Exam-style questions
Stella Fan
Mr. Jason Holmes
History
February 19, 2021
Q1. How did Hitler go about revising the Treaty of Versailles between
1933 and 1936?
The Treaty of Versailles was signed seven months after World War I had ceased fire, the
treaty was extremely infamous for the axis, especially Germany. This is because it had caused
Germany to lose 25,000 square miles of territory, to withdraw military from Rhineland, to restrict
its army under 100,000 men, to have only six battle ships with no submarines and to be banned to
form any air force. Apparently, Hitler did not satisfy any of the terms in the Treaty of Versailles,
thus he wanted to tear up the whole treaty started by revising it clause by clause. The following
essay will look into how Hitler gradually revised the Treaty of Versailles both in secret and in
public from 1933 to 1936.
As soon as Hitler came to power, he started to rearm Germany by secretly organising the
creations of several new military divisions and investing in armament production. This act was
then announced publicly to reintroduce conscription after Hitler had made sure the international
attitude towards the rise of Germany was moderate. He knew this because the result of his first
temptation was successful - the reunion of the Saar coalfield by plebiscite. The Saar was taken
from Germany by the Treaty of Versailles and was under control by the League of Nations for
fifteen years until 1935 - a time for plebiscite. As his first chance to revise the treaty, Hitler ordered a fierce campaign for Saar to rejoin Germany. In 1st March 1935, as a result of the nine-toone winning, Hitler saw the will of people and his chance to stand against the Treaty of Versailles, thus began a chain of strategies chipping down the Treaty of Versailles.
Exam-style questions
Hitler then went quite successfully on his way to revise the Treaty of Versailles. In March
1935, he announced that he had recreated an air force and then signed the Anglo-German Naval
Agreement which enlarged German naval force. All of these was made impossible by the Treaty
of Versailles, however, because of the softness in other country’s foreign diplomacy and of
Hitler’s clever strategies, the terms in the treaty were being slowly revised one by one. Almost all
of the military clauses of the treaty was unilaterally cancelled by 1935, except the demilitarisation
of Rhineland which left Germany unprotected from foreign invasion.
Hitler made a bold move to remilitarise Rhineland as he commented years later - “The 48
hours after and march were the most nerve-racking in my life. If the French troops had (challenged) us we would have had to withdraw with our tails between our legs...”. He made a march
to the Rhineland with 22,000 German troops on March 7, 1936. To settle the possible defensive
move from Britain and France, Hitler offered both country a 25 year non-aggression pact and
claimed this is the last territorial demand to make in Europe. A long 48 hours had passed, and
there’s no sign of confrontation from the Rhineland - Hitler had made another impossible move to
destroy the Treaty of Versailles. As a result, the last infamous treaty were reversed and Hitler’s
Germany was full of hope to strengthen up and rearm against all suppressions.
To conclude, Hitler made a cautious but clever and successful move in revising the Treaty
of Versailles during 1933-1936. He chopped down the treaty by carefully testing his chance of
success and making bold moves when he had the chance. The Treaty of Versailles was completely
revised and made redundant under Hitler’s strategies.