How Did Hitler Violate the Treaty of Versailles?

The Treaty of Versailles ended World War I between Germany and the Allied Powers. The Germans hated the Treaty of Versailles because they had not been allowed to take part in the Conference and were shocked at the reparations they were handed down.

The Versailles treaty forced Germany to disarm, make territorial concessions, and to pay $33 billion reparations to the Allied powers, a huge sum which Germans felt was just designed to destroy their economy.

The Versailles treaty stipulated that:
1. Germany should turn over its coal mines in the Saar Basin to France
2. Germany hand back Alsace-Lorraine to France, which it seized in 1871.
3. Dismantle their fortifications along the Rhine River. No German soldier or weapon was allowed into this zone
4. Stripped Germany of its overseas colonies
5. Reduce Germany army to 100,000 men, with no tanks, air force and submarines. She was allowed only 6 naval ships.

In 1933, Adolf Hitler withdrew Germany from the League of Nations claiming that The Versailles treaty was unfair to Germany. Hitler argued that Germany had the right to protect herself and was willing to stick to the terms of The Versailles treaty only if other countries disarmed as well.

As this had not happened, Hitler started to treble the size of the German Army, ignoring the restrictions on weapons that had been imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. He introduced military conscription and decided to break another aspect of the Treaty of Versailles by sending German troops into the Rhineland demilitarized zone.

The French government was appalled to see German troops on their frontier but was unable to take action without the help of the British. The British government was unwilling to go to war over the issue and claimed that Germany was only marching into its own back yard.