How far by 1939 had Hitler achieved his Economic Policies?

The second economic aim of the Nazis was to create a Defence economy. This policy was not completely successful either due to the fact that it always contradicted with the policy of autarky. This aim meant that Germany had to rearm in order to prepare for the war that Hitler envisaged for 1940. This fell under the Four Year plan which was headed by Goering in 1936. Germany had started to re arm slowly in 1933. This meant that few raw materials could be exported as they were being used in rearmament. However Germany was importing more than she was exporting which created a trade deficit. Schacht tried to solve this problem in 1934 with the ‘New Plan’. This plan had the government control all the exports and imports into Germany. The plan involved trying to solve the imbalance of trade by making bi lateral trade agreements with poorer countries in Europe. This meant Germany could increase its exports while keeping a steady supply of imports. However in 1936 the Four Year plan was introduced under Goering, the plan had similar aims to the New Plan but had a larger emphasis on rearmament. The idea of the plan was to make the country ready for war within four years. However this aim led to inadequacies in the lives of the average German. This led to disputes between the anti war Schacht and the militant Goering, thus leading to the Guns vs. Butter argument, which argued whether emphasis should be given to rearmament or providing the German people with basic food supplies. Thus although rearmament increased, the process was slow as Hitler felt obliged to also keep the German public content, thus often alternating the focus on ‘guns’ and ‘butter’, thereby suggesting that this economic policy was not achieved by 1939.

The third Nazi economic policy was that of Autarky. This was deemed crucial by Hitler as it would prevent another naval blockade at war similar to that in WW1. The Nazis were very far from achieving this policy in 1939, due to various reasons. The policy involved Germany increasing the production of her own commodities such as iron, and also producing ersatz substances such as Buna to produce rubber to reduce the need for imports. However this was not successful and by 1939 Germany was still dependant on foreign imports for a third of her resources. This significantly reduced the living standards of Germans. However in certain aspects autarky was especially successful these included the production of aluminium for example. However most of the figures from the four year plan were not achieved. The policy of autarky also contradicted with the creation of a defence economy as Germany had need of more raw materials than she possessed, which would result in looking overseas. Furthermore wished to keep the German public content which required that certain imports were made, also reducing Germany’s autarky, and leaving this policy unfulfilled.

Overall the Nazi economic policies were a mixture of success and failure and by 1939 the economic policies had not been completely achieved. Hitler placed emphasis on what he believed to be the needs of the nation, as opposed to the needs of the people, as shown by the guns and butter debate. This can be used to argue that Hitler was resolute that Germany had to be strengthened principally in a militarily sense. Moreover rearmament and autarky were always contradictory, as Germany had need of more raw materials than she possessed, which would mean importing from overseas. Thus autarky was never truly achieved even by 1939. However due to the fact that Hitler prioritised towards rearmament which was successful, this inevitably had a knock on effect and led to dramatically increased employment through the RAD and the compulsory military service which reduced unemployment, thus resulting in great success in relation to his first economic policy which was to recover economically.