Silvapages

Aggressive Policies of Hitler and Mussolini

Hitler

  • Germany wanted to regain lost German territories and to redraw the map of Europe--especially Eastern Europe.  The Germans also wanted to humiliate France and to regain their status as the greatest power on the continent. Hitler also wanted Germany to have full sovereignty once again--to have a normal military and to conduct diplomacy as he wished.
  • Germany's real aggression was toward the Czechs, Pole and Russians.  This was in keeping with Hitler's goals of using the Slavic regions of Eastern Europe for Lebensraum.
  • Hitler hoped that after the quick defeat of Poland, Britain and France would recognize German dominance of Eastern Europe--much as Austria-Hungary and Germany had done before WWI.
  • Hitler's deal with Stalin on the eve of WWII was considered temporary by both sides.  Stalin hoped Hitler would be bogged down against France and weakened so badly that Stalin could move into the heart of Europe. However, Hitler easily defeated France and drove Britain into a completely defensive posture of no mortal threat to Germany.
  • With France defeated and Britain impotent, Hitler could then take care of Russia and its threats to Hitler's dominance of Eastern Europe.  Germany also coveted the Ukraine with its great farmland and anti-Communist population.

Mussolini

  • Italy badly wanted to avenge the defeat of Italian troops at Adowa, Ethiopia in 1896.  Doing so would open the door to the conquest of all of Ethiopia--something no European power had managed during the Scramble for Africa.
  • Italy also wanted to consolidate and expand its colony in Libya.
  • Mussolini also had designs on Yugoslavia especially the cities of Fiume and Trieste.  The Dalmatian coast with its Adriatic islands also drew the gaze of Italy.
  • The nation of Albania was viewed as too weak to be a real state.  Its weakness cried out for dominance by a Great Power.
  • Italy also held grievances of the provinces of Nice and Savoy in France.  Napoleon III had received the provinces in exchange for land Italy never got from Austria in the mid-1800s.
  • A new and powerful Italian navy threatened French and British interests in the Mediterranean.  Mostly built while Italy was still friendly to both powers, it later became a top target for the British navy during WWII.
  • Mussolini's goals could not be easily reached under the League System. As a result, Italy abided by the League.  However, when Germany seized Austria and nothing happened, Mussolini saw that the League was not as powerful as he suspected.
  • Mussolini tested the league with his invasion of Ethiopia in 1935.  He bagged another colony and avenged the humiliation at Adowa.  France and Britain initially tried to give their blessings to this attack through the Hoare-Laval plan.  However, when word of the plan was made public, it smacked of the old Balance of Power practice of granting spheres of influence.  The plan was shot down and weak sanctions were threatened against Italy.  Mussolini said sanctions would be an act of war and sanctions were dropped. 
  • After Ethiopia, Mussolini learned that none of his goals could be attained through the League system, but that Germany and Italy together could defy the League and reach their goals together.  As a result, Mussolini went from an opponent of Hitler to an ally.