Key Terms

📖 Key Terms

Lebensraum

German for "living space." Hitler's policy of expanding eastward into Slavic lands (Poland, Ukraine, Russia) to gain territory for German settlement. This aim went far beyond correcting Versailles and made war ultimately inevitable.

Grossdeutschland (Greater Germany)

Hitler's vision of uniting all German-speaking people under one Reich — including Austria (Anschluss, 1938) and Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia. Based on the principle of self-determination, but taken by force.

Volksdeutsche

Ethnic Germans living outside Germany's borders — in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and elsewhere. Hitler used the existence of Volksdeutsche communities as justification for territorial demands.

Mein Kampf (1925)

"My Struggle" — Hitler's autobiography and political manifesto, written in prison after the failed Munich Putsch of 1923. It outlined all three foreign policy aims in detail. Many historians argue Britain and France should have taken its warnings seriously far earlier.

Remilitarisation of the Rhineland (1936)

Hitler sent German troops into the Rhineland — a demilitarised zone under Versailles and the Locarno Treaties. His generals were ordered to retreat if France resisted. France did not act, and the League did nothing. This was the moment appeasement truly began.

Anschluss (1938)

The union of Germany and Austria, March 1938. Forbidden under the Treaty of Versailles (Article 80). Hitler pressured Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg and then marched German troops in. The majority of Austrians welcomed unification. Britain and France protested but did not act.