RISE OF NAZISM IN GERMANY AND ITS RELATION WITH

OTHERS COUNTRIES
(Project Report)

Submitted To
Dr.Avinash Samal
(Faculty Member in International Relations)

By

Abhishek Singh Uikey

Roll No:-05 Section:-B

Semester V, B.A., LL.B (Hons.)

HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY RAIPUR,

CHHATTISGARH

1
 Declaration
I hereby declare that this research work titled “Rise of Nazism In Germany
And Relation With Others Countries” is my own work and represents my
own ideas, and where others’ ideas or words have been included, I have
adequately cited and referenced the original sources. I also declare that I have
adhered to all principles of academic honesty and integrity and have not
misrepresented or fabricated or falsified any idea/data/fact/source in my
submission

Abhishek Singh Uikey

Roll no 05, Section B
B.A. LLB., 3rd year

2
 Acknowledgements

I feel highly elated to work on the topic “ Rise Of Nazism In Germany And Its Relation
With Others Countries”.

The practical realization of this project has obligated the assistance of many persons. I
express my deepest regard and gratitude for Dr. Avinash Samal. His consistent supervision,
constant inspiration and invaluable guidance have been of immense help in understanding
and carrying out the nuances of the project report.

I would like to thank my family and friends without whose support and encouragement, this
project would not have been a reality.

I take this opportunity to also thank the University and the Vice Chancellor for providing
extensive database resources in the Library and through Internet. I would be grateful to
receive comments and suggestions to further improve this project report.

Abhishek Singh Uikey

Section:-B , Roll No:-05

3
 Contents
I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 5
II. Objectives of Study ......................................................................................................................... 6
III. Scope of Study............................................................................................................................. 6
IV. Methodology of Study ................................................................................................................ 6
V. Organization of study ...................................................................................................................... 6
VI. Rise of Nazism to Power in Germany .......................................................................................... 7
Beginning of the Persecution of Jews in Germany ............................................................................. 9
VII. Roots of Nazism ........................................................................................................................ 11
VIII. NAZISM INTERNATINAL RELATIONS WITH OTHERS COUNTRIES .............................................. 14
NAZISM RELATIONS WITH AUSTRIA.................................................................................................. 14
German Empire without Austria ....................................................................................................... 15
Cold War ........................................................................................................................................... 15
NAZISM RELATIONS WITH UNITED KINGDOM .................................................................................. 17
Pre-war .......................................................................................................................................... 17
Change in attitude......................................................................................................................... 18
Allegations of war crimes .............................................................................................................. 19
NAZISM RELATIONS WITH SOVIET UNION ........................................................................................ 20
1939 needs and discussions .......................................................................................................... 20
German invasion of western Poland ............................................................................................. 21
Soviet invasion of eastern Poland ................................................................................................. 22
NAZISM RELATIONS WITH FRANCE ................................................................................................... 24
Second World War ........................................................................................................................ 24
Impact of French Revolution and Napoleon ................................................................................. 25
IX. References ................................................................................................................................ 27

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I. INTRODUCTION

Nazi stands for 'Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei', or National

Socialist German Workers Party. Nazism took the Socialist idea of the
community and applied it on a nationalist scale. The Nazi party wanted to unify
Germany under a collective purpose. The leader of the Nazi Party was Adolf
Hitler, and he established the ideology of Nazism. Nazi ideology can be defined
in four parts: expansion, racial purity, power, and militarism. Each one explains
a specific part to the philosophy of Nazism

Nazism, also spelled Naziism, in full National Socialism, German

Nationalsozialism, totalitarian movement led by Adolf Hitler as head of the
Nazi Party in Germany. In its intense nationalism, mass appeal, and dictatorial
rule, Nazism shared many elements with Italian fascism. However, Nazism was
far more extreme both in its ideas and in its practice. In almost every respect it
was an anti-intellectual and atheoretical movement, emphasizing the will of the
charismatic dictator as the sole source of inspiration of a people and a nation, as
well as a vision of annihilation of all enemies of the Aryan Volk as the one and
only goal of Nazi policy.

