The Rhineland Dispute
After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Treaty of Versailles forbade it from stationing armed forces in the Rhineland – a region in western Germany bordering France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The treaty expressly specified that a violation “in any manner whatsoever… shall be regarded as committing a hostile act“. The demilitarized Rhineland was the single greatest guarantor of peace in Europe. It kept Germany from attacking her western neighbors. Simultaneously, it made it impossible to attack her eastern neighbors, as well.
To do the latter would leave Germany open to attack from those eastern neighbors’ ally, France, on Germany’s unprotected west. However, although a demilitarized Rhineland was a positive for European peace, it was a humiliating negative for German pride. One of Hitler’s most popular campaign promises throughout the Nazis’ rise to power was to remilitarize the Rhineland. In 1936, he decided to send soldiers into the Rhineland. It was a huge risk, because Germany’s military at the time was in no condition to fight.
