ops arrived to attempt to stop Hitler's plan. The Germans had been very careful to enter the Rhineland on a Saturday, this meant that just about every general, leader or anybody in power was far to busy enjoying their weekend to notice that a tiny area of Germany had been taken over by a large number of German troops. Was the rearmament of the Rhineland done in order to deliberately annoy the French? No, the reason Hitler choose to re-arm the Rhineland was not to start a petty feud with the French but rather to show the western powers that he was not willing to obey the pointless rules that had been forced upon him. Hitler was just trying to stick to the promises he made to the people of Germany. The French never made any attempt to try and stop Hitler from entering the Rhineland, so he wasn't being deliberately ignorant of what the French leaders thought. If Hitler's aim were to provoke the French then he wouldn't have done it so early on in his reign. He would've waited for a time when he was more powerful, and able to defeat the French if it came to war.
             The major European powers had a policy of appeasement, this meant that they would give Hitler some of what he wanted in the hope that large-scale fighting wouldn't break out and Hitler would not try to take any more. Hitler was an opportunist, he took his chances repeatedly and had the European powers been prepared to challenge him at an earlier time it is likely that he would've stopped. Hitler did not have a large army, he had nearly no war funds or weaponry, and his Navy was kept to an absolute minimum. Hitler was not ready to go to war, and he would not have been prepared in the future had he been opposed.
             In 1925 the three leaders of Britain, France and Germany came together in order to form the Locarno treaty. This treaty meant that the Western borders were fixed, so that no countries in to the West of Germany ...