Hitler and the Nazi's planned from the beginning for a massive rearmament program - Aufrüstung. Nazi propaganda promoted the idea that Germany must rearm. The Nazi objectives could in fact only be achieved by war. The Nazi's did not, however, begin a massive rearmament program immediately upon seizing power in 1933. Hitler's first objective was to secure control of Germany and he did not want to precipitate foreign intervention before he was ready. The German military itself has already sponsored secret armament programs during the Weimar era in violation of the Versailles Treaty.
The Nazi's thus had a solid foundation upon which to base a revived military. The Nazi's sharply expand weapon research. The German military expanded in secret during 1933 - 1934. Hitler by March 1935, felt sufficiently secure to publicize his military. The Nazi's announced that they expansion - which broke the terms of the Versailles Treaty. Europe learned that the Nazi's had a modern 2,500 plane Luftwaffe and a Wehrmacht with 300,000 men.
Hitler publicly announced that he was instituting a compulsory military conscription and planned to expand the Wehrmacht to 550,000 men. Actual armaments production began in earnest in 1936. The Nazi's in 1936 doubled armaments spending over 1935 levels. It was in 1936 that Nazi arms spending first exceeded the combined total for transportation and construction spending. The nature of arms spending also increased. Nazi arms spending initially focused on research, development, and capital investment. The Nazi's in 1936 began concentrating on producing actual military equipment. This is one of the least economically beneficial types of government spending.
Evasion of the Versailles Treaty (1919-33)
The German military had been the most powerful in Europe. The Prrussian officer class which had been the backbone of German military leadership was extremely resentful of the limitations imposed by the Treaty. As a result, the German from the breginning set out to evade the limitations. Some of these were authorized by the civilian Weimar Government. Others were conducted by the military in secret, both from the Allies and from the Government. Some of these efforts were suptergfuges to like non-military names to desguise the purposes of groups and keeping military connections secret. Another ploy was to conduct activities and programs in foreign countries. The German military itself has already sponsored secret armanents programs during the Weimar era in violation of the Versailles Treaty. The Nazi's thus had a solid foundation upon which to base a revived military.
NAZI Seizure of Power (1933)
The Nazi's after the July 1932 election were the largest German political party, but did not have a majority in the Reichstag. President Hindenburg refused to appoint Hitler Chancellor and instead turned to Papen. The political situatation remain unstable. The newly elected Reichstag in eptember voted no confidence in the Papen government. The November 1932 Reichstag election results were: Nazi Party 196 seats, Social Democrats 121 seats, The Communist Party 100 seats, and the Centre Party 70 seats. The Nazi's lost a few seats, but continued to be the biggest party in the Reichstag. Hitler continued to demand to be appointed Chancellor, Hindenburg refused saying that he said he did not trust Hitler to rule democratically. Hindenburg preferred Papen, but the Army objected. Hindenburg turned to General Kurt von Schleicher who lasted 57 days. Finally Hidenberg, running out of options, turned to Hitler whom he appointed January 30, 1933. Hidenberg attempted to control Hitler by placing Papen as vice-chancellor and surrounding Hitler with moderate ministers who supported Papen.
Hitler bycarefully selecting his cabinent posts was within days gaining control. To be sure of success, however, he needed a mahority in the Reichstag. He insisted on a new election. In the middle of the elections the Reichstag went up in flames on Februarry 27, 1933. A Dutch Communist was blamed. Historins still debate who was responsible. Many blamed the Nazi's, but it appears that neither they or the Communist Party was responsible. Hitler took full advantage of the situation and claimed that the fire was a Communist plot, and persuaded Hindenburg to sign an emergency Law for the Protection of the People and State. The law suspended people's rights and allowed the Nazis to arrest many Communists and others.
