Expansionism program
He re-armed the country, which was against the Treaty of Versailles.
Hitler wanted to concentrate all the Germans under his rule :
- Changes within Germany. Some areas of Germany had been occupied or controlled by foreign powers after the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler could not tolerate this and began some campaigns to re-take those German regions(Saarland 1935, Rhineland 1936)
- He wanted Austria to be a part of his Reich and promoted the so-called Anschluss. (1938)
- Czechoslovakia. In the Czech area of the Sudetes there were around 3.5 million Germans, who should be ruled by a German power based on Hitler’s principles. On 29th September 1938 Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France reached the Munich Agreement, where Germany annexed the Sudetes
- After the Treaty of Versailles, Poland divided Germany into two parts and East Prussia remained isolated. Hence, Hitler wanted to control Danzig in order to unite both parts of Germany. Hitler commanded the invasion of Poland on 1st September 1939, which actually involved the outbreak of WWII