Adolf Hitler's foreign policy was not a series of impulsive decisions but a calculated and ideologically driven program that directly paved the way for the Second World War. At its core lay a radical vision of racial empire that rejected the diplomatic norms of the 20th century and embraced war as a necessary and desirable tool of statecraft. From the moment he took power in 1933, Hitler set out to systematically dismantle the Versailles settlement, rearm Germany, and pursue territorial expansion, culminating in the bloodiest conflict in human history. The annexation of Austria in March 1938—the Anschluss—stands as a pivotal milestone in this trajectory, demonstrating his methods of coercion, the weakness of the international community, and his ultimate goal of uniting all ethnic Germans under one Reich before launching a crusade for Lebensraum in the East.

The Ideological Foundations of Nazi Foreign Policy

To understand the march to war, one must first grasp the ideological universe that shaped Nazi thinking. Hitler's foreign policy was not traditional power politics; it was a biological and racial struggle for existence. Two concepts dominated: Lebensraum and the racial community (Volksgemeinschaft).

Lebensraum: The Quest for Living Space

The term Lebensraum, or "living space," had roots in earlier German imperialist thought, but Hitler transformed it into a genocidal imperative. In his 1925 manifesto Mein Kampf, he argued that Germany's destiny lay not in overseas colonies but in the conquest of vast agricultural territories in Eastern Europe, specifically at the expense of the Soviet Union. This was no mere territorial adjustment; it was a zero-sum racial war. The Slavic peoples, whom Nazi ideology classified as Untermenschen (subhumans), were to be expelled, enslaved, or exterminated to make way for German settlers. The fertile soils of Ukraine and the oil fields of the Caucasus were the ultimate prize. Thus, from the outset, Hitler's foreign policy was hardwired for a war of annihilation against the USSR, with Poland as the critical corridor and staging ground.

Overturning the "Diktat" of Versailles

Parallel to this long-range goal was the immediate destruction of the Treaty of Versailles, which Hitler consistently denounced as a "Diktat"—an unjust peace dictated to a prostrate Germany. The treaty's clauses, including the war guilt clause (Article 231), territorial losses (Alsace-Lorraine to France, the Polish Corridor, the demilitarized Rhineland), severe military restrictions, and crippling reparations, were a perpetual source of national humiliation. Reversing these terms was the essential first step in restoring Germany's great-power status and building the military machine required for expansion. Crucially, Hitler understood that challenging Versailles piecemeal, while cloaking each move in the language of self-determination and justice, might prevent the formation of a unified opposition from Britain and France, which were war-weary and burdened by their own economic troubles.

The Racial Unification of All Germans

A further ideological pillar was the creation of a Greater German Reich that would incorporate all ethnic Germans outside Germany's borders. This concept of Heim ins Reich ("back to the Reich") provided the moralistic pretext for aggression. Austria, with its 6.5 million German-speakers, was the obvious first target. Hitler, himself an Austrian by birth, had long dreamed of merging his homeland with Germany, an act explicitly forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles (Article 80). The annexation of Austria was not just an assault on the treaty but a vital step in consolidating Germany's southern flank, acquiring substantial economic assets—including gold reserves, steel mills, and a skilled workforce—and adding sizeable numbers to the Wehrmacht's manpower pool. This racial-imperialist vision provided a seamless justification from re-militarization to full-scale war.

Dismantling Versailles: Step by Step, 1933–1937

Hitler's path to war was a masterclass in controlled escalation. Each successful violation of the international order without meaningful punishment emboldened the regime and exposed the hollowness of collective security.

Withdrawal from the League of Nations and Rearmament

In October 1933, just nine months after becoming Chancellor, Hitler withdrew Germany from the World Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations, isolating the country diplomatically but freeing his hands from any multilateral oversight. This was followed by the open declaration of rearmament in March 1935, which included the reintroduction of conscription and the creation of the Luftwaffe. The Franco-British response was limited to the formation of the Stresa Front with Italy, a loose and ultimately hollow protest. Just a few months later, in June 1935, Britain effectively legitimized German naval rearmament by signing the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, which allowed Germany to build a fleet up to 35% of the Royal Navy's tonnage. This bilateral deal, made without consulting France or Italy, shattered the Stresa Front and signaled that London was willing to accommodate Hitler's ambitions, a critical early appeasement.

