)
 Seeing weakness, Hitler demanded even more!

13. 1938 further escalation
 Sep 22, 1938 Hitler meets with Chamberlin and
demands:
 German entrance to Sudetenland by October 1
 All Czech instillations left in tact
 Claims of Poland and Hungary against Czechoslovakia must be
met
 Czech refusal escalates likelihood of war

14. Munich Conference
 Mussolini, Chamberlin, and Edouard Daladier
(France Premier) invited by Hitler to Munich
 Conference held September 29-30
 Huge victory for Hitler
 Sacrifice Czechoslovakia in another attempt to avert war
 Germany annexes Sudetenland
 Teschen region to Poland
 Southern Slovakia and Ruthenia to Hungary

15. March 1939
 Hitler destroys Czechoslovakia
 Germany takes Bohemia and Moravia and Slovakia becomes
puppet state
 Chamberlin finally comes to senses
 Declares (with France) any aggression against Poland will lead
to war

16. April 1939
 Polish Crisis
 Hitler makes impossible demands on Poland
 Return of Danzig
 Access to East Prussia across Polish Corridor
 Better treatment of Germans in Poland
 Poor diplomacy by West
 Weak attempt to ally with Stalin
 No allowance of Soviet troops into Poland
 Soviet suspicions of West very high

17. August 23, 1939
 German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact
 Soviets to receive eastern Poland in return for
neutrality
 With threat of Soviets removed . . .

18. September 1,1939
 Hitler invades Poland
 Great Britain and France declare war on Germany