Fear of Communism gained the Nazi's additional support at the polls. The March 1933 election results were: Nazi Party 288 seats, Social Democrats 120 seats, Communist Party 81 seats, Centre Party 73 seats, and Others 85 seats. The Nazi's still did not have a majority. Over half of the voters chose other parties. The Nationalist Party, however, decided to support the Nazi's. Their 53 deputies added to the 288 Nazi deputies provided the slim majority Hitler needed. Hitler immediately put an Enabling Act before the Reichstag and asked the members to vote for it. The Enabling Law (the Nazi's called it the Law for the Removal of Distress frommPeople and Reich) gave Hitler as Chancellor the power to make laws by decree for the next 4 years without Reichstag approval. Nazi SA storm troopers lined the entrance to the Reichstag to intimidate the opposition delegated. Only 94 members Social Democrat deputies (the Communists had been arrested) voted against the Enabling Law. Hitler now had the legal authority to reshape Germany.
Importance of the Military
Hitler and the Nazi's planned from the beginning for a massive rearmament program. Nazi propaganda promoted the idea that Germany must rearm. Military power was a strong component of the ethos that Hitler and other Nazi's desired for Germany.
The Versilles limitations on the German military was one of the Versailles Treaty provisions to which the Nazi's objected. Equally important was the simple fact that the Nazi objectives could in fact only be achieved by military force and war. One of Hitler's most impassioned targets in his speeches and in Mein Kampf was the hated Versailles Treaty. " that he would break the "unjust" terms of the Treaty of Versailles. He made no secret of the fact that would undo the Versailles Treaty and rearm Germany. The true were related in that undoing Versailles meant regainng territory from neighboring states, especially Czechoslovakia and Poland, but also Lithuania, Belgium, and France. Even more importantly were the racial aspects of Mein Kampf targetting Jews and Slavs. The Jews were a soft target, but the Slavs were another matter. Hitler spoles of Lebensraum. Here he meant vast tracts of land in Eastern Europe where Germans could persue the idealic rural life so admired by the Nazi's.
Hitler writes in Mein Kampf that the British naval blockade was an important factor in Germany's defeat in WW I. He saw the Ukraine and other lands in the East as providing the agricultural base and raw materials that would make a naval blockade meaningless. This meant, however, war and not just war with neighboring Poland, but war with the Soviet Union. The Soviets were not like Poland a weak military power, but had a huge military establishment. Hitler did not talk of war after he seized power, but there could be no question among those who assessed his goals that Nazi Germany would wage war.
NAZI Strategy
The Nazi's did not, however, begin a massive rearmament program immediately upon seizing power in 1933. Hitler's first objective was to secure control of Germany abd he did not want to preciptate foreign intervention before he was ready.
The primary objective was to gain control over state police power and set up concentration camps where Communists and other political opponents could be dealt with. The burning of the Reichstag (February 27) provided the excused needed for Hitler to seize control of Germany. President von Hindenburg signed am emergency decree (February 28). This suspend articles in the Weimar constitution which guaranteed personal liberty, freedom of expression of opinion, freedom of the press, freedom from domiciliary visits, right to hold meetings and form associations, and the privacy, of postal, telegraph, and telephone service.
The Nazi's proceeded to arrest all the Communist deputies in the Reichstag and Landtag as well as all Communist civil servants in the Prussian state. This gave Hitler control of te Reichstag and the the ability to imposed dictatorial rule in Germany. The Reichstag passed the Enabling Act gave dictatorial authority to the Nazi Government for 4 years (March 24).He then systemactically moved against political opponents.
Luftwaffe Creation (1933-35)
The new Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, soon after taking office appointed one of his cloest associates, Herman Göring, as National Commissar for Aviation and former Lufthansa employee, Erhard Milch, to be his deputy. This enabeled Göring and Milch not only to coordinate the programs alread secretly in place by the German military, but to use the vast new sums approved by Hitler for aew German airforce. Soon afterwards, Hitler created the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM - Reich Air Ministry) (March 1933).
