He also wanted to conquer living space, Lebensraum. He wanted to gain living space as Germany had a shortage of land for farming to feed the people. He also wanted land for resettlement and resources such as oil, tin and metal. The new found territories gave Hitler more resources and manpower, therefore giving him more confidence to fight wars.s
He also wanted to destroy the Treaty of Versailles. He felt that the terms of the Treaty had been very unfair towards to the Germans and he aimed to change this. He wanted to regain lost territory such as the Rhineland and the Polish Corridor and also build up its arm forces. This led to war as to regain land, war was inevitable.
The failure of the policy of appeasement was also another reason for WW2. This appeasement policy was followed by Britain and France which meant avoiding war against aggressive nations. They had to give in to their demands as long as they were not to unreasonable. This convinced Hitler of the weakness and the complacency of Britain and France. Hence, he went on taking more territories. This is evident in the remilitarisation of Rhineland. The treaty of Versailles stated that Rhineland had to be permanently demilitarised. However in 1936, German troops entered Rhineland and were not stopped. Politicians felt that Germany should be allowed to do what they wanted as they were in their own ‘backyard’. As a result, Hitler secured the western defense of his country thereby giving him the confidence to go to war. The nonchalant attitudes of Britain and France also encouraged Hitler to reach out further and take more territories. Next, the German troops marched into Austria, not stopped again and Austria became German province. Britain and France took no action against Germany. This made Hitler even bolder and continued to take more territories. However, Poland was the last straw and the Allied powers announced war on Germany.
The Nazi-Soviet Pact was another reason for WW2. This pact allowed Hitler to avoid having to fight a war on 2 fronts. In the pact, Stalin promised Hitler that Russia would not attack Germany from the Eastern Front when Germany invaded Poland. When Hitler thought about attack Poland, he was constantly worried about Russia attacking him. The Nazi-Soviet non-aggression Pact solved this. Hitler now has one less enemy to deal with. This gave Hitler confidence as it meant avoiding battling Russia, France and Britain all at the same time. He would not have to fight on 2 fronts like Germany did in WW1 where they lost. This gave Hitler the confidence to launch the Blitzkreg on Poland. Germany would also avoid military strain by avoiding war with Russia.
