German Rearmament
German Rearmament
• 1933 (Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany)
• Within a week, he tells German military leaders that his ultimate foreign policy goal was to control lands to Germany’s East and to seek the ruthless Germanization
• One thing stood in Hitler’s way – Germany’s military weakness
• Victors of the WWI had written the Treaty of Versailles to keep Germany from threatening the rest of Europe ever again:
• Germany could have no more than 100,000 troops, the size of its navy was limited
• Germany bared from having an air force
• None of that mattered to Hitler – soon after consolidating power at home, he moved to rebuild the German military
• He ordered the creation of the Luftwaffe (the German air force)
• Launched plans to create army three times larger than what the Treaty allowed
• Initially Hitler kept these decisions secret – In public he proclaimed Germany’s peaceful intentions and its commitment to honor its international obligations
• All that changed on March 16, 1935 – Hitler announced that Germany was reintroducing a military draft – goal of creating more than half a million troops
• Also confirmed (what had long been rumored) that the Luftwaffe had 800 planes
• Hitler made his announcement based on a simple calculation: That the other European powers would grumble, but they wouldn’t go to war to enforce Treaty of Versailles
• He was right – Britain, France, Italy, and the L.O.N. all condemned Germany’s rearmament, but they did nothing to make Hitler pay a price
• This tepid reaction only emboldened Hitler.
• It won’t be till 1939 when Germany invades Poland, that the rest of the world will confront rather than appease