plans to build up the army to thirty-six divisions or 500 000 soldiers. The existence of the new German Air Force known as the Luftwaffe was made public. Hitler intended to ignore the military clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. The navy was not overlooked. The Kriegsmarine was given the task of making the construction of submarines, which had proven to be an effective weapon in World War I. Submarines construction began in 1934 and the number of Unterseeboots or U-Boats grew to fifty-seven. In 1935 the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee was launched, followed by the Scharnhorst and the Gneisau. The new German Air Force, called the Luftwaffe, took the task of rebuilding Germany’s air power with enthusiasm. By 1939 it boasted 4200 front-line aircraft. In September 1936 Hitler introduced the Four Year Plan that aimed to make Germany totally self-sufficient in essential commodities such as oil, iron ore, textiles and food. When the Nazis came to power there were six million Germans unemployed, which equated to one-third of the workforce. The Nazis regarded unemployment as an urgent issue. Unemployment in Germany dropped due to a number of issues. The number of women in the workforce dropped as Hitler wanted each family to have many children. The Nazis also forced people to work. Many public works programs began, the most significant was the plan to construct over three thousand kilometres of four-lane highways, called autobahns, linking the country from east to west. Another factor that reduced employment was the creation of the German Labour Service in 1935. All males over the age of 18 were required to do six months of labour service. In the same year conscription was introduced which also brought the unemployment number down significantly. Hitler’s obsession with race caused his desire creation of a pure racial state for the Aryan race. He wanted the R...
