Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933 on the back of a populist agenda, and a promise to lead the nation back to unity, stability and prosperity. A key part of that was his promise to restore Germany’s military, which had been reduced to little more than a well-armed police force by the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. Central to this was the formal establishment of the Wehrmacht, the newly renamed German armed forces, in 1935.
In this new study, renowned Second World War historian Robert Forczyk traces the development and operations of the Wehrmacht from the announcement of rearmament to the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938. He examines the critical trends and events in this period, including the growth of the new Panzer arm, as well as the Heer’s competition with the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine for priority and resources. He looks at how Hitler ignored or trampled upon existing diplomatic agreements while directing a rapid and massive rearmament program in Germany, re-occupying the Rhineland in 1936 and incorporating first Austria then the Sudetenland into the Reich by force in 1938.
Finally, Hitler seized the remainder of Czechoslovakia, annexed Memel from Lithuania and demanded the return of Danzig from Poland, thereby leaving Europe on the cusp of the Second World War.