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Treaty Of Versailles Dbq

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In the aftermath of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles emerged as an influential document that shaped the course of history in the following years. Signed in 1919, the treaty marked the war's end and imposed consequences on Germany. It was crafted by the Allied powers to ensure peace and security due to the devastation caused by the war. The treaty's provisions, which included loss of territory, disarmament, and reparations, aimed to prevent future conflict. However, the treaty's controversial terms and impact on Germany's land, army, economy, and pride laid the groundwork for the rise of Nazi Germany and World War II. A key contributor to World War II was Germany's distaste with the losses/changes to their territories as well as the shrinkage …show more content…

The specifics of how much they had to pay can be found in Document E, a chart that showed how much they had to pay and the German response. Over the course of 1921 to 1933, they paid very little of the over the hundreds of billions that they owed in reparations and Germans were angry/humiliated in response to having to pay said reparations. It should also be noted that once Hitler came to power, these payments stopped. Additional context to keep in mind is the fact that due to its territorial losses, Germany's coal production was cut by 40%, bleeding them dry. Germany's economy was heavily struggling because of the loss of land, so adding reparation payments on top of that was something Germany was unable to do. Another document that emphasizes the extent of the reparations is Document G, taken straight from the Treaty of Versailles which said that the amount of reparations would be "determined by an Inter-Allied Commission". The purpose of the treaty was to establish certain rules and guidelines toward Germany to avoid another war. But the reparations were so drastic that Germany wasn't able to complete that and Germany had no say in anything, leaving Germans angry. All this anger was used by Hitler to make promises and changes that Germans believed would be beneficial and him gaining that power set up the foundation

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