Hitler's Foreign Policy 1933-1939: The Road to World War II

Hitler’s path to war consisted of two different stages that paralleled the internal development of Germany. From 1933 to the end of 1936, he created a diplomatic revolution in Europe. From a barely accepted equal, Germany became the dominant power on the continent. With the remilitarization of the Rhineland, the stalemate in the Spanish Civil War, the forming of the Axis, and the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact, the first phase was completed. In the second phase, the diplomatic initiative in the world belonged to Germany and its partners. Germany’s march toward war therefore became the central issue in world diplomacy.