One of the first measures that Hitler took after his rise to power was the abandonment of the League of Nations, it was his way of showing in practice his rejection of the international order of Versailles. Rejection that he had made very clear at the beginning of Nazism, in the 25 Points of the DAP and in Mein Kampf.
The Treaty of Versailles provided that the League would control the Saar for 15 years, during which time France would have the right to exploit its coal mines as part of the reparations that Germany had to pay France. In 1935 a plebiscite was to be organized in the Saar for the people to express whether they wanted to remain under international control or belong to Germany. In the plebiscite, which was held on January 13, 1935, 90.7% of the inhabitants expressed their desire to integrate into Germany. It was a resounding success for Hitler's policy, which declared the Saarland annexed.

From March 1935, two months after the success of the Saar, the accelerated German rearmament program began. Goering declared to an English newspaper that a war plane was going to be put into operation (March 10, 1935). That same day, Hitler, in a speech, announced compulsory military service and the creation of an army of 36 divisions. Neither France nor Great Britain did anything to prevent this violation of the Treaty of Versailles on the limits imposed on the size of the German army and the prohibition on having military aviation.

Italy, France and Great Britain tried, at the Stressa Conference (April, 1935). They reaffirmed the need to maintain the spirit of Locarno, they expressed their opposition to the fact that Germany had skipped the military clauses of the Treaty of Versailles and also to German expansionism (thinking first of all about Austria).


Hitler's response was to end the demilitarization of the Rhineland (territory west of the Rhine). On March 7, 1936, some 30,000 German soldiers entered the Rhineland. In this way, the barrier that had been created in Versailles with a double objective disappeared:to give France time to organize its defense in case of aggression and to have certain facilities in case it had to attack Germany.



Hitler made a somewhat reckless decision because if the powers decided to respond with weapons, Germany was not prepared for the fight. The General Staff asked him for patience. Today we know that Germany would not have been able to resist a French military action and that it even planned to withdraw in such an eventuality. But, Hitler was convinced that the powers would not intervene, he was going to be right:

• The French government , chaired by the radical A. Sarrault, was limited to a diplomatic protest, was awaiting the next general election and was suffering the effects of the economic crisis. Furthermore, public opinion was for peace. This French weakness caused its alliances with the Eastern countries to weaken.
• Great Britain failed to see the importance of the German act and limited itself to a joint condemnation with France, Italy and Belgium, but did not offer direct support to France
• In Italy, Mussolini, after the outcome of his war against Abyssinia, did not consider the possibility of sanctioning Germany. Some authors argue that if the Stressa front had been held, perhaps Germany could have been stopped. The weakness of the democratic powers convinced Mussolini of the futility of resisting Hitler.

After the demilitarization of the Rhineland, Hitler consolidated his prestige over the army and was able to build the Siegfried line. Renouvin points out that there is a before and after this militarization remained unanswered.