Analyse Hitlers speech - Essay Example

Correctly estimating the Western Power’s reluctance to face another war, Hitler combined a series of brilliant and opportunistic strategic alliances with bold territorial acquisitions to further his aims. In 1935, Hitler began the remilitarization of Germany. This was endorsed by Great Britain, which entered into the Anglo-German Naval agreement of 1936. In the same year, Hitler formed the Axis with Italy and Japan. He exploited the resentment of the German public towards what they considered to be the unfair terms of the Treaty of Versailles to carry them along with him.

A long series of provocative measures, such as Germany’s annexation of the Rhineland in March 1936, the takeover of Austria in the Anschluss of March 1938 and the annexation of the Sudetenland in September 1938, culminated in the invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 (History World web site, n.d.). In the course of all these rapidly unfolding developments, Poland remained a crucial factor in Hitler’s calculations. The document under study is an extract from the text of the speech given by Adolf Hitler to the Reichstag, or German Parliament, on 28 April 1939.

Hitler’s tone regarding German-Polish relations is belligerent in the extreme. He begins by invoking the German perception of the unfairness of the Treaty of Versailles which ended World War I. According to the terms of this treaty, the German Army and Navy were limited to a token force and her Air Force was completely disbanded. Germany’s colonies were appropriated by the victorious Allies as the spoils of war. War reparations of 33 billion dollars were imposed on Germany. These terms rankled in the German psyche and were exploited by Hitler to drum up public support for his aggressive policies.

A very contentious issue was the establishment of a Polish Corridor which provided Poland with access to the Baltic Sea, by linking Poland to