How Did the Versailles Treaty Help Cause World War II? The Great War, or World War I, was a war that took the lives of 10 million soldiers, seven million civilians, and wounded more than 10 million men, finally came to an end on November 11, 1918. After the war, a conference was held at the Versailles Palace, just outside of Paris, to hammer out a treaty. The Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau, of France, David Lloyd George of England, and the president, Woodrow Wilson, of the United States, were the victorious allied nations that came together and created the Versailles Treaty, where Germany was given no voice and Russia was not represented because they were pulled out of the war in 1917. For the treaty, Woodrow wanted to create a League …show more content…
Stated in Document B, “Germany must not exceed one hundred thousand men, including officers… The Army shall be devoted to the maintenance of order within the territory and to control the frontiers.” This indicates that Germany’s army was restricted and was only used to keep their country in control. Since the military couldn’t do much, but be useful for self-defense, they felt threatened by neighboring countries who had a larger and better military. The map shown in Document B revealed that, while Germany can only have 100,00 men in the military, their neighbors had more than 500,000 men, some even have more than one million troops. And to top it all off, these countries were allied with France, who had the largest military. Feeling threatened, and unsettled because of the treaty, they wanted to grow their military once again, causing them to revolt and fight again in World War …show more content…
As Document C states, “...Germany undertakes, that she will make compensation for all damage done to the civilian population of the Allied and Associated Powers and to their property during the period of Belligerency…”(Doc C). Since Germany was responsible for starting the war, they should be responsible for paying for the damage. But these reparations only angered and humiliated the Germans because it caused a huge economic downfall since these payments were over $300 billion. But in the chart shown in Document C, it states that, in 1933, “Hitler comes to power” and ends “all reparations payments”. Ending these payments made Germans come to like Hitler, giving him more power than before. This then starts to lead to World War II because Hitler is slowly bringing Germany back up again, and so, they start to follow him and his ideas which starts to cause another world
The accusative countries decided the amount of compensation Germany had to pay: “Germany undertakes, that she will make compensation for all damage [...] of the Allied and Associated Powers” (Doc C). This caused Germany to spiral into starvation and debt. Hitler sought revenge and rejuvenation because of this.
The Versailles Treaty was signed by the Allied nations who won the war, Great Britain, France, and the United States, and it was signed by the losing nation, Germany. In the treaty there were many things Germany had to abide by, which didn't seem harsh for the Allies, but in reality it was harsh on Germany. Back to the essential question, how did the Versailles Treaty help cause World War II. The Treaty of Versailles helped cause World War II by treating Germany harshly. This harsh treatment can be seen especially in three areas: the treaty stripped Germany of land, the treaty ordered for Germany to pay tons of money to the Allies, and Germany was stripped of pride and military power.
How did the Treaty of Versailles help cause WWII? The same treaty that ended the first world war played a huge role in starting the second. WWI ended on November 11th, 1918 with 17 million casualties, 7 months later the official document to end the war, the Treaty of Versailles, was created & signed. Leaders of the United States, France, and Great Britain shaped the terms of the treaty.
This limited their army to 100,000 voluntary soldiers and they had to melt down their armaments and where not allowed to have any submarines. This had the effect of making the Germans feel weak and humiliated and thirsty for revenge. This was one of the biggest reasons the Germans were annoyed and angered at the treaty of Versailles. Germany also had to pay 6.6 Billion in reparation to the winning countries; this affected their economy and was more money than the Germans were able to give. This eventually led to hyperinflation, but this is irrelevant to the topic at hand. This could possibly have been the point that angered the Germans the most, it made them pay for the debts of the war even though they did not start it on their own.
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.
World War I was one of the most brutal and bloodiest war ever fought in the early twentieth century. The war left ten million soldiers dead, seven million civilians dead, and another ten million people to be wounded (Background Essay). It was the Triple Alliance, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey, against the Triple Entente, France, Britain, Russia, and Italy (Background Essay). The war ended with the Paris Peace Conference where world leaders meet up to discuss about a creation of a treaty to settle the peace terms. President Woodrow Wilson of the U.S. simply wanted to create a League of Nations to settle future conflicts and to avoid war (Background Essay). However, Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau of France and Prime Minister David Lloyd George of England wanted even more; revenge and humiliation on Germany. They are forcing Germany to pay hundreds of billions of dollars for
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.
