What happened this week in 1935?
Hitler announced the rearmament of Germany, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
Hitler announced the rearmament of Germany, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
At the end of World War I in 1919, Germany and the Allied Powers signed the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty assigned blame for war on Germany, requiring the nation to give up land, to reduce its military, and to pay reparations to France and Belgium to rebuild their infrastructure.
With the world financial crisis deepening as the Great Depression took hold, Britain, France, and Germany all agreed to stop requiring the reparations payments imposed by the Treaty of Versailles at the Lausanne Conference of 1932. The following year, when Adolf Hitler became the German chancellor, he was determined to overturn the remaining military and territorial provisions of the treaty in order to create a German empire in Europe. Germany had already begun a secret rearmament even before the Nazis came to power; Hilter embraced this idea and expanded military industry. On March 16, 1935, Hilter formally reinitiated military conscription and announced the expansion of the German army to more than 500,000 men, a prelude to World War II.
With the world financial crisis deepening as the Great Depression took hold, Britain, France, and Germany all agreed to stop requiring the reparations payments imposed by the Treaty of Versailles at the Lausanne Conference of 1932. The following year, when Adolf Hitler became the German chancellor, he was determined to overturn the remaining military and territorial provisions of the treaty in order to create a German empire in Europe. Germany had already begun a secret rearmament even before the Nazis came to power; Hilter embraced this idea and expanded military industry. On March 16, 1935, Hilter formally reinitiated military conscription and announced the expansion of the German army to more than 500,000 men, a prelude to World War II.