The Difference Between Manifest Destiny & Lebensraum

Manifest Destiny was justification for the expansion of America.

Manifest Destiny and Lebensraum were both national political doctrines that advocated the expansion of a population into a geographical region. Manifest Destiny was popularized by the United States in the 1800s and Lebensraum was a doctrine advocated by Nazi Germany in the 1930s and '40s.

Definition of Manifest Destiny

The term "Manifest Destiny" was coined in 1845 by John L. O'Sullivan, editor of the publication United States Magazine and Democratic Review. This was a period that saw the territorial expansion of the United States into the West, and Manifest Destiny was a philosophical rationale for the forcible seizure of land from American Indians and other nations such as Mexico. In addition to a land grab for America's growing population, Manifest Destiny was a moral imperative to spread the American republic's goals into new territories.

Manifest Destiny in Action

Between the middle and end of the 19th century, America expanded, seeding settlers and new towns stretching across the continent. In the process, armed conflict erupted between settlers and American Indians, eventually drawing the intervention of the federal government on the side of the settlers. Native populations were forced into reservations or moved wholesale into other locations. The Mexican-American War saw the seizure of land covering most of the American southwest and California.

Lebensraum

"Lebensraum" is a German word, meaning "living space." It was first used in the nineteenth century by a German geographer, Friedrich Ratzel, as part of a theory about how a species adapts to its environment. Social Darwinism was in vogue during this period, and the principles of environmental adaptation were being applied in a racial and nationalist context. The pillar of this theory was that individual racial groups (such as Slavs and Anglo-Saxons) could only survive by expanding in population numbers and in territory. As in the animal kingdom, racial survival was a competition for food and resources and hence each race required 'living space" to thrive.

Consequences of Lebensraum

Lebensraum has critical to Nazism and its philosophies of Aryan supremacy and territorial expansion. Inherent in this doctrine was the subjugation of non-Germanic races. Hitler and his Nazis adopted Lebensraum as a national philosophy and was used as a justification for starting World War II. Lebensraum was the specific principle that drove Germany's invasion of Poland and Soviet Russia, as its lands were earmarked for future German colonization.

Philosophical Differences

Where both Manifest Destiny and Lebensraum advocate the settlement of territory for an expanding population, it is Lebensraum that openly advocated armed conflict and if necessary, ethnic displacement of native inhabitants. Manifest Destiny as an American philosophy was also a doctrine of spreading American democratic ideals, whereas Lebensraum viewed territorial expansion strictly to benefit Germans. The fulfillment of Lebensraum was only possible by armed invasion and colonization of Germany's neighbors.

References

• BBC: Hitler and 'Lebensraum' in the East; Jeremy Noakes; March 2011
• History on the Net: American West -- Manifest Destiny
• United States History: Manifest Destiny
• Holocaust Teacher Resource Center: Lebensraum: Living Space for the German Race
• The History Place: Hitler Reveals War Plans
• Mount Holyoak College; "Manifest Destiny"; John L. O'Sullivan; 1839