The Remilitarization of the Rhineland, 1936

The most audacious gamble came on March 7, 1936, when a small force of German soldiers marched into the demilitarized Rhineland. This was a flagrant breach of both the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties, which Germany had freely signed. Hitler later admitted that the forty-eight hours after the march were the most nerve-wracking of his life; if France had responded with force, the under-equipped German troops would have had no choice but to retreat, likely causing a fatal political crisis. But France, paralyzed by internal division and without British support, did nothing. The League of Nations merely condemned the action. The remilitarization was a strategic triumph: it restored German sovereignty over its industrial heartland, allowed fortifications—the Westwall—to be built opposite the French Maginot Line, and dealt a fatal blow to the French system of Eastern European alliances. Hitler’s prestige soared, and the balance of power tilted decisively.

The Axis and Anti-Comintern Pact

Diplomatically, Hitler forged alliances that would underpin his war coalition. The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) provided a testing ground for Luftwaffe and armored tactics and cemented a partnership with Benito Mussolini’s Italy, formalized in the Rome-Berlin Axis of October 1936. The following month, Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, ostensibly to combat the spread of communism but in reality a political tool to encircle the Soviet Union and deter the Western powers. Italy joined in 1937, creating the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo axis that would face the Allies in World War II.

The Road to Anschluss, 1937–1938

By 1937, Hitler felt strong enough to accelerate his timetable. A secret meeting recorded in the Hossbach Memorandum of November 5, 1937, revealed his long-term intentions to his top military and foreign policy advisers. He stated that Germany's problems could only be solved through force, and that the first targets would be Austria and Czechoslovakia, to secure the eastern and southern flanks before moving against France and eventually the Soviet Union. The annexation of Austria was now an explicit, immediate goal.

The Austrian Context: Internal Strife and Nazi Subversion

The First Austrian Republic had been economically fragile and politically divided since its inception. The authoritarian rule of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, who suppressed both the Social Democrats and the Austrian Nazis, had kept a lid on annexationist sentiment. In July 1934, the Austrian Nazis’ failed coup attempt, which resulted in Dollfuss’s assassination, was disavowed by Hitler due to Mussolini’s swift mobilization of troops at the Brenner Pass—a clear signal that Italy would defend Austrian sovereignty. By 1938, however, the diplomatic landscape had been transformed. Mussolini, isolated by his Ethiopian adventure and increasingly dependent on German support, abandoned his protection of Austria. Hitler had a free hand.

Kurt Schuschnigg, Dollfuss’s successor, struggled to maintain Austrian independence. The Nazi movement in Austria, led by the fanatical Arthur Seyss-Inquart, waged a campaign of bombings and propaganda to destabilize the state. German pressure grew relentless and multifaceted.

The Berchtesgaden Ultimatum

On February 12, 1938, Hitler summoned Schuschnigg to his mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden. What followed was a brutal psychological assault. For hours, Hitler ranted, threatening immediate military invasion unless a list of demands was met. The ten-point ultimatum forced Schuschnigg to appoint Seyss-Inquart as Minister of the Interior, giving the Nazis control of the police, to lift all bans on the Austrian Nazi Party, and to integrate the Austrian economy with Germany’s. Schuschnigg, isolated and without any promise of support from Britain or France, capitulated. This marked the death knell of Austrian sovereignty, but Schuschnigg made one final, desperate gamble.

The Annexation of Austria: March 11–13, 1938

Hoping to rally national sentiment and pre-empt a slow Nazi takeover, Schuschnigg announced a snap plebiscite on Austrian independence, to be held on March 13, just weeks away. The question was loaded, and the voting age was raised to 24 to exclude the most radicalized younger Nazis. Hitler was enraged by this act of defiance and demanded its cancellation. With no support forthcoming, and after German troops began massing at the border, Schuschnigg resigned on the evening of March 11. In a radio address, he declared he was yielding to force to avoid "the shedding of German blood."

President Wilhelm Miklas hesitated for hours, refusing to appoint Seyss-Inquart as chancellor. In a final act of farce, Hermann Göring, directing operations from Berlin, telephoned a series of threats and instructed Seyss-Inquart to send a pre-agreed telegram requesting German military intervention to restore order. The request was sent even before Seyss-Inquart had officially taken office. By dawn on March 12, Wehrmacht troops and SS units crossed the border, encountering no resistance. They were greeted, often, by cheering crowds showering them with flowers—a carefully staged reception, but one that reflected a deep reservoir of pan-German sentiment, economic hope, and Nazi terror that had already squashed open opposition.