One of the reasons that caused World War 2 was the treaty of Versailles because President Woodrow Wilson, Georges Clemenceau and Lloyd Georges wanted a peace treaty for all different reasons (history on the net, 18/09/15) Woodrow wanted the peace treaty based on his 14-point plan based, this basically means he wanted long lasting peace and he did a speak called the 14- points explaining 14 reasons why he wanted long lasting peace, which he believed would bring peace to Europe. (History
If any payments were not paid by their due date, the payment will be expanded until it is paid (Doc C). Hitler came into power and stopped the reparations which can make France even more angry. This is the last thing Germany wants.
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.
World War I was the cruelest war the world had ever faced. It left the entire Europe devastated. Some countries ran out of resources and became bankrupt. The country that suffered the most was Germany. The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28th June 1919, was a treaty at the end of World War I. It ended the war between Germany and the Allied powers and it also stated the regulations on who was responsible for World War II and how Germany will pay for all the damage they caused. The Treaty of Versailles was the main reason that led to World War II because it forced Germany to lose territory. Also it weakened the situation in the country economically and socially. These circumstances allowed for the rise of fascism and later lead to the World War II.
The intention when the plan was introduced was that all countries would join the League and thus all international disputes would be settled by negotiation as opposed to being settled by war (Breuer, 286). If this plan were to fail then the other nations would have to stop trading with the country breaking the agreement and if that failed, the other countries would be forced to then use their armies to fight. The diplomatic philosophy behind the League of Nations represented a shift in thought from the preceding century, where an agreement such as this one would be unlikely to be agreed upon. The older philosophy, coming from the Congress of Vienna, had led to the continent of Europe being a shifting map of alliances among several nation-states, creating a balance of power that was maintained by aligned armies and secret treaties. Under this newly introduced philosophy, the League was to be a government of governments, with the established role of settling disputes between individual nations. Although the idea for the founding of the League came from U.S. President Wilson, the United States never joined (Breuer, 288). This lessened the power and credibility of the League, although the addition of an industrial and military world power would have added more, later necessary, force behind the League 's demands and requests.
The primary cause of World War Two can be found in the peace treaties to end World War One. This treaty, the Treaty of Versailles, contributed greatly to the cause of WW2 as the Germans would not have sought revenge if they had not been put in the situation where they felt greatly mistreated. If the Germans had not felt mistreated, then Hitler would never have been so successful with the Nazi party. Also, the Germans reaction towards being presented the treaty was quite negative, the Chancellor even resigning in refusal to sign it.
It order Germany to pay five million dollars in just five years (“Allied Reparations Committee”), but the nation was incapable of doing so. They payments ended up being prolonged for decades and the incremental payments reminded the nation of the harshness of its enemies, creating even more hatred towards them, driving Europe towards another war. The harshness of these payments, in part, lead to the German people being willing to follow anybody, which lead to the rise of Hitler, the Nazis, and anti-semitism. Hitler was able to spread his message and easily shift the opinions of the populace. Not only did the reparations affect Germany, they also affected countries like Italy, who were allies and trade partners. After the World War I, Italy was unable to trade with Germany since it was in such deep debt and was in a state of government reconstruction. The reparations caused extremely high inflation, ruining its currency system, and dividing European nations even further. To make the reparations more bearable, they should not have been as intense. It is understandable why the reparations were given to Germany, but they should not have had to pay for the costs of the war from every country involved. Some of the countries, like Britain and France, should have paid for some of the damages. If the victorious nations were more gracious winners, maybe peace could have been maintained. The treaty writers at the Peace of Paris could have simply lowered the reparations and maybe war could have been avoided. However, the writers did not take into consider Germany’s situation at the time. People there were starving and the government and the land were in ruins. Instead, the reparations were unbearable and the “desire for revenge in the name of reparation for the losses some of them had suffered would reap even further sorrow from
On January 10, 1920, a peace document known as ‘The Treaty of Versailles,’ signed by Germany and the Allied Nations on June 28, 1919, took force. This agreement was the most powerful of the peace treaties, bringing an end to World War I. Despite the peace it brought to the Allied Nations, it brought nothing but devastations to all aspects of Germany. Due to its harsh and humiliating terms, twenty years after its authentication, the treaty would trigger a second world war. Created as a document of peace, The Treaty of Versailles would antithetically prompt WWII by promoting the infamous dictator Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party to power.