On June 28th 1919, in the Versailles Palace of France, the treaty of Versailles officially ended World war one. The signers of this treaty implemented certain restrictions on Germany that were to guarantee Germany would never start another world war. This begs the question, “what did the end of one war have to do with the start of World War Two?”. The evidence shows that it was this treaty’s influence on Adolf Hitler that led to the Versailles Treaty’s ultimate failure and provoked the start of the next world war. Because of this treaty Adolf Hitler’s economic plan, proposed while he was seeking political election, was focused on rebuilding and reclaiming Germany. This went hand in hand with the nationalist ideas of the Nazi party. …show more content…
It is a reasonable conclusion that to Hitler, the restoration of Germany and the damning of the Treaty of Versailles, specifically returning Germany’s right to be an equal in the world society, are linked. In a speech givin at Dusseldorf Hitler even went as far as promising to withdraw the signature that indicted Germany for starting World War One. Here Hitler also draws the comparison to returning German pride with reinstating the military heritage taken in the Treaty of Versailles. These pairings that Hitler chose to address shows the direct influence that Hitler felt the Treaty of Versailles had on weakening the German people and causing a separation from their heritage after 1919. These ideas of Hitler were not unfounded. He claimed in his speech at Munich 1922 that Germans were burdened at the end of World War I with an 8 million mark debt of their own, and the debt of the other allied countries, with similar sentiment in other speeches . The actual treaty confirms this by showing a 10+ billion mark reparations clause in section 232 right after the War Guilt Clause . A scholar by the name of Graham Darby claims that the treaty of Versailles is not the primary cause of the economic downturn and therefore not a primary influence on Hitler’s economic policy. The data however, points to one crucial fact that Mr. Darby neglects to mention in his article, the Dawes Plan. The Dawes plan was enacted during 1924 and
This essay analyses the origins of the Second World War by briefly summarizing the events from 1919-1939. However, most emphasis is put on the amount of responsibility the Treaty of Versailles deserves for the outbreak of war. Other than analysing the Treaty of Versailles on its own, it also analyses the effects of the 1929 Wall Street Crash on the world, the rise of Fascism and Nazism, as well as the rise of Adolf Hitler, the failure of the League of Nations and the appeasement of the Fascist and Nazi regimes by Britain and France throughout the 1930s. Hence the Treaty of Versailles plays a
Treaty of Versailles, signed with Germany in 1919 had one main purpose – to protect the planet from another world war. Germany, the country guilty for the World War One had to accept a number of unfavorable conditions:
As I’m sure most people know Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Germans from August 2 1934 to April 30 1945, but do you know that as Fuhrer of Germany he was the driving force behind the start of WWII. During his reign he tried to bring Germany back to the powerful country it had been before the First World War. In this paper I will prove that Hitler’s actions lead to start of WWII, and I plan to prove how his direct disregard of the Treaty of Versailles pushed the world into WWII.
Treaty of Versailles' Role in Hitler's Rise to Power The Treaty of Versailles was important to Hitler's rise to power because, it was the cause of Germany's downfall. Hitler felt very strongly about the Treaty of Versailles and thought the terms were unfair towards Germany. Many German people also despised the treaty, and wanted something done about it. Hitler was there to turn to. He wanted to abolish the treaty and all of it terms.
It led to economic problems and a lack of food or jobs. These in turn
The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28th 1919 by the Germans in order to obtain world peace. However, this agreement seemed to only provoke the nation. According to the clauses of the document, Germany would have to pay for all damages caused by the war and they even had to claim full responsibility for initiating the war, often referred to as the War Guilt Clause. The German population also felt resentment with the government for giving away so much land to the various countries that had won the war. Around the time of the treaty, Adolf Hitler of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party was getting much attention because of his promising ideas to reduce unemployment which was a crisis that was caused by the depression of
In the words of John Green, “The truth resists simplicity”. Assigning the blame of WWII to the Treaty of Versailles is far too simple of an explanation. The Treaty of Versailles, which ended WWI while sanctioning and punishing Germany, forced Germany to pay reparations. These reparations are said to have caused economic challenges in Germany, which allowed Hitler to take control on nationalist fervor. Thus, the story goes, that the Treaty of Versailles made Hitler’s rise to power, and his starting of WWII, inevitable. However, this mode of explanation is a deeply flawed oversimplification. The Treaty of Versailles did not make WWII inevitable because the independent forces of the Great Depression and Japanese expansion also played key
Following the destruction of World War I, Adolf Hitler despised the Treaty of Versailles force on Germany, thus promising German citizens that if he were to be in power, he would overturn the Treaty of Versailles to give back germany ‘her pride’. The end of World War I occurred with a selection of German individuals, flying to Paris and signing the treaty of Versailles which stated that germany was at fault for the war, and needed to sacrifice land and 6000 million in reparations paid in installments. Before in power, hitler was mortified, believing that germany were suffering for things which they did not deserve, Hitler directed his hatred for the Treat into his power-striven promises to the public. It was promised that if the Nazi’s were to be in power, that the treaty of Versailles would be ‘abolished’ , with the aim to decrease the inflation caused by the taxes used to pay for the reparations. This appealed greatly to the German working class,, with mass unemployment and hunger swiftly increasing. According to Hitler, germany had lost ‘he her
World War II: 80 million deaths; the largest war in history. And it is widely disputed whether the Treaty of Versailles was to blame. World War I resulted in ten million deaths (which is seemingly incomparable to World War II), but sparked a treaty to prevent further war. The superpowers of the world clashed wills over its content. The Treaty of Versailles was originally meant to liberate Eastern European countries, but in bitterness was Germany relentlessly punished. The Treaty of Versailles was the root cause of World War II through its terms causing Germany’s humiliation, insurmountable reparations, loss of land, and restriction of military.
