Causes of German and Italian Expansion

List German domestic factors

• Treaty of Versailles

• Great Depression

• Hitler’s ideology

• Hitler’s consolidation of power

• Rearmament

Describe the Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles (1919)

• fuelled resentment by forcing Germany to lose 13% of its territory, including Alsace-Lorraine and the Polish Corridor, all overseas colonies,

• reducing the army to 100,000 men with no air force or tanks.

• Reparations of 132 billion gold marks crippled finances

• created a national determination to overturn the settlement.

Describe the Great Depression 

Great Depression (1929–32)

• devastated Germany’s economy

• exports fell by 61%

• industrial output halved

• unemployment reached 6 million people (30% of the workforce) by January 1932

• gave Hitler’s promises of recovery and expansionist policy mass appeal.

Describe Hitler’s ideology 

Hitler’s ideology in Mein Kampf (1925)

• called for the destruction of Versailles

• the unification of all Germans

• Lebensraum in Eastern Europe

• racially based New Order

=> These principles provided the blueprint for expansionist policies.

Describe Hitler’s consolidation of power

Hitler’s consolidation of power between 1933 and 1934

• through the Reichstag Fire in February 1933, the Enabling Act in March 1933, and the Night of the Long Knives in June 1934

• eliminated opposition, enabling him to pursue foreign policy without domestic constraints.

Describe rearmament

Rearmament served both economic and ideological purposes:

• military spending increased from 1% of GDP in 1933 to 23% by 1939

• the Wehrmacht grew to 4.2 million men by 1939

• reduced unemployment (to fewer than 1 million by 1937) and laid the foundations for aggressive expansion.

List German international opportunities 

• policy of appeasement

• League of Nations

• anti-communism in the West

Describe policy of appeasement

• pursued by Britain and France throughout the 1930s

• prioritised avoiding war and stabilising Europe over confronting Hitler’s violations.

Describe the League of Nations

The League of Nations

• already proven ineffective in resisting aggression

• failing to prevent Japanese expansion in Manchuria (1931–33) and Italian aggression in Abyssinia (1935–36)

• emboldened Hitler to take risks.

Describe anti-communism in the West

• created tacit acceptance of Hitler as a bulwark against Bolshevism

• for example, many British conservatives preferred a strong Germany to contain Soviet influence

List Italian domestic factors

• mutilated victory

• The Great Depression

• Fascist ideology

• Consolidation of Mussolini’s power

Describe mutilated victory

• Italy felt betrayed by the “Mutilated Victory” of Versailles (1919)

• despite joining the Allies in 1915 with promises of Dalmatian and Dalmatians, Italy received only South Tyrol and Trentino, not Dalmatia or Fiume

• created national disillusionment.

Describe the Great Depression

Great Depression (1929–33)

• cut Italian foreign trade by around 30%

• creating unemployment and worsening poverty, especially in the rural south

• Mussolini used expansion as a distraction from domestic problems

Describe Fascist ideology

Fascist ideology under Mussolini

• promoted Spazio Vitale (“vital space”) and Romanità

• linking modern fascist Italy to the glory of ancient Rome

• justified imperial conquest in Africa and the Balkans.

Describe the consolidation of Mussolini’s power

• By the mid-1930s, Mussolini had consolidated his dictatorship with censorship, one-party rule under the Fascist Party, and propaganda controlled by the Ministry of Popular Culture (Minculpop)

• enabling him to pursue expansion without internal challenge.

List Italian international opportunities 

• weakness of collective security

• aim of Italian prestige

• distrust of Britain and France 

Describe weakness of collective security

The weakness of collective security, demonstrated by the League’s failure in Manchuria (1931) and Abyssinia (1935), made expansion appear low-risk.

Describe aim of Italian prestige

Mussolini sought to elevate Italy’s international prestige and prove Italy was a great power equal to Britain and France.

Describe distrust of Britain and France 

Distrust of Britain and France, who controlled vast colonial empires, encouraged Mussolini to expand independently to build Italy’s own empire.