The Causes Of The Treaty Of Versailles

Though the treaty of versailles created peace and harmony in many nations after the first world war it left Germany to be humiliated and dishonored and to be worthless as a result Germany revolted, plunging the world into a second world war.

The treaty humiliated the Germans. The war-guilt clause forced Germany to accept sole responsibility for World War I. And although the German military had played a major role in igniting the war, other countries in Europe had been guilty of provoking political crises before the war too.

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.

First, the treaty of Versailles made Germany lose their territory and did not give it back. In Document A, the picture shows us how the treaty took Alsace and Lorraine away. Losing this territory Germany lost 40% of its most critical resource, coal. The loss of the Polish Corridor and Danzig were difficult for Germans because they were a major resource for Germany. If they had taken their land maybe the suggestion that Adolf Hitler made to the Germans about starting a war to fight back to gain control would not have happened.

There is no excuse for the horrible things Nazi Germany did during World War II. However, we get a better idea as to how that war started by learning about how World War I ended. The Versailles Treaty was created by the winners of World War I, like France, Great Britain, and the United States to make peace. How did it help contribute to an even worse war less than twenty years later. The Treaty Of Versailles helped cause World War II by treating Germany harshly. This harsh treatment can be seen in three areas: territorial losses, economic losses and ¨ war guilt.¨

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

The Treaty had what is referred to as the War Guilt Clause, which laid all the blame for the war on Germany (Doc D). Because of this, Germans despised the Treaty, and viewed it as "an atrocious injustice, an evil thing which must be destroyed" (Doc D). They wanted revenge against those who implemented the clauses, and in their opinion, unfairly blamed Germany. Hitler was accepted by Germans because he promised to destroyed the Treaty by violating its clauses and restoring Germany to it's former glory. Hitler gave back the pride and respect Germans had for their country, which the Treaty if Versailles had

The Treaty of Versailles was a major event in the 1920’s that was largely responsible for the events to follow, including the rise of Hitler and World War 2. Woodrow Wilson came up with a fourteen point plan of how to end the war with fairness and lasting peace. Germany was willing to accept the consequences because they trusted the treaty would be based off of Wilsons’ plan. Unfortunately for Germany and her allies, there were meetings with the four main allie leaders at Versailles to determine the final terms of the treaty without them. These men were determined to punish Germany, excluding Wilson, and hold them completely responsible for World War One. The consequences for Germany were unreasonable and unfair because Germany was not able

The Treaty of Versailles was a controversial treaty, not only because of what it embodied, but what it took to get the Treaty in motion. The Great War, or World War I, lasted between 1914 and 1918. This war occurred over a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, political alliances between nations, ethnic tensions in Europe, and most of all, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Austria-Hungary. With the bloody stalemate continuing without any end, the United States still held its position as a neutral world power, but events, such as the sinking of the Lusitania, caused the United States to recant its neutral position to a position in fighting against Germany. The end of World War I officially ended by the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, but wasn't signed by the U.S. Whether this was President Wilson's fault or the Senate's fault, has been questioned over the last decade.

The three main countries involved were Great Britain, France and America. The three main people involved were Woodrow Wilson(America),George Clemenceau(France) and David Lloyd Georges Clemenceau clearly showed that he wanted Germany to be punished severely. Clemenceau wants to take revenge on Germany since Germany destroyed north east corner of France. Even the French public had a similar opinion on Germany. This was unfair because the treaty of Versailles was used as revenge rather than a peace treaty. George(Great Britain). David Lloyd publicly promised “Make Germany pay”-This was published in a British newspaper. So he supported reparations. He felt that Germany should be treated in such a way that Germany should just be a place to resist communism. He feared that the German govt. will turn to communism and Germany was the only country in central Europe to stop communism. He didn’t want Germany to get a harsh punishment. Woodrow Wilson focused on creating a powerful league of nations to maintain peace. He didn’t want Germany receiving a harsh punishment. He focused on reuniting Europe rather than getting revenge on Germany. He created “Fourteen points” which included ending secret treaties, reducing armed forces and weapons and all countries should belong to the League of Nations. Germany was not even involved in making of the terms of the treaty of Versailles. Two

The Treaty of Versailles contributed to WWII by severely weakening Germany economically through territorial losses. Before the war Germany was using 139,000,000 tons of coal from their land. Once their industrial land was given away, Germany only had access to about 78,000,000 tons of coal per year. They lost 60,800,000 tons of coal from the lost areas. Germany coal production was reduced by 40%. Germany had lost Alsace and Lorraine, and was returned back to France. The Treaty required Germany to permanently give up its colonies. German colonies included all or part of the modern nations of Tanzania, Rwanda, Cameroon, Namibia, and Botswana, as well well as Pacific territories such as Samoa and the Marshall Islands. The British took over most of Germany’s overseas colonies. (Doc. A) With all this loss of land how is Germany supposed to pay back all the payments. “...the restoration of the frontiers of 1914 could be achieved only by blood. Only childish and naive minds can lull themselves in the idea that they can bring about a correction of Versailles by wheedling and begging, No nation can remove this hand from tits throat except by the sword.” -Adolf Hitler. Hitler had already thought about war before he had came

One way the Treaty of Versailles helped cause World War II was the territory Germany lost. Germany lost land to Poland and France, 2 of Germany’s most hated countries. The lost of land to the most hated countries of

The Treaty of Versailles was penned during the Paris Peace Conference, mainly to decide upon Germany’s consequences for beginning World War One. When Germany signed the treaty, it lost a tenth of its land to surrounding countries. Not only did they lose part of their country, but they also lost their overseas territories, including Chinese ports, Pacific Islands, and African colonies. One of the actual causes of the war was that Germany wanted ‘a place in the sun’, and requested

The peace treaty to end the war, in the hope that there will not be another. The treaty was signed by Germany and the allies. The allies were represented by the main three countries, Britain, France and the United States. Both sides suffered huge losses, economically, and to their population. The allies lost over 4.6 million, and their enemies lost 3.5 million. The majority of the people at Versailles blamed Germany for the war, demanding that Germany would be crushed economically and militarily. The French wanted to make Germany pay, financially, where the United States believed that Germany should be punished in a way that would lead to European reconciliation. So President Wilson called for the introduction of the international peacekeeping organisation, “Wilson’s Fourteen Points”, to end all secret treaties. On the 7th of May, the treaty was presented to Germany. The Germans lost 13% of their land, 10% of their population. Germany also lost two borders at Alsace and Lorraine, which were returned to France. The German navy and army was dramatically cut, their air force and submarines were banned. They had to officially sign and accept “War Guilt”, taking responsibility for the war. They also had to pay reparations up to 6.6 billion pounds. The allies had created a treaty which weakened Germany and created an organisation for future world peace. Germany did not like the treaty, the loss of territory angered many Germans. The Treaty of Versailles ended the first war and created peace, but it also led to the start of the Second World

The Treaty of Versailles was a very unfair document towards Germany. According to Mike Dowling, the treaty had taken away Germany's overseas colonies and their coal source. Germany could not build large ships and their army was a joke.