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How Did The Treaty Of Versailles Cause Ww2

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The primary cause of World War Two can be found in the peace treaties to end World War One. This treaty, the Treaty of Versailles, contributed greatly to the cause of WW2 as the Germans would not have sought revenge if they had not been put in the situation where they felt greatly mistreated. If the Germans had not felt mistreated, then Hitler would never have been so successful with the Nazi party. Also, the Germans reaction towards being presented the treaty was quite negative, the Chancellor even resigning in refusal to sign it.
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties to end WW1. It had physical, financial and political impacts on Germany. Geographically, Europe was altered creating new countries in the East to roughly match …show more content…

When the treaty was announced, Germany was shocked by the severity of it as many Germans assumed the final treaty would resemble Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points (President Wilson set down 14 points as a blueprint for world peace that was to be used for peace negotiations after WW1). There was anger throughout Germany and they described the treaty as a “diktat” meaning “dictated peace” as it was being forced on them to sign it. They felt the Treaty of Versailles wasn’t a negotiation but rather an execution. There were many protests in the German Reichstag not long after the treaty was signed. Several politicians were assassinated whom were considered responsible for betraying Germany. The French and Belgians tried to enforce the treaty quite vigorously although during The Great Depression, Germany was no longer receiving loans from America so there was no way the reparations could continue to be paid off monthly and this led to the cancellation of the reparations from Germany in 1932. Germany violated many disarmament provisions of Part V during the 1920s and Hitler denounced the treaty altogether in 1935. The Great Depression was great timing for Hitler as he used this period along with the harsh treaty clauses, to manipulate the Germans and start …show more content…

Hitler rose to power using propaganda speeches. Giving Germany many promises which most he did not keep, promising them he would overturn the treaty and stop the reparations and give them back their pride. Hitler was widely supported, particularly by industrialists, for his promise of stability and strong government. He also promised to re-militarise Germany by recruiting a large army which was able to reduce unemployment and also built up a new navy and air force. This promise also made him popular both with the unemployed and the military. Hitler began to appeal to the Germans emotions rather than their reason, telling them what they wanted to hear so they ignored the violence brought on from the Nazi party. Hitler established many concentration camps for the Jewish and other he believed were a threat to Aryan supremacy. This resulted in over six million deaths in the Holocaust. Hitler believed Aryan people and Germany were destined to rule the world and that they needed ‘living space’ meaning anyone who was not German or Aryan blood should not be living there; this is what brought in the concentration camps. Hitler also believed you didn’t have a say unless you were German and he couldn’t believe that Jewish people could be German. He wanted to create a new super human race and in his attempt to do so he even murdered those who were physically or mentally ill. He wanted to create a new Germany with a generation of

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