Hitler probably wanted to see how far he could go. France and Britain were to afraid to confront him about anything he did and were avoiding conflict at all costs. They appeased to Hitler, and he no longer thought that they were going to confront him about anything. He probably wanted to see what they would do when he did something that they had forbidden him to do in the treaty of Versilles.
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Hitler took considerable risks in moving into Rhineland. There was a good chance that France would send troops to resist the German forces and this would mean war.
The first troops to enter Rhineland were ordered to retreat if they met french resistance. Hitler real aim was to unite Austria with Germany because he believed that Germany and Austria were one country.
Hitler occupied the Rhineland in 1936 because by occupying the Rhineland, he was destroying the terms settled in the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, and breaking the treaty of Locarno in 1925. It was one of Hitler's foreign policy aims; the destruction of the peace treaties.
Hitler also felt threatened after the Franco-Soviet Pact of 1935, where France and the USSR had signed a mutual alliance which aimed to try and constrain Hitler's aggressive actions. Hitler argued by invading the Rhineland he was protecting himself from the two countries that 'encircled' him, as he was able to build the Siegfried Line, that would later become part of the Hindenburg Line of defenses in World War Two.
Hitler had originally planned for the occupation to begin in 1937, however the Abyssinian Crisis had provided a rare opportunity. He was hoping the League would be too pre-occupied in their dealings with Italy, to take much notice of his actions. Hitler was also encouraged by how poorly the Manchurian and Abyssinian crises had been dealt with, however he still describes the invasion as being the 'most nerve-racking 48 hours' of this life. When Britain and France did not react, Hitler was given the confidence to go on and have Anschluss with Austria, take-over the Sudetenland, invade Czechoslovakia and Poland.
He went to get the rhineland back after Britain and France took it away from the Germans.
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The 1936 German occupation of the Rhineland was met by Hitler's troops. Hitler created the reoccupation of the Rhineland military forces to build up his own army.
Hitler's decision to send troops into the Rhineland
Rhineland
The Rhineland is the place in between Germany and France that was demilitarized for Germany after the First World War; it was a term of the Treaty of Versailles. It was later remilitarized by Hitler.
When Hitler rebuilt his army (which broke an agreement set out in the Treaty of Versailles) and then invaded the Rhineland many countries complained.?