Hitler's War Aims: Ideology, the Nazi State, and the Course of Expansion

396 Pages·1992·13.934 MB·English

by  Norman Rich

THE AUTHOR
Norman Rich is professor of history at Brown University.
He received his Ph.D. from the University of California,
Berkeley, and has taught at Princeton, Bryn Mawr, and
Michigan State University. For five years. Professor Rich
served as a member of the State Department’s board of
editors of the captured German Foreign Ministry docu­
ments. He has been a resident fellow at St. Anthony’s
College, Oxford, and the holder of a Guggenheim F ellow-
ship. His other works include Friedrich von Holstein, The
Holstein Papers (coeditor), and The Age of Nationalism
and Reform, 1850-1890 (in the Norton History of Modern
Europe series).

HITLER’S WAR AIMS
IDEOLOGY, THE NAZI STATE,
AND THE COURSE OF EXPANSION
by Norman Rich
W ■ W • NORTON & COMPANY
New York • London
Copyright © 1973 by W. W. Norton & Company, Ine.
Reissued as a Norton paperback 1992
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Rich, Norman
Hitler’s war aims.
CONTENTS: v. 1. Ideology, the Nazi State, and the
course of expansion.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945. 2. Germany—Foreign
relations—1933-1945. 3. World War, 1939-1945—Occupied
territories. 4. National socialism. 5. World War, 1939-1945—
Germany. I. Title.
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For Ning
“Der Mensch kann sich aber auf eine doppelte
Weise entgegengesetzt sein: entweder als Wilder,
wenn seine Gefühle über seine Grundsätze herr­
schen; oder als Barbar, wenn seine Grundsätze
seine Gefühle zerstören” (A human being may
deny his humanity in a twofold manner: either as
a savage, when his feelings rule over his principles;
or as a barbarian, when his principles destroy his
feelings.) Schiller, Ueber die ästhetische Erziehung
des Menschen. Vierter Brief.
Contents
List of Photographs ix
List of Maps x
Preface xi
Introduction: The Historical Background xix
Ideology and the Nazi State
p a rt one:
1 The Ideology of Expansion 3
2 Hitler, the Party, and the State 11
The Rule of Hitler 11
The Role of the State and Party in Nazi
Political Theory 13
3 The Attainment and Consolidation of Power 17
4 The Instruments of Control: The National Socialist
Party 28
The Party Administration 29
The Party Militia 32
The Party and the State 36
5 The Instruments of Control: The State 38
Administration 38
The Police 45
The Army 50
6 The Instruments of Control: Racial Offices 55
7 The Instruments of Control: The Economy 59
Production and the Producers 59
The Four-Year Plan 64
Rivalries for Economic Authority 67
8 The Control of Power 73
vii
viii CONTENTS
The Course of Expansion
p a r t tw o :
9 The Period of Preparation 81
The Problem of Timing 81
Propaganda, Rearmament, and Diplomacy 82
10 Expansion in the Name of Self-Determination 90
Austria 90
The Sudetenland 101
11 From Self-Determination to Lebensraum 111
The Occupation of Bohemia and Moravia 111
Memel: Postscript to Self-Determination 118
12 The War for Lebensraum: The Attack on
Poland 121
13 Security in the North: The Attack on Denmark
and Norway 132
14 Security in the West: The Attack on France
and the Low Countries 146
15 The Problem of Britain 157
16 Security in the Southwest: Spain and North
Africa 165
17 Security in the Southeast: Hungary and the
Balkans 180
Hungary 183
Rumania 187
Bulgaria 192
The Italian Attack on Greece 195
The German Attack on Yugoslavia 197
18 The Final Drive for Lebensraum: The Attack on
Russia 204
The Rationale and Timing of the German Attack 204
Preparations for the Occupation and Administra­
tion of Russia 211
19 The Japanese Alliance 224
20 Hitler’s Declaration of War on the United States 237
Culmination 247
A Note on the Spelling 253
Abbreviations 254
Biographical Sketches 256
Notes 266
Bibliography 313
Index 343
List of Maps
Prewar Nazi Territorial Gains 103
The Northern States and Poland 135
Nazi Occupation of France and the Low Countries 155
The Mediterranean 179
The Balkan States 185
Russia 213