Hitler's Triumphal Entry and the "Plebiscite of Approval"

Hitler followed his troops on March 12, making a triumphal entry into his birthplace, Braunau am Inn, and then to Linz, where he had spent his teenage years. On March 12, the law of Anschluss was proclaimed, completely incorporating Austria into the German Reich. A month later, on April 10, a retrospective plebiscite was held in both Austria and pre-existing Germany. Amid massive propaganda and open intimidation—including the presence of Nazi officials at polling stations—the official result showed a staggering 99.7% approval in Austria. While there was genuine support for union, the terror against Jews, political opponents, and intellectuals had already begun. The fear was palpable and the vote was a meaningless rubber stamp.

For Hitler, this was the first great expansion of the Third Reich without a shot being fired in combat. The Ostmark, as Austria was renamed, was rapidly integrated into the Nazi system, its resources and gold reserves seized, its army absorbed into the Wehrmacht, and its anti-Semitic policies immediately introduced, becoming a brutal laboratory for the violence to come.

International Reactions and the Policy of Appeasement

The international response to the Anschluss was a resounding testament to the bankruptcy of collective security in the face of determined aggression.

Britain and France: Protests Without Force

The British government under Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain pursued a policy of appeasement rooted in the belief that the Versailles Treaty had been unjust in parts and that Germany’s grievances were legitimate. There was a widespread, and disastrously mistaken, view that Austria was a German affair and that the Anschluss was a natural development. Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, had signaled in November 1937 that Britain would not oppose a union brought about by "peaceful means." When force met peace, the means no longer mattered. France was in the midst of a governmental crisis and, without British military commitment, was unwilling to act alone. Both nations lodged formal protests but quickly moved to accept the fait accompli, closing their embassies in Vienna and establishing consulates instead.

Mussolini's Acquiescence

The defining moment of the crisis had occurred earlier, when Mussolini decided not to intervene. Hitler, acutely aware of this debt, telephoned the Italian dictator during his triumphal drive into Austria, vowing, "I shall never forget this," a promise he would keep through the war and the rescue of Mussolini in 1943. Italy’s acceptance removed the last potential military counterweight in Central Europe.

The League of Nations' Failure

The League of Nations, already crippled by the absence of the United States and the earlier withdrawals of Japan and Germany, was utterly impotent. It held no emergency meeting, debated no sanctions, and offered no meaningful condemnation. The Anschluss exposed the League as an irrelevance, accelerating the shift from a system of global collective security to one of regional defense pacts and unilateral action. The failure at Vienna was a preview of Munich.

The Aftermath: From Anschluss to World War II

The annexation of Austria was far more than a domestic unification; it was a strategic earthquake that directly enabled the next phases of Nazi aggression. Austria added 6.5 million people, substantial industrial capacity, and a geographic pivot for future conquests. The German Reich now completely surrounded the western half of Czechoslovakia, turning its formidable border defenses in the Sudetenland into a trap from the south. The Sudetenland, with its 3 million ethnic Germans, became the next target, tainted by the same "self-determination" rhetoric that had been used in Austria.

Internally, the Anschluss unleashed a new wave of radicalization. The orgy of public humiliation, theft, and violence against Austrian Jews was spearheaded by Adolf Eichmann's newly established Central Office for Jewish Emigration, a model later exported to the rest of the Reich. The SS and Gestapo absorbed Austrian members and expanded their apparatus of terror. Crucially, the ease of the Austrian annexation convinced Hitler of the West's pusillanimity. He had gambled and won spectacularly. In May 1938, he ordered the Wehrmacht to begin planning for the destruction of Czechoslovakia—Grün. The Sudeten crisis of September 1938, the Munich Agreement, and finally the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, followed in direct, logical succession. Austria was the necessary stepping stone, the moment when diplomacy died and the road to general war became irreversible.

Conclusion

Hitler's foreign policy was a radical, ideologically driven pursuit of racial empire that systematically shattered the international system. The annexation of Austria stands as a perfect case study of his methods: the exploitation of internal subversion, the application of diplomatic ultimatum, the calculated use of military threat without the need for combat, and the keen perception that the Western powers lacked the will to resist. The Anschluss was not an isolated outburst of pan-Germanism; it was a meticulously planned act of aggression that gave Hitler the strategic position, economic resources, and psychological momentum to push toward the Sudetenland and Poland. It revealed the moral and political vacuum at the heart of Europe, where a mechanism for peace had been traded for a fleeting hope of tranquility. Understanding this path—from the ideological blueprints in Mein Kampf to the cheering crowds in Linz—is essential to grasping how a continent, less than eighteen months later, plunged into the abyss of world war.