Rhineland

The Rhineland (Rheinland in German) is the general name for the land on both sides of the river Rhine in the west of Germany. A geographical term originally, it has also acquired some political and cultural connotations, continuing in the name of the German Bundesland Rhineland-Palatinate.

The Treaty of Versailles (1919) specified the de-militarisation of the entire area after World War I to provide a buffer between Germany on one side and France, Belgium and Luxembourg (and to a lesser extent, the Netherlands) on the other side. In violation of the Locarno Pact[?] and the Treaty of Versailles, Nazi Germany reoccupied the Rhineland on March 7, 1936.