Foreign Policy and war build-up

• Hitlers four main aims of foreign policy

  1. To undo the hated Treaty of Versailles.
  2. To unite all German speaking people into a Grossdeutschland (Greater Germany)
  3. To acquire Lebensraum (living space) to the East of Germany
  4. To destroy communism.
• Why Hitler wanted to undo the Treaty of Versailles

  Hitler blamed the treaty for much of Germany’s troubles since 1918
• Why Hitler wanted to unite German speaking people

  • This linked to his first aim of undoing the treaty of Versailles 
  • Many Germans had found themselves living outside of Germany after the territorial changes of the treaty, and of course Germany and Austria were forbidden from uniting
• Why Hitler wanted acquire Lebensraum

  Hitler believed the Aryan Germans were racially superior to the Slavs of Eastern Europe and should expand into their lands to accommodate a growing Aryan population.
• Why Hitler wanted to destroy communism

  Hitler detested the Soviet Union and its ideology and was determined to destroy it
• Hitler pursued the four aims of his foreign policy ruthlessly, and in doing so helped to bring about World War Two
• Response to : 1935 - Germany reintroduce conscription and begin re-arming

  Britain, France and Italy condemned the moves but did nothing to stop Hitler
• Response to : 1936 - Hitler remilitarised the Rhineland, from which German troops were banned under the Treaty of Versailles

  Britain and France again condemned the move but did nothing to stop Hitler, as they were distracted by a crisis between Italy and Abyssinia
• Response to : 1938 - Hitler united Germany and Austria in an event known as the Anschluss

  This time the Italian leader Mussolini approved of Hitler’s move
• Response to : 1938 - Hitler demanded that the German speaking part of Czechoslovakia, called the Sudetenland, be given to Germany

  • Britain, France and Italy arranged a series of conferences that ended with an agreement to allow Germany to annexe the Sudetenland, known as the Munich Agreement
  • This was part of the British and French policy of Appeasement (allowing things to happen to avoid another conflict or war)
  • However, neither the Czechs nor the Soviet Union were invited to take part
• Response to 1939 : Germany take over the rest of Czechoslovakia

  This was the end of the policy of Appeasement. Britain and France signed a treaty with Poland guaranteeing its independence
• Response to : 1939 -  Hitler signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact with the leader of the USSR , Joseph Stalin which included a secret agreement to divide Poland between the two countries


  • This pact made war virtually inevitable
  • This is because it meant the USSR would not oppose a German invasion of Poland, which Britain and France had promised to defend
• How Hitler caused war

  • Up until the end of 1938, every move of Hitler’s had been justified as helping to undo the injustice of the Treaty of Versailles
  • However, in 1939 Hitler went beyond simply undoing the treaty and began to expand Germany.
  • On 1 September 1939 Germany invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September, beginning World War Two