Impact of foreign policy Nazi Germany

List examples of foreign policy

• rearmament

• Rhineland remilitarisation

• Anschluss with Austria

• Munich Agreement

• defeat at Stalingrad

Describe the policy of Rearmament

Rearmament 1935

• created job

• revived pride

• defied Versailles without facing Allied resistance (policy of appeasement)

Describe Rhineland remilitarisation

Rhineland remilitarisation March 1936

• huge propaganda victory: 22,000 troops entered without Allied retaliation

• Hitler later admitted that he would have been forced to retreat if opposed.

Describe the Anschluss of Austria

Anschluss with Austria (March 1938),

• endorsed by a plebiscite claiming 99.7% support

• fulfilled a nationalist dream

• reinforced the Hitler Myth.

• First attempt in 1934 failed as Italy moved troops against Germany but now Italy was an ally and no longer an obstacle

Describe the Munich Agreement

Munich Agreement Sept 1938

• secured the Sudetenland without war

• hailed domestically as a triumph of diplomacy.

What was the effect of these policies socially?

These victories reinforced the image of Hitler as infallible and strengthened loyalty among elites, the army, and the German public.

Describe the battle of Stalingrad

defeat at Stalingrad Feb 1943

• cost Germany 300,000 men

• shattered the aura of invincibility

• emboldened opposition such as the White Rose student group.

Describe the July Bomb Plot

July Bomb Plot (20 July 1944)

• assassination attempt

Demonstrates how…

Even as military defeats mounted (1943–45), Nazi terror intensified to maintain control, but public morale and trust in Hitler’s leadership waned