The Failed French Occupation of The Rhineland.
by Phillip Fassieux, Class of 1999
Though the Versailles Treaty was intended to provide
reparations to the allied powers and squelch any German tendencies towards war, its poorly
chosen agreements were a contributing factor to the Second World War. The retributions
that Germany had to pay to France were more than they could afford, while at the same
time, they had to relinquish certain territories. One of these territories was known as
the Rhineland. This small German area, located in western Europe lies along the Rhine
River near Luxembourg and Belgium. The Treaty of Versailles allowed for Allied troops to
occupy portions of the right and left banks of the river. In addition, the area still
belonging to Germany was required to demilitarize.
When the Reparations Commission declared that Germany had not met its set quota of
timber deliveries in 1922, the French Prime Minister, Poincare, ordered Troops to the
Rhine Valley under sanctions created by the Versailles treaty. . On January 11, 1923,
French and Belgian soldiers began to occupy the Rhineland. The agreement, which was held
in the hand by the French, stated that if the Germans resisted the occupation, France
would be allowed to take whatever measures deemed necessary to bring about production and
retribution.
German workers protested the French occupation and retaliated with a massive strike.
The Berlin-supported strike closed down railroads, mines, factories, and public services.
Seeing that nothing was getting done, Poincare dispatched French engineers, and workers to
take the place of the seated Germans. At this point, France was now in control of the
Rhineland, running the works with French workers, and residing over the political aspects
as well.
Because the Rhineland and the Ruhr regions were now under allied control, Germany could
not receive the resources provided by the regions. Without coal or steel, Germany could
not function.
France continued to have problems with dissident German workers. The act of taking
control of the Rhineland placed France in a compromising position. If they were to leave
the area, the Versailles Treaty would be considered dead, giving Germany more reason to
re-militarize. And Continued occupation of the region would only fuel the fire for the
Germans. Their organized anger at the French ultimately lead to the formation of the
Nationalist Socialist German Workers’ Party, which would ultimately be referred to as
the Nazi party.
Upset at the French, Germany chose to regain control of the Rhineland and staged a coup
against the French. But for questionable reasons, France failed to stop the German march
on the Rhineland. The French had developed a plan to prevent the coup, but according to
French General Gamelin, " To carry out the plan, we needed reserve [troops]. Our army
of 1936 could do nothing..." (Shirer 279) The plan included having "immediate
French advancement" into the region in case of Germany attempt to reoccupy the
region. The French government doubted their strength against the still small German
forces, in fear of breaking out into war, and thus allowed the Germans to literally take
the government out of France’s hands. But France was not alone, Britain had played a
vital role with the French during the occupation, they too, chose not to act and the
result was that "Two Western democracies had missed their last chance to halt,
without risk of serious war, Nazi Germany... they let the opportunity slip by."
(Shirer 281) This decision to occupy the Rhine was deemed "a collective failure
that...paralyzed France’s will to act..." (Shirer 283)
Even German Alfred Jodl, a member of the German High Command stated that, "If the
French marched into the Rhineland, we would have had to withdrawal with our tails between
our legs, for military resources...would have been...inadequate."(Shirer 281) |