Hitler wanted land from Poland, specifically the Polish Corridor because if we look back at Hitler’s’ foreign policy, we see that it satisfies many of his aims. Firstly it will unite German speaking people, secondly it will create more living space for his master race, thirdly it will undo Versailles as the land was taken away from Germany as a result of the treaty and finally it will help him defeat communism. Poland was rite next to Russia and by getting closer to Russia, meant it was easier to invade. Also Hitler wanted to see whether Britain and France would keep their word. They had followed the policy of appeasement long enough and let him get away with murder. This was the last test for Hitler and if he could get away with it, he could get away with everything.
There were many important causes of World War 2. Arguably the most important was the weakness of Britain and France in opposing Hitler. However many other factors led to the war and it is difficult to say whether one was more important than the other. In my opinion letting Germany re-arm in 1933 was a big mistake. Without arms Hitler could never have been able to fight anybody, let alone engage in a full scale attack on Europe. Having said this, at the time it was not banned for several particularly good reasons. Firstly Britain saw a powerful Germany as way of defeating communism, especially considering Germany’s position in relation to Russia. Also many people in Britain saw the limitations on Germany’s armed forces as too tight; Germany was completely defenceless as a result of the treaty of Versailles and many Germans had a deep feeling of hatred towards Western Europe as a result. By letting Germany re-arm it was hoped that Germany would become a peaceful nation once again.
Hitler’s foreign policy is perhaps the most obvious cause of World War. These were plans openly stated by Hitler to the German public and they consisted of 4 main aims. These were to unite all German speaking people, to gain living space for German people (lebensraum) to defeat communism and to undo the Treaty of Versailles. All of these causes meant aggression; Hitler couldn’t possibly achieve these aims without upsetting some countries and without causing trouble, especially where it came to invading other countries such as Poland to gain land. For this reason Hitler’s foreign policy can be looked upon the main cause of the war. Without these there would have been no conflict, this would have resulted in no war.
Having said this, how we dealt with Hitler’s aggression is another cause for concern. How Britain and France acted towards Hitler throughout the 30’s became known as the policy of appeasement. This in simple terms was giving Hitler what he wanted, in hope that he would be satisfied. This may sound stupid but there were many reasons why this was a favourable thing to do. Firstly World War 1 was still fresh in the British people’s minds, Europe was desperate to avoid another war with so much loss of life as in World War 1 and appeasement seemed the best way to do this. Another reason was that Britain was simply not ready for another war. The economy was still recovering from World War 1 and world depression; very little money had been spent on developing new weapons capable of countering Hitler. Appeasement gave Britain more time to develop these, at the same time as trying to prevent war diplomatically. Many people also believed that Hitler was entitled to do some of the things he was doing. The treaty of Versailles had been cripplingly harsh on Germany and by letting Hitler put right some of the wrongs laid out in this treaty, people hoped that Germany would become a peaceful nation again. Despite the threat of Hitler, fascism was not the world’s main worry. The spread of communism posed by Stalin was a major concern and Britain and France saw Hitler as a key allie in the fight against communism. Finally the U.S.A had declared that they were officially isolationists and were not going to get dragged into another war in Europe. Britain and her allies were unsure that they could stand up to Hitler without American help.
Despite all of these positive points about appeasement, it was ultimately the wrong choice in dealing with Hitler. It allowed Germany to grow too strong and in the time we gave ourselves to re-arm, Hitler had become much more powerful than Britain or France. Also giving Hitler what he wanted all the time encouraged Hitler to take risks and be aggressive, as well as this Hitler was untrustworthy. Many people knew that he would not keep his promises, especially towards the end of appeasement. Perhaps the worst effect of appeasement was the fact it was loosing the USSR as an allie against Hitler. Hitler made no secret of his plans to expand eastwards and appeasement gave the Soviet Union the impression that Britain and France would not stay in Hitler’s way. Without the USSR causing the Germans to fight on 2 fronts, Britain and France could simply not have coped with a full scale attack against them.
In conclusion, Hitler’s foreign policy was the biggest reason why War broke out in 1939. Without these aims, it is safe to say that there would have been little or no conflict in Europe throughout this time period. Despite this I could say that about every reason. A war would not have happened if we had not let Hitler re-arm, and equally war would not have happened if we had stopped Hitler straight away and not let him get away with anything (even though this would have been a highly unpopular choice at the time). Therefore War happened because it happened and thank god it did. The world learned many lessons leading up to and throughout World War 2 about international relations that prevented complete world destruction from nuclear war in the 50’s and 60’s. Without War 2, it is safe to say none of us would be here today.