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 II. Objectives of Study
There are three primary objectives of study:-

1. To historically examine the Nazism.

2. To discuss rise of persecution of jews by Nazism.

3. To analyse the relations of Nazism and other nations.

4. To discuss various aspects of Nazism.

III. Scope of Study

The scope of study includes the purview within which the project work lies. This topic has
been clearly enunciated with the help of articles from magazines, newspapers and other such
e-article databases that have been explored.

IV. Methodology of Study

This project work is descriptive & analytical in approach. It is largely based on secondary &
electronic sources of data. Internet & other references as guided by faculty of political
science are primarily helpful for the completion of this project.

V. Organization of study

Chapter I talks about rise of Nazism to Power in Germany.

Chapter II talks about beginning of the Persecution of Jews in Germany.
Chapter III discusses the Nazism international relations with others countries.
Chapter IV discusses various aspects of Nazism Relations.
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VI. Rise of Nazism to Power in Germany
Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power due to the social and political
circumstances that characterized the interwar period in Germany. Many
Germans could not concede their country’s defeat in World War I, arguing that
“backstabbing” and weakness in the rear had paralyzed and, eventually, caused
the front to collapse. The Jews, they claimed, had done much to spread
defeatism and thus destroy the German army. Democracy in the Weimar
Republic, they argued, was a form of governance that had been imposed on
Germany and was unsuited to the German nature and way of life. They
construed the terms of the Versailles peace treaty and the steep compensation
payments that it entailed as revenge by the victors and a glaring injustice. This
frustration, together with intransigent resistance and warnings about the surging
menace of Communism, created fertile soil for the growth of radical right-wing
groups in Germany, spawning entities such as the Nazi Party.

In 1925, a transitory economic upturn and a promising political dialogue

brought relative calm into sight. However, the severe international economic
crisis that erupted in 1929 carried the instability to new heights.

In 1919, Adolf Hitler, a released soldier wounded in WWI, joined a small and
insignificant group called the National Socialist Party. He became the group’s
leader and formulated the racial and antisemitic principles in its charter. In 1923
party activists led a revolt and tried to seize power in Munich, but failed. Hitler
was imprisoned, during which time he wrote his venomous book Mein Kampf
(My Struggle), in which he expressed his ideas about racial theory and Nazi
global dominion. Hitler realized that he must employ legitimate democratic
means in his struggle to seize power. However, he and his associates left no
doubt about their belief in democratic freedoms as mere tools with which power
might be attained. After his release Hitler reorganized the party.

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In the 1924 Reichstag elections, the Nazi Party received three percent of the
votes cast and was represented in the parliament by fourteen delegates. In the
1928 elections, its support declined; the party was able to send only twelve
delegates to the legislature. The turnaround came in 1930, the first elections
after the economic crisis began. Surprisingly, the Nazis received 18.3 percent of
the vote and sent 107 delegates to the Reichstag, the German Parliament. In July
1932, with 230 mandates, they became the largest faction in the House — a
political force that made an impact and acceded to power legitimately. President
Paul von Hindenburg gave Hitler the mandate to form a government, and Hitler
became Chancellor on January 30, 1933.

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Beginning of the Persecution of Jews in Germany

In the 1930s, Germany’s Jews – some 500,000 people – made up less than one
percent (0.8%) of the German population. Most considered themselves loyal
patriots, linked to the German way of life by language and culture. They
excelled in science, literature, the arts, and economic enterprise. 24% of
Germany’s Nobel Prize winners were Jewish. However, conversion,
intermarriage, and declining birth rates, led some to believe that Jewish life was
doomed to disappear from the German scene altogether.

The paradox was that Nazi ideology stemmed from Germany and the German
people, among whom Jews eagerly wanted to acculturate. Indeed, there was a
widespread belief amongst many Jews in the illusion that the role they played
within industry and trade and their contributions to the German economy would
prevent the Germans from completely excluding them. 1

Nazi anti-Jewish policy functioned on two primary levels: legal measures to

expel the Jews from society and strip them of their rights and property while
simultaneously engaging in campaigns of incitement, abuse, terror and violence
of varying proportions. There was one goal: to make the Jews leave Germany.

