Foreign Policy Events of 1935

Foreign Policy events of 1935

January 13 Saar Plebiscite

1935 began spectacularily well for Hitler. In 1919 control of the Saar, a German district on the left bank of the River Rhine, had passed to the League of Nations with the output of its coalfield going to France. After 15 years, the future of the region was to be decided by a plebiscite. On 13th January 1935, over 90% of the people of the Saar voted top return to Germany. The Fuhrer was delighted. The significance of the Saar vote lay in the fact that it gave the Nazi leader confidence to press ahead with other contentious issues.

On March 16th he publically declared Germany’s repudiation of the disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles and the introduction of conscription. It was his aim to increase the size of the army to 550,000 and, to the delight of the military and big business interests, he announced his intention of rearming Germany. Rearmament went hand-in-hand with massive increases in German military e...