The RLM was created to developm and produce new aircraft. Its cover was that it was working on civilian aviation. A test site was opened at Rechlin. Hitler looked on Göring with his Worlkd War I experience for expertise in aviation. As a result, Göring had absolute control over all aspects of aviation in the Reich. The Nazi's next seized control of the Deutschen Luftsportverband (DVLA--German Air Sport Association) March 23, 1933). It proceeded to absorb all private and national organizations, while retaining its 'sports' title. The RLM scretly took control of all military aviation organizations (May 15, 1933). While not announced at the time, this was in fact the creatioin of the Luftwaffe. At this time members of the Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps (NSFK--National Socialist Flyers Corps) transferred to the Luftwaffe.
As these men were Nazi Party members, this gave the Luftwaffe from its very creation, a Nazi core. While the there was considerable support for the Nazi's in the Heer, the other services did not have a Nazi core. Luftwaffe a strong Nazi ideological base in contrast to the other branches of the German military. Göring despite his leadership post, left the development of the new service to Milch and other subordinates with actual expertise. Führer Adolf Hiter ordered Reichmarshal Herman Göring to formally establish the Luftwaffe (February 26, 1935). The Versailles Treaty was still theoretically in force. Göring announced the existence of the until then secret Luftwaffe (March 10). This must have been carefully coergraphed with Hitler in advance. It is unclear why it was Göring who made the announcement. Of course he was the head of the new Luftwaffe, but an announcement of such significane you would think would be made by Hitler.
As a violation of the Versailles Treaty, it could have meant Allied intervention. Presumably because Göring made the announcement, Hitler had some room for maneuver if the Allies threatened to intervene, but they did not. This left Hitler free to make an event more important announcement. Shortly after Göring's announcenent and following the celevbation marking the return of the Saarland to Germany, Hitler announced his the new Luftwaffe to the German public.
Sureptitious steps taken by the German military before and after the Nazi takeover made this a less daunting proposition than it might seem. The personnel was lrgely drawn from the Heer. This had the consequence of creating a tctical support mentality in the new Lutwaffe which bwould have significant consequences for World War II. (The American and British sairforces had a more strastehic vission.) Hitler also announced a new military conscription program. Both were flagrant violations of the Versailles Treaty. This would have justified the Allied reoocupation of Germany. Britain and France took no action beyond purfunctoary diplomatic protests. Allied kleaders as erll as the general public had no stomache for it. In fact Britain, bent on appeasing Hitler, proceeded to reward him with a naval treaty.
Military Research
The Nazi's sharply expand weapon research.
Cabinet Meeting (June 1933)
Even the most superficial reading of Mein Kampf will reveal that Hitler from the very beginning saw war as the central to achieving Nazi goals. Nazi opponents pointed this out, but Hitler denied it. But it was obvious this was what he planned. So within months of seizing power, the cabinent made the fateful decesion to massively rearm and expand the German military-Aufrüstung. There is some difference of opinion as to just when this occurred.
The most likely point was a cabinent meeting (June 8, 1933). This was the same day that the Government announced the moritorium on debt repayment. The meeing was attended by Chancelloe Hitler, Finance Minister Schacht (a Nuremberg defendent), Defense Minister Blomberg. Göring, and Air Ministry Secretary of State Milch. It was here that the financial package to pay for the expansion was decided. Schacht was thus the key participant because he had to approve the financial packet and arrange the financing. It was a serious decesion as German finances at the time were weak and the spending package was enormous 35 billion Reichmarks over 8 years. This was 4.4 billion Reichmarks annually.
The scale of the expamnsin can be seen in the simple fact that durung the Weimar Republic, military spending never even approachedf 1.0 billion Reichmarks. German GNP had declined to 43 billion Reichmarks (1933). This meant Hitler was planning to devote 10 percent of national income to a rearmamemt program. (The percentage burden would decline somewhat as the German economy declined from Depression levels.) [Tooze, pp. 33-34.] It was spending three to four times that of the British and French in proportinal ters and even more than that of the United states.