On March 9, 1933, several weeks after Hitler assumed power, organized attacks
on Jews broke out across Germany. Two weeks later, the Dachau concentration
camp, situated near Munich, opened. Dachau became a place of internment for
Communists, Socialists, German liberals and anyone considered an enemy of
the Reich. It became the model for the network of concentration camps that
would be established later by the Nazis. Within a few months, democracy was
obliterated in Germany, and the country became a centralized, single-party
police state. On April 1, 1933, a general boycott against German Jews was

1
Samuel R. Williamson Jr"German Perceptions of the Triple Entente after 1911: Their Mounting
Apprehensions Reconsidered" Foreign Policy Analysis 7.2 (2011): 205-214.

9
declared, in which SA members stood outside Jewish-owned stores and
businesses in order to prevent customers from entering.

Approximately one week later, a law concerning the rehabilitation of the

professional civil service was passed. The purpose of the legislation was to
purge the civil service of officials of Jewish origin and those deemed disloyal to
the regime. It was the first racial law that attempted to isolate Jews and oust
them from German life.2 The first laws banished Jews from the civil service,
judicial system, public medicine, and the German army (then being
reorganized). Ceremonial public book burnings took place throughout Germany.
Many books were torched solely because their authors were Jews. The
exclusion of Jews from German cultural life was highly visible, ousting their
considerable contribution to the German press, literature, theater, and music.

In September 1935 the “Nuremberg Laws” were passed, stripping the Jews of
their citizenship and forbidding intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews. Jews
were banned from universities; Jewish actors were dismissed from theaters;
Jewish authors’ works were rejected by publishers; and Jewish journalists were
hard-pressed to find newspapers that would publish their writings. Famous
artists and scientists played an important role in this campaign of dispossession
and party labeling of literature, art, and science. Some scientists and physicians
were involved in the theoretical underpinnings of the racial doctrine.

2
Mark Hewitson, "Germany and France before the First World War: A Reassessment of Wilhelmine Foreign
Policy" English Historical Review (2000) 115#462 pp. 570-606

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VII. Roots of Nazism
Nazism had peculiarly German roots. It can be partly traced to the Prussian
tradition as developed under Frederick William I (1688–1740), Frederick the
Great (1712–68), and Otto von Bismarck (1815–98), which regarded the
militant spirit and the discipline of the Prussian army as the model for all
individual and civic life. To it was added the tradition of political romanticism,
with its sharp hostility to rationalism and to the principles underlying the French
Revolution, its emphasis on instinct and the past, and its proclamation of the
rights of Friedrich Nietzsche’s exceptional individual (the Übermensch
[“Superman”]) over all universal law and rules. These two traditions were later
reinforced by the 19th-century adoration of science and of the laws of nature,
which seemed to operate independently of all concepts of good and evil. Further
reinforcements came from such 19th-century intellectual figures as the comte de
Gobineau (1816–82), Richard Wagner (1813–83), and Houston Stewart
Chamberlain (1855–1927), all of whom greatly influenced early National
Socialism with their claims of the racial and cultural superiority of the “Nordic”
(Germanic) peoples over all other Europeans and all other races.

Hitler’s intellectual viewpoint was influenced during his youth not only by these
currents in the German tradition but also by specific Austrian movements that
professed various political sentiments, notably those of pan-Germanic
expansionism and anti-Semitism. Hitler’s ferocious nationalism, his contempt of
the Slavs, and his hatred of the Jews can largely be explained by his bitter
experiences as an unsuccessful artist living a threadbare existence on the streets
of Vienna, the capital of the multiethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This intellectual preparation would probably not have been sufficient for the
growth of Nazism in Germany but for that country’s defeat in World War I. The
defeat and the resulting disillusionment, pauperization, and frustration—

