Between the Years of 1933 -1937 Hitler began to take gambles, gambles which paid off, bring a unsuspecting, naive Europe closer and closer to war.
In 1933 Hitler ordered the Germany delegates to leave the Geneva disarmament conference with an excuse that Germany was already disarmed and nobody else was.
On the 16th March 1935 Hitler introduced conscription (meaning that every man of a certain age must enlist for a period of time). This was in direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles for the Treaty restricted Hitler to an army of 100,000, which he already had, meaning that he now had 100,000+. However Hitler defended his actions under the banner of “self-defence,” for as no other country was disarming, Germany lay defenceless, and should therefore be allowed to have an army.
On the 7th March 1936 Hitler’s troops marched into the Rhineland. Under the treaty the Rhineland became a Demilitarised Zone (DMZ). This was a major gamble by Hitler for at this time Germany was not strong enough to take on a major power like Britain or France. However the general feeling in Britain was that the Treaty had been overly harsh and therefore Hitler should be allowed to have control of Germany and the French were not about to stand up alone leaving Hitler to take control of the Rhineland.
In 1936 Hitler sent his forces to aid France in the Spanish Civil War (the forces became know as the Condor Legion). He used his opportunity to tryout tactics such as Blitzkrieg.
During the build up to World War II Hitler began to take Germany back to success. He did so with an aggressive foreign policy which to start with solely affected Germany but he became more and more daring, testing the mentality of the European powers.
During this period the French were growing continually anxious as to the dreams of Hitler. He was gradually undoing all that the Treaty had done gradually taking even more. However the French were not about to stand up to Hitler alone and although allied to Britain their friendship was not at its strongest (Anglo German Naval Agreement). The French backed off, following their line of appeasement. However the French did take some precaution in the building of the Maginot line but it was also clear they had not learned much from WW1.
The general feeling of Britain was to avoid a war at all costs and this was followed by Neville Chamberlain in his line of appeasement with Hitler. This line of appeasement is most predominant during the Munich Crisis when Chamberlain effectively signed over Czechoslovakia to Hitler.
The public of Britain was also beginning to feel guilty for the vengeful clauses inflicted by the Treaty of Versailles and therefore felt that it was right for Hitler to rearm, take back what was lost and follow Germany’s need for Lebensraum.
Italy was probably the only country with a frontline leader equal to Hitler’s bullying. For it was Mussolini who prevented Hitler’s earlier ‘invasion’ of Austria however Hitler invited Mussolini to Berlin where he overawed the Italian man and so when the topic of Austria came up again, Mussolini did nothing leaving it for Hitler. It was the invitation of Mussolini to the Berlin and consequent meeting between the leaders that change Mussolini’s attitude (showing Mussolini’s uncertainty). Consequently Mussolini supported all of Hitler actions, allying with him during World War 1.
America was not really in a position to medal with European politics (and therefore oppose Hitler) for although she had the capability, public opinion realised the importance of her trade links (due to the general economic slump) but also was totally against war.
USSR is the final possible power with the potential to challenge Hitler however Russia, like the French, was not about to enter another war alone. Also the USSR was not really ready or in the position to counter Hitler for Stalin had believed in the phrase “the war to end all wars” and consequently had not invested heavily in the military although this was to change. On top of this the general hatred of communism in Europe may have weighed against had decisive move by Stalin against Hitler, a non-communist state.
