In January 1933 Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany and quickly began to build up Germany's armed forces in secret. In 1934, he increased the size of the German army and then worked on building up its navy as well as air force. Compulsory service was introduced. Britain and France were aware of these actions by Hitler; however, they felt that a strong Germany would be an effective counter against the spread of communism in Western Europe. In 1936, Hitler ordered the German army into the Rhineland which was controlled by France and lost by Germany during the First World War. Both France and Britain chose to ignore this as neither wished to nor was prepared to start another war. Also in this year, Hitler made two important alliances with Italy and Japan.
Emboldened by France and Britain's reluctance, Hitler's next step was to reclaim territories which were lost as a result of World War I. In 1938, the German army moved into and occupied Austria and forced Austrian leadership to hold a vote among its people asking if they wished to join with Germany. However, this result was fixed. At one point, Austrian leaders approached Britain, France and Italy for aid. Hitler responded by saying that he was seeking a unification of all German-speaking lands and would stop once all German-speaking lands were joined.