Hitlers Foreign Policy 193639

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Hitlers Foreign Policy1936-39

• The Anschluss

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Anschluss union of Germany and Austria

• Since coming to power, the Nazis had financed
  and encouraged the Austrian Nazi Party
• Campaign of intimidation and terror carried out,
  Englebert Dollfuss, Chancellor of Austria had to
  suppress party

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Assassination

• Nazis assassinated Dolfuss in 1934 as part of an
  attempted coup détat to force the union

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Italian Response

• International alarm was widespread.
• Mussolini, who had no desire for a common
  frontier with Hitler, sent 100,000 troops to
  Italys border with Austria
• Hitler taken aback by the reaction, forced to
  disown the attempt to join Austria/Germany

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Italian Response

• Mussolini was aware that South Tyrol, which they
  had gained after ww1 from Austria had a
  substantial German minority
• Feared that Germans would use Austria as a base
  to undermine Italys influence in the Balkans

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Background to Hitlers policy towards Austria

• Hitlers success in re-militarising the Rhineland
  in March 1936 had strengthened Germanys position
  in Europe
• Germany was now less vulnerable to attack and was
  in a position to influence diplomatic affairs,
  rather than just being the victim of what other
  nations decided (Versailles)
• This new confidence became evident in several
  tactical steps that Germany took

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Austro- German Agreement in 1936

• Germany again recognised Austrian independence
• Both powers agreed not to interfere in each
  others internal affairs

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Austro- German Agreement in 1936

• Austria would conduct her foreign policy in line
  with her being a German state
• Result it increased Germanys influence over
  Austria
• Secret clauses prominent Nazis were to have a
  share in political responsibility

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Events prior to Anschluss

• July 1936 Spanish Civil War started. Germany
  offered limited but important military support to
  help the Fascist rebels under General Franco

• Nov 1936 Germany and Italy signed an agreement
  known as the Rome-Berlin axis, agreed to share a
  common foreign policy
• Austria preserved for the time being

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Events prior to Anschluss

• However only a year later in November 1937,
  Mussolini ( after a tour of Germany where he had
  been impressed by the organisation and strength
  of the Nazi state) stated that he was no longer
  interested in preserving Austrias independence

This British cartoon from 1938 shows Hitler as a
poacher, stealing Austria. Mussolini is shown
as a bad game-keeper. I never heard a shot,
Adolf, he is saying.
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(No Transcript)
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Events prior to Anschluss

• In January 1937 Hitler made a speech, the time
  for so called surprises has ended no major
  events took place this year

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Hossbach Conference 5th Nov 1937

• Memo from this meeting fell into allied hands
  after the war
• This has provided material for the argument over
  whether Hitler was following a programme of
  conquest or was he merely seizing chances
  presented to him

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The Hossbach Memorandum

• Meeting between Hitler, his foreign and war
  ministers and chiefs of Army,Navy and Air Force
• Colonel Hossbach took notes of the meeting.Hitler
  gave a review of Germanys future foreign policy
  aims including opportunities in Austria (otto),
  Czechoslovakia(green) and Poland(white)
• He called these cases and gave them names .

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The Hossbach Memorandum

• Germany must be ready for war by 1938 and at the
  latest by 1943-45 or the other powers would catch
  up in the arms race
• Germany would always be faced by two
  hate-inspired antagonists, Britain and France

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The Hossbach Memorandum

• The aim of German policy was to secure and
  preserve the racial community and to enlarge it.
  It was therefore a matter of space

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Historiography on Memo

• Many historians who believe that Hitler planned
  for war, accept the idea of the memorandum was
  evidence that the Nazis had sought war as a
  matter of policy

Hitler accepts the ovation of the Reichstag after
announcing the 'peaceful' acquisition of Austria,
1938/03
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Historiography on Memo

• In Origins of the Second World War AJP Taylor
  dismissed the Hossbach evidence.
• He argues that the meeting was held to convince
  military and financial experts used by the Nazis
  of the need to continue with the expansive
  rearmament programme