Only Japan and the Soviet Union comparasble levels of military spending. The decesion reached of course was not announced as it was a flagarant violation of the Versailles Treaty. The only surviving record of the meeting is a 1938 Wehrmacht memorandum. Only Göring and Schacht surrvived the War and neither was anxious to describe their participation in the metting that could lead directly to Second WW.
Financing Rearmament
Finance Minister Hjalmar Schacht continued some of the programs of the previous government as well as introduced a variety of novel schemes to address both rhe Depression and to finance the massive rearmament program. A key part of Schacht's financing program was MEFO. The large amount of funds needed were obained through MEFO which issued bills--essentially IOUs. The MEFO nills were credit notes issued by the Government. As MEFO bills were not pubically annoubced as government borroeing, the level od government indebtedness was not widely understood by the financial community.
Geneva Disarmament Conference (October 1933)
Hitler employed a clever tactic at the Geneva Disarmament Conference. He offered a plan which could be justified within Gernany as quite reasonable. He proposed that the French should disarm to the level allowed Germny by the Versailles Treaty or that Grmany should be allowed to rearm to the level of the Fremch Army. When the French rejected the oroposal, Hitler withdrew from the conference (October 14). Of course Hitler knew that the French would reject the proposal, but Nazi propaganda could paint the French as responsible for breaking up the conference.
Secret Expansion (1933-34)
The German military expanded in secret during 1933-34. Hitler ordered the Reichwehr to begin planning to treble the size of the army permitted by the Versailles Treaty. This would nomimlly bring the army to 300,000 men. He then ordered the Air Ministry to plan to for a 1,000 plane airforce. Other steps were taken to lay the foundation for an expanded military like buildings barracks.
Night of the Long Knives (1934)
With the death of Hindenburg, the only force left in Germany threatening Hitler and the Nazi's was the Reichwehr. Army officers were split on Hitler. Officers were highly nationalistic and this aspect of the Nazi's appealed to many. Others were lienated by the brutality and excesses of the Nazi's.
The aristocratic Prussian officer corps also looked down on the working-class origins of mich of the SA. The key issue was the Nazi para-military Sturmarbeitelung (SA - Storm Troopers). This was a direct threat to the Reichwehr. And SA leader Ernst Röhm did actually intend to turn the SA into a real army. The SA had played a major role in the rise of the Nazi's and Röhm was among Hitler's cloesest associates. He was also as commander of the SA a threat to Hitler's control of the Nazi Party. It was a diffcult decession for Hitler and apparently forged documents by Himmler and Heydrich finally convinced Hitler that eliminating Röhm and the independence of the SA was necessary.
The SS under Himmler and Heydrich struck (June 30, 1934). The action became kniwn as the “Night of Long Knives,” The SS arrested Röhm and other key SA leaders were summoned to a villa outside Berlin, where they were arrested. Röhm was taken to prison, where he was beaten and ordered to confess. He refused both to confess or commit suicide. He was then shot. The SS used the opportunity to eliminate several other political opponents. The elimination of Röhm and the removal of the SA as a serious competitor was enough to gain the support of the Army which became the new German Wehrmacht. The officers and men of the Wehrmacht then swore personal loyalty to Adolf Hitler as Führer of the German Reich.
Saarland Plebecite (January 1935)
The Saar was a small territory in southwestern Germany with a population of about 800,000 people in 1933. It is located in southwestern Germany and is bounded by France on the south, Luxembourg in the west, and the German Rhineland-Palatinate on the north and east. The capital is Saarbrücken, a city on the Saar River. The Saarland was not a region that had any notable cohesion or historical role before WW I. The population was largely German-speaking Catholics.
The region is named after the Saar River which rises in the French Vosges Mountains and is located west of the Rhine. Important coal mines are located in the Saarland and is heavily industrialized. After WW I, the Treaty of Versailles made the Saarland an autonomous territory to be administered by France until 1935 when a plebecite would determine its final status. This reflected the general principle of national self-determination employed by the Allies after the War. The Versailles and other treaties which ended the War did not determine the final disposition of several territories. This was left to a series of plebecites.
