Remilitarisation of the Rhineland (1936) Flashcards
What happened?
March 7th 1936.
Hitler put 22,000 forts along the border of the Rhineland once he had marched 20,000 soldiers in.
By remilitarising the Rhineland, Hitler was breaking the Locarno Pact (1920) which stated that Germany must accept all the terms of the treaty.
How did Britain and France react to the remilitarisation of the Rhineland?
When he remilitarised and reoccupied the Rhineland, Hitler gambled on Britain and France not reacting. This gamble paid off. By remilitarising the Rhineland, Hitler broke the Locarno Pact.
Britain believed Germany had the right to put troops in its own territory and saw the demilitarisation as unfair.
France was suffering a financial crisis and holding an election at the time and wouldn’t have acted without Britain.
Britain and France were also pre-occupied at the time with the Abyssinian Crisis.
After successfully remilitarising and reoccupying the Rhineland, Hitler suggested a 25-year non-aggression pact with the great powers. He did this to appear less aggressive.
Why did Hitler need to remilitarise the Rhineland?
Hitler had to remilitarise the Rhineland before achieving Volksdeutsche and Lebensraum as France would have been able to easily access and invade Germany due to the last of defence on the border.
What was Hitler’s excuse for invading the Rhineland?
France had made a treaty with Russia in 1935 (Stressa Front) which made Hitler feel threatened and showed that he needed to remilitarise the Rhineland for ‘protection’.
What was Hitler’s worried about when remilitarising the Rhineland?
His army wasn’t big enough in 1936 to fight against a possible attack, so he told his soldiers to retreat if France were to attack.