11
particularly among the lower middle classes—paved the way for the success of
the propaganda of Hitler and the Nazis. The Treaty of Versailles (1919), the
formal settlement of World War I drafted without German participation,
alienated many Germans with its imposition of harsh monetary and territorial
reparations. The significant resentment expressed toward the peace treaty gave
Hitler a starting point. Because German representatives (branded the
“November criminals” by National Socialists) agreed to cease hostilities and did
not unconditionally surrender in the armistice of November 11, 1918, there was
a widespread feeling—particularly in the military—that Germany’s defeat had
been orchestrated by diplomats at the Versailles meetings. From the beginning,
Hitler’s propaganda of revenge for this “traitorous” act, through which the
German people had been “stabbed in the back,” and his call for rearmament had
strong appeal within military circles, which regarded the peace only as a
temporary setback in Germany’s expansionist program. The ruinous inflation of
the German currency in 1923 wiped out the savings of many middle-class
households and led to further public alienation and dissatisfaction.3

Hitler added to Pan-Germanic aspirations the almost mystical fanaticism of a

faith in the mission of the German race and the fervour of a social revolutionary
gospel. This gospel was most fully expressed in Hitler’s personal testament
Mein Kampf (1925–27; “My Struggle”), in which he outlined both his practical
aims and his theories of race and propaganda.

Posing as a bulwark against communism, Hitler exploited the fears aroused in

Germany and worldwide by the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the
consolidation of communist power in the Soviet Union. Thus, he was able to
secure the support of many conservative elements that misunderstood the
totalitarian character of his movement.

3
G.P. Gooch, Before the war: studies in diplomacy (1936), chapter on Delcassé pp 87-186.

12
Hitler’s most important individual contribution to the theory and practice of
Nazism was his deep understanding of mass psychology and mass propaganda.
He stressed the fact that all propaganda must hold its intellectual level at the
capacity of the least intelligent of those at whom it is directed and that its
truthfulness is much less important than its success.

Hitler found this common denominator in the Jews, whom he identified with
both Bolshevism and a kind of cosmic evil. The Jews were to be discriminated
against not according to their religion but according to their “race.” Nazism
declared the Jews—whatever their educational and social development—to be
forever fundamentally different from and inimical to Germans.

Nazism attempted to reconcile conservative, nationalist ideology with a socially

radical doctrine. In so doing, it became a profoundly revolutionary movement—
albeit a largely negative one. Rejecting rationalism, liberalism, democracy, the
rule of law, human rights, and all movements of international cooperation and
peace, it stressed instinct, the subordination of the individual to the state, and
the necessity of blind and unswerving obedience to leaders appointed from
above. It also emphasized the inequality of men and races and the right of the
strong to rule the weak; sought to purge or suppress competing political,
religious, and social institutions; advanced an ethic of hardness and ferocity;
and partly destroyed class distinctions by drawing into the movement misfits
and failures from all social classes. Although socialism was traditionally an
internationalist creed, the radical wing of Nazism knew that a mass base existed
for policies that were simultaneously anticapitalist and nationalist. However,
after Hitler secured power, this radical strain was eliminated.

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VIII. NAZISM INTERNATINAL RELATIONS WITH
OTHERS COUNTRIES

NAZISM RELATIONS WITH AUSTRIA

Relations between Austria and Germany are close, due to their shared history
and language, with German being the official language and Germans being the
largest ethnic group of both countries.

Modern-day Austria and Germany were united until 1866: their predecessors
were part of the Holy Roman Empire and the German Confederation until
the unification of German states under Prussia in 1871, which excluded Austria.
In 1918 after the end of World War I, Austria renamed itself the Republic of
German-Austria in an attempt for union with Germany but this was forbidden
by the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919).4 In 1938, the Third Reich, led
by Austrian-born Adolf Hitler, annexed Austria in the Anschluss.

