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Explore how the Disarmament Conference of the 1930s failed to address the issue of disarmament, leading to Germany's rearmament under Hitler's rule. Understand the reasons behind Germany's rearmament and the responses of Britain and France.
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Terms of the Treaty of Versailles- Germany’s armed forces to be severely limited.
Disarmament Conference. This was one of the big 3 failures of the League of Nations in the 1930s. In the 1920s they had already had no success in disarming, but in the 1930s there was increased pressure for the League to do something about disarmament. The Germans had long been angry about the fact that they had been forced to disarm while other nations had not done the same. Many countries were actually spending more in their armaments than they had spent before WWI.
In February 1932 the Disarmament Conference began. By July 1932 it had produced resolutions to prohibit bombing of civilian populations, limit the size of artillery, limit the tonnage of tanks, and prohibit chemical warfare. But there was very little in the resolutions to show how these limits would be achieved. For example, the bombing at civilians was to be prohibited, but all attempts to agree to abolish planes capable of bombing were defeated. And the biggest problem of the Conference was what to do with Germany. Most people now accepted that they should be treated more equally than under the Treaty of Versailles. There was a dilemma between choosing whether: • Everyone else should disarm to the level Germany had been forced to. • Or the Germans should be allowed to rearm to a level closer to that of the other powers.
This is how events relating to Germany moved over the next 18 months. • July 1932 • Germany tabled proposals for all countries to disarm down to its level. When the Conference failed to agree the principle of equality the Germans walked out. • December 1932 • An agreement was finally reached to treat Germany equally. • January 1933 • Germany announced it was coming back. • February 1933 • Hitler became the chancellor of Germany and immediately started rearming secretly. • May 1933 • Hitler promised not to rearm if in five years all other nations destroyed theirs arms. • June 1933 • Britain produced and ambitious disarmament plan. • October 1933 • Hitler withdrew from the Disarmament Conference and soon after took Germany out of the League. • By this stage, all the powers knew that Hitler was secretly rearming Germany already, but instead of trying to stop him, everyone started to rebuild their own armaments. After another year of not achieving anything the Disarmament Conference ended in 1934.
What did the treaty say about disarmament? The fourth point of the terms of the treaty was about German armed forces: this means that the treaty restricted Germany’s army to a level well below: • The army was limited to 100,000 men. • Germany was not allowed vehicles, submarines or aircraft. • The navy could build only six battleships. • The Rhineland became a demilitarised zone. The Rhineland was important because it was the border area between Germany and France.
Disarmament: • An army of 100,000 was very small for a country of Germany’s size and the army was a symbol of German pride. None of the Allies disarmed to the extent that Germany was made to disarm in the 1920s.
What Hitler did and when. In 1933: reached the power and started to rearm. In 1935: staged a massive military rally.
Reasons Hitler gave for rearming. • Hitler used as an excuse forrearmingGermanythefactthattheothercountriesrefusedtodisarm; and itwasnotfairthatGermanykeptonbeingunprotected and without a complete armywhiletheothernationshadnotdisarmed.
Real reasons for rearming Germany • Hitler wasalsofightingunemployment, givingjobs in thearmy. At that time in Germanymost of thepopulationwasunemployed; so he killedtwobirdswithonestone. • Besides he didittomakeGermanystrongagain and tochallengetheTreaty of Versailles. Forthe German peopletheirarmywas a symbol of power, so theywereashamed of losingit. • Another cause wasthatpromisingrearmamingthe Nazi partywasgoingtohavemuch more supportfromthepopulation.
The response from Britain and France. • -Hitler knewthatBritainhadsomesympathyonthisissue. • -BritainthoughtthelimitsputonGermany'sarmedforcesweretootight. • -BritainbelievedGermanywas a goodbufferagainstcommunism • -BritainallowedGermanytoincreasetheirnavy up to 35% of thesize of the British navy. • -France didnotagreewiththisdecisionbuttherewaslittleshecould do aboutit.
