hitler's foreign policy

Answer: Hitler was able to remilitarise the Rhineland because: France was in political crisis and would not act without British support; Britain believed Germany was "only going into its own back garden"; Britain was distracted by the Abyssinian crisis; the League of Nations was discredited; and Hitler offered "peace proposals" to appear reasonable. Hitler himself admitted that if France had marched, Germany would have had to withdraw.

Answer: Hitler was able to remilitarise the Rhineland because: France was in political crisis and would not act without British support; Britain believed Germany was "only going into its own back garden"; Britain was distracted by the Abyssinian crisis; the League of Nations was discredited; and Hitler offered "peace proposals" to appear reasonable. Hitler himself admitted that if France had marched, Germany would have had to withdraw.

Answer: Appeasement was crucial in allowing Hitler's successes. At each stage - Rhineland (1936), Anschluss (1938), Sudetenland (1938) - Britain and France chose not to resist. This encouraged Hitler to make bolder demands, knowing opposition would be minimal. However, other factors were also important: the League of Nations was too weak to act; France was politically unstable; Britain was militarily unprepared; public opinion was anti-war; and the Depression made nations focus on domestic problems. Appeasement was the most immediate factor but it operated within a context of broader weakness.

Answer: The Munich Agreement was a mistake because: it gave Hitler the Sudetenland without a fight, making him stronger; Czechoslovakia lost its defensive fortifications and was left defenceless; it proved Hitler could not be trusted - within 6 months he had seized the rest of Czechoslovakia; it encouraged Hitler to make further demands (Poland); and it undermined the credibility of Britain and France. However, at the time, some arguments favoured Munich: it avoided a war Britain was not prepared for; it gave Britain time to rearm; and many believed self-determination for Sudeten Germans was justified. With hindsight, Munich was clearly a mistake, but the alternatives were limited.

Answer: Hitler achieved Anschluss through a combination of pressure and calculation: he built a relationship with Mussolini (Rome-Berlin Axis 1936) so Italy would not oppose it; he pressured Chancellor Schuschnigg to appoint the Nazi Seyss-Inquart; he demanded Schuschnigg's resignation when Schuschnigg called a plebiscite; Seyss-Inquart "invited" German troops in; and a rigged plebiscite provided a veneer of legitimacy. Britain and France did not act because they saw Anschluss as self-determination and were not prepared for war.

Answer: Hitler's foreign policy was a major cause of WWII because he deliberately set out to destroy the Versailles settlement, unite all Germans, and conquer Lebensraum. Each move - Rhineland, Anschluss, Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, Poland - escalated towards war. However, other factors contributed: the Treaty of Versailles created grievances that Hitler exploited; the League of Nations was too weak to stop aggression; the policy of appeasement encouraged Hitler by showing he could act without consequences; the failure of collective security meant there was no effective international response; and the Nazi-Soviet Pact gave Hitler the confidence to invade Poland. Hitler's foreign policy was the proximate cause but it succeeded because of the failures of others.