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

CONQUEST BY PEACE 611Hitler eagerly seized on the proposal of the great man south of theAlps. He was willing to give any promise regarding the harmless natureand slow rate of German rearmament, especially as he had long sincemade up his mind that the question of German rearmament would not bedecided at conference tables, but in Germany herself. The S.A., forwhich, as Hitler put it, 'the World War was not over,' continued thisWorld War in Germany; built up, during 1933, a force of about threemillion men; subjugated the other half of the people, conquered theparts of the country that resisted, and forced the defeated to admire theirown defeat. 'The rickety bones of the world are shivering with fear ofthe great war,' began the song of the S.A. 'But to us this fear means agreat victory. Today Germany belongs to us, tomorrow the wholeworld.'Europe at that time possessed a diplomatic organ which registeredthese wild songs most vividly: the Geneva Disarmament Conference. Tothe German delegates, struggling for 'equal rights,' the answer could begiven: 'You already have an immense army — by right you would haveto disarm rather than rearm.' The immense army was no army at all, theGerman military experts replied; the Reichswehr people call it a 'lousymob.' True, but the Reichswehr, with its twelve-year period of service,the best-trained army in the world, and hence far more important thanthe figures indicated, could quickly train these raw masses intoserviceable soldiers. For this reason MacDonald's plan provided — andFrance bitterly insisted — that the increased German army should ceaseto be an elite army of professional soldiers and become a militia witheight months of service for the individual soldier. The Germandelegates, however, fought tenaciously for the small model army thatthe victors of Versailles had unwittingly given them; and made thecounter-demand that the others should first do away with their heavyarmament; otherwise Germany, like everyone else, must have herplanes, tanks, and heavy guns.What an irony of history! The victors of Versailles now wanted to doaway with the army of Versailles; the defeated now fought to keep it.This small army had been unimportant only as long as there had been acommon front of the victors; hence the desperate efforts of France torestore this front.