The Rhineland, 1936

Background

  • Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was not allowed on the left bank of the Rhine or within 50 miles of the right bank – thereby creating a demilitarised zone.
  • This gave France advance warning of an impending German attack.

France and Britain

  • France still wanted the zone; Britain thought Germany had been treated too harshly and should now be brought into the international community.
  • Tensions between Britain and France over the Anglo-German naval agreement and the bad publicity over the Hoare – Laval pact.

Time was right for Hitler

  • Britain and France were divided; Stresa Front was in crisis over the Abyssinian war.
  • France had removed 20% of its army from the German border to the Alps fearing Italian reprisals over Abyssinia.
  • Hitler chose to exploit the signing of the French-Russian Mutual Assistance treaty [May 1935]. Hitler claimed it violated the spirit of Locarno and that Germany would now be encircled. The Mutual Assistance treaty was ratified in the French Parliament ion February 1936. Hitler used this as his rationale for reoccupation if the Rhineland.
  • French opinion bitterly divided over the Mutual Assistance treaty; also French were between Governments – there was a general election going on. For Hitler, this was a good time as France would not be able to react very quickly. Once the German Army were established in the Rhineland, it would be a fait accompli. It would be difficult for France to get them out except by means of war. Would the French public be willing to go to war so soon after the First World War over this issue and especially at a time when the country was deeply divided? Hitler made a calculated gamble knowing that France would not react.
  • Hitler chose a Saturday for the invasion, knowing that politicians would be away for the weekend.

Planning and Gambling

  • Although Hitler planned the invasion in great detail, there were great risks. For example his generals were against the invasion because they weren’t strong enough; if Britain and France responded, Hitler would have to withdraw. Hitler risked being overthrown by the Generals if he failed.
  • Hitler said that the two days of the invasion were the most nerve wracking of his life.

Why did Britain and France not resist Hitler?

  • French Cabinet deeply divided about what to do – also French military seriously over-estimated the strength if the German army in the Rhineland. French thought Germans had 140,000 men but archives show there were only 36,000.
  • British public opinion had swung against France after the Hoare-Laval Pact. Opinion had also become pro-German. The public saw the Rhineland as minor compared to Abyssinia. The French-Russian Pact had triggered off fears of Bolshevism – Baldwin shared these views. He feared that a war against Germany might ‘succeed in crushing Germany but it would only result in Germany going Bolshevik’.
  • Baldwin was 100% against a French move against Germany and he manipulated British opinion to support his negative policy – however, it has been argued that if Baldwin had been willing, French public would have been behind it –Hitler would have been stopped.

Last chance to stop Hitler?

  • Hitler had violated Versailles and Locarno – Had Britain and France acted, they could have stopped Germany without the sacrifice of a great war. As it was, Hitler’s gamble succeeded, he was now convinced that Britain and Germany would not move against him next time.

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