adolf hitler defied the treaty of versailles by sending troops into the rhineland.
who defied the treaty of versailles by sending troops into the rhineland?
adolf hitler
alongside this, hertzog saw france as the main threat to peace in europe, viewing the treaty of versailles as an unjust and vindictive peace treaty, and argued the french were the principal trouble-makers in europe by seeking to uphold the versailles treaty. hertzog argued that if adolf hitler had a belligerent foreign policy, it was only because of the treaty of versailles was intolerably harsh towards germany and if the international system was revised to take account of germany's "legitimate" complaints against versailles, then hitler would become a moderate and reasonable statesman. when germany remilitarized the rhineland in march 1936, hertzog informed the british government that there was no possibility of south africa taking part if britain decided to go to war over the issue, and in the ensuing crisis, south african diplomats took a very pro-german position, arguing that germany was indeed right to violate the treaty of versailles by remilitarizing the rhineland.
j. b. m. hertzog
in 1926, "the manchester guardian" ran an exposé showing the "reichswehr" had been developing military technology forbidden by the treaty of versailles in the soviet union, and the secret german-soviet co-operation had started in 1921. the german statement following "the manchester guardian"'s article that germany did not feel bound by the terms of versailles and would violate them as much as possible gave much offence in france. nonetheless, in 1927, the allied control commission, which was responsible for ensuring that germany complied with part v of the treaty of versailles, was abolished as a goodwill gesture reflecting the "spirit of locarno". when the control commission was dissolved, the commissioners in their final report issued a blistering statement, stating that germany had never sought to abide by part v and the "reichswehr" had been engaging in covert rearmament all through the 1920s. under the treaty of versailles france was to occupy the rhineland region of germany until 1935, but in fact the last french troops left the rhineland in june 1930 in exchange for germany accepting the young plan. as long as the rhineland was occupied by the french, the rhineland served as a type of collateral under which the french would annexe the rhineland in the event of germany breaching any of the articles of the treaty, such as rearming in violation of part v; this threat was powerful enough to deter successive german governments all through the 1920s from attempting any overt violation of part v. french plans as developed by marshal ferdinand foch in 1919 were based on the assumption that in the event of a war with the "reich", the french forces in the rhineland were to embark upon an offensive to seize the ruhr. a variant of the foch plan had been used by poincaré in 1923 when he ordered the french occupation of the ruhr.
maginot line