At the end of World War One, the major powers signed The Treaty of Versailles, which was designed to limit Germany’s ability to cause another war. This treaty stipulated that Germany was to disarm, scale back the size of their standing military, and pay out several war reparations to heavily damaged nations. At first, Germany did uphold the treaty. However, with the rise of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Germany began to take several steps towards undoing the stipulations that the treaty enacted. On March 16th, 1935, this day in history, Hitler ordered the rearmament of Germany in direct violation of the treaty.
Claiming that the stipulations of the Treaty were designed to embarrass Germany, Hitler preached nationalism as a defense of his aggressive rearmament. Moreover, he argued that it was unfair for Germany to have no opportunity to develop arms when every other nation refused to disarm.Hitler and his Nazi Government made rearmament a top priority, which would lead to one of the most advanced and rapid industrial expansions Germany had experienced. This rapid rearmament led to almost full employment during the 1930s, as the Nazis also used the context of the international Depression in order to motivate the German people to support their government and promises for a greater Germany. Hitler was open about his plan to recharge German pride, announcing to the world his plans to rearm the nation and reintroduce conscription as a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
Germany Arms Factory
So why did no government move to stop him?
In the case of the British Government, one of the world’s most powerful at the time, it was stretched too thinly across its Empire trying to undo the effects of the international Depression. Moreover, another European war was not popular amongst many who still vividly remembered the total destruction and loss of life caused in World War One. Instead, international leaders, including the British Government, were limited in their ability to respond to the obvious preparations for war by Germany, and hoped instead that a policy of appeasement would placate Hitler in his attempt to bolster German national pride.
Overall, the rearmament of Germany during the 1930s was about reorganizing Germany society and the economy to prepare for total warfare. Hitler betrayed the Treaty of Versailles and mobilized the German people under the guise of nationalism. On September 26, 1938, Hitler boasted that Germany had, “rearmed to an extent the like of which the world has not yet seen.” As a result of this rearmament, when the Second World War did break out, the Allies faced not a Germany brought down by reparations, but rather a German society that thrived off of total warfare.