The French Occupation of Rhineland

 Following World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to make numerous concessions - Most notably, the loss of Alsace-Lorraine, the demilitarization of Rhineland. According to the treaty, the Rhineland (situated between France and Germany) was to be placed under the authority of the League of Nations; it was to serve as a "buffer" in case of a future German invasion of France. It was explicitly stated that Allied troops were to completely evacuate the area after fifteen years, eventually returning the area back to Germany. Yet France overtly attempted to permanently separate the Rhineland from Germany by supporting separatist movements and taking advantage of religious tensions in the area 

            The term 'Rhineland' used in this paper (unless indicated otherwise) would in modern days designate the ensemble of two federal states in Western Germany, Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) and North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen). This paper will briefly narrate the history of Rhineland and then concentrate on events leading from the Treaty of Versailles, to the French occupation of the Rhineland after World War I in 1920 and its remilitarization under Nazi Germany in 1936.