Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

610 DER FUEHRERthis plan Germany was again granted equal rights in principle, thoughthey were to be realized only by stages. The plan was to give Germanyan army of 200,000 instead of the previous 100,000 on the Europeancontinent; Poland, only half as large, would likewise have 200,000;Czechoslovakia, 100,000; Italy, 250,000, but 50,000 of these in thecolonies, and France, 400,000, half of these likewise in the colonies; thedistant Soviet Union, in spite of the Bolshevist peril, was granted no lessthan half a million. But: the great powers, like England and France,were granted heavy weapons; artillery, tanks, and five hundred airplaneseach — no more and no less! — while Germany was not allowed asingle one.Nevertheless, England was ready to grant Hitler's Germany twice asmany soldiers as the treaty of Versailles had permitted the republic ofWeimar. What a step forward! And now Mussolini, the friend, addedanother step which definitely seemed to demonstrate that Germany hadbecome a great power again.Was it possible for security and equality to exist side by side? Mustnot equal rights inevitably mean anarchy, whether all had cannon or allhad only cudgels ? With this question in mind, Mussolini answered hisEnglish visitors with a counter-proposal which would practicallysupersede the League of Nations as well as the system of Locarno: thefour leading powers of Europe should conclude a pact and agree tosolve all the great problems of the continent in common and then forcetheir solution on the rest of the world; Germany, whose right to militaryequality was no longer subject to doubt, should nevertheless promise torearm only by stages. But the Versailles Treaty must be revised; even anew distribution of colonial possessions was cautiously hinted. TheEnglishmen were ready to accept the plan, but France opposed theclause on the revision of Versailles, thus dooming the whole four-powerpact to practical failure, and though it was formally concluded fourmonths later, it was never ratified and soon forgotten. But all the same,the first Fascist power of Europe had proposed a plan for a new form ofcontinental domination by the four great powers which would havekilled the League of Nations; none of the other great powers at oncerejected the plan on principle; and one of the four powers was to beGermany.