Upon coming to power in 1933, Hitler immediately began undermining the postwar international settlement established by the Treaty of Versailles. That treaty had imposed harsh territorial, military, and economic penalties on Germany, which many Germans viewed as humiliating and unjust. Hitler capitalised on this widespread resentment and promised to restore German pride and strength. One of his first foreign policy actions was to withdraw Germany from the League of Nations and the Geneva Disarmament Conference in 1933, signalling a rejection of collective diplomacy and arms limitation. This act marked the beginning of a more assertive and independent foreign policy.
A key early move in Hitler’s strategy was the rearmament of Germany, which began in secret but became public by 1935. This was a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles, which had limited the German military to 100,000 men and banned conscription, tanks, and military aircraft. In March 1935, Hitler announced the reintroduction of conscription and the expansion of the army to 550,000 troops. That same year, the Anglo-German Naval Agreement allowed Germany to build a navy up to 35% the size of Britain’s, effectively undermining Versailles with British cooperation. Rearmament not only prepared Germany for future aggression but also served to intimidate neighbouring countries and demonstrate that Germany was no longer willing to accept restrictions on its sovereignty.
In March 1936, Hitler took a major gamble by remilitarising the Rhineland, a demilitarised zone according to the Versailles and Locarno Treaties. The move was risky because German forces were still relatively weak and could have been repelled by France or Britain. However, neither country acted. This marked a turning point: Hitler had taken a bold step in violation of international agreements and met no military resistance. This success emboldened him and convinced him that the Western powers were unwilling to confront Germany directly. It also shifted the balance of power in Europe by allowing Germany to fortify its western border, giving Hitler greater freedom to pursue expansionist aims elsewhere.
Hitler’s next foreign policy goal was the unification of all Germans into a single Reich, or "Grossdeutschland". This became evident with the Anschluss of Austria in March 1938. Austria, with a large German-speaking population, had long been a target of Nazi ambitions. Hitler used internal Austrian Nazi pressure and intimidation to force Chancellor Schuschnigg to resign, replacing him with a pro-Nazi government. German troops entered Austria unopposed and annexed the country. Again, the Western powers failed to take action. The Anschluss was a clear violation of the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of St. Germain, yet it was met with little more than protest. Hitler now controlled more territory, gained resources and manpower, and further tested the resolve of Britain and France.
Later in 1938, Hitler turned his attention to Czechoslovakia, specifically the Sudetenland, home to a substantial German-speaking minority. Claiming that ethnic Germans were being mistreated, Hitler demanded the region’s annexation to Germany. His rhetoric and threats of war created a crisis that led to the Munich Agreement in September 1938. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, seeking to avoid war, agreed to Hitler’s demands without consulting the Czechoslovak government. Hitler promised that the Sudetenland would be his last territorial demand in Europe. The agreement, hailed by Chamberlain as securing "peace for our time", is now widely regarded as the high point of the policy of appeasement. However, Hitler’s true intentions became clear when, in March 1939, he broke the Munich Agreement by occupying the rest of Czechoslovakia. This was not a unification of Germans but a conquest of non-German territory. It shattered any remaining illusions about Hitler’s limited aims and marked a turning point in British and French foreign policy.
Hitler’s foreign policy also looked eastward to the Soviet Union. His long-term vision, as outlined in Mein Kampf, included acquiring Lebensraum (living space) for Germans by conquering eastern Europe, particularly the USSR. In the short term, however, Hitler saw an opportunity to neutralise Soviet resistance to his plans by negotiating with Stalin. This resulted in the Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 1939, a non-aggression agreement between the two ideological enemies. Crucially, the pact included a secret protocol dividing eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. This removed the threat of a two-front war for Germany and gave Hitler the green light to invade Poland without fearing Soviet intervention.
The invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 was the direct trigger for World War II. Hitler used fabricated border incidents to justify the invasion, presenting it as a defensive measure. However, Britain and France had by this point issued guarantees to Poland and were no longer willing to accept Hitler’s expansionism. When German forces crossed the Polish border, Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939. Hitler may have hoped they would once again back down, but this time he had miscalculated.
Hitler’s foreign policy between 1933 and 1939 was aggressive, revisionist, and ultimately expansionist. It directly challenged the Versailles settlement, destabilised European diplomacy, and led to repeated breaches of international law. While it is important to acknowledge the role of appeasement in enabling Hitler’s aggression, the fundamental driving force behind the outbreak of World War II was Hitler’s vision of German supremacy and territorial conquest. His actions from the withdrawal from the League of Nations to the invasion of Poland show a consistent pattern of escalation. The lack of decisive resistance from the Western powers only encouraged further provocations. Thus, Hitler’s foreign policy was not merely a contributor to war—it was the primary cause.
In conclusion, the extent to which Hitler’s foreign policy contributed to the outbreak of World War II is overwhelmingly significant. Through rearmament, territorial expansion, manipulation of diplomacy, and calculated risk-taking, Hitler systematically undermined peace in Europe. While other factors such as appeasement and the weaknesses of the League of Nations played enabling roles, it was Hitler’s aims and decisions that created the conditions for global conflict. The road to war was paved by Hitler’s ambition, and when that ambition overstepped one boundary too far in Poland, the result was the most devastating war in human history.