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Weirdest and Pettiest Causes of Wars and Diplomatic Disputes

Khalid Elhassan November 8, 2023 33 min

German troops cross into the Rhineland on March 7th, 1936. The Article

Britain and France Could Have Stared Hitler Down, but Blinked Instead

Dispute - German troops cross into the Rhineland on March 7th, 1936 — German troops cross into the Rhineland on March 7th, 1936. The Article

If the Western Allies had responded with even minimal armed force, German commanders knew that they would be forced to hastily and humiliatingly retreat. Hitler faced great pressure from his generals, who warned him of the risks involved. However, the Fuhrer gambled that while the Western Allies had the power to thwart him, they lacked the will to use that power. So on March 7^th, 1936, Hitler ordered 19 German battalions to occupy the Rhineland, in direct violation of post-WWI treaties.

The Fuhrer had a weak hand, but he played it anyhow, and won the gamble. The British and French protested, but took no direct action. That whetted Hitler’s appetite for more and ever-riskier gambles. So he initiated and escalated dispute after dispute. He calculated that he could act egregiously, secure in the knowledge that the Western Allies would strongly protest and vehemently condemn, but not act. He kept escalating until he invaded Poland in 1939, and was stunned when Britain and France finally had enough and declared war.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.