After Austria's entry into the European Union in 1995, both countries are
member-states of the Schengen Agreement. Whereas Germany is a member
nation of NATO, Austria remains a partner to NATO in accordance with its
constitution to maintain neutrality

4
The Nazi party: A social profile of members and leaders, 1919-1945

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German Empire without Austria
In 1867, the new North German Confederation was declared by Bismarck. After
Prussia's victory in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, in which Prussian army
entered and marched over Paris, Bismarck announced the creation of
the German Empire and excluded Austria-Hungary solely in this unified
Germany. Austria-Hungary then turned its imperial ambitions to the Balkan
Peninsula; whereas the German Empire focused on building armaments in a
race against the United Kingdom (Britain and Ireland). Nevertheless, both the
German Empire and Austria-Hungary forged a military alliance with the
Kingdom of Italy, forming the Triple Alliance (1882). In the 1910s, Austria-
Hungary's ambition of turning Serbia into its protectorate facilitated
the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1914), heir to Austria-
Hungary's throne. When Austria-Hungary stirred up excuses for a war (First
World War) against Serbia, Germany, claiming the Alliance's terms of passive
military defence instead of downright aggression, reluctantly entered the war on
Austria-Hungary's side.5

Cold War
In late April 1945, the Allied Powers entered Austria and removed the country
from the Third German Reich. A provisional Austrian government, led by Karl
Renner, declared the country's regained independence. Austria's democratic
constitution was reinstated and elections in late 1945 paved the way for a new
federal government. Leopold Figlbecame the first Chancellor of Austria.
Germany, however, was occupied by the Allied Powers and divided into four
governing zones: British, French, American and the Soviet Union. Military
occupation of Germany ended in 1949 when such zones were organised into

5
Ulrich Krotz, "Three eras and possible futures: a long-term view on the Franco-German relationship a century
after the First World War," International Affairs (March 2014) 90#2 pp 337-350.

15
the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German
Democractic Republic (East Germany).

After the Second World War, there has been no serious effort among the
citizens or political parties to unite Germany and Austria. In addition,
the Austrian State Treaty forbids such a union and the constitution required
Austria's neutrality. A 1987 survey revealed that only 6% of Austrians identified
themselves as 'Germans'. Austria began to develop a separate national identity
from Germany, although both countries continued to co-operate closely in
economic and cultural fields during the Cold War. Moreover, political relations
between both countries have been strong and amicable.

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NAZISM RELATIONS WITH UNITED KINGDOM

The position of Nazi propaganda towards the United Kingdom and its
inhabitants changed over time. Prior to 1938, while Hitler tried to court Britain
into an alliance, his propaganda praised the British as
proficient Aryan imperialists. Later, as the Nazis realized that they would have
to fight the United Kingdom, their propaganda vilified the British as oppressive,
German-hating plutocrats. During the war, it accused "perfidious Albion" of
war crimes, and sought especially to drive a wedge between Britain and France.

Pre-war

Initially, the aim of Nazi foreign policy was to create an Anglo-German

alliance, so before 1938, Nazi propaganda tended to glorify British institutions,
and above all the British Empire. Even regarding it, along with France, as
"decadent democracies", Goebbels set out to court them.

Typical of the Nazi admiration for the British Empire were a lengthy series of
articles in various German newspapers throughout the mid-1930s praising
various aspects of British imperial history, with the clear implication that there
were positive parallels to be drawn between British empire-building in the past
and German empire-building in the future. The esteem in which the British
Empire was held can be gauged by the fact that the lavish adoration heaped
upon Britain's empire was not matched by similar coverage of other empires
both past and present. An example of this sort of coverage was a long article in
the Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung newspaper in 1936 extolling the British for
"brutally" resolving the Fashoda crisis of 1898 in their favour with no regard for
diplomatic niceties. Another example of Nazi anglophilia included a series of
widely promoted biographies and historical novels commemorating various

17
prominent "Aryan" figures from British history such as Cromwell,
Marlborough, Nelson, Rhodes, Wellington, and Raleigh.

