The Weight of History

German [[Foreign Policy]]

7 min read

3.09b Germany, 1918-1945, History EOY Recap

German Foreign Policy

Associations and primary goals

  1. Irredentism – “a policy of advocating the restoration to a country of any territory formerly belonging to it”
    • reclaiming lost land (Rhineland) → reclaimed national pride
  2. Lebensraum (living space) – requiring more space for all Germans to live
    • post-WWI border changes (advocated for mostly by ToV and Big Three) left Germans in other countries
  3. Pan-Germanism – ‘wider Germany’, bringing all Germans back into Germany
    • closely linked to Lebensraum
    • idea of ‘Greater Germany’
    • expansion of German territory (later resulted in 1938 Anschluss with Austria)
  4. Reversal of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles
    • Germany was disarmed by the ToV → hated it → rearmed in 1936 → reversed the Treaty of Versailles
    • Territorial losses because of the ToV → reclaimed territories (like Rhineland) → reversed ToV → literally slayed

Nazism

  • amalgamation of existing German beliefs
    • antisemitism – around since the beginning
    • lebensraum – since Kaiser times
    • social darwinism – since the 19th century (1800s)
  • main aspects:
    • lebensraum
    • antisemitism
    • social darwinism
    • creation of the greater German Reich
    • populism
    • hatred of the ToV, seeking to overturn it

Factors allowing Hitler to pursue more assertive foreign policy

  1. (internal) Germany emerged as an economic and military power from the late 1920s onward, despite the adverse effects of the Treaty of Versailles.
    • a vicious cycle repeats: economic strength → military strength → pursuing more aggressive, expansionist foreign policy unimpeded → Allied countries can’t/won’t stop Germany, results in Appeasement → emboldens Hitler further and makes him more aggressive
      • Allied countries were struggling to re-arm, with wildly inefficient and slow-moving fleets (cough Britain cough)
    • Britain sought to buy time for rearmament, which started in ==1937 under Chamberlain== as prime minister
    • Britain and France didn’t respond at all to the ==1938 Anschluss with Austria==
    • Britain, France and Italy practically gift-wrapped Czechoslovakia under the ==1938 Munich Agreement==
  2. Britain was sympathetic to many German demands (e.g. that all Germany should live in Germany)
    • sympathy, whether intentional or unintentional, to Nazi values
    • British neutrality – trying and failing miserably at playing peacekeeper to make everyone happy, including Hitler
    • felt the Treaty of Versailles was much too harsh
  3. Britain and France were divided on how to respond to German arms
    • France was vehemently against it, the memory of German attacks/invasions fresh in their minds (see: Rhineland)
    • Britain thought that it was time Germany re-armed and rejoined the international stage
  4. Few states willing to work with USSR diplomatically; they didn’t want to isolate Germany
    • everyone hated communism and the USSR
    • Germany was seen as a strong buffer between Russia and Western Europe → the West feared Hitler forming a partnership with Stalin → everyone sucked up to Hitler
  5. Italy’s relationship with Britain was damaged by the Abyssinian Crisis → prevented a united front (Stresse front) against Germany
    • Franco-British relations damaged → prevented a united front against Germany
    • threat of war against Italy caused UK and France to switch up to getting Germany on their side → Appeasement

Timeline

  • 1933: Hitler pulls Germany out of the League of Nations
  • 1934: Non-Aggression Pact with Poland
  • 1935: Military Rallies are held on an annual basis to generate public enthusiasm for re-armament
    • massaging radical and nationalist egos
    • a big middle finger to the military term of the ToV
    • basically soft-launching Germany’s re-armament
  • 1935 January: Saar Plebiscite
  • 1935 March: Hitler re-introduces conscription to the military
    • hard-launch of German re-armament
  • 1935 April: Stresa Pact between Italy, France and Britain against Nazi aggression is signed
  • 1935 June: Anglo-German Naval Agreemen is signed
  • 1935 December: Hoare-Laval Pact signed between Britain and France, gift-wrapping Abyssinia for Mussolini
  • 1936 March: Franco-Soviet Pact signed ^016f3a
    • destroyed the basis of the Locarno Pact
    • Hitler capitalized upon this to reoccupy Rhineland
  • 1936 November: Anti-Comintern Pact signed between Germany and Japan, directed ostensibly against the USSR
  • 1938 March: Anschluss with Austria, in which Germany annexes Austria and furthers Hitler’s goal of a greater Germany
  • 1938 September: Munich Agreement signed, gift-wrapping Czechoslovakia for Hitler
  • 1939 March: Invasion of Czechoslovakia, where Hitler occupies the country and demonstrates the resounding failure of appeasement
  • 1939 May: Pact of Steel with Italy signed, solidifying the Axis Powers
  • 1939 August: Nazi-Soviet Pact signed, ensuring neutrality between the two peers and including secret protocols for the division of Eastern Europe
  • 1939 September: Invasion of Poland on 1 September, starting World War II as Britain and France declare war on Germany

Incidents

1933: Hitler pulls Germany out of the League of Nations

  • this comes after the League’s final disarmament conference and a failed attempt to negotiate equality in armament regulations (stacked against Germany)
  • Hitler signals that he’s spurning international convention, shared beliefs and norms
  • beginning of the end of the Treaty of Versailles

