Explain Hitler's foreign policy aims and his expansionist actions in the 1930s up to 1938

What this dot point is asking

SEAB wants you to explain what Hitler wanted to achieve in foreign policy and how he tried to achieve it through a series of aggressive moves in the 1930s, up to 1938. You should be able to set out his three main aims (overturning the Treaty of Versailles, uniting all German-speaking people, and gaining "living space" in the east) and his actions in order (rearmament, remilitarising the Rhineland, the union with Austria, and the demand for the Sudetenland). The task is explanation: link Hitler's aims to his actions, and explain how this step-by-step expansion pushed Europe toward war.

The answer

Hitler's three main aims

Hitler's foreign policy was driven by three connected aims. First, he wanted to destroy the Treaty of Versailles, which he and most Germans hated as a humiliation. Second, he wanted to unite all German-speaking people into one Greater Germany (or Reich), including Germans living in Austria and Czechoslovakia, which meant changing the borders set in 1919. Third, he wanted to win Lebensraum, or "living space", for the German people by expanding eastward, into areas such as Poland and the Soviet Union, at the expense of the Slav peoples he despised. All three aims were aggressive, because they could only be achieved by breaking treaties and changing borders, often by force.

Rebuilding German strength: rearmament

Hitler's first step was to rebuild Germany's military power, which the Treaty of Versailles had strictly limited. He began to rearm Germany, at first secretly and then openly, building up the army, creating an air force (the Luftwaffe) and expanding the navy. In 1935 he announced rearmament publicly and reintroduced conscription, directly breaking the Versailles terms. Britain and France protested but did nothing effective. Britain even signed a naval agreement with Germany in 1935, accepting a larger German navy, which undermined the united front against Hitler.

Remilitarising the Rhineland, 1936

A key gamble came in 1936, when Hitler sent German troops into the Rhineland, the region bordering France that Versailles had ordered to be kept free of German forces. This was a bold and risky move, because the German army was still weak and had orders to retreat if France resisted. But France, lacking British support and unwilling to act, did nothing. Hitler had successfully reoccupied German territory and broken the treaty again without firing a shot. The success made him far more confident and convinced him that Britain and France would not stand up to him.

Union with Austria: the Anschluss, 1938

In March 1938 Hitler achieved the Anschluss, the union of Austria with Germany, which the Treaty of Versailles had specifically forbidden. Austria was a German-speaking country, and there was support there for union, which Hitler encouraged and exploited with pressure and the threat of force. German troops marched into Austria, and it became part of the Reich. This brought millions of German-speakers into Hitler's Germany and was another major step toward his aim of uniting all Germans, again with no effective opposition from Britain or France.

The Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia, 1938

Hitler next turned to Czechoslovakia. The Sudetenland was a border region of Czechoslovakia with a large German-speaking population. Hitler demanded that it be handed to Germany, claiming to be protecting these Germans, and threatened war if refused. This created the Czech crisis of 1938. Czechoslovakia was prepared to resist, but Britain and France, desperate to avoid war, pressured it to give way. At the Munich Conference in September 1938 they agreed that Hitler could take the Sudetenland. This was the high point of the policy of appeasement, and Hitler had gained another piece of territory through threat alone.

Examples in context

Example 1. The naval agreement of 1935. When Britain signed a naval agreement with Germany in 1935 allowing Germany a larger navy, it accepted a breach of Versailles and acted without consulting France. This showed that the powers could not even agree among themselves on how to respond to Hitler, and it gave Hitler an early signal that Britain might be willing to deal with him rather than resist, encouraging his later gambles.

Example 2. The Anschluss and self-determination. Hitler justified the union with Austria in 1938 by claiming he was simply letting German-speakers join Germany, an appeal to the idea of self-determination that Wilson had championed in 1919. This made it harder for Britain and France to object, since many Austrians did support union. It shows how Hitler cleverly used apparently reasonable arguments to disguise aggressive expansion.

Try this

Q1. What is meant by "Lebensraum"? [3 marks]

• Cue. "Living space": Hitler's aim of expanding Germany eastward into areas such as Poland and the Soviet Union to gain land and resources for the German people.

Q2. Explain why Hitler reintroduced conscription and rearmed Germany in 1935. [5 marks]

• Cue. He wanted to rebuild Germany's military strength, overturn the limits imposed by Versailles, and create the forces needed to pursue his aggressive aims of expansion.

Q3. "Hitler's foreign policy made war in Europe inevitable." How far do you agree? [8 marks]

• Cue. Argue his aggressive aims and actions pushed strongly toward war, but weigh the role of appeasement and the choices of Britain and France before judging whether war was truly inevitable.