Hitler's aim of uniting all German-speaking people also made it necessary to have enough space for them to live in.
Gaining living space for a united Germany would provide more raw materials and markets, although this was not reportedly Hitler's first aim in gaining more land.
His plan from the very beginning was to expand to the east.
Map of Europe in the 1920s
Mein Kampf
He made this clear in Mein Kampf in 1923:
"We ... must hold unflinchingly to our aims in foreign policy, namely to secure for the German people the land and soil to which they are entitled on this earth. If we speak of soil in Europe today, we can primarily have in mind only Russia and her border states."
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