The population in the Saarland voted in a plebiscite to rejoin Germany which at the time meant Nazi Germany (January 1935). The vote probably reflected a the population's desire to rejoin Germany and not a referendum on the Nazi's. It is likely that the vote would have gone to rejoin Germany regardless of the government in Berlin. One author describes it as a choice for "ethno-unification". The Saarlanders were the first German speakers to rejoin Reich under Nazi rule. The whole process was totally legal under the terms of the Versailles Treaty. Hitler who at the time was attempting to establish an image as a moderate leader, took the opportunity to renounce any further claims on France (January 1934).
Decesion to Go Public (March 1935)
It was in March 1935 when Hitler decided to make public his rearmament program. Hitler since seizing power had worked closely with the the military to rearm in violation of the Versailles Peace Treaty. Suddenly Hitler decided to announce the rearmament program to both the domestic population and the international community. We are not sure why he picked this time. There are several factors that probably played into his decision. By 1935 the dimensions of the program were becoming more difficult to keep secret. Stalin knew about it and the Allies (Britain and France) were becoming increasing aware.
In addition the domestic oposition had been defeated and the military placated. The Nazi police state well established. Hitler was elated with his success in the Saarland and had just spoken at Saarbrücken (March 1). Thus he felt secure enough to take this important step. His exultation seems to have been a factor in public announcement concerning the until then secreat rearmament program. He decided to made two major announcements, both fundamental violations of the Versailles Treaty. We do not know to what extent he discussed this decision with his intimates. He must have dicussed it with Göring because the Reich Marshal made the first public announcement.
The Luftwaffe (March 10, 1935)
Reich Mashal Göring announced the existence of the until then secret Luftwaffe (March 10). This must have been discussed with Hitler in advance. It is unclear why it was Göring who made the announcement. Of course he was the head of the Luftwaffe, but an announcement of such significane you would think would be made by Hitler. As a violation of the Versailles Treaty, it could have meant Allied intervention. Presumably because Göring made the announcement, Hitler had some room for maneuver if the Allies threatened to intervene, but they did not. This left Hitler free to make an event more important announcement.
Reintroducing Conscription (March 15-16, 1935)
German Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler announced the existence of the German Air Force--the Luftwaffe (March 15, 1935). The Luftwaffe already had 2,500 planes--a major force. This was a direct violation of one of the basic restrictions in the the Versailles Treaty. He also announced the reintroduction of military conscription for all able bodied men who had reached 19 years of age. . This was an even more serious violation than the creation of the Luftwaffe. Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick drafted the conscription law.
The Wehrmacht was to be expanded to 0.5 million men--five times that allowed by the Versailles Treaty. This meant that Hitler was scrapping the Versailles Peace Treaty. That of course was only the beginning. Germany was preparing to build a 36-division Army. Germany’s national defence force during the Weimar Era was the Reichswehr. The military was in the Conscription Law renamed the Wehrmacht. The new Wehrmacht consisted of the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe (air force).
The Nazi's after the announcement staged a large military parade the following day in Berlin. Defense Minister General Werner von Blomberg announced that Germany would now be able to take its rightful place among nations again. Hitler followed his consistent approach of speaking about how committed Germany was to peace. In addition to laying the foundation for a massive military firce, conscription also created jobs, helping to solve the seious unemployment problem in Germany at the time Hitler seized power. This along with expanded orders for arms and equipment, various jobs programs like the RAD, dismisals of women and Jews (not counted in the unemoloyment statistics) was ending the Depression era unemployment problem in Germany.
Diplomatic Protests
The Allies limited themselves to verbal protests. No sanctions were imposed against the Reich.
Stresa Front (April 11, 1935)
The Allies (England, France, Italy) declared a Stresa Front to defend the boundary agreements of the 1925 Locarno Pact (April 11).
