HST 802 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Diplomatic Revolution, Appeasement, Power Vacuum
German Aggression and Appeasement Policy
Versailles, Nazi ideology, and Hitler’s foreign policy
Hitler had a view of his ultimate goals
France was still rebuilding from WWI
→ There was a wariness to war
US isolated themselves from Europe
Power vacuum encourages Hitler to see what he can get away with
Key goal would be to scrap the treaty of Versailles
→ This wasn’t a secret
→ Was only intended as a starting point, not the end point
Hitler believed that Stalin made Russia weak
→ Russia was strong and stood that way for hundreds of years
→ In Hitler’s view, Russia used to be run by Germans
→ Thought that now Russia was run by a bunch of degenerates
→ Russia could easily be conquered
For Hitler, with or without Versailles, war was inevitable
→ Believed he was a “man of destiny”
→ He was a serious hypochondriac, so he wanted to get everything done asap
“Diplomatic Revolution”, 1933 – 1936
German rearmament:
Germany had some advantages
→ They had the largest population behind the Soviet Union in Europe
Britain and France wanted to avoid war at all costs
Hitler got rid of Versailles by rearming Germany
→ Convinced people that he was a man of peace (in his speeches)
Convinced the country that Germany could break the treaty of Versailles without serious
consequences
→ March 15, 1935: Hitler announced that…
▪ He built a new air force which was banned by the treaty
▪ He build a draft (a week later) for men to enroll in military
→ States of Europe were furious
▪ They protest, but ultimately do nothing
British decide that it’s reasonable for Germany to have an army (Policy of Appeasement)
→ Made agreement with Germany, saying that “it can’t be larger than 35% of the
British navy”
▪ To make sure Germany won’t be able to defeat the British
