WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -In the morning of 7 March 1936, German troops occupied the Rhineland, a part of Germany that bordered on France. According to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was not allowed to station an army there. Hitler took a big risk, as he did not know how the Allies would react.

Detailed explanation-2: -In 1923, in response to German failure to pay reparations under the Treaty of Versailles, France and Belgium occupied the industrial Ruhr area of Germany, most of which lies across the river on the east bank of the Rhine, until 1925.

Detailed explanation-3: -France took direct control of the Rhineland until 1814 and radically and permanently liberalized the government, society and economy.

Detailed explanation-4: -Rhineland, German Rheinland, French Rhénanie, historically controversial area of western Europe lying in western Germany along both banks of the middle Rhine River. It lies east of Germany’s border with France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Detailed explanation-5: -After the end of World War I, the Rhineland came under Allied occupation. Under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, the German military was forbidden from all territories west of the Rhine or within 50 km east of it. The 1925 Locarno Treaties reaffirmed the then-permanently-demilitarized status of the Rhineland.