How far was Hitler’s foreign policy to blame for the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939? 

HITLER’S FOREIGN POLICY AIMS

Hitler’s five key foreign policy aims were to:

1. Destroy the Treaty of Versailles by breaking disarmament clauses through reintroducing conscription and rebuilding the army, navy, and air force; he also aimed to remilitarize and refortify the Rhineland and regain lost territories.

2. Create a Greater Germany by uniting all German-speaking people within the Reich and expanding Germany’s borders to include Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia and Poland.

3. Destroy communism, which would likely bring Germany into direct conflict with the Soviet Union.

4. Acquire Lebensraum ("living space") in the east, at the expense of Poland and the USSR, to provide land for cultivation and recreation.

5. Build a Central European Empire, ultimately making Germany the dominant power in Europe, if not the world.

- In 1933, Hitler withdrew from the Disarmament Conference and stopped paying reparations, which was his first direct challenge to the Treaty of Versailles; at the same time, Germany began secretly rearming.

- In 1934, Hitler signed a 10-year Non-Aggression Pact with Poland to reduce the threat of war on Germany’s eastern border in case he decided to act against Austria or Czechoslovakia.

The Saar plebiscite of 1935, held under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, resulted in over 90% voting for reunification with Germany, allowing Hitler to regain territory through legal and peaceful means.

After March 1935, German rearmament escalated with the reintroduction of conscription, a direct violation of Versailles. Hitler announced plans for an army of 36 divisions and the creation of a military air force.

The Allied response to rearmament was the formation of the Stresa Front (Britain, France, and Italy). Despite condemnation, Hitler faced no real punishment. In response, France and the Soviet Union, followed by Czechoslovakia, signed mutual assistance pacts—agreements to support one another in case of attack.

The Stresa Front was a united stand made in 1935 by Britain, France, and Italy against Hitler’s violations of the disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. The alliance issued a strongly worded protest, but it was quickly undermined when Britain independently negotiated the Anglo-German Naval Agreement in June 1935.

The Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935 allowed Germany to build a navy up to 35% the size of Britain’s surface fleet, and 45% in submarines. This pact effectively legalised German naval rearmament and was signed without consulting France or Italy. The agreement gave the impression that nations were pursuing self-interested foreign policies, encouraging leaders like Mussolini to apply similar principles in expanding Italy’s colonial ambitions.

REMILITARISATION OF THE RHINELAND (MARCH 1936)

The Treaty of Versailles declared the Rhineland a demilitarized zone, also authorizing an Allied army of occupation on the west bank of the Rhine for 15 years. However, the Allies withdrew 5 years early.

For Germany, the demilitarized Rhineland was a symbol of humiliation and strategic weakness, as it theoretically allowed Western forces to invade with ease, as seen in the French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923.

Hitler moved troops into the Rhineland in March 1936, directly violating the Treaty of Versailles. This was a major gamble for Hitler because Germany only had two divisions of troops, facing the theoretical threat of 200 Allied divisions in response.

Hitler was able to get away with the remilitarization unpunished for three main reasons:

1.  Neither Britain nor France wanted war over this issue.

2.  The Rhineland was widely seen as German territory, and leaders in both countries believed it was unwise to risk European peace over whether German troops could occupy their own land.

3.  France was in the midst of a financial crisis and had national elections in six weeks, making military action unlikely.

SPANISH CIVIL WAR (JULY 1936 TO APRIL 1939)

The Spanish Civil War began when General Franco led a right-wing nationalist revolt against the democratically elected Republican government of the Popular Front, which included socialists, communists, anarchists, and syndicalists. Franco’s forces were supported by the Falange, Spain’s fascist party founded in 1933.

Britain and France chose not to intervene in the Spanish Civil War, pursuing a policy of non-intervention to avoid becoming entangled in the ideological conflict.

The war turned Spain into a battleground for rival ideologies, attracting thousands of foreign volunteers who came to fight fascism. After 30 months of brutal conflict and around 750,000 deaths, Franco’s nationalist forces were victorious, and he established a fascist-style dictatorship in Spain.