The League of Nations had failed by 1938 when Hitler went into Austria. The reaction of the more powerful countries to events in Ethiopia and Manchuria had shown that countries such as Britain and France acted in their own self-interest when dealing with invasions by powerful countries when they attacked smaller countries. Thus the idea of collective security was seen as unworkable as countries were willing to use their own armies to protect smaller countries. Britain and France did not want to be involved in war. This meant that the failure of the League of Nations was and important reason for the success of Hitler’s foreign policy because Hitler knew hat he could get away with anything without the league on his back. He already knew that the league had let Japan get away with invading Manchuria so Hitler believed that he could get away with what ever he wanted to do so he played with this and invaded countries and broke the Treaty of Versailles. The failure of the league meant that Hitler could invade all of ‘his’ countries and begin a war.
Hitler knew that Britain and France feared Communist Russia more than they feared Nazi Germany. This is shown by the friendly relationships between Britain and France and Germany during the first half of the 1930’s e.g. 1936 Olympics held in Britain. Therefore Britain and France were happy to see a strong Germany as a buffer against the USSR. This was an important reason for the success of Hitler’s foreign policy because France and Britain were scared of Russia as they were communists and they didn’t want them to invade them because Russia was too big and strong to defeat. Germany was strong and not communists and was in-between France, Britain and Russia and France and Britain didn’t want to upset Germany.
Appeasement showed Hitler that Britain and France were willing to allow him to do anything that he wanted to do. Hitler tried something out to see what would happen so he occupied the Rhineland and rearmed it. He sent troops into the Rhineland but Britain and France didn’t do anything because they thought this was Germany’s anyway so why not let them have it back.
When Britain and France let him off of that, he thought why not try something else so he the invaded Austria. Then once again Britain and France appeased Germany.
When Hitler saw that he was getting away with anything that he wanted to he took it another step forward until it led to war.
For this reason appeasement was a the most important reason for the success of Hitler’s foreign policy because it allowed Hitler to do what he wanted and get away with anything. If Britain and France would have not appeased Hitler then he probably wouldn’t have done the things he did that made his foreign policy a success.
If Britain and France would have done something then Hitler wouldn’t have gone as far as he did. Hitler took it as far as he could, got back all of the land that Germany had lost and it all eventually led to war.
Therefore Hitler knew that Britain and France were unlikely to act against him when he went into Austria, Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia. He was rearming all the time that appeasement was occurring and so becoming stronger and more willing to risk war over Poland. Therefore appeasement was an important reason for the success of Hitler’s foreign policy.
