Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

1980

Thesis Director

Wolfgang Schlauch

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the foreign policy inter-action between Britain and Germany from January, 1933 to June, 1936, and to analyse British action, reaction and aims in foreign policy during that time.

In Chapter I, I deal with three broad ideas by way of introduction. First, there is an analysis of those groups which are acting and reacting in the sphere of foreign policy. There are four groups enumerated: the governmental or official group; the parliamentary group; the press; and, finally, public opinion. The make-up of these groups, the sources for discovering their reactions, and the problems with identifying their reactions is also discussed. Furthermore, it includes a summary of the attitudes of the press toward Germany in the 1930's and some of the personalities involved. Secondly, there is a discussion of the type of events to which these groups were reacting. There are three categories of events which are discussed: first, those moves which fall obviously into the category of foreign policy, like Germany's withdrawal from the League of Nations in 1933, or the reoccupation of the Rhineland in 1936; secondly, there are those decisions, like the reintroduction of conscription in Germany, which can be construed as domestic or foreign policy; thirdly, there are those events which, although exclusively domestic, elicited a response in Britain. Finally, there is a short bibliographical review, in which the types of sources that were availabel to me and the problems with handling those sources is discussed.

The following four chapters deal with the actual events, from January, 1933 to June, 1936, which forms the bulk of the paper. Chapter II contains a background to the period under review in the form of a summary of British attitudes from 1919 to 1932, and continues with a description of Anglo-German relations in 1933. Chapters III, IV, and V deal with the events and reactions in 1934, 1935 and 1936 respectively.

The final chapter contains the conclusion, in which I trace the permanent aims and interests of British foreign policy and how these can be reconciled to British reactions to German foreign policy moves during the period under review.

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