This fascinating new study from renowned historian Robert Forczyk tells the story of the Wehrmacht from its birth in 1935 through to the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938.

Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933 on the back of a populist agenda, and a promise to lead the nation back to unity, stability and prosperity. A key part of that was his promise to restore Germany’s military which had been reduced to little more than a well-armed police force by the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. Central to this was the formal establishment of the Wehrmacht, the newly renamed German Army, in 1935.

In this new military-focused study, renowned World War II historian Robert Forczyk traces the development and operations of the Wehrmacht from the announcement of rearmament in 1935 to the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938. He examines the critical trends and events in this period, including the growth of the new Panzer arm, as well as competing priorities with the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. He looks at how Hitler ignored or trampled existing diplomatic agreements while directing a rapid and massive rearmament program in Germany, reoccupying the Rhineland in 1936, incorporating first Austria then the Sudetenland into the Reich by force in 1938 and finally seizing the remainder of Czechoslovakia, Memel from Lithuania and demanding the return of Danzig from Poland, leaving Europe on the cusp of World War II.