Britain and France did protest, but only half-heartedly, when Hitler first announced his plan to re-introduce conscription and to rearm. The reasons for such a weak protest were:
It was 16 years since the Treaty of Versailles had been signed. Many people in Britain and France now thought some of the terms of the Treaty had been too harsh on Germany.
They also believed that Germany had the right to defend itself.
Britain did not want war, and was not ready for war. Apart from that, the British government believed Hitler when he said this was a peacetime army, and that Germany just wanted to be able to get its army on the same level as other countries in Europe.
Several politicians in Britain (including Chamberlain) started seriously promoting the policy of appeasement.
France would not attack Germany without Britain's support.
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Thus no serious effort was made to stop Hitler, who ignored their half-hearted protests.
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