A particular theme of praise was offered for British “ruthlessness” in building

and defending their empire, which was held as a model for the Germans to
follow. Above all, the British were admired as an “Aryan” people who had with
typical “ruthlessness” subjected millions of brown- and black skinned people to
their rule, and British rule in India was held up as a model for how the Germans
would rule Russia, through as the historian Gerwin Strobl pointed out that this
parallel between German rule in Russia and British rule in India was only made
possible by the Nazis’ ignorance of how the British actually ruled India.6

Perhaps more importantly for gauging the Nazi regime's pro-British feelings in
its early years was the prominence given to Englandkunde (English studies)
within German schools and the lavish praise offered to British youth
organizations as a model within the Hitler Youth.

Change in attitude

Up to November 1938, the English were depicted as an Aryan people, but

afterward, they were denounced as "the Jew among the Aryan peoples" and as
plutocrats, fighting for money. This was sometimes modified with the
suggestion that it was the ruling class alone that was the problem. Goebbels
denounced it as having a few hundred families rule the world without any moral
justification, a phrase which had been taken directly from the French Popular
Front despite Nazi opposition to Communism.

The change of emphasis was due to Hitler's changed view of Britain from a
potential ally to an enemy that would have to be destroyed. This emphasis

6
Posaner, Joshua (29 April 2017). "Strasbourg's eurotram aims to boost Franco-German axis". Politico.

18
increased as British resistance went on. Such films as Der Fuchs von
Glenarvon and My life for Ireland did not show quite the crude stereotypes as
later films such as Ohm Krüger and Carl Peters.

The instant—and unauthorized—rejection of the peace terms of Hitler's July 19,

1940 speech by Sefton Delmer on the BBC produced a great impact on
Germany; Goebbels believed it had to show governmental inspiration, and the
German press were instructed to attack the rejection.

Allegations of war crimes

Special editions of Illustrierter Beobachter denounced Britain and France for

starting the war. Claims were made both that France and Britain had started the
war, wanting to make it a blockade rather than one that would actually hurt
them, and also that they had actually invaded Belgium and the Netherlands,
forcing the Germans to forestall them, a discrepancy that did not attract much
attention. A cigarette book announced German determination to face down "the
war England has forced upon us." Their intent was to prevent the social
revolution in Germany from inspiring discontent with the plutocracy in
Britain. As France was falling, Goebbels wrote in Das Reich of the "missed
opportunities" that Britain and France had for peace. 7

Another common motif was to accuse Britain of attacking in a barbarous

manner. Articles on British bombing raids accused them of targeting
civilians.[40] After the bombing raid on Cologne, a pamphlet claimed that, in
contrast, the Germans did not target civilians. Goebbels took advantage of a
1943 memorial service for the victims of bombing raids to proclaim Allied guilt
and German innocence. Despite the encouragement it might give the enemy and

7
Anthony Adamthwaite, Grandeur and Misery: France's Bid for Power in Europe, 1914-1940 (1995) p 6.

19
that it did not inspire calm, propaganda shifted from playing down raids to
playing them up, to inspire hatred of the enemy, and sympathy with neutrals.

Goebbels also warned the German people that, having lied about German
atrocities in World War I, Britain would obviously lie again in this war. This
theme was continually repeated in warnings against enemy propaganda.

NAZISM RELATIONS WITH SOVIET UNION

German–Soviet Union relations date to the aftermath of the First World War.
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, dictated by Germany ended hostilities between
Russia and Germany; it was signed on March 3, 1918. A few months later, the
German ambassador to Moscow, Wilhelm von Mirbach, was shot dead by
Russian Left Socialist-Revolutionaries in an attempt to incite a new war
between Russia and Germany. The entire Soviet embassy under Adolph
Joffe was deported from Germany on November 6, 1918, for their active
support of the German Revolution. Karl Radek also illegally supported
communist subversive activities in Weimar Germany in 1919.8

1939 needs and discussions

By the late 1930s, because a German autarkic economic approach or an alliance

with Britain was impossible, closer relations with the Soviet Union were
necessary, if not just for economic reasons alone. Germany lacked oil, and could
only supply 25 percent of its own needs, leaving Germany 2 million tons short a
year and a staggering 10 million tons below planned mobilization totals, while
the Soviet Union was required for numerous key other raw materials, such as

8
Norman Rich, Great Power Diplomacy: 1814–1914 (1993), pp 184-250.

20
ores (including iron and manganese), rubber and food fat and oils. While Soviet
imports into Germany had fallen to 52.8 million Reichsmarks in 1937, massive
armament production increases and critical raw material shortages caused
Germany to turn to reverse their prior attitude, pushing forward economic talks
in early 1939.

