Question: What role did Germany play in the factors that led to World War 2?
To avoid an overly long article, this question will be answered in two posts:
Firstly, Nazi Germany’s aggressive expansionist policies from 1933-1939.
Secondly, the various incidents Nazi Germany was involved in up to the outbreak of WW2, which is defined as the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939.
This post will cover the first point on Nazi Germany’s foreign policies.
Picture Germany in 1933 with virtually… nothing. Crippling poverty and unemployment due to the Great Depression (1930), civil unrest and dissatisfaction towards the then government, the Weimar Republic. With this image in mind, it’s easy to see why Hitler and the Nazi Party were able to quickly rise to power and form the Nazi Regime. Their extremist views and promises gained them mass popular support.
However, unlike many politicians, Hitler actually carried out on his promises to the German people. Here are his three main foreign policies that he delivered on;
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Build a Third Reich
Before WW1 and the Weimar Republic, Germany was a monarchy. This means she was ruled by a King / Ruler who acted as dictator over the country. During this era, known as the Second Reich, the German Empire experienced great wealth and prosperity during that time, emerging as the greatest naval power and the second greatest military power, second only to Britain.
Hitler would repeatedly refer to a Third Reich as his way of saying ‘Make Germany Great Again!’ He wanted Germany to reclaim the respect and dignity it once had when it was a great empire.
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Tear the Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles, signed in the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 after World War 1, heavily punished Germany. Heavily.
Some of the penalties Germany had to pay included;
- Loss of essential land ownership such as Austria, Saar, Poland, the Rhineland and African colonies (take note of these countries, will be explained more in the second post!!)
- Demilitarisation, stopping military conscription, lowering Germany’s naval and military power
- Reparations of 6 million pounds
- Article 231, known as the War Guilt Clause, claiming Germany accepted full responsibility for WW1
In essence, Germany suffered heavily from the Treaty of Versailles, not just in material land and resources but also its pride due to the signing of Article 231. Throughout the early years of his rule, Hitler would set about tearing the Treaty of Versailles systematically first by reintroducing remilitarisation and then reclaiming all the land Germany had lost from the Treaty (more in the next post!)
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Lebensraum
Lebensraum when translated from Germany means ‘living space’. Hitler placed immense emphasis on the Aryan race (the pureblood German race) and on bringing all of the Aryan Race together - reuniting the German Empire in a way. He therefore sought ways to expand land and resources to accomodate the expected increase in human population, by looking for opportunities for foreign expansion. (again, more in the next post!)
Conclusion
Looking at the three main expansionist policies Hitler carried out during his rule, it is clear that Hitler had an aggressive foreign policy that was only headed towards War, and would inevitably culminate in WW2.
Possible Counters:
Hitler only felt emboldened to carry out such an aggressive expansionist policy due to the weak responses from the Western Powers, such as the failure of the League of Nations and Appeasement (explained in next post).
(small tangent into historiography here): the traditional school of thought holds Hitler responsible for WW2 since the Nuremberg trials. However, APJ Taylor’s controversial 1961 book ‘The Origins of the Second World War’ proposes the revisionist view that it was Britain and France whose sympathy towards Germany and Appeasement policy resulted in it. You can argue either way!
Stay tuned for the second post on the various incidents Nazi Germany was involved in up to the outbreak of WW2.
Author: belll
