Appeasement And Road To War #10: The Remilitarisation Of The Rhineland

Question 1

When was the remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 1

Saturday 7th March 1936

Question 2

Why did Hitler want to remilitarise the Rhineland?

Answer 2

• coal, steel, and iron production
• essential for German armament industry

Question 3

What 6 events led to the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland in 1936?

Answer 3

Treaty of Versailles (1919)
Occupation of the Rhineland (1923)
Locarno Pact (1925)
The ‘Spirit of Locarno’ and the Young Plan (1929-30)
Nazi Seize of Power (1933)
The Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance (1935)

Question 4

How did the ToV (1919) lead to the remilitarised Rhineland?

Answer 4

• Germany prohibited from having troops in Rhineland
• French, British, Belgian troops allowed in Rhineland

Question 5

How did the Occupation of the Rhineland (1923) lead to the remilitarised Rhineland?

Answer 5

French and Belgium troops moved in because of insufficient German reparation payments

Question 6

How did the the Locarno Pact (1925) lead to the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 6

• German Government freely agreed never to try and change western borders
• They also promised not to march into the Rhineland
• It was understood that they could deal with their eastern borders

Question 7

How did FRANCE’S VIOLATION (1935) of the Locarno Pact lead to the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 7

• By agreeing the Franco-Soviet Pact with Russia in 1935, France was breaking her side of the bargain because Germany’s eastern borders were no business of France
• Hitler believed he too was free to violate the Locarno Pact by remilitarising the Rhineland
• Neither France nor Britain knew what to do in case this happened
• French politicians were divided over whether the FSTOMA was a good idea

Question 8

How did the ‘Spirit of Locarno’ and the Young Plan (1929-30) lead to the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 8

• The Young Plan (agreed between Germany and the Allies and overseen by US banker Owen Young) cut Germany’s reparations from £6.6billion to £2billion
• This combined with the Spirit of Locarno (expectations for continued peaceful settlements) led the French to leave the Rhineland by 30th June 1930

Question 9

How did the Nazi Seize of Power (1933) lead to the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 9

• After Hitler seized power in Germany, he aimed to revise the terms of ToV and intensely remilitarise Germany
• Tensions in Europe increased when he withdrew from the Geneva Disarmament Conference and LoN

Question 10

How many troops marched into the Rhineland on 7th March 1936?

Answer 10

20,000 fully armed troops

Question 11

Why did Hitler choose a Saturday to march into the Rhineland?

Answer 11

• French and British parliaments don’t meet over the weekend, wouldn’t be in good position to react until Monday
• This gave Hitler more time to present himself in a better light by making declarations of peace

Question 12

What were Hitler’s 3 declarations of peace after marching into the Rhineland?

Answer 12

1. A non-aggression pact with European leaders for 25years
2. A new equal demilitarised zone for the French
3. To join the LoN if the ToV was removed from it

By Monday, this was what was in the newspapers - not the fact the Rhineland was remilitarised

Question 13

Why did France’s divided government stop them from reacting to the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 13

• The government was temporary and divided waiting for elections to happen. So, they weren’t sure if there was support inside France for raking firm action against Germany in case of a war.
• The right-wing opposed the Franco-Soviet Pact, the left-wing wanted to accept Hitler’s peaceful promises
• So, the French government felt it was best to do nothing

Question 14

Why did France’s weak relationship with Britain stop them from reacting to the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 14

• The Anglo-German Naval Deal (1935) convinced the French that Britain was an unreliable ally
• Perhaps they would’ve been more prepared to do something if they were sure of support from their old war-time ally Britain

Question 15

Why did France’s ‘Maginot Mentality’ stop them from reacting to the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 15

• In fear of Germany’s military strength, the Maginot Line was heavily fortified in the 1930’s - giving the French a sense of security against a powerful Germany
• However, it also made them very defensively minded and led the French generals to believe it was too risky to order the French army into the Rhineland when they could remain ‘safely’ behind the Maginot Line

Question 16

Why did France’s overestimation of the size of the German military stop them from reacting to the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 16

• Despite the reintroduction of conscription in 1935, Germany’s army was nowhere near the size of France’s by March 1936.
• General Gamelin (a French military leader) incorrectly believed that Germany had 1million men, 300,000 of which were already in the Rhineland
• The French government fooled themselves and believed the worst

Question 17

Why did Briatin’s Versailles Guilt stop them from reacting to the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 17

• From the quite early in the 1920’s, Brits began to believe that the ToV was an injustice imposed upon Germany
• So, many thought Germany’s behaviour towards the Rhineland was understandable as they were taking back what was rightfully theirs

Lord Lothian summed this up by saying:
“They are only going into their own back garden.”

Question 18

Why did France’s relations with Russia stop Britain from reacting to the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 18

• The British government views the Franco-Soviet Treaty with suspicion and had a great deal of mistrust for France for wanting to make a deal with communist Russia
• Many felt that a strong Germany was necessary to stop the spread of communist ideas into Western Europe

Question 19

Why did Britain’s weak relationship with France stop them from reacting to the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 19

• The combined impact of the AGND, failure of the Stresa Fromt, and Franco-Soviet Pact showed that France and Britain clearly didn’t agree on how to best handle Germany
• Each was less likely to act when they couldn’t agree to act in unison

Question 20

Why did A Fait accompli (already done) stop Britain from reacting to the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 20

• The Remilitarisation was completed before Britain could decide on a response
• If she were to respond, a clear sanction / action she was prepared to make would be necessary to make any ultimatum effective

Question 21

What was the common opinion of the British newspapers, public, and government surrounding the Remilitarisation AT THE TIME?

Answer 21

No one really saw it as a very significant turning point in the transfer of power from Paris to Berlin

Question 22

What were the effects (3) of the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland on France?

Answer 22

1. The March into the Rhineland denied France of the buffer zone with Germany, making the Maginot Line even more important for French security
2. France was now essentially helpless to any of its eastern allies (eg. Czechoslovakia) as they couldn’t make any serious attack on Germany, leaving Germany to do whatever she liked on her eastern borders. It can be argued that the Remilitarisation did alter the balance of power in Europe as it made France far less effective as a major power.
3. France lost credibility as a major power - if France was unwilling to fight to guarantee the terms of the ToV, was anyone able to depend on France to fight for them in future?

Question 23

What were the effects (2) of the Remilitarisation on Britain?

Answer 23

1. Britain suffered a setback in their international position and reputation. Anothy Eden (British Foreign Secretary) recognised that the British public hadn’t understood the true extent of their loss, and they had fallen for Hitler’s lies.
2. Eden also realised that this Remilitarisation made it easier for Germany to invade France through Belgium as they had in 1914 (and eventually again through southern-Belgium in 1940 - this would not have been possible had the Rhineland not been remilitarised).

The Remilitarisation was crucial to Hitler’s whole military and diplomatic strategy in Europe.

Question 24

What were the effects of the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland on Germany?

Answer 24

1. Hitler’s status inside Germany was greatly enhanced through positive media feedback as he had bright back ‘victories’ to the German people.
2. Hitler’s control over his army generals was now more secure as he had overridden their doubts surrounding the risky remilitarisation. Hitler had put all the army generals in their place who had previously claimed to be the only group able to remove him at an early stage in his power.
3. Because France was now unable to effectively intervene, Germany could think of more ambitious plans on their eastern borders and Hitler could begin to make more plans to revise the territorial aims of the ToV.