There was an abundance of evidence that confirmed Hitler's intentions and aims of expansion, found in his own writing such as Mein Kampf, Zweite Buch and his presence in the Hossbach Memorandum. Mein Kampf clearly dictates that Germany must "stop the endless movement to the south and west, and turn our gaze to the east". By east, Hitler did not fall short of locating the common enemy concluding “If we speak of soil in Europe, we can primarily have in mind only Russian and her vassal border states." Written in 1925, Mein Kampf's manifestation was long before Hitler was summoned into power, clearly emphasising this as one of his primary aims. The claim supports the intentionalist think tank, which states that Hitler had premeditated the war as he had repeatedly stated his claims for land in the east, making it one of his principal aims. Hitler truly believed the importance of land accusation for the German people and had no qualms about acquiring the land from those that he felt unworthy of being in possession of it. This further justifies the Hossbach Memorandum where Hitler goes on record stating that the German people need to “resolve to solve Germany’s problem of space at the latest by 1943-45.” It is clear that from the time of when Mein Kampf was written until 1937 when Hossbach memorandum was written, Lebensraum and expansion to the east were a priority which Hitler wished to implement.
However, when considering Mein Kampf in its entirety we are able to deduce that expansion into the east and Lebensraum were not in fact his main singular aims. The book comprises of seven out of seven hundred pages with reference to lebensraum. The majority of the book is a long drivel of concocted anti-Semitic and racial ideologies. Thus lingers the reliability of Mein Kampf as a source of evidence. The book dates back fifteen years before Hitler's rise to power thus it is impossible to accurately foresee a possible plan for advance to the east. Prior to 1933 lebensraum was a trivial idea thus creating a notion of doubt about this particular policy. After Mein Kampf Hitler does not mention or hint at occupying Russia however, the Hossbach Memorandum does categorically state Hitler's intention of expansion of the Reich. It is also doubtful whether Hitler had intended to carry out his expansion into the east as he signed the non-aggression pact with Russia in 1939. The variation of policy shown by Hitler leads us to believe that he did not set out to conform to his previous ideas.
Evidence concerning Hitler's foreign policy can be channelled into two views, one is the intentionalist view where his singular aim was expansion into the east and the other is the structuralist view whereby Hitler would be viewed as an opportunist. A J P Taylor presents an argument that Hitler “did not make plans for world conquest or anything else. He assumed that others would provide opportunities and that he would seize them.” I strongly believe that Hitler grasped at opportunities that arose and followed a revisionist policy aimed at overcoming the restrictions imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles and seizing the diplomatic initiative from Britain and France. The continentalist and globalist views declare that Hitler was driven towards a single aim, however, I strongly believe that Hitler was an opportunist clutching at any favourable opportunity to make a greater German in every possible capacity.
Hitler had deployed numerous policies in order to establish Grossdeutschland (Greater Germany), which included the annexation of Austria (Anschluss) and the invasions of Czechoslovakia and Poland. Hitler and the Nazi’s always had the premise objectives to expand German territory by principally demolishing the rearmament restrictions. “For us it is a matter of expanding our living space in the East and making food supplies secure, and also solving the problem of the Baltic States.”, May 1939, Adolf Hitler. Germany had lost a large amount of land and population to the allies and Hitler was determined to regain lost land and amalgamate these people in the German empire “Ein Volk, Ein Reich”7 (one people, one empire). Anschluss was the first of many steps for Grossdeutschland, and after a feeble attempt by Mussolini to object Hitler's attempt, Hitler pressured Austrian chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg into signing the German-Austrian agreement (Berchtesgaden Diktat), which brought Nazis into the Austrian cabinet. The next month, Germany carried out the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria. Hitler then began demanding a solution to the Sudeten crisis, a conflict over the Sudetenland. On September 30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (an advocate of appeasement), French premier Edouard Daladier, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, and Hitler signed the Munich agreement, which ceded the Sudetenland to Germany. In March 1939, Germany occupied and dismembered the rump Czechoslovak state. European leader's stance on Hitler's drive towards greater Germany was one of cautiousness and consent, thus giving Hitler an open window of opportunity to ultimately invade and remilitarise the Rhineland.
The revision or yet the abolishment of the Versailles Treaty was high on Hitler's agenda. Prior to the rise of the Nazis, Hitler stressed his hatred towards the treaty referring to the November Criminals and the Dolchstosstheorie (stab in the back theory). This mantra was constantly repeated and it is of significant evidence to mirror his hatred towards the treaty. A.J.P Taylor describes Hitler's actions as justifiable, as any other German statesman in his position would have rallied across the same cause. Stresemann had tried to accomplish similar gains as foreign minister, except that Hitler was opened up to a plethora of opportunities which he was able to make use of. At the Geneva conference in October 1933, Hitler walked out in protest at France's unwillingness to disarm. Hitler had already presumed this and thus begun to justify Germany's case of rearmament to defend Germany from France on its western borders. Other participating countries saw this claim being made on valid grounds, thus allowed Germany willingly oppose the treaty under their knowledge.
Hitler felt the need to recover lost land and to do this he believed force was only solution, thus forcing the imminent need for rearmament. In his book Zweite Buch he states, “The acquisition of soil is always linked with the employment of force.” Hitler stressed on the belief of Social Darwinism and the need for Aryan superiority. He was adamant that those of non-Aryan race were not worthy enough to occupy land and that a war would occur wiping out the existence of those races not fit enough to live. Germany's military position was weak in comparison to its European neighbours, and with growing tension, Germany introduced the four year plan for rearmament setting out targets to increase its military capabilities. Military rearmament was prioritised over other industrial production to ensure Germany's ability to protect itself from its neighbours and be able to wager a war of its own. The army had increased from 100,000 to 500,000 men and the German air force had 2000 planes. Although rearmament was not likely to bring about economic stability, Hitler was sure that the land gained from wars won would bring about unparalleled economy supremacy.
In conclusion, I believe that Hitler did not have a single aim but instead a multitude of aims. I also believe that Hitler never had a blueprint of his aims. The aims were inter connected, and the absence of one meant the absence of all. Lebensraum, Grossdeutschland, abolition of the Treaty of Versailles and rearmament can not coexist without each other. I firmly believe that Hitler was both an opportunist who had set out to try and achieve his ideological beliefs under any circumstances. This view is supported by Eberhard Jäckel who had asserted “Perhaps never in history did a ruler write down before he came to power what he was to do afterwards as precisely as did Adolf Hitler.”
