World War I : The Treaty Of Versailles

With Germans of all outlooks desperately seeking solutions for the nation's problems, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party began their climb to power. 'Hitler was gifted with effective political talents. He offered an explanation for Germany's defeat, and a vision of Germany's future destiny, that played upon the fears, prejudices, and hopes of many Germans. He promised to rebuild Germany's power and restore its prosperity' (Isaacman, 16). This won the support of many Germans. Hitler was such an effective speaker that anything he said was believed even if it was not true.

First off, propaganda enticingly misled Germans into following whatever Adolf Hitler said. It promoted a political cause or point of view. It almost

Totalitarian leaders used propaganda to persuade followers to believe that their country would be restored again. Propaganda is when information deliberately spread to help or harm a person, group, or institution. This allows people to be pursued by the leaders and gives the leaders the advantages. In document C, poster created by the Nazi government in 1938, encourages Germans to vote for the annexation of Austria. In the poster you can see that their is hands in air showing that Germany is always united. In this poster, you can see that at the top there are some letters, these letter in English means United Germany. At the bottom the word “Ja!” means YES!. This means that the people are proud of their country. In document B, a speech by

The Great Depression played a big role in helping the Nazi Party capture power. Many nations were suffering from the Great Depression in 1930, including Germany who had to pay for the war reparations. During this period of economic and politic crisis, the country had been easily influenced by the

Putzier 1 Tessa Putzier Ms. Jeanne Bitz Language Arts March 27, 2017 The Causes Of World War Two On June, 28 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed. This treaty coupled with other factors, such as the Nazis rise to power in Germany, Europe’s

Reaping What Has Been Sown Thesis: The peace treaty that resulted from World War 1 was not too harsh of a punishment for the offenses committed.

To assess the popularity of the Nazis one must first establish the meaning of popularity and in what ways it can be assessed. Popularity in this instance is support and conformity to the Nazi regime. This essay will span from Hitler and the party’s early days in the Burgerbraukeller in Munich up to the death of the regime in 1945. The evidence used will span from Hitler’s own words in ‘Mein Kampf’ to the masses of propaganda left behind upon the regimes collapse. The biggest historiographical debate in my opinion on this subject is ‘resistenz’ argued by Martin Broszat and ‘Loyal reluctance’ argued mainly by Robert Gellately and Ian Kershaw. During this essay both sides will be evaluated with the idea of popularity at the forefront and how each argument adds or detracts from my argument that the Nazis were mainly a popular regime.

The first World War had devastated the balance of the 20th century with effects still felt today. The war had obliterated once powerful imperial dynasties, birthed new states from the fallen imperial powers, supported the idea of independence in European colonies, and led to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Yet, it brought hope to the newly independent territories and minority groups, while plunging a heavy recession to countries that were once world powers. The war ended with the defeat of the Central Powers (German Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ottoman Empire, and the Russian Empire) and the signage of the Versailles Treaty. This treaty along with the League of Nations was created to prevent another global crusade from happening again, but failed and led to World War II, which started only twenty years after the Treaty of Versailles was endorsed. And even with end of the Great War, it was evident that the world would never return to how it once was, four years earlier, in 1914. The destructive warfare brought out several unnerving and irreversible social and economic consequences that shook modern society for decades to come.

From the time Hitler and the Nazi’s took control of Germany in 1933 until the collapse of the Third Reich in 1945, the aim of the regime under the calculating guidance of Hitler himself sought no less than global conquest. This ambitious objective can be further dissected into short term and long term goals that provide insight into Hitler’s character, thoughts and actions.

Treaty of Versailles: The treaty of Versailles was imposed on Germany on June 28 1919 by the Allies. France, Great Britain, the United States and the other allies demanded that Germany dismantled their military, only allowing a token army and navy and forbidding them an Air Force. Germany had to give up some of its lands to reconstitute Poland, and accept military occupation in its remaining territories. The treaty also contained a “Guilt Clause” required that Germany accept responsibility and promise to pay reparations to compensate the victors for their losses, but no amount or period of time was set for this clause.

Nazi Propaganda "Propaganda attempts to force a doctrine on the whole people... Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea." These words of Adolf Hitler are taken from his book Mien Kampf (My Struggle) published in

Propaganda played an extremely crucial part in the Nazi’s rise of power, the brainwashing of the Germans to hating and ultimately killing the Jews. What is being discussed is the power of persuasion and how it is used through various forms of media to gain a stronger anti-Semitic than they had already had.

There is no question that Adolf Hitler and the third Reich used propaganda as a way to facilitate war, mass murder, and persecution. The artistic approach of the propaganda was so well orchestrated that they knew how to simplify a message in such a way that it would actually play on people’s emotions. In a sense they were able to break down complicated issues into small slogan messages to influence the people to keep Hitler in control.

“Hitler’s Propaganda Machine” by Robert B. Nelson describes how the Nazi regime used a wide variety of propaganda to widely influence the German people to support Hitler’s dictatorship and furthermore, support the upcoming wars. After World War I occurred, Germany was to blame for the reparations caused from the war; they were in a great amount of debt which destroyed their economy. With this unfortunate situation occurring, Germans supported Hitler’s rise to power in hope to strengthen their economy and country. After Hitler’s rise to power, he put much effort into his Propaganda Machine in order to stabilize powers within the Nazi totalitarian regime. Almost all of Germany’s cultural aspects were influenced by propaganda tactics as well as the reference to anti-Semitism which blamed the Jews for all the troubles that Germany has faced.

The Treaty of Versailles contained some very harsh terms that were designed to punish Germany for its role in World War 1. The treaty looked to weaken the German empire by diminishing its colonies and taking away German lands. For example, in the west Alsace-Lorraine, which had been seized by the Germans nearly half a century before the war, was given back to France. Belgium received Eupen and Malmedy respectively. They also took the German coal mines in the very industrial Saar Region and placed them under hold of the League of Nationals for fifteen years. Northern Schleswig was given to Denmark. We also saw the creation of the 'The Polish Corridor', which gave the country of Poland a large band of land that linked the mainland to the sea.