Answer to Question #73932 in History for Patswim

Question

What was Hilter's rearmament of the Rhineland?

Answer 1

Answer:
Hitler's rearmament was going on secretly, and in 1935 he took his chance and held an enormous Freedom to Rearm Rally, and in 1935 he introduced conscription again. The number of soldiers grew from 100,000 to a million, and the number of airplanes grew from 36 to 8250. Hitler's reoccupation and remilitarisation of the Rhineland occurred on March 7, 1936. Hitler's tactic was to emphasize that, as ‘the bulwark against Bolshevism,' Germany was completely opposed to any cooperation of the West with Russia. A Franco-Soviet Pact was signed in 1935, but Hitler made clear that if a Franco-German rapprochement was to proceed; its ratification must not occur. However, in 1936, France ratified the Pact. So ahead of his reoccupation, Hitler grandly proposed a 25-year pact: - for demilitarisation on both sides of the Rhine, for limiting the size of air forces, and for a 'non-aggression pact' with both Eastern and Western neighbors. Then, a mere 2 hours later he announced his intention to reoccupy the Rhineland - 'as a purely symbolic gesture.' He was undermining Germany's undertaking to guarantee the existing frontiers of Germany with Belgium and France.