Franco-Soviet Alliance (May 2, 1935)
France and the Soviet Union signed an alliance (May 2). The target was a rearming Germany.
Hitler Projects Moderation
Hitler after taking the major steps leading to war (the Luftwaffe and Conscription) next took steps to project a moderate image. He knew that this was just what peace groups in Britain and France wanted to hear. He addressed the Reichstag in Berlin and projected both moderation and conciliation. He declared, "Germany wants peace. .... None of us means to threaten anybody," He then presented a 13 point peace program with a seies of promises. He got what he wanted--the ability to build a powerful modern military.
These promises cost him nothing. Not only were they well received in Germany where most people had no desire for war, but also among the peace groups in the West and politicans who were terified with the possibility of another war. He even assured Brirain and France that Germany will respect all other provisions of the Treaty of Versailles including the demilitarization of the Rhineland. He assured the Allies, "Germany is ready to cooperate in a collective system for safeguarding European peace; and the German government is ready in principle to conclude pacts of non-aggression."
Turning Point
The reinstitution of conscription in 1935 was a basic turning point in the move toward World War II. Many after the War would ask if Hitler could have been stopped and if so when. Historians after the War debated at what point should the democracies have intervened and stopped Hitler. Surely the time would have been the reintroduction of conscription, the obvious scrapping of the Versailles Treaty. Had they done so, millions of lives would have been saved. Yet at the time, an Allied resonse would have been labeled by many as war mongering and aggression. Many at the time had begun to argue that the Versailles Treaty was unjust and Hitler's was just exerting Germany's just rights. This included many pacifists and peace advocates. Certainly he could have been stopped had the international community had the will to do so. Conscription was the turning point. Germany could not launch aggressive war with a small army.
Conscription gave Hitler the ability to build the large army he so desired. Hitler's move to reinstiture conscription was necessary if he was to wage war. Before this the Allies could have intervened. After conscription and the expansion of the Wehrmact, intervention would mean another major war. This was the turning point in German rearmament and Hitler's plan to build the vehicle for his military aggressions. Up until this point the Allies had the military capability of stopping Hitler without a major war.
Conscription was a clear viloation of the Versailles Treaty giving the Allies the legal right to intervene. Even a cursory read of Mein Kampf clearly indicated that Hitler meant war. Lebensraurm in the East could only be achieved through war. Both Britain and France chose to accept Hitler's moderate posturing and ignore both his writings and many beligerant statements during his rise to power. The only country with an army capable of intervening was France. Here the public's distaste for military action was a powerful fsctor. The French reaction was to continue its defensive defensive military policy based oin the Maginot Line. This was a vast and hugely expensive series of forts and strongpoints running along the French-German border, but ominously ending at the Belgian frontier.
Anglo-German Naval Treaty (June 1935)
Rather than standing up to Hitler, the British were intent on appeasing him. The British even rewarded him for scrapping the Versailles Treaty by signing a naval which allowed him to expand the German Navy. The new British government led by recently-elected Primeminister Stanly Baldwin and Foreign Minister Samuel Hoare decided to neogitate with Hitler rather than confront him.
One wonders why the British thought that having violated one treaty, he could be relied to respect another. Presumably the process was thought his government had not signed the Versailles Treaty and at least the treatybimposed limits on naval construction. The Versailles Treaty had placed narrow limits on the Germany Navy (no submarines and only six warships over 10,000 tons). British and German negotiators signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement (June 18, 1935).
The Treaty permitted Germany to have one third of the tonnage of the Royal Navy’s surface fleet (the largest in the world at this time) and an equal tonnage of submarines. The Royal Navy at the time assummed thsat submarines were no longer a threat because of the invention of SONAR (ASDEC). This was a almost fatal mistake. It was Admiral Donitz's U-boats that almost knocked Britain out of the War before British, Canadiab, and American couter measures were developed and deployed. The principle reason the Germans failed, however, was Germany's limited industrial capacity and the decesion of Hitler and the Navy High Command to devote the limited resources allotacted to the Navy for large, impressive surface ships.
