When Adolf Hitler first became chancellor, German foreign policy didn’t change much for the first two years, as Hitler was focused on securing his domestic political position.
This began to change in 1935, when Germany publicly acknowledged that it was rebuilding its army and air forces beyond the levels permitted in the Treaty of Versailles. Germany withdrew from the World Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations, and in spring of 1936, moved German soldiers into the Rhineland.
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Opening Theme
“Fantasie” from Siegfried
Composed in 1871 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Marine Band. Public domain recording. Source.
Closing Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
As usual great episode! I really appreciate your thoroughness when covering historical events. It would be interesting to see how history would have played out differently had the Allies stopped Hitler’s forces as they invaded the Rhineland. If that happened, maybe WW2 could have been averted and many lives could have been saved.
Thanks. In hindsight, you can identify a number of points where a stronger response might have prevented a world war. In 1939, Britain, France, and the USSR were discussing a three-way alliance that might have contained Germany, at least for a while, but in the end the Soviets and the Western Allies didn’t trust each other enough to sign the deal.