German invasion of western Poland

A week after having signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact, on September 1,

1939, Nazi Germany invaded its zone of influence in Poland. On September 3,
Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and France, fulfilling their obligations to
the Second Polish Republic, declared war on Germany. The Second World War
broke out in Europe.

On September 4, as Britain blockaded Germany at sea, German cargo ships

heading towards German ports were diverted to the Soviet Arctic port
of Murmansk. On September 8 the Soviet side agreed to pass it by railway to
the Soviet Baltic port of Leningrad. At the same time the Soviet Union refused
to allow a Polish transit through its territory citing the threat of being drawn into
war on September 5.

Von der Schulenburg reported to Berlin that attacks on the conduct of Germany
in the Soviet press had ceased completely and the portrayal of events in the field
of foreign politics largely coincided with the German point of view, while anti-
German literature had been removed from the trade.9

On September 7 Stalin once again outlined a new line for the Comintern that
was now based on the idea that the war was an inter-imperialist conflict and
hence there was no reason for the working class to side with Britain, France, or

9
Margaret Macmillan, The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 (2013) ch 6.

21
Poland against Germany, thus departing from the Comintern's anti-
fascist popular front policy of 1934–1939. He labeled Poland as a fascist state
oppressing Belarusians and Ukrainians.

On September 8 Molotov prematurely congratulated the German government on

the entry of German troops into Warsaw.[111]

German diplomats had urged the Soviet Union to intervene against Poland from
the east since the beginning of the war, but the Soviet Union was reluctant to
intervene as Warsaw had not yet fallen. The Soviet decision to invade that part
of eastern of Poland which had earlier been agreed as the Soviet zone of
influence was communicated to the German ambassador Friedrich Werner von
der Schulenburg on September 9, but the actual invasion was delayed for more
than a week. The Polish intelligence became aware of the Soviet plans around
September 12.

Soviet invasion of eastern Poland

On September 17 the Soviet Union finally entered the Polish territories that had
been granted to it by the secret protocol of non-aggression pact from the east.
As the pretexts to justify their actions, the Soviets cited the collapse of
the Second Polish Republic and they claimed that they were trying to help
the Belorussian and Ukrainian people. The Soviet invasion is usually considered
direct result of the pact, although the revisionist school contends that this was
not the case and that the Soviet decision was taken a few weeks later. The
Soviet move was denounced by Britain and France, but they did not intervene.
In an exchange of captured Polish territories in compliance with the terms of the
protocol, already on September 17 the Red Army and Wehrmacht held a joint
military parade in Brest; occupation of the city was then transferred by
Germany to the Soviet troops. In the following battles with the rest of the

22
Second Polish Republic's army, the Soviet Union occupied the territories
roughly corresponding to its sphere of interests, as defined in the secret
additional protocol to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

The territory of Poland had been completely occupied by the two powers by
October 6, and the Polish state was liquidated. In early November the Supreme
Soviet of the Soviet Union annexed the occupied territories and the Soviet
Union shared a common border with Nazi Germany, the Nazi-occupied Polish
territories and Lithuania for the first time.

After the invasion, cooperation between Germany and the Soviet Union was
visible, for example, in the four Gestapo-NKVD Conferences, where the
occupying powers discussed plans for dealing with the Polish resistance
movement and for the further destruction of Poland.[114]

23
NAZISM RELATIONS WITH FRANCE

The relations between France and Germany, since 1871, according to Ulrich
Krotz has three grand periods: 'hereditary enmity' (down to 1945),
'reconciliation' (1945–63) and since 1963 the 'special relationship' embodied in
a cooperation called Franco-German Friendship (French: Amitié franco-
allemande; German: Deutsch-Französische Freundschaft).

