Did the re-militarisation of the Rhineland cause WW2 more likely to happen?
It made WW2 more likely to happen. Following World War I, German forces were forbidden from being stationed in the Rhineland. Hitler’s move into the Rhineland was more symbolic than anything else. Germany was far from prepared for a major European war in 1936 and was weak in armor, aircraft and artillery. The force that Germany sent into the Rhineland was small compared to French forces on the German border. And, there are indications that the German General Staff was prepared to overthrow Hitler had France or Britain militarily opposed the move into the Rhineland. The reoccupation of the Rhineland did the following things: First, it helped convince Hitler that France and Britain were more bluster than action and that he could bully his way into getting what he wanted. This feeling would be confirmed when he annexed Austria in the Anschluss, received the Sudetenland through negotiation and annexed the rest of Czech-Slovakia. I believe Hitler really was caught by surprise when France an
