Suppose that France had pursued that same policy of neutrality. Might Hitler have left France alone too? Might he have focused his attention on his one foreign policy goal–war against the Soviet Union–while leaving things well enough alone in the west?
Seems unlikely. There was a large chunk of territory (the Alcase) at stake. Hitler makes it clear in Mein Kampf that France and Germany are rivals and France should be subordinate.
I had been under the impression that the French and Soviets were willing to fight for the integrity of Czechoslovakia but the British put their weight behind the peace deal. Of course it wouldn’t surprise me if the French government was also determined to avoid war at all costs, as they were leaving the Spanish republican government in the lurch at the same time.
There was a large chunk of territory (the Alcase) at stake.
In Hitler’s second book, he wrote about the inadvisability of basing broad national policy on border disputes. The incident which prompted those comments was the fact that Italy had annexed South Tyrol, an area with hundreds of thousands of Germans. Many in Germany felt that Hitler should do something to prevent those Germans from being annexed. Hitler, on the other hand, was prepared to let South Tyrol go so that he could have an alliance with Italy.
If Hitler was willing to write off South Tyrol in order to gain a completely useless ally, he might also have been willing to write off Alsace in order to avoid a pointless and unwanted war with Britain and France.
Hitler makes it clear in Mein Kampf that France and Germany are rivals and France should be subordinate.
It is true that Hitler expressed bitterness about the fact that France had pursued an anti-German foreign policy for literally centuries. He felt it was inevitable that France would continue pursuing an anti-German foreign policy, regardless of the nature of the French or German governments. France could have tried to change Hitler’s mind about all this by pursuing a policy of neutrality or even benevolence towards Germany. But that option was never considered.
[The French] were leaving the Spanish republican government in the lurch at the same time
It’s true that France could have done more to support Spain’s communist government in its war against Franco. Whether France should have done more to help the communists is, of course, another question.