The Treaty stripped Germany of land, demanded payments of reparations, restricted their military and left them utterly humiliated. Many Germans, most notably Hitler believed Germany had not lost WW1 but were in fact betrayed by civilians on the home front. They believed they had been stabbed in the back by the German Government Leaders who signed the Treaty, nicknamed the November Criminals. Hitler used this ‘stab in the back’ myth as fuel for propaganda campaigns against Jews and communists and to convince Germans the Weimar Government was a morass of corruption, degeneracy and national humiliation. Historian K J Mason believes the biggest impact of the Treaty was the long-term legacy of bitterness it brought to Germany, a previously proud nation rather than the immediate economic desperation it brought. The Treaty of Versailles laid a foundation for Hitler to make promises on. His promise to abolish the Treaty and to restore the German society and economy were a bid to gain the trust of the nation. The extremist parties, both communists and the Nazis benefitted immensely from the lack of faith in the Weimar Republic brought about by the signing of the treaty but Hitler had a stronger grip on how to use this to his advantage. Hitler used the memory of the hardships of Hyperinflation and his nationalist ideals to sway voters. The long-term bitterness as a result of the Treaty of Versailles had a major impact on Hitler’s rise to
World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. However, the Treaty of Versailles made World War II inevitable because it took away most of Germanys power, territory and population. President Woodrow Wilson basically forced the Germans to sign the treaty even though they objected to it. The war guilt clause held Germans responsible for the outbreak and destruction of the war. This clause stated that Germany had to accept full responsibility and pay for reparations towards the French and British. This treaty was supposed to help end all wars but instead it was a “peace to end peace” (Shi 841). The Treaty of Versailles angered many Germans especially one person in particular Adolf Hitler a German soldier
The Treaty of Versailles In January of 1919, Woodrow Wilson of the United States, David LLoyd George Great Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France, and Orlando of Italy convened in Paris to Create a peace settlement that would put an end to World War I -- a war which devastated numerous countries throughout the world, and one that had threatened the chances of peace ever existing in the future among the nations of Europe. Known as the Treaty of Versailles, its goal was to restore a new nationalism throughout the world by creating new states and forming new boundaries. However, conflicts which resulted over dispute border regions between Germany and Poland. Austria and
Adolf Hitler’s military tactics, poor leadership skills, and actions caused him to lose World War II. Hitler’s objective was to gain world power. He was willing to risk everything for Germany to become the most powerful country. According to Richard Overy, a British historian, “If the German people are not prepared to engage in its own survival, so be it: then it must disappear!” (538). Hitler was also willing to sacrifice Germany to attain world control and victory during World War II. The idea of losing WWII never came across Hitler’s mind because he was confident that Germany would become victorious during the war.
In order to fully understand the role the Treaty of Versailles played in the initial upcoming of Adolf Hitler, we must first delve into the reasoning behind German involvement in World War One. Since the late 1800s, Germany was intent on expanding its borders, by any means necessary. Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany, was obsessed with his desire to “create a German Empire out of the group of smaller German states” mainly under Austria-Hungary’s authority (Schmidt, 2006). In order to expel Austria as the primary influence over these smaller German states, war was inevitable. Subsequently following the war, also known as the Seven Weeks War, Bismarck extorted the small German states of “Schleswig, Holstein, Hanover, Hesse, Nassau, and Frankfurt, which created the North German Federation” (Schmidt, 2006). Even more importantly, Austria was successfully displaced as the major influence over those small German states. Bismarck’s next calculated move was to achieve the same unification in the southern parts of Germany.
The mandate of Article(s) 231 and 232 , (respectively titled “The War Guilt Clause” and “Reparations”) of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28th, 1919 served as unintentional catalysts for the arise of revisionism in post-war Germany, and its fall out of the international order following the Paris Peace Conference. These two articles politically, socially, and economically ravaged Germany, and created societal circumstances in which a totalitarian dictatorship (the National Socialist German Workers Party or “Nazi” party) gained popularity and was viewed as necessary in order for Germany to be restored to its former status as an economic and political world power. The national humiliation and economic burden that Articles 231 and 232 created injured German pride, strained its economy and triggered a resentful and hostile outlook to the “new peace” that the Allied leaders believed they had formulated. The German people viewed this as a “dictated peace” (Diktat) that had been enforced on them. It was seen by Germany as an unfair, un-justified and un-realistic punishment for losing the war, and instead of creating a long-term and prosperous peace on the European continent, the guilt and reparations of Articles 231 and 232 ignited a flame of vengeance in Germany that would evolve into an ultra-nationalist inferno and consume the world into a second and even more devastating and savage war.