Fernando Diaz
Period 4
4/29/15
The Treaty of Versailles Helped Cause World War II
World War I is a war that took the lives of more than 10 million soldiers and over 7 million civilians, and wounded 10 million more. It was a conflict between the Axis powers, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Turkey, and the Allies, France, England, Russia, and Italy. After the war ended the leaders met at the Versailles Palace just outside of Paris for a treaty to settle future disputes and avoid war. The treaty was finally signed on June 28, 1919 and because Germany was responsible for war damageous and costs, they were angry and humiliated. The Treaty of Versailles lead to World War II through territorial losses, military restrictions, economic war reparations, and war guilt.
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They lost Alsace, Lorraine, Polish Corridor, and part of Denmark. Losing the Polish Corridor was significant because it split Germany apart. They also lost major cities where they produced coal, one of their most profitable raw materials. By taking these cities away Germany coal production reduced by 40%. Hitler said, "the restoration of 1914 could be achieved only by blood" (Document A), which suggested Germans should respond back militaristically.
In addition to territorial losses, Germany also suffered military restrictions from the Treaty of Versailles. According to Article 160 of the Versailles Treaty, the total number of German military troops allowed was one hundred thousand. Germany was surrounded by countries with large military troops. France had the largest army and were in control since Article 160 excluded Germany to attack any other nations. Germans felt scared and unsafe with such a small army. This worried many Germans and was another reason they were against the Treaty of
Another term of the treaty was that the Germans had to reduce the size of their army and weaponry. This limited the army to just 100,000 of voluntary soldiers, and they also had to melt down their weapons, they were forbidden to use any sort of air forces too. This had the affect of making the Germans feeling angry and weak and thirsty for revenge. Also Germany was to pay £6.6 billion in damages which badly affected their economy.
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
The Treaty of Versailles unfairly forced Germany to decimate their own army and the treaty took away some of Germany’s land. Document B states, “Germany must not exceed one hundred thousand men, including officers…” Because of this Germany was left outnumbered and suffered a maddening loss of power. Germany also lost their treasured Baltic sea port, which they relied on for different resources (Doc A). More importantly, the German citizens in that area were forced to either relocate or adjust to their new culture. Due to these forced injustices Germany started WWII.
Have you ever wondered what caused World War II? Have you ever heard of the Versailles Treaty? Did you know that the Versailles Treaty was a factor in causing World War II? The Versailles Treaty was signed on June 28, 1919, seven and a half months after the fighting in World War I. Which at that time, was known as the great war.
World War I devastated Europe and brought unprecedented human suffering. There were more than 38 million military and civilian casualties: 17 million deaths and over 20 million wounded, and a toll of $186 billion in direct costs, and an $151 billion in indirect costs. [1] The allied powers negotiated the Treaty of Versailles, which officially brought the war to end in June of 1919, with very limited participation by Germany. The provisions of the treaty primarily blamed Germany for the war, and imposed unreasonable terms that were responsible for German expansion, hyperinflation, and economic downfall, and eventually led directly to World War II. [2]
The Treaty of Versailles was a treaty signed by the winners of WWI meant to punish the aggressors of the war. The treaty opened the door for WWII to develop into an international total war. The Treaty of Versailles made WWII inevitable due to the absurd amount of repercussions Germany had to deal with, the failure of the league of nations, and the expansion of Japan.
The Treaty of Versailles formed after World War I forced Germany to pay great amounts in reparation payments, which was severely damaging to their economy and to their collective national ego. In addition, they were forced to greatly weaken their army by demobilizing, abolishing universal compulsory military service, and by having their army be comprised by no more than seven divisions of infantry and three divisions of cavalry. Furthermore, the country was also forced to return lands which they had viewed as 'Germanic' and had laid claim to, as well as overseas colonies, back to various other countries.
