After World War 1, the United States, France, and Great Britain got together to create the Treaty of Versailles, to create a punishment for the damage of war. At the meeting, the Allied powers blamed Germany for all the losses of the war. They were severely punished, they had to pay large reparations and decrease their military size. It also took the part of Poland that Germany had worked so hard to gain control of. The punishments ruined Germany’s economy for many years. Instead of solving the problems from the first war and creating peace, it angered the Germans and made them act out, causing another war. Germany began to act aggressively and the League of Nations was faced with a decision, they could either appease Hitler, and give him …show more content…
Hitler’s goals included territorial expansions, a racially pure state, and elimination of all enemies of Germany. He had his eyes set on Austria, he thought taking this land was just the expansion of Germany back to its natural border. The League of Nations was called on to try and stop the aggressor. They thought the Hitler could be stopped if he was appeased. They gave him Austria hoping he would stop killing and taking land, but he didn’t. This only empowered him. Winston Churchill said, “I asked that Britain, together with France and other powers, guarantee the security of Czechoslovakia. If that course had been followed, events would not have fallen into this disastrous state” (Churchill). Churchill asked Britain and France to help protect Czechoslovakia, but the two countries were afraid of another world war, and instead of coming together to combat Hitler and his people, the League of Nations gave into his requests. If the League of Nations would have done their job, and protected the countries that were too small to protect themselves, then the war would not have been as big. Great Britain and France didn’t want to have to fight another war, but putting it off only made the war larger when it finally started. After collective security was put into place, Germany was stopped, verifying collective security is the most effective policy when dealing with
The League of Nations did not prevent another World War due to numerous different reasons. First of all, the League of Nations whole identity was to maintain peace, discourage aggression from any nation, and to inspire other countries to cooperate especially in the field of trading different resources. One of the main ideas involved in the non-prevention of another war by the League of Nations was the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nation was fully responsible for the process of the treaty going through the International Court of Justice. One the treaty was signed, Germany was reprimanded unethically. The Germans soon started cheating and developed military forces like submarines in the region of the Netherlands and placed tanks in Russia.
It failed to produce the desired results, but rather added fuel to the fire. At the Munich Conference the Big Four discussed the demands for the territory of Czechoslovakia and ultimately gave into Hitler’s request. While many people like Neville Chamberlain argued that appeasement was the best option Winston Churchill viewed it as a consequential decision. Churchill stated that he, “thinks of all the opportunities to stop the growth of Nazi Power which have been thrown away.” No action was taken to establish the security of Czechoslovakia making the Nazi’s more powerful. Appeasement did not defer the hostility that the desire for expansion brought on, but made it escalate. When Ethiopia was invaded by the Italians the emperor, Haile Selassie, was denied assistance from the Leage of Nations. He warned them what would happened if the aggressors were not stopped and wrote, “It is us today. It will be you tomorrow.” Haile Selassie knew that aggressors were going to continue to seek for more land and that any nation could be attacked next. Not only was appeasement an effort to satisfy the demands of dissatisfied powers in hope of maintaining stability, but it was also the disregardance of possibly serious conflict. The League of Nations incapability to be a forceful united front allowed for the Axis Powers to become even more willing to break boundaries. Appeasement was used to be the path of least resistance, but it would never stop the
On the 28th of June 1919, a peace treaty, also known as the treaty of Versailles, was signed, ending the First World War. The treaty had a humiliating effect causing great resentment. Germany had no choice but to accept the terms of the treaty, which later had a considerable impact on the countries running. The negotiations for this treaty took six months, at the Paris peace conference. Germany was forced to accept all responsibility for causing the war, making substantial territorial concessions along with disarming, which reduced their army to 100,000 men, no tanks or U-boats and the Rhineland, which previously belonged to Germany, was to be demilitarised. They also had reperations of £6.6 billion to pay back.Germany then lost all conections with it’s overseas colonies and could never again unite with Austria. They lost a large area of teritory to Belgium, France and Poland, this was a significant loss to Germany as these areas were rich in mineral wealth. This would put a strain on Germany’s ability to re pay the allies.
On January 30, 1933, Hitler rose to power, during his time of power Jews had been dehumanized, reduced to little more than “things” by the Nazis. The many examples as to how they had been dehumanized are shown in the novel, Night by Elie Wiesel. For example, the Jews were stripped of their identity, they were abused, and they treated each other with a lack of dignity and voice.
The Treaty of Versailles is a cause of World War II because of the restrictions it placed on Germany as the alleged sole aggressor of the war. The war reparation totaled $98 billion, and under Clause 231 Germany was forced to take the entire load onto her ruined economy and attempt to repay the debt starting with an initial $5 billion payment. In terms of military, Germany was limited to a 100,000 man army, with her navy stripped to the level of a coast guard, she was allowed no heavy artillery, no weapons of mass destruction and the border with France became a demilitarized zone for 15 years following the signing of the treaty on June 28 1919. Germany also lost all her territories in Africa and became a mandate of the Allied Forces, those living in mandated zones could participate in “self-determination” after the Allies taught them how to be a democracy (...
