Hitler withdraws Germany from the League of Nations
From:
http://wheremydogs.at/articles/2007/...gue-of-nations
When Hitler became Chancellor there was no fundamental change in German foreign policy: the key factor remained the revision of the Versailles Treaty, an aim which the moderate Streseman and Hitler’s predecessor, Brüning, had already initiated What was different, though, was the pace at which Hitler proceeded.
According to Alan Bullock, Hitler combined, “consistency of aim with complete opportunism in method and tactics.” Whether or not Hitler essentially desired to initiate a war remains disputed – some historians argue that the historically challenged “Hossbach Memorandum” (in which Hitler clarifies his intentions to invade Czechoslovakia and Austria, even if it means war) clearly shows that Hitler desired to ignite a full-scale war. But others, like AJP Taylor, believed it no more than, “day dreaming, unrelated to what followed in real life,” as the aim of the meeting had been to discuss the armaments programme, not foreign policy.
In “Mein Kampf” he laid out his aims:
- To relieve Germany of the burden of the Treaty of Versailles, implying the rearmament of Germany (forbidden by the Treaty) and reclaiming her international status
- To unite all the German-speaking people (Sudetenland, Austria, Danzig in particular) and incorporate them into the Reich
- To build “Lebensraum”, that is, living space in the east, for the German people to live (this required an expansion into the Ukraine and the Soviet Union)
Hitler’s first step was to demand parity with the other European players at the Disarmament Conference in Geneva. When France rejected this outright on grounds of fear of vulnerability in case of a German expansion, Hitler withdrew Germany from the Conference and the League of Nations (October 1933).