THE RHINELAND WAR: 1936

It is a “what if’ historical play. It considers what might have happened if Britain and France had reacted to Hitler’s rearming of the Rhineland in 1936 with military power rather than ineffectual protests. Would this have prevented the Second World War? The play also shows the power of the media in guiding public opinion and raises some more general questions like: Preventative wars – do they ever achieve anything? Can democracies ever win against fanatics? How far should a democratic government go in accommodating dictators? The scenario painted within the play is plausible. The views and acts of the various characters are in line with what they could have been expected to say and do at the time, and what we now know from various historical sources, e.g. Lansbury’ statement about disarmament, Lloyd George’s account of his meeting with Hitler, the French Prime Minister’s speech on the day the Germans moved into the Rhineland and reminiscences from Churchill’s war memoirs including his visit to Germany in 1932.