At the end of World War One, Germany was required to pay a large sum of money to the Allies consequently resulting in the German Depression. The sum Germany had to pay was set after the Treaty of Versailles was enacted at approximately six billion, six hundred million – twenty-two billion pounds, (World War Two – Causes, Alan Hall, 2010). The large amount of reparations that Germany had to pay resulted in a depression and angered the Germans because they thought it was an excessive amount of money to pay, (World War Two – Causes) The Germans hatred of the Treaty of Versailles was of significant importance in propelling the Nazis to power. Germany could not pay their reparations and was forced into a depression, (World War II – Causes). The Treaty of Versailles deprived Germany of its economic production and its available employments, (World War II – Causes). The German Depr...
Other countries mainly Britain responded to Hitler’s actions with appeasement and by not stopping him early on with collective security it directly caused World War Two. Collective Security is when multiple countries work together to strengthen a country in need. Based off of document 6 Winston Churchill suggested that Britain, France, and other nations should come together and protect Czechoslovakia from Hitler to stop the growth of Nazi power. Collective Security could have prevented Czechoslovakia from coming into German control. While in accordance with document 9 nobody could openly oppose Hitler’s massive forces he had accumulated. Which is why they didn’t use collective security to protect Czechoslovakia. Instead they used The Munich Agreement to appease to Hitler. The Munich Agreement handed over Czechoslovakia in hopes it would diminish Hitler’s need to keep taking over surrounding countries. Stated in document 7 The Munich Agreement was unnecessary because Czech defenses were relatively strong and during this time Germany wasn’t at its zenith of strength. Also Hitler’s generals were going to try to overthrow Hitler if he attacked Czechoslovakia because the Generals believed it was a foolish endeavour that would mean the downfall of
the result of both Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations, as a result Hitler wanted to be
In addition, having lost the war, the humiliated Germans were forced by the Allies to sign the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 that officially ended World War I. According to the harsh terms of the treaty, Germany had to hand over many of its richest industrial territories to the victors, and was made to pay reparations to the Allied countries it devastated during the war. Germany lost its pride, prestige, wealth, power, and the status of being one of Europe's greatest nations. (Resnick p. 15)
The Treaty of Versailles, initially created to keep peace in Europe and ensure that another war like World War I wouldn’t happen again, had in fact, backfired and spiraled the world down into a deeper, bloodier battle. The treaty discriminated strongly against Germany, with the loss of territories, military restrictions, economic reparations, and the War Guilt Clause. It caused humiliation and anger within Germany, and led to Hitler and the Nazi Party coming to power. World War II was not only started by Adolf Hitler and Germany, but had a lot to do with the humiliation that Germany felt when the terms for the Treaty of Versailles were laid down. The harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles may be indirectly related to the cause of World War II, but nonetheless was a huge factor in starting the war.
In order to stop the fighting between countries, Europe needed to put some actions into effect because appeasement was not working. Germany proved that by disregarding the Versailles Treaty. According to Hitler after disregarding the Versailles Treaty, “I look upon this day as marking the close of the struggle for German equality status…the path is now clear for Germany’s return to European collective cooperation” (Document 3, 1936) This quote explains a vast difference between Hitler’s and the other European countries' views. With Hitler’s affirmation to make Germany equal and even more powerful than the other European countries, the other European countries would have to set up collective security because they would have very little insight on what Hitler would be planning; leading to more destruction. Now, Europe would be more prepared if Hitler decided to attack. A quote from Winston Churchill explaining why collective security is the right answer is, “…I think all of the opportunities to stop the growth of Nazi power which have been thrown away. The responsibility must rest with those who have control of our political affairs. They neither prevented Germany from rearming, nor did they rearm us in time…Thus they left us in the hour of trial without a strong national defense or system of international security” (Churchill). That quote explains how collective security is the best answer to stop war and the destruction Hitler is
This is because those were the only two real outcomes of appeasement. Britain was dishonoured, folding to the biggest bullying the school ground. Hitlers second aim of gaining german land puts him to fault. Hitler knew that the appeasement policy allowed him to be stronger (Graham Darby). The Sudetenland created majority of Czechoslovakia’s iron and steel goods as well as being the key economic region of the country.
This led to another cause of the war because people would not have been happy if Hitler stole parts of other countries where German people lived. He demanded living space, 'Lebensraum', for his people in the East. People did not like the idea of this as to use more space you need more land, which means he would need to take land from other countries, making Germany a lot stronger. In 1933 Hitler began to build up Germany's army which violated one of the rules set by the Treaty of Versailles.
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the factors that led to the inevitability of World War Two. The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty that occurred as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that was held after Germany was defeated in World War One. The Treaty was put into action and required that Germany should accept responsibility for the war; of course Germany was humiliated by this. They were required to pay colossal war reparation payments. This was one of the main reasons the treaty had a severe impact on Germany; it crippled the German economy and critically reduced the living standards of the people. This made it virtually impossible for the German economy to function productively. The effects that the treaty had on Germany directly led to the rise of Hitler who he capitalised on German resentment at their treatment. He provided a focus for the German people and their desire to take back what they once had, and to restore their pride once again becoming a glorious nation.
World War II was one of the worst events in human history, but also one of the most influential. For those who dont know, World War II was started by the German Empire, and more specificaly, Adolf Hilter.