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In March 1935, Goering unveiled to the world his ‘black’ secret German Air Force, the dreaded and mighty Luftwaffe. That April, he married his second wife, a popular German stage actress, and in May, solidified Germany’s pre-1939 surprisingly good relations with neighbouring Poland. In March 1936, the Luftwaffe took part in the peaceful occupation of the former French-occupied Rhineland and by the end of the year, Goering was also the recognised economic dictator of the Third Reich heading the Nazi Four-Year Plan.

A state visit to Rome in January 1937 made him a main player regarding the future Reich alliance with Fascist Italy and in November, he hosted Europe’s largest hunting exposition of 50 years at Berlin. Overshadowing all of this, however, was the top-secret Hossbach war conference at which Hitler announced his intention go to war by 1943 in order to seize Russian territory for an expanded German empire in the East. In all of the above, Goering was the main player, second only to Hitler, especially regarding the economy and the dreaded Luftwaffe…