Assess How Hitler’s Ideology Affected Nazi Foreign Essay Example

seen as the embodiment of conquest and domination, representing a fight for supremacy between races. Additionally, Taylor argues that Hitler explicitly expressed his desire to "abolish" the Treaty of Versailles in Mein Kampf and claimed that the Weimar government had been defying the treaty since before 1922 through the secret Rapello agreement.

Hitler's objective was to unite all German-speaking people under one Germany, whether it continued the previous Weimar policy or not. The process began with rearmament, which symbolized Hitler's opposition to the Treaty of Versailles. In October 1933, Hitler dramatically exited the League of Nations Disarmament Conference to emphasize this stance. By incorporating the inhabitants of the Saar region into Germany and implementing conscription after leaving the League of Nations, Shirer argued that Versailles' restrictions had been lifted. The remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936 further disregarded both the Treaty of Versailles and Locarno Treaty. This was followed by Austria's Anschluss in March 1938. Through the Munich conference in 1938, Sudeten Germans from Czechoslovakia were incorporated into Germany; subsequently, German soldiers occupied Prague by March and absorbed the remainder of Czechoslovakia. These actions were influenced more by international circumstances and reactions from other European leaders rather than Hitler's pre-existing beliefs.

Disregarding Hitler's Mein Kampf as mere fantasies from prison, Taylor Van Der Vat assigns blame to the expansionist policies of the Nazi regime due to the policy of appeasement adopted by foreign powers. This policy not only revealed a lack of political will to enforce international treaties but also set a negative precedent, providing comfort to aggressors. C. Naylor further asserted that the policy of appeasement demonstrated that the Western powers were unwilling

to confront Hitler and instead were willing to make concessions.

Naylor argues that the breaking of the treaty by Great Britain in the Anglo-German Naval agreement inadvertently encouraged Hitler's expansionist aims. Taylor and other revisionists fail to acknowledge the significance of Nazi ideology and Hitler's role in causing World War II. Professor David Kaiser argues that these views are no longer regarded as valid. Kaiser argues that through Hitler's consistent words and actions, his racist and expansionist goals were evident before 1933.

N. Rich and G. Weinberg, along with other intentionalist historians, argue that the writings, speeches, and policies of leading Nazis in the 1930s consistently reflected their beliefs on "race and space." They claim that Hitler's book Mein Kampf clearly demonstrates his planned foreign policy driven by ideas of racial purity and territorial expansion. In Mein Kampf, Hitler explicitly stated that the objective of their foreign policy should be the acquisition of land and soil. Furthermore, Hitler's aggressive intentions were evidenced in the Hossbach Memorandum of 1937 where he outlined his plans to conquer Austria and Czechoslovakia with military officials. While some historians believe that Hitler always had ambitions for a "Greater Germany," as demonstrated through the invasion of Austria and the Sudetenland, J. Clare suggests that his subsequent invasion of Czechoslovakia indicated a desire for more than just German territory. Moreover, Hitler's belief in shifting Germany's focus towards eastern land is further emphasized by his invasions of Danzig and Poland in 1939.