To what extent was hitler responsible for the outbreak ww2

It seems that Hitler did have consistent aims and plans which would be carried out when he came to power. His dream was to build a ‘new Germany’ under his own leadership, to overturn the treaty of Versailles and to establish Germany as a major European power.

His book Mein Kampf lays out his four foreign policy aims which were:

1.The destruction of the Treaty Of Versailles. This would allow Germany to rearm and regain lost territory.

2.To gain territory (living space) for Germany in eastern Europe. This would a war in order to defeat Soviet Bolshevism.

3.To include all German-speaking people in his proposed ‘Third Reich’, especially those living in Austria, the Sudeten area of Czechoslovakia and Danzig.

4.To create a ‘racially pure’ German state that would be the most dominant power in Europe.

It is clear from these four points that he was very opportunistic, he was willing to go to war to achieve these aims. It would appear that at this point, he was aiming at European domination. He knew that these aims could not be achieved without a war. In this policy alone, we see that Hitler is prepared to fight in order achieve h

Amongst the chaos, it is difficult to say to what extent Hitler can be held responsible for the key decisions that led to the outbreak of war in 1939. At the Nuremburg trials, Goering claimed a personal role in the outbreak of war. He claimed to have planned the annexation of Austria, and Germany’s rearmament as well as the training of new soldiers. However, the evidence of Goering’s testimony at Nuremburg begs the question how many of the key decisions were made by Hitler and to what extent the men around him like Goering made the decisions for him? Although Hitler often had the final word on issues, his advisors must share some of the blame for the outbreak of war.

Probably the best-known exposition of the lebensraum policy is the Hossbach memorandum of November 1937. It is not an official document but a second or even a third hand account. But it is a detailed version of how Hitler thought things might go over the next eight years after. He told the meeting that the chief aim of German foreign policy was the conquest of living space, which had to be achieved by force between 1943 and 1945. He also made it clear that Austria and Czechoslovakia would have to be seized. He predicted that these actions might provoke a war with Britain and France. Some historians view it as a firm plan for war against Britain and France.

After invading the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia in March 1938, Hitler ordered the invasion of the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. Up until this point Hitler had only been concerned about German speaking areas of Europe. This invasion showed Hitler’s true aims and his methods of execution. The allies saw this as an act of aggression and realized that their policy of appeasement was not working. They pledged to stop Hitler’s next advance.

In conclusion it could be argued that Hitler was completely to blame for the outbreak of war. But also that the responsibility should be shared by a number of different parties. The allies should be held partly responsible because of their policy of appeasement, which encouraged Hitler’s advance. It could be argued that if the allies had stopped Hitler’s re-militarisation of the Rhineland war may never have happened. The soviets should also take some responsibility because of their encouragment of Hitler with the

Some topics in this essay:
Treaty Versailles, AJP Taylor, Czechoslovakia Danzig, Austria Germany’s, Sudetenland Czechoslovakia, France Hitler’s, Czechoslovakia March, British French, , Britain France, outbreak war, britain france, treaty versailles, policy appeasement, extent hitler, world war, blame outbreak war, outbreak world, blame outbreak, war britain, foreign policy, outbreak world war, war britain france, eastern europe war, outbreak war 1939,