International relations in 1919: Hitler's foreign policy

Question 1

What were Hitler’s aims? (3)

Answer 1

• abolish the Treaty of Versailles
• expand German territory
• defeat Communism

Question 2

What were Hitler’s foreign policies? (6)

Answer 2

Rearmament, the Saar plebiscite, remilitarisation of the Rhineland, the Spanish Civil War, Anschluss with Austria, the Sudetenland

Question 3

How did Hitler rearm Germany?

Answer 3

• started when Hitler came to power in 1933
• drafted the unemployed into the army, reduced unemployment
• built aeroplanes, submarines, and tanks, expanded the army from 100,000 to 600,000 men
• reduced conscription at a military rally in 1935
• boosted Nazi support
• Britain sympathised; they believed the limits on the army were too harsh
• signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement with Britain in 1935, allowing Germany to increase its navy to up to 35% of the size of the British navy

Question 4

What was the Saar plebiscite?

Answer 4

• took place in 1935, the promised plebiscite
• Saarland population was a mixture of French and German citizens
• Joseph Goebbels made a massive campaign to persuade citizens to vote for the Reich
• 90% voted to return to German rule
• boosted Hitler’s confidence

Question 5

What was the remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 5

• March 1936
• moved 20,000 troops into the Rhineland, with orders to retreat at the first sign of resistance
• huge gamble, if he was forced to withdraw, he would have faced humiliation and lost the support of the German army
• well-timed because France and the USSR had just signed a treaty to protect each other against attack from Germany, Hitler argued that Germany was under threat and should be allowed to place troops on his own frontier
• British sympathised
• German army was no match for the French army, lacked essential equipment and air support
• the League was focused on the Abyssinian crisis, only condemned his actions
• France refused to act without British support

Question 6

What happened during the Spanish Civil War?

Answer 6

• 1936, civil war between Republicans and right wing rebels under General Franco
• USSR supported Republican Government
• Britain and France refused to intervene directly
• Hitler and Mussolini declared their support for General Franco, and agreed not to intervene but blatantly did so
• Mussolini sent thousands of troops, ‘volunteers’
• Germany sent aircraft and pilots who took part in most of the major campaigns of the war, including bombing raids on civilian populations
• also supplied tanks, heavy weaponry, military advice, and tactics
• Hitler used the chance to try out his new Luftwaffe (air force) and develop the Blitzkrieg tactics that would be used in future conflicts
• Hitler wanted resources from Spain and an alliance with Franco, which he didn’t get
• he did get the chance to fight the Communists and test his new weapons and tactics, and the civil war strengthened the bonds between Mussolini and Hitler and boosted his confidence

Question 7

What was Lebensraum?

Answer 7

• Hitler was worried ‘inferior’ Slavs would outnumber the Aryans
• he aimed to expand into Russia, Poland, and Eastern Europe to gain more living space and allow the Germanic race to multiply and spread

Question 8

What was the Rome-Berlin Axis alliance?

Answer 8

• Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1936 to oppose communism
• Italy signed in 1937, and it came to be known as the Rome-Berlin Axis alliance

Question 9

What was the Anschluss with Austria?

Answer 9

• Mussolini had stopped Hitler when he tried to take over Austria in 1934, but they were now allies
• in 1938, Hitler convinced the Nazi Party in Austria to stir up trouble for the Government and demand union with Germany
• Hitler told the Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg that Anschluss was the only solution
• Schuschnigg called a plebiscite in Austria
• Hitler sent troops to Austria in March 1938 to ‘guarantee a trouble-free plebiscite’
• 99.75% voted for Anschluss
• Hitler gained Austria’s soldiers, weapons, gold and iron ore, and it boosted his confidence

Question 10

What happened in the Sudetenland, and what were the consequences?

Answer 10

• in April 1938, Hitler stirred up the Germans, whom he claimed were being oppressed by the Czech government
• rumours spread that the Czechs were mistreating German-speaking people in Sudetenland
• Hitler threatened Czech with invasion, and demanded control of the Sudetenland
• Hitler then backed down, and the British tried to negotiate a settlement between the Czech government and the Sudeten Germans
• when the Czechs made concessions, Hitler made the Sudeten leaders make higher demands
• in September 1938, Chamberlain flew to meet Hitler on 15 September
• Hitler said he only wanted parts of the Sudetenland, and only if a plebiscite showed Sudeten Germans wanted to join Germany
• France and Britain planned to give him what he wanted
• 3 days later, Hitler increased his demands, saying he wanted all of the Sudetenland
• Mussolini joined, and Britain, Germany, France, and Italy met on 29 September
• they decided to give Hitler what he wanted, without consulting Czechoslovakia or the USSR
• this was known as the Munich Agreement

Question 11

Was appeasement justified? (3J, 3NJ)

Answer 11

Justified:
- Britain was alone, the League was almost dead, and France was weak
- the British army was in no state to fight, appeasement gave them time to rearm at a 4x rate
- Germany could act as a buffer against Communism, which was considered a bigger worry than Nazism
Not justified:
- made Hitler more confident because he broke the Treaty unopposed
- it was cowardly and unethical, like the sacrifice of the Czechs
- angered Stalin, who signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

Question 12

What happened as a consequence of the Munich Agreement?

Answer 12

• 15 March, 1939
• Germany took over the rest of Czechoslovakia
• Britain and France said they’d declare war if he invaded Poland, but Hitler didn’t believe them

Question 13

What was the Nazi-Soviet Pact?

Answer 13

• Stalin feared the threat of Germany to the Soviet Union
• he signed a treaty with France that they would help the USSR if Germany invaded, but didn’t think they would stick to it
• after the Munich Agreement, Stalin wasn’t consulted, and he concluded France and Britain were powerless to stop Hitler, and were happy to let him take over Eastern Europe and the USSR
• signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact on 23 August 1939
• agreed not to attack each other and privately agreed to divide Poland between them
• Hitler gained half of Poland and ensured he would not face a war with the USSR if he invaded Poland
• Stalin gained territory that was once part of Russia, and time to build up forces against Hitler
• Hitler invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, and France and Britain declared war on 3 September 1939