27. The Fuhrer’s Remilitarization of the Rhineland
Unfortunately, the historic record of people successfully handling pressure is not limited to good guys. Take Adolf Hitler, one of history’s vilest people, and his success in remilitarizing the Rhineland in 1936. Following Germany’s defeat in World War I, the Treaty of Versailles forbade the defeated Germans from stationing armed forces in the Rhineland – a region in western Germany bordering France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The treaty expressly specified that a violation “in any manner whatsoever… shall be regarded as committing a hostile act“.
The demilitarized Rhineland was the single greatest guarantor of peace in Europe because it kept Germany from attacking her western neighbors. Simultaneously, it made it impossible to attack her eastern neighbors, as well. Doing so would leave Germany open to attack from those eastern neighbors’ ally, France, on Germany’s unprotected west. However, although a demilitarized Rhineland was a positive for European peace, it was a humiliating negative for German pride. One of Hitler’s most popular campaign promises during the Nazis’ rise to power was to remilitarize the Rhineland.