In the context of the European Union, the cooperation between the two
countries is immense and intimate. Even though France has at times
been eurosceptical in outlook, especially under President Charles de Gaulle,
Franco-German agreements and cooperations have always been key to
furthering the ideals of European integration.10

In recent times, France and Germany are among the most enthusiastic
proponents of the further integration of the EU. They are sometimes described
as the "twin engine" or "core countries" pushing for moves. A tram straddling
the Franco-German border, across the river Rhine from Strasbourg to Kehl, was
inaugurated on the 28th of April 2017 symbolising the strength of relation
between the two countries.

Second World War

Finally, however, Hitler pushed France and Britain too far, and they jointly
declared war when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. But France
remained exhausted and in no mood for a rerun of 1914–18. There was little
enthusiasm and much dread in France at the prospect of actual warfare after the
“phony war”. When the Germans launched their blitzkrieg invasion of France in

10
Carlton J. H. Hayes, A Generation of Materialism, 1871–1900 (1941), pp 1-2.

24
1940, the French Army crumbled within weeks, and with Britain retreating, an
atmosphere of humiliation and defeat swept France.

A new government under Marshal Philippe Pétain surrendered, and German

forces occupied most of the country. A minority of the French forces escaped
abroad and continued the fight under General Charles de Gaulle (the “Free
French” or “Fighting French”). On the other hand, the French
Resistance conducted sabotage operations inside German-occupied France. To
support the invasion of Normandy of 1944, various groups increased their
sabotage and guerrilla attacks; organizations such as the Maquisderailed trains,
blew up ammunition depots, and ambushed Germans, for instance at Tulle.
The 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich came under constant attack and
sabotage on their way across the country to Normandy, suspected the village
of Oradour-sur-Glane of harboring terrorists, arms and explosives. In retaliation
they decided to shoot all men, and burn alive all women and children in the
church.

There was also a free French army fighting with the Allies, numbering almost
five hundred thousand men by June 1944, one million by December and 1.3
million by the end of the war. By the war's end, the French army occupied
south-west Germany and a part of Austria.

Impact of French Revolution and Napoleon

German nationalism emerged as a strong force after 1807 as Napoleon

conquered much of Germany and brought in the new ideals of the French
Revolution. The French mass conscription for the Revolutionary Wars and the
beginning formation of nation states in Europe made war increasingly a conflict
between peoples rather than a conflict between authorities carried out on the
backs of their subjects.

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Napoleon put an end to the millennium-old Holy Roman Empire in 1806,
forming his own Confederation of the Rhine, and reshaped the political map of
the German states, which were still divided. The wars, often fought in Germany
and with Germans on both sides as in the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig, also
marked the beginning of what was explicitly called French–German hereditary
enmity. Napoleon directly incorporated German-speaking areas such as
the Rhineland and Hamburg into his First French Empire and treated the
monarchs of the remaining German states as vassals. Modern German
nationalism was born in opposition to French domination under Napoleon. In
the recasting of the map of Europe after Napoleon's defeat, the German-
speaking territories in the Rhineland adjoining France were put under the rule
of Prussia.

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IX. References
ARTICLES

 Lancaster, John (12 April 2005), "Nazism Hoping to 'Reshape the World Order'

Together", The Washington Post, Archived from the original on 9 February 2011.

 “Chapter 4: How European View Each Other". Pew Research Center. Archived

from the original on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2018.

 Indian Embassy, Beijing. Germany-soviet Bilateral Relations - Historical Ties.

Archived 21 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine.

 Carlton J. H. Hayes, A Generation of Materialism.

 Norman Rich, Great Power Diplomacy: 1814–1914 (1993),

WEBSITES

 http://www.eui.eu/DepartmentsAndCentres/PoliticalAndSocialSciences/People/Profes

sors/Krotz.aspx

 http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/dossiers-pays/allemagne/presentation-de-l-

allemagne/

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