A Glorious Plan

M@ Hix

A Glorious Plan

When Germany was under a monetary crisis after having to pay reparations for World War I, people had turned to Adolf Hitler. He made promises of restoring Germany to its original form and many people were willing to support him. However, the failure of the Munich Putsch in 1923 had failed and had led to his imprisonment. Here, Hitler wrote a book, Mein Kampf, where he introduced his ideology of Germany, his aims and ambitions. (Giblin, 156) In January 1933, when Hitler was appointed chancellor and soon became sole dictator of Germany. He then put his aims to action.

Hitler had three main aims in preparing Germany for war. His first goal was to tear up the Treaty of Versailles, which brought an end to WWI. This treaty blamed Germany for starting the war; it took away large amounts of land, money and materials from her, and cut her armed forces down to a minimum. (Hitler, 135)

Hitler’s second aim was to unite all Germans into one single country. As there was millions of Germans scattered in neighboring countries such as Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland, these countries would have to be brought under his control. (Ibid, 302)

His third aim was to provide Germany with what he called “lebenstraum” or living space. He said that Germany was overcrowded and did not have enough food or raw materials for her needs. All three of these aims could only be achieved if Germany rearmed, massively increasing her armed forces. (Ibid, 370)

Hitler fulfilled these aims by rearming Germany. In 1934, only a year after Hitler had come to power, he gave out a top-secret order for the armed forces to expand. The number was to increase from 100,000 to 300,000 men. The navy was to build two pocket battleships and six submarines. (Bailey, 78) Goering was to create an air force and secretly train pilots in civilian flying clubs. These were all forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles. (Kershaw, 147)

In 1935, all was revealed when Hitler re-introduced conscription and that the army would be built up to 550,000 men. Three countries, Britain, France and Italy, signed an agreement condemning Hitler’s announcement. But no country took military action to stop this breach of the Treaty of Versailles.

In 1936, Hitler ordered his army to march into the Rhineland. The Versailles treaty forbade the German army from going within 50 km of the River Rhine, so Hitler’s order was a deliberate challenge to this treaty.