Hitler’s Expansionist Policy (Introduction)

• Many of Hitler’s aims could be seen in his Mein Kampf & the Nazi Party’s 25-Point Programme.
• When he came to power in 1933, he immediately began to challenge the Treaty of Versailles and adopted an aggressive foreign policy.
• Hitler cleverly took advantage of events & also used the threat of violence to achieve his aims.
• Britain and France were reluctant to go to war and willing to compromise to avoid another war.
• Hitler emboldened to go further with each successful step he took to overturn Versailles Treaty.

Hitler’s Aims:

• Establish a Greater Germany by acquiring lands, such as Austria, Czechoslovakia & Poland, and uniting all ethnic Germans in those areas with those in Germany.
• Create Lebensraum (living space) to facilitate German expansion; large areas in Eastern Europe, such as the USSR and Poland, must be conquered.
• Establish superior Aryan race by rebuilding Germany’s once-proud armed forces and exterminating ‘inferior races’.