Foreign Policies of Hitler: Regional and Global Impact

1. Foreign Policies of Hitler: Regional and Global Impact

2. Hitler’s Foreign Policy • Once in power, Hitler implemented his mission of reviving German strength and establishing a foundation of a pure racial state • Acquiring territory or Lebensraum was closely tied to domestic policies • In order to achieve his goals, Hitler needed to create a sense of national community unified in mind, will, and spirit • This could only be achieved through total state control; every facet of cultural and social life had to be controlled

3. Hitler’s Foreign Policy • War was obviously a real possibility and the domestic policies were aimed at creating a nation ready and willing for war: • Reverse the Treaty of Versailles • Created a “Greater Germany” by uniting all German speaking people • Lebensraum (living space) for all German people

4. Hitler’s Foreign Policy – “Greater Germany” • Hitler wanted a single homeland for all German speaking people • After Versailles, millions of Germans were living in foreign countries • Versailles had also forbidden the union of Germany and Austria

5. Hitler’s Foreign Policy - Lebensraum • Hitler’s “Greater Germany” would have a population of over 85 million people which could not be fed inside her existing borders • Hitler intended to expand eastward towards Poland and Russia which contained “inferior” people • Social Darwinism dictated that Germany was entitled to take their land

6. Operation Barbarosa

7. Hitler’s Foreign Policy – Reversing Versailles • From 1933-1938: • (1933) Germany withdrew from the League of Nations to reduce possible foreign control over Germany • She began rapid rearmament • (1935) Announced that they had established an air force • (1936) Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland in violation of various treaties with no foreign opposition

8. Hitler’s Foreign Policy – Reversing Versailles • (1936) Hitler informed his top officials that Germany must be ready for war by 1940 • (1936-9) Germany fostered closer relations with fascist Italy and the two nations assisted General Franco in overthrowing Spain’s Republican government during the Spanish Civil War

9. Hitler’s Foreign Policy – Reversing Versailles • From 1938-1945: • Germany strengthened its ties to Fascist Italy and Japan by signing the Anti-Comintern Pact in which the nations pledged to defend each other against the Soviet Union and international communism • The Pact of Steel was signed with Italy • (1938) Hitler carried out the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria

10. Hitler’s Foreign Policy – Reversing Versailles • (1938) The Munich Agreement was signed which ceded the Sudetenland to Germany • Germany occupied the remainder of Czechoslovakia • Hitler made it seem like his demands could be met • (August 1939) The German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact was signed and Hitler could now attack Poland without Soviet intervention

11. Hitler’s Foreign Policy – Reversing Versailles • (Sept 1939) Hitler invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later

12. Hitler During the War • Invades: • Poland – Sept. 1, 1939 • Denmark and Norway – Apr. 9, 1939 • Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemberg, France – May 10, 1939 • Greece and Yugosloavia – Apr. 6, 1941 • USSR – Jun. 22, 1941

15. Hitler During the War • Wasn’t ready for war – with the invasion of Poland, he expected appeasement from Britain and France • Blitzkrieg was successful at first, but didn’t end up having enough tanks, trucks, planes, etc. • The economy wouldn’t be unified and converted to a wartime economy until 1942 • Wasted war materials on death/concentration camps • No central war planning by the military services – everything had to go through Hitler individually

16. Hitler During the War • Hitler didn’t stop the Dunkirk evacuation • Wanted to consolidate his position • As a result, 330,000 French and British troops were evacuated • Hitler stops the Battle of Britain • The intent was to destroy the British airforce so that a land invasion could take place • Also wanted to lower the morale of the British • He stops the Battle to divert attention to the invasion of the Soviet Union

17. Hitler During the War • Invasion of the USSR • Would make Britain desperate to surrender • Would destroy “Jewish-Bolshevism” • Would provide oil • Germany was overstretched and it ends in a disaster • D-Day Invasion • Thought that it was a diversionary attack, so he waited to send reinforcements

18. Hitler at the End • By early 1945, Hitler ordered that all military, transport, communication, industrial, and supply facilities are to be destroyed. The order included bridges, dams, and utilities • Speer (head of the economy) protested to Hitler that the resources to be destroyed would be needed for survival in the postwar period • Hitler believed that if the war is to be lost, the nation also will perish

19. Hitler at the End • He always laid fault to either his military generals, the troops, or Jews, but never himself • He established a Flying Special Tribunal to go immediately to places where German armies were defeated, to try soldiers of all ranks, and to carry out its judgments on the spot Defeated German soldiers in the USSR

20. Hitler at the End • Hitler wouldn’t surrender • The army came down to drafting 14-year old boys and even some 12-year olds • The militia came down to drafting 8-year olds as well as old men • They used anything they could find to fight