DBQ 19

After the First World War, Germany was made to sign the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 outlining terms and conditions Germans had to accept and abide by. This angered many Germans as it was felt the terms were too harsh. In the 1930s, the British foreign policy of appeasement aimed to preserve the peace between nations and prevent war breaking out by negotiating with any issues that may arise. Britain also aimed to protect the empire as it was under threat as well as working with the League of Nations although it was weakened after The Great War. These specific aims were successful to an extent as there was no instant war however, war did break out in 1939 and it can be argued that appeasement only caused Hitler and Mussolini to gain confidence within their fascist ideas.

When one chooses to take the easy path, there will always be unforeseen consequences, and this is exactly what happened in the policy concerning Hitler and Nazi Germany leading up to World War II. The Munich Agreement was signed on September 30, 1938 and it was at that moment that Hitler agreed to not take any more countries by force. Specifically, the agreement stated that Hitler would not take Sudetenland, a region in Czechoslovakia, seeing as it was given to him and force was not needed to take it. For Hitler, the Munich Agreement was a policy of appeasement towards the British and French. He signed the agreement knowing that he had no intention of abiding by it and that he would leave the rest of the allies looking ignorant to the world and even worse, to their own citizens. The appeasement was a failure and all it accomplished was leading the allies to believe that Hitler could be trusted. The events leading up to the Munich Agreement and the document itself fueled the fire for World War II and only intensified Hitler’s need for power.

The munich was a of european leaders met with Hitler in Munich to discuss his demands. Once they met with hitler they appeased hitler and he agreed to stop taking new lands. After talking with hitler there agreement was known as the munich pact. After the munich the totalitarian government began to form alliances. Also japan agreed to join any fight against the Soviet Union. And The Germany and the Soviet Union agreed not to attack one another. This is what the aggression, appeasement, and the munich pact was in the WWll era.

Germany then turned to Czechoslovakia because three million people in the Sudeten area where from German decent. Czechoslovakia knew that Hitler’s plan to invade them and asked for military assistance from France, but neither France nor Britain were prepared to defend Czechoslovakia and both would rather avoid war with Germany. The Munich Conference was held on September 1938 in which a settlement between the Nazi Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy to give Germany control over the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia as long as Germany stopped demanding European

From 1936 onwards, it is evident that Germany is ready for a war against France and Britain, hence appeasement was chosen to perhaps delay or prevent

The Treaty of Versailles was the origin of all the problems that occurred to ignite the WWII. The treaty of Versailles was originally done to spread peace between countries and cool down the aggression that was spreading all over Europe. The treaty was believed to be an

The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty that was made by the allies against Germany to make Germany pay for their “wrong doings”. Although it ended the Great War, it also led to World War 2 because the treaty caused Germany to give up land, pay large reparations and limited their military. This had angered Germany and had caused them to want to take back the land they lost, but after paying large reparations, it made Germany extremely poor, it had cost citizens a fortune just to buy a loaf of bread. Hitler then came in and said that he could change Germany, and make Germany a great country again. Everyone believed him and voted for him at the election.

Prior to the Munich Putsch Germany had just gotten out of World War One. “Germany was rapidly falling apart in the last few weeks of the war.” Many Germans had lost their hope for the war, the Kaiser had been abdicated and loss was practically inevitable. The Treaty of Versailles was born out of the war as a way to punish Germany for its actions. The Treaty of Versailles triggered two different viewpoints; there were the Germans who viewed its harshness as necessary and there were those who felt that it was unfair and cruel.

The Treaty of Versailles - a peace agreement established between the Allied and the Central Powers of the First World War, signed in 1919 - resulted in many changes for millions of people. It was originally created to end conflict between battling countries, with severe penalties enforced on the country of Germany, for all that they had done. From the signing of this Treaty, only came more bloodshed, and a taste for vengeance that ostensibly needed to be fulfilled. The Treaty of Versailles was a document engineered specifically to stop widespread hostility and armed

France wanted revenge on Germany and wanted to make it impossible for Germany to start a war again. Germany’s military “[…was…] demolished and reduced […]” as stated in Article 159 (Backman). Germans were forced to give up bits and pieces of its land to other countries and there economy was completely destroyed.

Following the cease fire of WWI, November 11, 1918, peace settlement was the goal for the Paris Peace conference. The goal of the peace settlement was to create perpetual peace throughout Europe. A notable document, the Treaty of Versailles stated the post war requirements Germany must fulfil, ultimately ended up as a failure. The treaty fundamentally failed to prevent another “Great War.” The requirements from the Treaty of Versailles, led economical failure and political instability which created the path for Hitler to come into power, a fascist dictator. Therefore, creating the environment possible for World War II.

On 29 September 1938, the four leaders of Germany, Italy, Britain and France signed an agreement on the fate of the Sudeten territory in Czechoslovakia, without the Czechoslovak authorities present, which, it would seem at the time, was a guarantee of peace. Such was the premise of the event, but in reality it represented the abandonment of Czechoslovakia (Weinberg, 1988: 165), by France in particular, and the naïve nature of the foreign policy of both Britain and France. It was a failure in upholding basic civil rights, and a manifest of weakness of the two countries to stand against the bully, Hitler. There are a few reasons for this: the inexperience in facing a new enemy,

The Munich Agreement was an agreement between the British, French, Germans, and Italians that allowed Hitler control over Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. Hitler knew that France and Britain were not prepared to fight another war and would not oppose his demands. So he set forth his plan of destroying Czechoslovakia and succeeded without much resistance. The agreement allowed Hitler to complete his plan with ease. Some, like Neville Chamberlain, believed that this was a victory because it prevented war with Germany; while others, like Winston Churchill, believe that it was “a total and unmitigated defeat” (Winston Churchill 1938). Pro-appeasement views on Munich agreement were that it avoided war and that it gave Britain, France, and Italy

An argument for appeasement is that Germany deserved to have a better deal as The Treaty of Versailles, many British people thought, was too harsh. If

The lead up to the Second World War happened in 1936 when Adolf Hitler, Führer to the German people, moved his troops into the demilitarised zone in the Rhineland, West of Germany. Once he controlled the region, his next plan would be to annex Austria in 1938 and later in the same year, Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia consisting of German minorities was also annexed by the Germans. Britain and France accepted the ‘Anschluss’ of Austria as it was a German speaking country and the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia was also resolved by France and Britain at the Munich Agreement. In 1939, Hitler broke the Munich Agreement with France and Britain leading to him occupying most of Czechoslovakia. The last roll of the dice occurred when Hitler signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, meaning that he could invade Poland in which he had no hesitation in doing so. As a result, these actions triggered the beginning of the Second World War.