Nuremberg Party Rally (September 1935)
Hitler used the annual Nazi party rally as a platform for major announcements. The 1935 Ralley was one of the most important. Hitler used the event for the first public display of the Wehrmacht. He also announced the Flag Law which replaced Weimar's black-red-yellow horizontal striped flag with the swastika flag as Germany's national banner. And he announced anti-Semitic Nuremberg Race Laws.
Production
Actual araments production began in earnest in 1936. The Nazi's in 1936 doubled armamets spending over 1935 levels. It was in 1936 that Nazi arms spending first exceeeded the combined total for transportation and construction spending. The nature of arms spending also increased. Nazi arms spending initially focused on research, development, and capital investment. The Nazi's in 1936 began concentrating on producing actual military equipment. This is one of the least economically beneficial types of government spending.
Remilitarization of the Rhineland (March 1936)
Hitler announced to the Reichstag that as he spoke, the first German troops were crossing the Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne March 7. This was the beginning of the remilitarization of Rhineland. The Rhineland had been permanently demilitarized under the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty ending WW I. This was one of the restictions that Hitler railed against in his speeches. The situation in the Rhineland was different than in Saarland. German authorities were in control of the Saarland, Germany was simply not allowed to militarize it.
Hitler's developing relationship with Mussolini by 1936 had ensured that Italy would not object. By 1936 the question was what France would do. The French agreement wth the Soviets in 1936 gave Hitler a pretext for action. This allowed Hitler the ability to appeal to the anti-Communist forces in Britain and France to dnounce the Locarno Pact. Hitler had reason to believe that the French would not react. The Whermacht was ordered to march into the Rhineland March 7, 1936). The Whermacht force sent uinto the Rhineland was aeak one. They were under orders to withdraw if the British and French responded militarily.
A military response from Britain and France could have dramatically changed 20th century history. German at the time did not have the capability of wageing a major war. And there was Poland and Czechoslovakia in the east if the Allies struck in the west. Hitler had gambled and was proven right. Neither France or Britain reacted with force. Many in both countries, especially pacifist spokespersons, charged that the Versailles Treaty was unfair to Germany. They meerly submitted diplomatic protests. This was Hitler's second flagrant violation of the Versailles Treaty. The first was the reintroiduction of conscription. Of course he had already begun the secret rearmanent program which was a violation of the Treaty and details on the rearmament program became apparent in 1936. Perhaps the major outcome of Hitler's gamble was the imense prestige it brought him domestically. This was just one of many pledges Hitler made to the Allies that he subsequently broke.
Military Building Program
Hitler began a military expansion program upon becoming Chancellor (January 1933). At first it was fairly limited and had to be to some extent concealed because of the Versailles Treaty limitations. The reintroductuion of conscription and the creation of the Luftwaffe changed this and large-scale military spending and industrial production rapidy created a massive military. After 1935 the only constraints on military expansion was the capacity of German industry and the foreign exchange needed to import strategic materials. The Wehrmact was given the bulk of the resources necesitatecto build artillery and Panzers as well as other arms and equipment. Important resources wee also devoted to the new Luftwaffe, enough to create the most powerfulair force in the world. Only limited resources wee made available to the German Navy which did not particularly interest Hitler. Although the Anglo-German Naval Treaty (935) opeed the way for Germany to have U-boats, most of the limited resources went to the surface fleet.
Sources
Davidson, Eugene. The Unmaking of Adolf Hitler (Univesity of Missouri: Columbia, 1996), 519p.
Evans, Richard J. The Third Reich in Power (Penguin: New York, 2005), 941p.
Riegler, Hans, Heer, Flotte und Luftwaffe. Wehrpolitisches Taschenbuch (Berlin: Verlag für vaterländische Literatur, 1935).
Tooze, Adam. The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the NAZI Economy (Penguin Books: Mew York, 2007), 800p.
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