Highlights

Hitler convened a secret conference on November 5, 1937, at the Reich Chancellery in Berlin.
Attendees included War Minister Werner von Blomberg, Army Commander Werner von Fritsch, Navy Commander Erich Raeder, Luftwaffe Commander Hermann Göring, and Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath.
Hitler outlined his plans for German territorial expansion, including the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, to be achieved by force if necessary.
Wehrmacht adjutant Colonel Friedrich Hossbach took notes and later reconstructed the minutes, which became known as the Hossbach Memorandum.
The document was used as key evidence at the Nuremberg Trials to demonstrate Nazi Germany's premeditated aggressive war planning.

The Hossbach Conference marked a decisive moment in Nazi foreign policy, as Adolf Hitler explicitly articulated his long-term ambitions for Lebensraum and European domination to his top military and diplomatic advisors. Hitler declared that the German question could only be resolved through force and set provisional timelines for military action against neighboring states, with Austria and Czechoslovakia identified as the first targets. Several senior officials, including Blomberg, Fritsch, and von Neurath, expressed reservations about the risks of provoking a wider European war, which contributed to their subsequent removal from power in early 1938.

The memorandum reconstructed by Colonel Hossbach from memory five days after the meeting became one of the most significant documents of the Second World War era. Introduced as evidence during the Nuremberg Trials, it helped prosecutors establish that Nazi leadership had conspired to wage aggressive war well in advance of the actual conflicts. Historians continue to debate the precise weight of the document, with some viewing it as a definitive blueprint for war and others interpreting it as a reflection of Hitler's broad ideological intentions rather than a fixed operational plan.