Conflict and Tension 1918-1939Topic Summary
Topic Summary: Hitler's Foreign Policy 1933–1939
Part of Hitler's Foreign Policy — GCSE History
This topic summary covers Topic Summary: Hitler's Foreign Policy 1933–1939 within Hitler's Foreign Policy for GCSE History. Revise Hitler's Foreign Policy in Conflict and Tension 1918-1939 for GCSE History with 8 exam-style questions and 4 flashcards. This is a high-frequency topic, so it is worth revising until the explanation feels precise and repeatable. It is section 13 of 13 in this topic. Use this topic summary to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Topic position
Section 13 of 13
Practice
8 questions
Recall
4 flashcards
Topic Summary: Hitler's Foreign Policy 1933–1939
Key Terms
- Lebensraum: "Living space" — eastward expansion into Slavic lands
- Grossdeutschland: "Greater Germany" — uniting all German speakers
- Volksdeutsche: Ethnic Germans living outside Germany's borders
- Anschluss: Union of Germany and Austria (March 1938)
- Mein Kampf: Hitler's 1925 manifesto outlining all three aims
Key Dates
- 1925: Mein Kampf published — three aims stated
- 1933: Germany left League of Nations
- 1935: Rearmament announced; Anglo-German Naval Agreement
- 1936: Rhineland remilitarised — France did not resist
- Mar 1938: Anschluss with Austria
- Sep 1938: Munich Agreement — Sudetenland given to Germany
- Mar 1939: Rest of Czechoslovakia seized
- Sep 1939: Poland invaded — Britain and France declare war
Key People
- Adolf Hitler: German Chancellor from 1933, Fuhrer from 1934 — pursued all three aims systematically
- Neville Chamberlain: British PM who pursued appeasement — met Hitler at Munich 1938
- Edouard Daladier: French PM who also signed the Munich Agreement
- Kurt Schuschnigg: Austrian Chancellor pressured by Hitler before Anschluss
Must-Know Facts
- All three aims were spelled out in Mein Kampf (1925) — 14 years before war
- Rhineland (1936): Hitler's generals had retreat orders if France resisted — they didn't
- By 1938, Germany had 800,000 soldiers — far exceeding the Versailles limit of 100,000
- Anschluss (1938) united 10 million Austrians with Germany — forbidden under Versailles
- Sudetenland had 3 million ethnic Germans — but was also Czechoslovakia's defensive border
- VGL mnemonic: Versailles reversal → Grossdeutschland → Lebensraum
Cross-Topic Links
- → Topic 22 (Treaty of Versailles): Hitler's three aims were direct reversals of Versailles — rearmament reversed disarmament clauses, Anschluss reversed the ban on union with Austria, and Sudetenland reversed the Polish Corridor settlement.
- → Topic 27 (Abyssinia): Hitler remilitarised the Rhineland in March 1936 while the world was distracted by Abyssinia — the League's failure to act against Mussolini gave him the opportunity and confidence to break Versailles.
- → Topic 29 (Steps to War): This topic establishes Hitler's aims; topic 29 shows how he executed them step by step — the two topics form a cause-and-effect pair where aims become actions.
- → Topic 30 (Appeasement): Britain and France's appeasement policy was partly a response to Hitler's stated grievances about Versailles — they believed concessions on reasonable demands (Grossdeutschland) could prevent the pursuit of Lebensraum.
- → Topic 25 (League Failures): Hitler withdrew from the Disarmament Conference and the League (October 1933) after the conference failed — exploiting the League's weakness to legitimise German rearmament before he was strong enough to challenge anyone militarily.