Nazi Foreign Policy - Essay Example

Introduction Nazi refers to the ideology of the National Socialist party of Germany, which took power and ruled Germany from 1933 under the leadership of Adolf Hitler until the end of World War II (Poole 130). The party gained political power and ruled Germany, removing all forms of opposition to ensure the establishment of dictatorial government with full control of all political, social and economic activities. Nazism is therefore, a type of socialism characterized by racism, expansionism as well as obedience to one leader with full authority over the people. This essay will describe Nazi foreign policy and the steps taken towards its implementation from 1933-1945. Nazi foreign policy The major aspects of the foreign policy of Nazi according to Poole (130) related to the long-term strategies of the party that included the abolition of all restrictions placed on Germany by the treaty of Versailles, the re-armament of Germany to ensure enough strength for expanding the country through the acquisition of other territories and uniting all people speaking German language into one country to establish a big and strong country. In addition, Nazi aimed at promoting its ideology championed by Aryan superiority, anti-Judaism and anti-communism, pro-fascist as well as commercial dynamism (Poole 130). Adolf Hitler realized that the implementation of his policy required war. In 1933, upon his appointment as the chancellor, he became the driving power for peace settlement and the expansion of the German economic and political power in the European region. The end of World War I led to the establishment of the League of Nations as a tool for international peace, cohesion and moderation. The League of Nations top agenda was to ensure absence of violation of the territorial integrity of any country and prevent any other war through peaceful settlement of conflicts (Charles Sturt University 2). The United States, Britain and France were the major architects of international order and their policies opposed those of the Nazi through the League of Nations. In 1933, both Germany and Japan, who were after implementing their Nazi policies, withdrew from the league. This is because; the League of Nations was acting in opposition to their policies. The following year, 1934, Germany signed two agreements with Poland; trade agreement and non-aggression pact. This incorporated the agreement to settle disputes through negotiation, the end of all disputes regarding the border and non-aggression in the next ten years (Charles Sturt University 2). However, this was not a peaceful dealing but only meant to stabilize Germany to allow Hitler to continue with the re-armament exercise and the other foreign policies of Nazi. After five years, Germany was going to violate all the terms of the treaty and attack Poland. The Versailles treaty had given the control of the coal rich region of Saar to France for around fifteen years. However, in 1935, Saar rejoined Germany through a well observed and independent vote. Germany therefore, gained the control of Saar that had a small population but the most rich coal bowl in the region (Charles Sturt University 3). This greatly, strengthened the country since some of the chemical production and weapon industries of Germany had been in Saar right from 1870s. Hitler and the German delegates realized that their suggestion would be rejected and used that as an excuse for pulling out. Hitler made a plan of expanding the German army to three hundred thousand and the air-force to have at least one thousand war planes (Charles Sturt University 3). In March the same year, Hitler announced the Nazi military status of Germany that violated all terms contained in the Versailles agreement (Charles Sturt University 3). The German army had reached three thousand and the air-force had two thousand five hundred war planes. In addition, Hitler announced a new target of an army of more than five hundred thousand men. The Versailles treaty had placed a limit on the Germany’s navy to a maximum of six warships that exceeds ten thousand tons and prohibited submarines. However, this was going to inhibit the implementation of Nazi foreign policies and Adolf Hitler wanted a stronger navy that could challenge that of Britain. This led to a naval agreement between Britain and Germany in June 1935. According to the agreement, Germany was to have submarines of equal tonnage as Britain and a navy tonnage of a third that of the British navy surface taskforce (Charles Sturt University 3). In 1935, Benito Mussolini of Italy invaded Ethiopia in the Northern part of Africa to expand Italy’s economic resources. This move demonstrated the strength of Italy, fascism and the weakness of the League of Nations in maintaining world peace (Charles Sturt University 3). This also prompted Adolf Hitler to begin the implementation of the first phase of his expansionist program. He aimed at acquiring more territories, economic resources and demonstrating the strength of Germany under the Nazi leadership. In addition, during the Spanish civil war that started in July 1936, the Nazism powers, Germany and Italy, showed high support on the fascist revolutionaries while the Soviet Union was for the Republican leadership (Charles Sturt University 3). This demonstrated the great conflict between the two ideologies. The major objective of the Nazi leadership in Germany was to make the country the most powerful in the European continent. This meant that Germany had to become stronger than Britain, France and the Soviet Union. This prompted Germany to establish alliances with Italy and Japan (Charles Sturt University 3). The agreement between Germany and Japan specifically, aimed at opposing communism. As a result, Japan engaged in war against China in 1937 and by 1938 it had conquered most Eastern parts of China which, was the implementation of the German Nazi policy of expansionism. Another key element of the foreign policy of Adolf Hitler was the political merger between Germany and Austria. Despite the abolition of the union by the Versailles treaty and the fact that Austria was a member of the League of Nations, Hitler wanted to revive the union. He therefore, influenced civil war in Austria and drove German troops into the country in the name of peace restoration (Charles Sturt University 3). Germany then used citizen vote to officially, approve the merger in 1938. This led to the incorporation of the country to become part of Germany. In September 1938, the Nazi leadership of Germany expressed its intention of occupying Sudetenland that was a Czechoslovakia region with about three million German speaking people (Charles Sturt University 3). This led to a conference between Germany, France, Britain and Italy to solve the conflict. Hitler held that Sudetenland would be the last territory to claim in the European region. Britain signed the agreement hoping that it would help to prevent war. However, Germany by 1939 violated the agreement and continued to occupy more parts of Czechoslovakia (Charles Sturt University 4). In April the same year, Italy invaded Albania (Charles Sturt University 4). The British Prime Minister, Chamberlain, did not go into war over Czechoslovakia but promised to go to war over Poland. Also, in August 1939, Germany signed a non-aggression pact with Russia. This is because Russia found that France and Britain preferred pacification of Nazi leadership and that France and Britain did not trust Russia (Charles Sturt University 4). Furthermore, the agreement came from the fact that in the 1930s, collective security was the most important foreign policy. From time to time, it was very clear that the Nazi foreign policy under the leadership of Adolf Hitler was going to spark a major war in the European region. This came out by the invasion of Poland by Germany in September the same year. The act of Germany provoked Britain and immediately, declared war against Germany. However, a period of non-conflict lapsed until Germany invaded Denmark followed by the invasion of Norway in April 1940 (Charles Sturt University 4). In addition, Germany invaded Belgium, Netherlands and France. Hitler stated that the settlement of the continental position of Germany would be by conquering France before proceeding to Russia. All the moves of the Nazi leadership were a preparation for the final step that sparked the start of World War II (Poole 154). The end of the war in 1945 led to the official abolition of the Nazi ideology and policies in the world. Conclusion Socialism, racism, expansionism and violation of territorial integrity are some of the major characteristics that describe the nature of Nazi foreign policy. The desire to bring together all the German speaking people to constitute one strong Germany coupled by the desire to prove superiority influenced Germany to attack and occupy other regions. It is very clear that the implementation of Nazi foreign policies requires war and the world will thus be a ground of endless conflicts and wars. Nazi foreign policies contributed to the fall of the League of Nations and the start of World War II. Works Cited Charles Sturt University, “Nazi Foreign Policy 1933-1939.” Allan Elliott Centre for Learning Innovation, 2015. Web. 11 June 2015. Poole, DeWitt C. "Light on Nazi Foreign Policy." Foreign Affairs 25.1 (1946): 130-154. Read More