Event

Germany Remilitarizes the Rhineland

Germany's remilitarization of the Rhineland overturned a key restriction of the post-World War I settlement and succeeded without meaningful military resistance.

Status: draft
Event Kind: remilitarization
Date Precision: day
Date Display: 7 Mar 1936
Start Date: 7 Mar 1936
End Date: 7 Mar 1936

What happened

German forces entered the demilitarized Rhineland in direct violation of treaty restrictions that had been designed to contain future German aggression.

Why it matters

The move was strategically important not only because Germany regained freedom of action on its western frontier, but because the lack of a strong response emboldened further revisionist escalation.

Notes

This is the strongest European collective-security-failure event between Hitler's rise and 1938.