The Growth of the Luftwaffe

Abstract

Between 1933 and 1939 Germany’s neighbouring states regarded the build-up of the Luftwaffe as the most dangerous existing threat to their security. The aeroplane even more than the tank was viewed as the offensive weapon of the future, its potential effects seeming to embody both the totality and the brutality of modern warfare. Viewed from the outside the air force of the Third Reich was the work of Hermann Göring, the most powerful man after Adolf Hitler in the hierarchy of Party and State. It is reasonable to suppose therefore that the build-up of this section of the armed forces and in particular its armament and operational planning were carried out in accordance with the régime’s short- and long-term political aims.