In January 1933, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany and immediately began to challenge the Treaty of Versailles and adapt an aggressive foreign policy, which led to war. Some historians argue that Britain and France were to blame for the Second World War because they did not stand up to Hitler.

Summary

It is easy to blame Hitler for starting the war.

Hitler's aims were aggressive, and he openly stated them in his book "Mein Kampf" in 1924:

Destroy the Treaty of Versailles.
Create a Greater Germany (a country of all the German people).
Lebensraum (living space) to conquer land for Germany in Eastern Europe.

Once he came to power, Hitler set about doing exactly what he had said he would do. For each of his actions between 1935 and 1939, can you see which aim(s) he was fulfilling by undertaking:

1935 - Rearmament
1936 - Remilitarisation of the Rhineland
1938 - Anschluss with Austria
1938 - The annexation of the Sudetenland
1939 - The invasion of Czechoslovakia
1939 - The invasion of Poland

	Created by kloonirex about 8 years ago

History notes for Hitlers foreign policies from bbc bitesize