DBQ Essay: The Cause Of WWII

The Treaty of Versailles,which ended WWI, led to the start of WWII. The Germans as one of the axis powers in world war II were the cause of world war II. The Treaty of Versailles treated Germany harshly in at least three ways is Territorial Loss, Military Reduction and Economic Reparation and War Guilt.

In 1914, World War I started and ended four years later in 1918, almost a year later World War II had just begun. Treaty of Versailles would become a peace treaty between the Allies and Germany in 1919. How did the Treaty of Versailles trigger World War II? German territorial loss, military cuts, and the payment of reparations were all repercussions of the Treaty of Versailles, which later started World War II. The Treaty took a major amount of coal-producing land from Germany, which reduced coal production by forty percent. Along with the reduction of coal-producing land, the German military was limited one hundred thousand men, including officers. Additionally, Germany was required to pay reparations for the damage done during World War I, which cost them over two billion marks (6 million USD).

This treaty helped cause WWII by treating Germany harshly. This treatment can be seen in several different decisions that were made in the treaty. Since Germany was treated severely in regarding the matters of the treaty, it helped provoke World War II instead for preventing one.

“The Allies continued in the years after 1919 to regard the Versailles Treaty as an international contract… but most germans saw it as an atrocitus injustice, an evil thing which must be destroyed.” (Document D). After World War One ended in 1918, the allies found a way to punish Germany, and that was through the Versailles Treaty. The germans did not like this treaty and saw it as an act of war. These and many more events eventually led to World War Two. So, how did the Versailles Treaty help cause World War Two? The Versailles Treaty helped cause World War 2 because of territorial loss, shrinking of military, and paying of war reparations.

In document D, Laurence V. Moyer explains that most Germans saw the treaty as an atrocious injustice, an evil thing which must be destroyed. Document D also explains how the feeling of the treaty persisted long after most of the provisions had been carried out. What the Germans knew of the treaty was etched indelibly in their minds and could be abbreviated in a single word; humiliation. The Evidence that The people influenced WWII was there were lots of People that wanted to rebel against the treaty and the only way to do that was another war. A second way the Versailles Treaty treated Germany harshly was the lack of military power that Germany was allowed to have.

The Treaty of Versailles was meant to make peace but ended up causing a world war in a bunch of harsh ways for Germany. Germany took all of the blame for the war and made them pay huge reparations. Led to economic hardships, making Germans mad. Which gave a group with intentions of world dominance to take over Europe, starting a second world war. There are a couple reasons why Germany had a hard time.

Germany was responsible for a large portion of damage inflicted during WWI. This lead to the Versailles Treaty obligating Germany to pay reparations to repair the damage inflicted during the war. Articles 232 and 233 of the Versailles Treated required Germany to pay a $341 billion in a thirty-year period. At first, Germany felt angry and humiliated for having to pay these reparations, so they decided to pay an insignificant amount of money each time they made a payment. (Doc C) These reparation fees have upset Germany increased the rising tensions between Germany and the Allied

The Treaty of Versailles said that the “war [was] imposed upon [the Allies] by the aggression of Germany and her allies,” (Doc D), which left no room for question on who the world blamed for the war. War is a very violent, vicious, maleficent thing, taking the lives of millions of people and injuring millions more; being told that they were in fault of all of this, Germans were not only bitter but they felt humiliated (Doc D). All of this guilt was burdened on the population of Germany, and they were robbed of yet another part of their beings: their sense of worth. Living day to day in a society in which they were drowned by the debt of their country to the countries they had been engaged in war with only reminded them daily of what they were in blame for. The people would undoubtedly hunger for a change, thirst for revenge, and live in the hope that they could be made into the great nation they had once been. Soon, Germany would be overtaken by enthusiastic feelings of a “restored sense of pride” brought by Hitler (Doc D). Under his guiding hands, Germany would be molded out of defeat into a country ravenous in the pursuit of rebuilding themselves into something significant to the

Due to Germany taking back the colonies lost after World War I and forming an alliance with Austria, Germany’s actions against the Treaty of Versailles contributed to the cause of World War II. After Germany got slapped with a $33 Billion dollar war reparation bill and Kaiser Wilhelm was removed from power, Germany was a mess, which allowed the rise of Hitler. Hitler, being a former Iron Cross winning

The Versailles Treaty was signed by the Allied nations who won the war, Great Britain, France, and the United States, and it was signed by the losing nation, Germany. In the treaty there were many things Germany had to abide by, which didn't seem harsh for the Allies, but in reality it was harsh on Germany. Back to the essential question, how did the Versailles Treaty help cause World War II. The Treaty of Versailles helped cause World War II by treating Germany harshly. This harsh treatment can be seen especially in three areas: the treaty stripped Germany of land, the treaty ordered for Germany to pay tons of money to the Allies, and Germany was stripped of pride and military power.

World War II had many precipitating causes, some of them were based on a continuation of hostilities from World War I and the treaties that followed those conflicts. The Treaty of Versailles was signed by the major powers and their principal allies, and outlined the spoils from that war. The central signatories of the treaty were the US, British Empire, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. It took over six months of negotiations at the ‘Paris Peace Conference’ to obtain a peace treaty and have that registered by the League of nations in 1919. The treaty also contained a ‘War Guilt Cause’ that required Germany to accept responsibility for the war as well as its allies that supported the war. Because of the Treaty of Versailles Germany

WWI was, at its time, the largest and most destructive war planet Earth had ever seen. Some countries lost millions of lives and nearly an entire generation. The war casted the world into massive debt and Europe was almost totally razed. The Allies sought revenge and not so surprisingly, they found it. The Treaty of Versailles stated that Germany must accept total fault for the war. Germany was forced to pay reparation money, which it did not have, to the Allies. This drove Germany into greater debt than any other country in the world. Its population felt wronged and cheated. This series of events led to far reaching consequences, ranging from the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany to the creation of countries such as

As a result of the Treaty of Versailles, the Germans were forced to accept full blame for starting WWI. With 32 billion dollars to repair and giving up on many overseas colonies, Germans were very unhappy and thought the end of WWI was harsh. They voted for a man who could improve social, economic, and political conditions, causing the beginning of WWII. In 1934, Adolf Hitler was selected as president of Germany.

The Treaty of Versailles was a treaty signed by the winners of WWI meant to punish the aggressors of the war. The treaty opened the door for WWII to develop into an international total war. The Treaty of Versailles made WWII inevitable due to the absurd amount of repercussions Germany had to deal with, the failure of the league of nations, and the expansion of Japan.

From the Treaty of Versailles, to the rise of Hitler, and the failure of the League of Nations, there were many causes that lead up to World War II. World War I left Germany with many shortfalls, thus leaving them in the hands of the Treaty of Versailles. Rather unfair of a Treaty, this left Germany once again looking for another way out. A country resented by many had no other choice but to feel optimistic toward Adolph Hitlers empty promises… making it substantially simple for him to gain power so quick. Throw in the Great Depression, and you have a vastly unstable world, which the Germans believed Hitler would lead them out of.