Germany’s loss of territory was a major cause of the war. In document A the map referencing German territorial losses depicts the land lost after World War I. The Germans were forced to return Alsace-Lorraine back to France, the Polish Corridor was given to Poland and Danzig became a free city. Germany lost their territory along with the resources within the area such as coal and iron. Because of their loss in resources, their economy continued to decline as their reparations remained unpaid. In addition, in document A, Adolf
In the treaty Germans was restricted to certain military resources. The German army must not compromise more than 7 divisions of infantry and 3 divisions of cavalry, Germany must not exceed 100 thousand men including officers, The army should be devoted only to the maintenance of its territory (Doc B). Since Germany attacked the U.S. on civilian ships and continued after the U.S. demanded Germany to stop, The treaty placed Germany's navy severe prohibitions.
Based on the map in Document A, the Versailles Treaty forced Germany to give back Alsace and Lorraine to France. They were also mandated to lose the Polish Corridor, the northern area of Eastern Prussia, and a small area in Northern Germany near Denmark (map on Doc. A). Not only that, but Western Germany was also demilitarized (map on Doc. A). Adolf Hitler stated that, “...the restoration of the frontiers of 1914 could be achieved only by blood (Doc. A).” That is a powerful and meaningful statement that Hitler has made. This clearly indicates that the frontiers that were lost because of the Versailles Treaty can be taken back only by battling. Meaning that the only way to solve their issues regarding their territories is through brutal combat. Which can possibly mean that the Versailles Treaty’s terms dealing with taking away German land can lead into a war for Germany to get back what they
There are many things that the Treaty of Versailles help cause World War II. Economic losses, territory loss, overpowered by size, reparation and war guilt were causes that led to World War II. The Treaty of Versailles brought World War I to an end but began World War II.
According to the article “Map created from various sources, Document A” after the war, Germany lost many different lands the German’s had previously owned. Germany lost territories such as the Polish Corridor, Northern East Prussia, South Denmark, and Alsace Lorraine. Whenever Germany lost those areas, traveling and trading became a constant issue. A few of the countries would block oceans where trading ships would come in, and give goods or wares to Germany, but with the countries not being owned by Germany, the countries would not allow German soldiers in their land. When giving up those countries, Germany also lost many recourses. Their coal cost was taken down by 40% and many recourses that had been native to those lands had been stolen. Not all German’s gave up though, Adolf Hitler was a German man who decided that the only way to solve their sudden loss of land, was through the sword, also known as
The first consequence for Germany began with many territorial losses which hurt them in many ways such as their military forces.According to document A, Germany suffered a loss of four major areas of land, Lorraine, Alsace, Polish Corridor, and Danzig. With the loss of these areas the people living in those countries no longer were a part of Germany. With Danzig and the Polish Corridor surrounding them, East Prussia was left in the middle of unclaimed territories, and were all alone. One can assume that being away from what Not only did Germany lose territories, they also lost military land as well. In Ruhr, Germany was completely demilitarized. They lost major army strength there which in turn made them weak. These losses did not settle well with Germans. This angered them and created a want to fight back. But this was not the end. Not only did Germany lose territories, they also endured military restrictions. In Document B a political cartoon depicts the military powers of Europe that were involved in World War I. The biggest country shown is France as they have the most military troops and reserves. Not only are they the biggest they also are holding chains to other countries including Belgium, Poland, and Czechoslovakia showing a bond together to keep Germany contained. This played even more into embarrassing Germany, as in the picture Germany is substantially smaller than the others illustrating how much smaller Germany was seen as. (Document A and
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.
In June 1919, the German country reluctantly signed the famous Treaty of Versailles. They were furious with the standards the treaty set but had no choice as their country lost all of their arms and lost many of their soldiers. Many people back then thought that the punishment should be harsher, harsh enough to where the country would no longer be able to ever fight again. Little did they know, the treaty as it was, was enough to destroy Germany’s economy. The Treaty of Versailles was unfair and made the punishment far worse than what it should have been.