Detailed Events of Hitler’s Challenge and Exploit of the Treaty of Versailles
German reaction to the Treaty of Versailles included:
- They were enraged when they saw the extremely harsh terms of the treaty.
- They were not allowed to negotiate over its terms and were forced to accept it.
- They felt that the terms of the treaty were extremely unfair and humiliating.
- They felt that they should not have to accept responsibility for the war.
- Many Germans started calling for revenge to reverse the effects of the treaty.
- Germans attacked the new Weimar democratic government for signing it.
- Many labelled the politicians who signed the treaty “November Criminals” who had “stabbed in the back” the army, which still controlled most of Europe in 1918.
- The treaty undermined the new democratic government, led to the rise of the Nazi party and the Second World War.
The aims of Hitler’s Foreign Policy were:
- To reverse the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
- To make Germany a great world power again.
- To unite all German speaking people.
- To rearm Germany and restore all its lost territories.
- To conquer an Empire in the East to give Germany Lebensraum (living space).
The aims of Hitler’s Foreign Policy were based on the ideas of:
- The Master Race (The Nazi racist idea that Germans as an Aryan people were a “master race” destined to rule “subhuman” peoples like Slavs.)
- Pan-German Nationalism (The belief that all German speaking peoples should be united in one Greater Germany.)
- Militarism (The use of military force to solve a countries problems is better than peaceful negotiations.)
- Social Darwinism (The theory that in the world it was natural for stronger countries to conquer and rule weaker countries.)