IB History International Response to German Aggression Notes

Responses to German Rearmament (1933-1935)

1. When Germany withdrew from the League of Nations and Disarmament Conference (October 1933), the response was limited to verbal condemnation. No sanctions or military action followed. The League's inability to respond set the tone for the entire decade.
2. When Hitler announced rearmament and conscription (March 1935), expanding the army to 550,000 and revealing the Luftwaffe, Britain, France, and Italy formed the Stresa Front (April 1935) to jointly condemn the violation.
3. Britain undermined the Stresa Front within weeks by signing the Anglo-German Naval Agreement (June 1935), allowing Germany to build a navy up to 35% of British strength. This bilateral deal legitimised German rearmament and contradicted the collective stance taken weeks earlier.
4. France was furious at Britain's unilateral action but could not confront Germany alone. The Franco-Soviet Pact (May 1935) promised mutual assistance, but France never ratified the military provisions, making it largely symbolic.
5. The Abyssinian Crisis (October 1935) then destroyed the Stresa Front entirely. Britain and France focused on Italy rather than Germany, and the League's weak sanctions against Italy proved collective security was dead.

Response to the Remilitarisation of the Rhineland (March 1936)

1. When Hitler sent 22,000 troops into the Rhineland (7 March 1936), violating both Versailles and Locarno, France had 250,000 troops available and could have easily repelled the German forces.
2. France refused to act without British support. The French military advised that full mobilisation would be needed (not just a limited action), which the government was unwilling to order during an election year.
3. Britain refused to support France. Lord Lothian famously said the Germans were merely "going into their own back garden." British public opinion saw the Rhineland as German territory and saw no reason to fight over it.