World War 2 Cause And Effect Essay

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The causes of World War 2 can be traced to the conclusion of World War 1 through the outcome of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the Treaty of Versailles. According to renown British Historian, Frank McDonough, the terms of the Treaty of Versailles created an anger in many Germans and in particular, Nazi leader, Hitler. When Hitler promised to destroy the Treaty, German’s flocked to support Hitler in his conquests. A letter written by a German general who served in World War I, known as Erich Ludendorff, talked about how Germany did not deserve the harsh terms given to it by the treaty. In his letter, Ludendorff describes the armistice as delivering Germany to the ‘destructive will of the enemy’. This suggests that the armistice only led to destructive …show more content…

It is clear that the large majority of Germans were infuriated with the treaty so much that they felt the need to protest against it. According to Nathaniel Harris, an experienced writer in history books, from 1919 onwards, a serious of uprisings created great instability in Germany. Thus, creating an opening for Hitler to recruit members for his new political party. Therefore, according to Frank McDonough in his book ‘The Origins of the First and Second World War Wars’, when Hitler announced his foreign-policy aims in his book ‘Mein Kampf’, Germans raced to follow his lead as their anger built. One of his main aims was to destroy the Treaty of Versailles which was appealing to the Germans as they felt suppressed by it3. Of course, because of the German’s anger towards the treaty, they were obliged to vote Hitler into parliament which led to Hitler’s rise to power. Without the Germany’s anger towards the harsh terms of the peace treaty, Hitler would have never been voted into politics for his opposition to the treaty and World War II may not have

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