It is not really shocking when you know what was going on.
First, Germany was collapsing. Nazis were socialists, and they did what socialists do the best - run the economy into the ground. Hitler's "economic miracle" was unsustainable, and to survive, Germany had to either abandon socialism, or expand. Which then brings us to the whole Lebensraum question.
Second, there was a threat of Communism - and unlike what Lefties want you to believe, it was absolutely real. Nobody sane wanted a Communist revolution, and Commies had made an attempt in 1919., in Germany, Austria and Hungary alike.
Third, there was a whole "stabbed in the back" myth. No Entente troops ever reached Berlin, allowing people to delude themselves that Germany might have been able to win the war even in 1918., if not for the "betrayal".
So yeah...