Research topic: Joachim von Ribbentrop

Joachim von Ribbentrop , 1893-1946, German foreign minister (1938-45). After World War I he became a wealthy champagne merchant. He joined the National Socialist party in 1932 and impressed Adolf Hitler with his knowledge of foreign languages and countries; he soon became Hitler's foreign policy expert and set up his own office on foreign affairs, which often superseded the foreign office. At the same time, he was German ambassador at large (1935-36) and ambassador to Great Britain (1936-38), returning a violent Anglophobe. In 1938 he succeeded Constantin Neurath as foreign minister. He... Read more