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HIST2125 Hitler’s Germany

HIST2125 Hitler’s Germany. Lecture 12: Revisionist and high-risk foreign politics , 1933-36 12 November 2012. Foreign policy 4-phase-model. Revisionist and high-risk foreign politics , 1933-36 Expansionist foreign politics, 1938/39 Blitz Wars and ideological warfare, 1939-42

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HIST2125 Hitler’s Germany

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  1. HIST2125Hitler’s Germany Lecture 12: Revisionist and high-risk foreign politics, 1933-36 12 November 2012

  2. Foreign policy 4-phase-model • Revisionist and high-risk foreign politics, 1933-36 • Expansionist foreign politics, 1938/39 • Blitz Wars and ideological warfare, 1939-42 • Total War and downfall, 1943-45

  3. Hitler’s foreign policy goals Mein Kampf(My Struggle): • Reversal of Versailles Treaty • Creation of Greater Reich of all German-speaking people • Conquest of ‘Lebensraum’ (living space) in Eastern Europe • Establishment of new European political order dominated by ‘Germanic race’

  4. League of Nations ☻ Germany’s withdrawal, 14 Oct 1933: • Hitler as chief initiator and in full agreement with leading German diplomats, army leadership, industrialists, conservative-revisionist forces • Popular move to end Weimar Republic’s peaceful revisionist policy • Necessary step after launching Germany’s rearmament program

  5. Poland ☺ Rapprochement, 1933/34: • Hitler’s surprising move vs. foreign-policy makers & his dominant role → Consequence of G’s withdrawal from League of Nations → PL (Marshall Pilsudski) isolated after France’s non-interest in joint preventive war vs. G ► German-Polish Non-Aggression Treaty, 26 Jan 1934 = Undermined F’s containment policy with CEE states vs. G = Ended German-Polish trading war ► Great sympathies of PL for Hitler ► Pilsudski underestimation of Hitler

  6. Soviet Union ☻ Negative ‘mirror image’ to Poland: • NS anti-Communist propaganda • ‘Natural antagonism’ between National- Socialist Germany and Communist- Bolshevist SU • Hitler’s dominant role having long-term options in mind

  7. Great Britain ☺ Bilateral Naval Treaty, 1935: • Hitler’s dominant interest & influence → Conservative Foreign Minister von Neurath not involved • German navy 35% + U-boat 45% of GB’s tonnage = Hitler: Step towards full alliance with GB = GB: Mainly concerned with Asia & acting without consultation with her French ally

  8. German Rhineland☺☻ Germany’s occupation of demilitarised zone: • Hitler inspired by Mussolini’s Ethiopian campaign (1935/6) • Popular foreign policy success • No interventionby GB + F: Self-blockade = F only read to act with GB – GB positive to occupation & sceptical vs. F = Versailles (1919) & Locarno Treaties (1925) violated = Hitler emboldened

  9. Italy ☺ Germany’s most important alliance partner: • Close ideological ties shaken following Mussolini’s support for independent Austria, 1934 • Improved relations following after Germany’s support for Italy’s Ethiopian campaign, 1936 • Joint support for & cooperation with Fascist Franco during Spanish civil war, 1936 → Berlin-Rome Axis, Oct 1936 …

  10. Berlin-Rome Axis, Oct 1936 German-Italian agreement on: • Germany’s support for Italy’s occupations in Africa • Joint support & official recognition of Franco’s Fascist counter-government in Spain • Mutual promise of fight against ‘Bolshevism’ (SU)

  11. Japan☺ Germany’s second most important alliance partner: • Japan’s initiative for joint Anti-SU + Anti-Comintern (Communist International)front • ► Anti-Comintern Pact, 25 Nov 1936 (+ I, 1937) • Hitler’s initiative for secret supplementary agreement on joint anti-SU policy = But: Factual break of ACP by ‘Hitler-Stalin Pact’ (1939)

  12. Foreign views on Hitler’s Germany, 1933-36 • Poland: Positive: underestimation • Czechoslovakia: Negative • GB: Positive & disinterested • USA: Hitler compared with Roosevelt: disinterest + NS seen as European factor only • F: Hitler seen as strong politician: defensive attitude • NL / B / CH: Positive & disinterested

  13. Western powers’ main reasons • East Asian crisis (Japan) + Indian independence movement (Ghandi) • SU ideological confrontation (Comintern) • Domestic economic & social challenges • Feeling-of-guilt (Versailles Treaty)

  14. Conclusion • Germany’s foreign policy restrictions abolished • Much improved foreign political standing • Good precondition for strongly expansionist policy • Western democracies without counter-actions &in defence

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