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When we speak of foreign politics we understand that domain of governmentwhich has set before it the task of managing the affairs of a nation in itsrelations with the rest of the world. Now the guiding principles which mustbe followed in managing these affairs must be based on the definite factsthat are at hand. Moreover, as National Socialists, we must lay down thefollowing axiom regarding the manner in which the foreign policy of aPeople’s State should be conducted:

The foreign policy of a People’s State must first of all bear in mind theduty of securing the existence of the race which is incorporated in thisState. And this must be done by establishing a healthy and natural proportionbetween the number and growth of the population on the one hand and the extentand resources of the territory they inhabit, on the other. That balance mustbe such that it accords with the vital necessities of the people.

What I call a healthy proportion is that in which the support of a peopleis guaranteed by the resources of its own soil and sub-soil. Any situationwhich falls short of this condition is none the less unhealthy even thoughit may endure for centuries or even a thousand years. Sooner or later, thislack of proportion must of necessity lead to the decline or even annihilationof the people concerned.

Only a sufficiently large space on this earth can assure the independentexistence of a people.

The extent of the territorial expansion that may be necessary for the settlementof the national population must not be estimated by present exigencies noreven by the magnitude of its agricultural productivity in relation to thenumber of the population. In the first volume of this book, under the heading"Germany’s Policy of Alliances before the War," I have already explainedthat the geometrical dimensions of a State are of importance not only asthe source of the nation’s foodstuffs and raw materials, but also from thepolitical and military standpoints. Once a people is assured of being ableto maintain itself from the resources of the national territory, it mustthink of how this national territory can be defended. National security dependson the political strength of a State, and this strength, in its turn, dependson the military possibilities inherent in the geographical situation.

Thus the German nation could assure its own future only by being a WorldPower. For nearly two thousand years the defence of our national interestswas a matter of world history, as can be seen from our more or less successfulactivities in the field of foreign politics. We ourselves have been witnessesto this, seeing that the gigantic struggle that went on from 1914 to 1918was only the struggle of the German people for their existence on this earth,and it was carried out in such a way that it has become known in historyas the World War.

When Germany entered this struggle it was presumed that she was a World Power.I say presumed, because in reality she was no such thing. In 1914, if therehad been a different proportion between the German population and its territorialarea, Germany would have been really a World Power and, if we leave otherfactors out of count, the War would have ended in our favour.

It is not my task nor my intention here to discuss what would have happenedif certain conditions had been fulfilled. But I feel it absolutely incumbenton me to show the present conditions in their bare and unadorned reality,insisting on the weakness inherent in them, so that at least in the ranksof the National Socialist Movement they should receive the necessary recognition.

Germany is not at all a World Power to-day. Even though our present militaryweakness could be overcome, we still would have no claim to be called a WorldPower. What importance on earth has a State in which the proportion betweenthe size of the population and the territorial area is so miserable as inthe present German Reich? At an epoch in which the world is being graduallyportioned out among States many of whom almost embrace whole continents onecannot speak of a World Power in the case of a State whose political motherlandis confined to a territorial area of barely five-hundred-thousand squarekilometres.

Looked at purely from the territorial point of view, the area comprised inthe German Reich is insignificant in comparison with the other States thatare called World Powers. England must not be cited here as an example tocontradict this statement; for the English motherland is in reality the greatmetropolis of the British World Empire, which owns almost a fourth of theearth’s surface. Next to this we must consider the American Union as oneof the foremost among the colossal States, also Russia and China. These areenormous spaces, some of which are more than ten times greater in territorialextent than the present German Reich. France must also be ranked among thesecolossal States. Not only because she is adding to the strength of her armyin a constantly increasing measure by recruiting coloured troops from thepopulation of her gigantic empire, but also because France is racially becomingmore and more negroid, so much so that now one can actually speak of thecreation of an African State on European soil. The contemporary colonialpolicy of France cannot be compared with that of Germany in the past. IfFrance develops along the lines it has taken in our day, and should thatdevelopment continue for the next three hundred years, all traces of Frenchblood will finally be submerged in the formation of a Euro-African MulattoState. This would represent a formidable and compact colonial territorystretching from the Rhine to the Congo, inhabited by an inferior race whichhad developed through a slow and steady process of bastardization.

That process distinguishes French colonial policy from the policy followedby the old Germany.

The former German colonial policy was carried out by half-measures, as wasalmost everything they did at that time. They did not gain an expanse ofterritory for the settlement of German nationals nor did they attempt toreinforce the power of the Reich through the enlistment of black troops,which would have been a criminal undertaking. The Askari in German East Africarepresented a small and hesitant step along this road; but in reality theyserved only for the defence of the colony itself. The idea of importing blacktroops to a European theatre of war – apart entirely from the practicalimpossibility of this in the World War – was never entertained as aproposal to be carried out under favourable circumstances; whereas, on thecontrary, the French always looked on such an idea as fundamental in theircolonial activities.

Thus we find in the world to-day not only a number of States that are muchgreater than the German in the mere numerical size of their populations,but also possess a greater support for their political power. The proportionbetween the territorial dimensions of the German Reich and the numericalsize of its population was never so unfavourable in comparison with the otherworld States as at the beginning of our history two thousand years ago andagain to-day. At the former juncture we were a young people and we stormeda world which was made up of great States that were already in a decadentcondition, of which the last giant was Rome, to whose overthrow we contributed.To-day we find ourselves in a world of great and powerful States, among whichthe importance of our own Reich is constantly declining more and more.

We must always face this bitter truth with clear and calm minds. We muststudy the area and population of the German Reich in relation to the otherStates and compare them down through the centuries. Then we shall find that,as I have said, Germany is not a World Power whether its military strengthbe great or not.

There is no proportion between our position and that of the other Statesthroughout the world. And this lack of proportion is to be attributed tothe fact that our foreign policy never had a definite aim to attain, andalso to the fact that we lost every sound impulse and instinct forself-preservation.

If the historians who are to write our national history at some future dateare to give the National Socialist Movement the credit of having devoteditself to a sacred duty in the service of our people, this movement willhave to recognize the real truth of our situation in regard to the rest ofthe world. However painful this recognition may be, the movement must drawcourage from it and a sense of practical realities in fighting against theaimlessness and incompetence which has hitherto been shown by our peoplein the conduct of their foreign policy. Without respect for‘tradition,’ and without any preconceived notions, the movement must findthe courage to organize our national forces and set them on the path whichwill lead them away from that territorial restriction which is the bane ofour national life to-day, and win new territory for them. Thus the movementwill save the German people from the danger of perishing or of being slavesin the service of any other people.

Our movement must seek to abolish the present disastrous proportion betweenour population and the area of our national territory, considering nationalterritory as the source of our maintenance or as a basis of political power.And it ought to strive to abolish the contrast between past history and thehopelessly powerless situation in which we are to-day. In striving for thisit must bear in mind the fact that we are members of the highest speciesof humanity on this earth, that we have a correspondingly high duty, andthat we shall fulfil this duty only if we inspire the German people withthe racial idea, so that they will occupy themselves not merely with thebreeding of good dogs and horses and cats, but also care for the purity oftheir own blood.

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