Hitler’s Foreign Policy

To abolish the diktat and pursue self-determination

• Hitler’s justified his aggressive foreign policy with the unfair treatment Germany had received in the Paris Peace Conference. He argued that a ‘diktat’ (meaning dictated peace) had been imposed on their already weakened nation. Germany was stripped of land, splitting up the German-speaking people, given reparations that they were in no position to pay, and forced to sign the War Guilt Clause, even though they argued that all countries involved had a role in causing the War.

• Hitler was angered by the fact that the other defeated nations were given comparatively small sums of reparations to pay, whilst Germany had to pay hefty reparations of £6.6 billion.

• After coming to power, Hitler campaigned for one of Wilson’s 14 Points,which promised self-determination for all nations, even the defeated nations of the First World War, like Germany. As a result, in the coming years, he took back land that Germany had been forced to concede. 

• Some key events include the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland, the Anschluss with Austria, the annexation of the Sudetenland (and also the whole of Czechoslovakia). This is because Hitler believed the treaty of Versailles was unjust, by the fact that ethnic German speakers that lived in the Sudetenland and in the Polish corridor and other regions were not allowed to be united with the German motherland.

To unite all German-speaking people

• To achieve this, Hitler forced the Anschluss with Austria, annexed Czechoslovakia and remilitarised the Rhineland, taking control of territories with German speaking populations.

• For example, in September 1938, Hitler was demanding that the Sudetenland, who of the population, 50% (around 3 million) were Germans who claimed they were being oppressed and mistreated by the Czechs, was handed over to Germany. In the end, Hitler negotiated to receive the whole Sudetenland, following brief conflict, but a few months later, he occupied the whole of Czechoslovakia. 

• Regarding the Anschluss with Austria, Hitler, who was Austrian, said as a personal note: "I, myself, as Führer and Chancellor, will be happy to walk on the soil of the country that is my home as a free German citizen.”

• Hitler was successful in achieving his aim of uniting all German speaking people. Regions with high German populations were incorporated into Germany, whilst German-speaking Austria was also incorporated through the Anschluss.

To check the spread of communism

• Hitler aimed to check the spread of communism, as he was anti-communist. This was indicated in Mein Kampf and Hitler actually believed that the Jews were responsible for communism. 

• He wanted to expand into the USSR and defeat communism once and for all, however, he did not initially believe that the German Army was powerful enough to face the Red Army so he signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact to gain time and continue developing the German Military before attacking the Soviet Union. 

• However, once he did engage in conflict with the Soviets, it was clear that the USSR had also been taking time to develop themselves, and that Hitler had seriously underestimated the might of the communists. This was one of the significant factors which led to the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany.

To expand to the east for Lebensraum

• Hitler and the Nazis wanted to expand to the east for lebensraum as the population density of Germany had increased to more than double that of France and Britain. They believed that for a better quality of life (which he believed Germans had the right to, especially as the elite race) they needed to expand the German Reich.

• Due to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had been looked down upon as a weak country, especially after their military was reduced to 100,000. Hitler believed that if Germany was to prosper again — with a stronger military and becoming self- sufficient of food and supplies — it would need to recover the land lost through a strong and effective military which would improve Germany's national pride. 

• The Nazis also believed that in addition to expanding the German motherland to the east for Lebensraum, they had the right to have overseas colonies and rule over who they saw as subhumans in Africa.