Nazi+Foreign+Policy

__**Nazi Foreign Policy**__
 * //By Bridget//**

__Aims__:
 * 1) Volksdeutsche - Incorporating all people of German ethnicity living outside the Reich into it’s borders.
 * 2) Lebensraum - Acquiring more ‘living space’ for the Reich’s population.
 * 3) Grossdeutschland - Creating a new, larger and better Germany.
 * 4) To destroy the Treaty of Versailles - Many Germans agreed that the Treaty was unfair.

__1933 - 1938__
 * Foreign Minister - Konstantin von Neurath
 * During these years, Hitler starts his rearmament.
 * 1933 - Germany leaves the League of Nations.
 * 1934 - Germany signs an alliance (a ten year non-aggression pact) with Poland, breaking their political isolationism.
 * July 1934 - An attempt by the Austrian Nazi’s to overthrow their government fails. Hostilities between Germany and Italy grow as the Italians grow fearful of the Nazis overthrowing the Austrian government.
 * January 1935 - The Saar region votes to become part of Germany again (90% of the voting population was in favour of joining Germany). Hitler used this event to boost his propaganda campaign.
 * March 1935 - Hitler announces that he is rearming Germany, that he will reintroduce conscription and further develop his air and naval forces.
 * June 1935 - Germany and the UK sign a naval agreement in which Germany agrees to limit the size of it’s navy to 35% of the UK’s at all times.
 * March 1936 - Hitler announces that his troops have invaded the Rhineland. They receive support from Italy, who now also openly accepts German influences in Austria.
 * June 1936 - Germany and Italy both agree to send aid to General Franco, which leads to an alliance know as the Rome - Berlin Axis.
 * 1937 to 1939 - The new British PM, Chamberlain, decides to follow a policy called appeasement, in which he basically gives in to the vast majority of Hitler’s demands.

__1938 - 1939__
 * Foreign Minister - Joachim von Ribbentrop
 * February 1938 - Hitler meets with Austrian Prime Minister Schuschnigg. Hitler threatens Schuschnigg and makes him place leading Nazi’s in powerful positions in his government. When Schuschnigg tries to go against these new changes when he returns to Austria, he is forced to resign. The new PM, Seyss-Inquart, is much more welcoming to Hitler and the Nazis.
 * September 1938 - After a conference in Munich, the French, British, Germans and Italians agree to let Germany have a large section of Czechoslovakia.
 * March 1939 - Germany takes the rest of Czechoslovakia and the German speaking town of Memel (in Lithuania).
 * May 1939 - Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
 * August 1939 - The USSR and Germany sign an agreement (a ten year non-aggression pact).
 * September 1939 - Hitler and the Nazis invade Poland after Poland refuses to give up the German speaking town of Danzig, starting the Second World War.

Useful Links: [|Holocaust Encyclopedia] [|historyhome.co.uk] [|johndclare.net]