THE ROAD TO WAR 1939 - RHINELAND 1936. On March 7, 1936, Adolf Hitler sent over 20,000 troops back into the Rhineland, an area that was supposed to remain a demilitarized zone according to the Treaty of Versailles. The area known as the Rhineland was a strip of German land that borders France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

1. CONTENT
ROAD TO WAR
HITLER’S FIRST MOVE
RHINELAND 1936
CARTOON EXPLAINED
IN DETAILS (PAPER 2)
6

2. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
HITLER’S GAMBLE – RHINELAND 1936
Germany sends troops into the Rhineland 1936.
The Rhineland had been turned into a demilitarised zone by the TOV.
This was because it was part of Germany on the border with France.
It was thought that keeping German troops out would protect France
from invasion.
In March 1936 Hitler ordered German troops into the Rhineland.
The German army was not ready to fight a major battle and Hitler was
taking a big risk.
He was breaking the terms of the TOV.

3. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpwmGIGEWmU

4. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
KEY POINTS
You will become
familiar with this
pattern – Hitler
acts aggressively
and other
countries either
ignore what he
does or claim that
he is justified in
what he was
doing.

5. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
HITLER LATER CLAIMED...
“The 48 hours after the march into
the Rhineland in 1936 were the
most nerve-racking of my life. If
the French has opposed us then
we would have had to withdraw.
Our forces were not strong
enough even to put up a
moderate resistance.”

6. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
HISTORIAN CLAIM
This has led some historians to claim that Britain and France could have
stopped Hitler in 1936 if they had stood up to him.
The policy of appeasement was now under way.

7. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
HOMEWORK
Answers on
next slides
Explain this British
cartoon about the
occupation of the
Rhineland in 1936.
The Goose-Step
“Goosey Goosey
Gander.
Whither dost thou
wander?”
“Only through the
Rhineland—
Pray excuse my
Blunder!”

8. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
PLANNING
-WHAT IS THE MESSAGE?
-WHEN IT WAS CREATED?
-CONTEXT OF THE TIME
-TYPE OF SOURCE
-DEVELOP THE MAIN
MESSAGE
-COUNTRIES INVOLVED
-WHAT GERMANY
WANTED?
-JUSTIFICATION FOR
HITLER’S ACTION
-HOW THINGS DEVELOPED?
-PURPOSE OF THE CARTOON
-DESCRIPTION OF WHAT CAN YOU SEE
IN THE IMAGE
-PRIOR KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE
GOOSE STEP
-PERSPECTIVE OF THE SOURCE
-BALANCED OR ONE-SIDED?
-EXPLAIN HITLER’S STEP
-RELIABILITY
-USEFULNESS

9. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
EXPLAINING THE CARTOON
This cartoon about the reoccupation of the Rhineland was published in
1936, three years before World War II began.
It is a primary source because it was created at the time of the
event, when Germany went against the Treaty of Versailles and the
Locarno Treaties and took over the Rhineland.
The terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which were set after World War 1,
were extremely harsh. The treaty required Germany to take full blame
for the war, pay 6,600 million pounds for the damage of the war, shrink
their army, and give up a lot of their land (such as Rhineland) and
colonies.
Because of this, their union with Austria was not allowed either.

10. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
EXPLAINING THE CARTOON - 2
One of the biggest disappointments for Germany was shrinking of
their army because of how powerful their army was before. They were
only allowed to have six naval ships, and they were not allowed to
tanks or an air force.
Along with this, the Rhineland had to be de-militarized. It was partly
because of the harshness of this treaty that Germany took over the
Rhineland, which went against the Locarno Treaties.
Apart from this, they also wanted their power back the way it was
during the time of the Weimar Republic. This cartoon was made to
show how Germany broke the Treaty of Versailles, and the Locarno
Treaties.

11. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
EXPLAINING THE CARTOON - 3
These treaties made them agree to give up the Rhineland, as well as
other parts of their land.
The three main countries that this political cartoon aims to address are
Britain, France and Germany. This is because of the fact that this
cartoon is directly aimed at Germany, as they were the ones who
went against both the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties.
It also involves Britain and France because France refused to take
action against Germany without British support. Since many British
people felt that it was Hitler’s right to station his troops in the
Rhineland because of the fact that France made a treaty with the USSR
which made them promise to protect each other against any attack
from Germany, Hitler claimed that Germany was under threat.

12. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
EXPLAINING THE CARTOON - 4
Britain did not offer France any help to take action against Germany,
therefore Hitler got away with taking over the Rhineland.
One of Hitler’s main goals was to bring back the same power to
Germany as it had during the time of the Weimar Republic, and his
first step to doing this was by reoccupying the Rhineland. It is
important to keep in mind that this source was written from the British
point of view. This cartoon was purposely made to insult the
Germans.
We know this because the goose has a Nazi symbol on it, as well as a
bunch of weapons and a helmet, which represent the Nazi soldiers
and Hitler. We also know that the Goose represents Germany because
there are Nazi flags all over the buildings behind it, which means that
it signifies Germany entering the Rhineland.

13. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
EXPLAINING THE CARTOON - 5
Along with this, the Fascist armies had a reputation of walking
differently than regular armies, and therefore are represented by a
goose because geese walk with their legs up (the famous goose
stepping, more details on the last slide – this can be valuable
knowledge)
In the cartoon, the goose is stepping on the Locarno Treaties and
ripping it to shreds while it is holding an olive leaf and a note in its
mouth that says “Paz Germanica” which means “Peace German
Style”.
This suggests that many British people felt that the Germans were
untrustworthy and violent, as they promised to make peace,
they broke this promise and continued to invade and take over
territory that they no longer owned.

14. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
EXPLAINING THE CARTOON - 6
It is important to keep in mind that this source could have been
written in a one-sided perspective only (do not use the word bias,
Cambridge examiners don’t like it, it has a very negative
they say!); however it still conveys some valid points about World War
2, which were that Germany did not keep their word about the fact
that they would stop taking over land and begin to make peace with
the rest of the world.
We also have reason to believe that it is written with a one–sided
perspective only because the Germans would not have written the
source in this manner, they would have expressed these ideas
differently, in a way that did not put Germany in a negative light.

15. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
EXPLAINING THE CARTOON - 7
The cartoon also conveys the idea that the Treaty of Versailles was
extremely harsh and caused Hitler to want to re-gain Germany’s
power because of the amount the Treaty of Versailles diminished it, and
that is why he took over the Rhineland, Czechoslovakia and Poland, to
compensate for the amount of territory Germany lost after World War I.

16. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
EXPLAINING THE CARTOON - 8
These ideas are important because they place the blame for the
Second World War not only on Germany, but also on Britain and
France for setting such harsh terms for the treaty, which means that
Germany cannot be held fully responsible for World War II, as Hitler
reacted only as a normal leader would by trying to get his countries
power back by regaining its army and territory.
This source is only partially reliable because it is written with a British
perspective and is making fun of the Germans, therefore cannot be
completely reliable. Obviously since Germany broke the pact between
Germany and the League of Nations, Britain was sore and wanted to
poke fun at the Germans, and wanted to comment on the way they
broke their promise to be peaceful, therefore expressed their ideas in
this cartoon.

17. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
EXPLAINING THE CARTOON - 9
That is why it is only partially reliable and cannot be fully relied
upon.
It is however, a primary source because of the fact that it was written at
the time of the event.
This source may be useful to understand the ideas of the British
towards the Germans, for example how they felt about the Germans
breaking the Locarno Treaties and the Treaty of Versailles.
It could also help to understand why the Germans acted in this way and
how unreasonable the Treaty of Versailles was.

18. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
EXPLAINING THE CARTOON - 10
These ideas would also be useful today, because when countries try
to settle an issue and decide to sign an agreement, they should
that if the terms are too harsh then the country is bound to break them
particularly if they have a strong leader or strong army to help them
out.
This could also happen in the United Nations, for example if they felt
that a certain country’s actions were out of order, they could make
them agree to do something, however the terms could be so harsh that
the country had no other option but to break them.

19. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – ROAD TO WW2 – MR. D
THE GOOSE STEP – THE STECHMARSCH
The goose step is a special marching step performed on formal
military parades and other ceremonies. While marching in parade
formation, troops swing their legs in unison off the ground while
keeping each leg rigidly straight.
The step originated in Prussian military drill in the mid-18th century
and was called the Stechschritt ("piercing step") or Stechmarsch.
German military advisors spread the tradition to Russia in the 19th
century, and the Soviets spread it around the world in the 20th century.
The term "goose step" originally referred to balance stepping, an
obsolete formalized slow march. The term is heavily associated with
Nazi Germany.