Hitler's Role in Shaping Foreign Policy

• Hitler sought Lebensraum and wanted to overturn the Treaty of Versailles. In order to achieve this, he expanded the German military and annexed Austria and the whole of Czechoslovakia prior to the invasion of Poland. His vision was of a huge, 'racially pure' German state at the heart of Europe, supported by satellite states whose populations were enslaved.
• Hitler was personally instrumental in pushing foreign and economic policy in a more aggressive direction. For example, it was Hitler's decision to redirect economic policy from 1936 towards preparing for a large-scale war. Additionally, in 1936 he went ahead with the remilitarisation of the Rhineland, breaching the Treaty of Versailles, against the advice of his generals.
• In 1938, Hitler and Goering were behind the decision to push forward with the annexation of Austria. Hitler also steered his military generals towards preparation for a major European war from 1938, and purged any generals who opposed him during the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair. Hitler was central to events in Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939, as well as the decision to invade Poland in 1939, which, unlike the majority of his foreign policy decisions, wasn't initially popular with German people.
• The Nazi 25 Points programme published in 1920, demanded the abolition of the Treaty of Versailles and land for Germany to colonise.
• Mein Kampf (1925) set out Hitler's vision to create Lebensraum in Eastern Europe.
• Hitler's Second Book, written in 1928 and published after his death, set out his 'Stufenplan', a stage-by-stage programme aimed to make Germany the world's dominant power.
• The Four Year Plan was introduced in 1936 in order to get Germany ready for war in the early 1940s.
• The Hossbach Memorandum, a record of Hitler's discussion with senior generals which took place in 1937, set out Hitler's vision for Anschluss and the destruction of Czechoslovakia by 1945.
• It can be seen that Hitler improvised foreign policy. For example, Hitler was unsure how Britain and France would respond to the remilitarisation of the Rhineland, but after they accepted it, Hitler's foreign policy became bolder.
• It could be suggested that Hitler's main goal during the 1930s was to avoid war. This can be seen with Hitler's attempt to find excuses to justify expansion into Czechoslovakia and Poland and his willingness to sign treaties with Britain, France and the USSR.