Is it true that Hitler didn't want to go to war?

by darthbarracuda

I'm not trying to glorify Hitler or anything, but did he really want war with the European countries? The Rhineland and Sudentanland were unfairly taken from Germany at the end of WWI, and they had a large German population. It seems as if Hitler only wanted those territories back for the sake of having a reunified Germany.

If he wanted a war, in my opinion it would have only been with the Soviet Union, as he hated communism. He invaded Czechoslovakia and Poland to act as a buffer zone against it, so he could later charge in and invade the USSR.

But then France and Britain declare war on Germany for invading Poland, which surprises Hitler since they hadn't done anything before, so he is forced to declare war back. Did he create the massive German army just in case there was war, or did he set out knowing and wanting war?

vonadler

First of all, the Sudetenland had never been part of Germany - it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before Czechoslovakia became its own state.

Secondly, the Rhineland was part of Germany, it was just demilitarised, which meant that German military forces were not allowed west of the Rhine. The area was under German jurisdiction, paid German taxes, policed by German police and held no foreign troops. It was an integral part of Germany.

As for your comment about unfairly, the Germans signed the treaty and gave away parts of Silesia and West Prussia, including Danzig as well as Alsace-Lorraine/Elsass-Lothringen. All those territories had been siezed by Prussia earlier in war, so how fair or unfair the territorial change was can be debated.

Hitler wanted to conquer lebensraum in the east, at the expense of Poland and the Soviet Union, yes, but he also wanted to crush France and regain Alsace-Lorraine/Elsass-Lothringen, which had been German 1871-1918. The Germans were incapable of a two-front war and very afraid of it.

The German economy demanded war in summer 1939, or it would either have had to reduce re-armament by 20-30% (at a time when the French and British had started to re-arm and were catching up) or face a total collapse. Nazi mismanagement of the German economy had drained the gold and currency reserves to nearly nothing, stocks of vital raw materials were at an all-time low, inflation was only kept in check by draconian wage and price controls and the early signs of reduction of wares at stores were present in 1939. The nazis set the value of the reichsmark so high no-one would accept it, forcing them to use foreign currency and gold for all their imports, which included iron, copper and led from Sweden, tungsten from Portugal and Spain, chrome (needed for armour plate) from Turkey, oil from Romania and nickel (nneeded for engines) from Finland. The black market flourished.

Poland was the target on September the 1st, 1939, and Britain and France immediately issued an ultimatum for Germany to withdraw from Poland or face war. The Germans did not bother to respond, and Britain and France declared war on September the 3rd 1939.

Hitler wanted war. He knew he could not achieve his goals without it. The French would not abandon their ally against Germany in the east, Poland and Poland held territories that had been German before 1918 abd Hitler wanted them back. He also wanted a land border with the Soviets for his eventual invasion to create lebensraum and exterminate bolchevism.

These three things - war to restore German hegemony in Europe (against France and Poland), lebensraum and extermination of bolchevism were the only three real consistent nazi policies throughout the existance of the party and Hitler's leadership of it.

TL;DR: No, it is not true.