1934: German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact

1934 German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact

1933-1945 Nazi Germany

  • 1925 June: German-Polish customs war (with a economic & political impact) started by the Weimar government raising customs duty on Polish goods
    • Poland obviously didn’t take this well → raised customs duty on German goods
  • a ten-year pact aimed at getting political concessions & territories from Poland
  • first major Nazi foreign policy achievement
    • aided in legitimacy by proving Hitler a great diplomat → legitimized his leadership
    • aided in international relations by suggesting Hitler was a pacifist
    • surprises other nations, but temporarily secures Germany’s eastern border
    • garnered British support + increased international suport for Hitler
      • a political play suggesting Hitler’s good intentions
Link to original

1935 January: Saar Plebiscite

  • context – Saarland was separated from Germany under the ToV and placed under LoN administration
  • Nazis attempted to sway the vote via intimidation
  • 90% voted for Saarland to rejoin Germany
  • significance – direct contradiction of ToV terms, first German expansion/annexation effort under the Nazis

1935 June: Anglo-German Naval Agreement

  • context – 1932 February: World Disarmament Conference
    • France sought to maintain Germany’s ToV-induced full disarmament
    • Germany disaagreed
    • Britain tried to reach a compromise
      • suggested Germany rearm, but only to an extent they couldn’t harm France
      • neither side agreed
    • Germany walked out of the conference → leaves the LoN in 1934
  • Hitler undermines the Stresa Pac by reaching a private deal with Britain about naval expansion
    • the total tonnage of the German navy was to be 35% of the British navy
    • the ToV soldier limit was raised to 15,000
    • NO submarines allowed (obviously this went out the window by World War II, given the Nazi use of U-boats)
  • the agreement was secretly negotiated
    • Germany wanted agreement to build an Anglo-German alliance against France and the USSR + prestige from British recognition of them as near-equals, by signing the pact
    • Britain wanted to:
      1. keep an eye on Germany and her advancement, the main competitor to British naval superiority
      2. keep Germany friendly + lure them away from the USSR + keep Germany as a buffer between communism and Western Europe
      3. agreement to limit German expansionism
      4. set up further arms limitation agreements
    • in short, Britain wanted to monitor German military growth
      • Britain was known for its navy, which safeguarded its empire
      • Britain essentially double-teamed everyone – they were ==complicit in the breaking of the ToV==
  • resulted in a strengthening of Anglo-German alliance
    • Britain was uncertain of Hitler’s long-term intentions → gave him the benefit of the doubt (not the best idea…)
    • Hitler got a huge diplomatic win via agreement with Britain → legitimized his abilities as diplomat

1936 March: Rhineland demilitarization & German response (the final nail in the coffin)

1936 March Rhineland demilitarization & German response (the final nail in the coffin)

1933-1939 Hitler’s foreign policy, 1933-1945 Nazi Germany, 5.02 The Move To Global War

Irredentism/Irridentist

Irridentism: a policy of advocating the restoration to a country of any territory formerly belonging to it

  • post-WWI, France feared a repeated German attack and demanded security
    • the Rhineland was identified as a demilitarized ‘buffer’ area that would give France assurance
  • by this time, the Treaty of Versailles was no longer upheld and nobody cared about it
    • obviously a German triumph
  • the Rhineland sits between Germany and France
    • Germany saw this buffer zone as a vulnerability and humiliation – France could invade Germany easily with little resistance, using the territory Germany lost
  • Hitler essentially gambled with sending troops in – and won his bluff
    • if it went badly → humiliation and loss of troop support
  • he justified this attack with the fact that the Franco-Soviet Pac had just been signed, meaning that Germany was under attack
    • LoN was too busy dealing with the Abyssinian Crisis to bother doing anything
      • they were too incompetent to multitask (cough Galatic Senate cough)
  • Britain did nothing
    • public opinion was that Hitler was merely walking into ‘his own back garden’
      • Germany complained about land → take back land → no complaints → lesser sources of tension & conflict → PEACE!!
        • (this is giving Senate incompetence during the Blockade of Naboo but ok go off Britain)
      • so, if UK let Germany take Rhineland → Germans pacified → more cooperative with the UK → ally & bulwark against communism!!
    • the UK worried more about France starting a conflict by remilitarizing Rhineland first
    • France could no longer threaten Germany with invasion
    • assured France that the British would aid any defense against unprovoked German invasion → essentially blessed Hitler’s re-taking of the Rhineland
  • France didn’t intervene, either
    • the French border hadn’t been violated → no proverbial leg to stand on regarding an invasion
    • little support in France and Britain in preventing Germany from taking back her own territory
    • French army, at this point, wasn’t ready for a conflict foreign incursions into their own territory
    • France was able to accept British assurances of aid in the event of any invasion
    • BUT! military spending increased as a response/result
  • OVERALL: a triumph for Hitler, and a major step in the policy of appeasement + official death of the ToV + positions Germany as an economic & military power
    • general sense in Europe of the return of German strength
    • marked the beginning of the end of the Treaty of Versailles → historically significant
      • showed that Hitler could break the Treaty’s terms with no consequence → emboldened Hitler in his expansionist conquest to come
Link to original

Source-Based Questions

Source J, Move to Global War textbook

Question

What, according to Source J (p.156), made the 1936 re-occupation of the Rhineland by Germany possible? (3m)

  • France’s ratification of the 1936 Franco-Soviet Pact destroyed the basis of the Locarno Pact
    • Hitler capitalized upon this and appealed to anti-Bolshevik sentiment in Britain and France
  • during re-militarization, Hitter assured his generals that he would withdraw forces at the first sign of anxiety → assuaged the generals’ and French fears + gaining military support
    • his generals actually didn’t agree with the Rhineland’s re-militarization; they feared French retribution against preventative action, and also an excuse to attack Germany
  • Hitler was confident that Britain and France wouldn’t take any action against German occupation of the Rhineland

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