how did the germans build up there army so much before ww2 if the treaty of versailles limited it so much?

Question

obviously the treaty was broken once the war started but how did the germans manage to have such army to be able to start a war.

Answer 1

Hitler defied the limits of the treaty over many years, at first secretly, then more openly, and he watched the reactions of the French and British. They saw him rearming, inviolation of the Treaty, and they did... nothing. They were more interested in keeping peace, at any price, than in stopping Hitler.

He rebuilt the army. He annexed Austria. He re-occupied the Rhineland. He commissioned warships beyond the limits of the Treaty, and still the French and British failed to step up and say, "enough".

If the French had even mobilized during the re-occupation of the Rhineland, Hilter would have had to retreat, because his armies were still very weak compared to France's.

Hitler was able to do this because the French and British governments were more concerned about maintaining the peace, whatever the cost. The Munich Accords was the culmination of this policy, where they colluded to sell out Czechoslovakia in return for "peace". The delusion that peace can be achieved by appeasement was shattered on September 1st, 1939.

They had over the years chosen to ignore the "warmongering" of Churchill, who had be demanding action against German rearmament for years.

Answer 2

The Germans jointly developed weapons and tactics outside of Germany and away from prying eyes. In the late 1920's and early 1930's German military and industrial specialists worked with the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the Soviet Union to develope jointly new weapons and tactics. By far the most beneficial collaboration was with the Soviet Union. Hitler upon coming to power ended this collaboration with Stalinist Russia.
Soon after his taking power Hitler reinstated the draft and expanded the Army. By then the Allied powers were too distracted by the economic problems of the depression to stop Germany.
Nevertheless, the German Army was not as modern as many assumed. The army still depended heavily on horses as a means of transport (about 60-70% of all transport). The Navy was even worse as the surface fleet was pitifully small compared to the French, Italian or British Navies. It was one of the few treaties Hitler continued to observe (trying futilely to woo England into an alliance) and that was the Locarno which limited the size and numbers of Battleships.

Answer 3

The inter war powers soon realised that the Treaty of Versailles (specifically the settlement between france and Germany) was excessively punitive and became the epitome of vindictiveness so distanced themselves from it. It's important to understand the chain of events leading to WWI. That is, Germany feared an invasion from Russia with france sneaking in on the weakened front. Germany's incursion into Belgium was an attempt to circumvent the Maginot line. The war ended on a armistice brokered by the US. That is a ceasefire. At the time Germany had no foreign powers on its land so they did not lose the war.

Answer 4

I don't know how you can give nostra thumbs down because he's right. Hitler simply ignored the treaty, and only Churchill was screaming from the rafters to do something about it. But Chamberlain was fearful of another war, so didn't.

And the parallel with 9/11 is also correct, had Bush continued with just seeking Bin Laden, the majority of people would have stayed on his side

Answer 5

Just because two nations' leaders sign treaty papers does not guarantee that the document will be followed. Does a restraining order (a piece of paper with words written on it) keep a stalker away from his target? Germany openly defied the treaty, and Britain, France, etc., did nothing about it.

Answer 6

When the treaty was broken...the whole Europe including UK and USSR, a where in bad shape- financially, & military... including USA was not at a better shape , but most important they under-estimate the plans and abilities of HITLER and his followers... at the time all thought that GERMANY was just another big Joke...USSR , by fighting the Germans...gave plenty time to the whole free world...to organise- rebuilt their armies and finally - eliminate the NAZI threat.

Answer 7

They found loopholes in the treaty:

Germany, as a defeated power wasn't allowed to manufacture and heavy machine guns (defined by the calibre of the bullet that it fires) e.g.12.7mm machine guns were banned.
Germany then manufactured general purpose machine guns firing 7.62mm ammunition, which weren't banned.

They also were not allowed to train an army greater than expiditionary strength, they bypassed this by forming the working force, which trained the way that an army would train, but instead of running around with Rifles or Machine guns they trained with Shovels pick axes and various innocent tools.
A standing "army" of workers who were as well disciplined as any army of soldiers would then need very little training to get up to speed on musketry and infantry tactics, this could have taken a maximum of two weeks to get up-to-speed.
After two weeks the expiditionary force of dedicated soldiers would be reinforced by the supply of fresh "converts" coverted from physically fit and disciplined worker to regular infantry.


In summary, the standing army of expiditionary strength would act as the vanguard for the main force of worker army converts.

Answer 8

For one for training up their army they used a lot of older vehicles and "fake vehicles" even people holding signs that say i am an infantry BN etc. However their factories were very much ready to start building when they decided to go ahead and break the treaty and start building actual equipment. In which they built it under the noses of alot of people in factories that were meant for other things. .....Shadow Stalker

Answer 9

the answer is simple - the french.

the french blundered so badly during this time period that other parts of europe were developing sympathy for the germans.

at one point, the french invaded the ruhr and occupied a krupp steel factory - when the workers put into plan a pre-arranged 'down tools' plan upon occupation, the french troops got rattled and opened fire on the workers - the crowd was estimated at 30,000 workers and no one accused them of exaggerating.

the krupp executives could have intervened, but amazingly the only communication from them was a quick phone call from gustav krupp to make sure his cars were ok.

also firms like krupp and others were determined from the start to 'be ready' for that strong man to rise who 'germans always seem to need.' in krupp's case they sent workers to holland where they could work on r & d away from the prying eyes of the occupying authority.

also, the ritualistic crushing of bricks and stone (destruction of german factories) only meant that when the critical 1930's came, they alone would have new, state of the art factories.

but above all else it was french bungling of the entire matter.
mind you, the french were in the right, but handled the situation so badly that they never quite appeared that way.

this last bit should be remembered when our current middle east policies are reviewed in future years - we had a real chance when the whole world was on our side after 9/11 and we, like the french after wwI, have so badly handled the matter that people no longer see us in a positive light...

Answer 10

They basically took no notice of the treaty. Other countries were reluctant to start a war so they turned a blind eye.