Tamer Khedr
Chapter 14: Hitler's Foreign Policy, Part B (pg. 386-399)
1. Germany's diplomatic success by 1936: Return of the Rhineland, Alliances with Japan and Italy,
Collapse of the Stresa Front and collective security.
2. Hossbach Memorandum: Hitler held a secret conference at the Reich on November 5, 1937. Colonel
Friedrich Hossbach who was present at the conference made notes of what was said after the conference,
against instructions. Covered the following:
Foreign Policy: Aimed at preserving the German racial community which comprised of over 85 million
people, therefore, Germany needed more living space to meet its high population.
- Hitler concluded that Britain would not oppose Germany due to problems in its empire, while
France would not oppose Germany due to domestic problems
- The first priorities were to annex Austria and Czechoslovakia
Hitler then came up with three scenarios of how to achieve his goal of expansion
- Case 1: Take action during 1943-5 as the Luftwaffe, navy and army were ready
- Case 2: If the French Army interfered in France's internal problems and make it incapable of
going to war with Germany, then Germany would take action against the Czechs
- Case 3: If France was involved in a war with another country so she cannot take action against
Germany
Was it a genuine document?: Even though it’s a copy of the copy Hossbach wrote after the conference, it
was used during the Nuremburg trials. However, AJP Taylor does not take it too seriously as he believes
Hitler was merely day dreaming.
3. Anschluss: Hitler met with Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg and verbally bullied him to allow complete
freedom of the Austrian Nazis and to appoint 2 Nazi ministers and the control of the police and the army
was handed to Nazis. But then Schuschnigg called for a plebiscite on Anschluss. Hitler was outraged and
pressured Schuschnigg to resign and on March 12, 1938 German troops marched into Austria and Hitler
declared Austria a province of the Reich
- Germany thus had a common border with Hungary, Italy, Yugoslavia and ready to attack
Czechoslovakia
4. Czechoslovakia: Hitler wanted to eliminate the Czech Rep. but the Czech's felt safe due to support from
France and the Soviet Union. But France would not intervene against a German attack unless Britain
interfered but Britain did not make any commitments to the Czechs. While Russia would not intervene
unless France did + Poles wouldn’t allow their army to pass through Poland.
Crisis of 1938: There were 3 million German speaking Czechs in the Sudetland, so Hitler wanted to annex
the Sudetland. Hitler demanded in a meeting with Chamberlain that if the Sudetland was not passed to
Germany there would be war. Even though he did not consult the Czechs, Chamberlain agreed. But then
Hitler declared that if the terms were not met by October 1, there would be war in a second meeting with
Chamberlain.
Munich Agreement: Mussolini called for a 4 power conference; it was held in Munich on September 28,
1938 and attended by Mussolini, Chamberlain, Hitler and Daladier the French PM, and without the Czechs.
The powers agreed to grant the Sudetenland to Germany. And on March 15 Emil Hacta went to appeal to
Hitler, but Hitler threatned that he'd bomb Prague, so Hacta signed an agreement allowing German troops to
restore order in Czechoslovakia due to unrest by Slovaks. Legal Justification for Occupation!
Rome Berlin Axis: On 22 May, 1939 Germany/Italy agreed to support each other if one was involved in a
war with another power
Nazi Soviet Pact: On 23 August 1939, Ribbentrop and Russian Foreign Secretary Molotov signed the NaziSoviet Pact and agreed to not support any third power, if that power attacked one of them+ promised not to
ally against each other+ consult each other in issues of common interest+ invade and divide Poland between
them and allow Russia to occupy Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Declaration of War: Even though Hitler had not planned a war in 1939, Poland refused to Hitler's
willingness to find a solution to the problem and the Poles started mobilizing. After the Poles violated their
frontiers, Hitler declared war on Poland and the invasion of Poland began on 1 September 1929, ahead of
schedule. Britain/France sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding that they withdraw from Poland. On 3
September when no reply had been received, the British and French declared war on Germany.