Treaty Of Versailles Dbq Research Paper

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.

The three main reasons of why the Treaty Of Versailles helped cause World War Two is Germans restricted army, War guilt, and having to pay reparations. The first point of why the Treaty of Versailles helped cause World War Two is that Germany’s army was restricted. Germany’s army was restricted to only having 100,000 men including officers stated by document B. Along with only have 100,000 men including officers, they soldiers weren’t allowed to leave the county to help fight battles, so they were really just “peace keepers”, said document B. This decrease of army made Germany weak and a very easy target compared to France, who had a much larger amount of soldiers and were allies with Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Belgium.

The Versailles Treaty helped cause WW2 due to Germany’s territorial loss as well as the strict limitations imposed on Germany’s military. Germany’s territorial losses were one of the main contributors to the beginning of WW2. Document A provides a map showing the German border before WW1, and the territorial loss by Germany after WW1. Germany lost a significant amount of land including: the Polish Corridor, Lorraine, Alsace, and Danzig. Throughout, Document A helped suggest Germany’s territorial struggles.

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).

After the war, Germany had several of its territories stripped from its sovereignty (Document A). It would lose what was the Polish Corridor in order to create the now country of Poland, (Document A). The Polish Corridor was very important, as Danzig was a port city that allowed the Baltic Sea to be open to the Germans for various trading routes, but also the Corridor was home to rich coals deposits that crucial to Germany’s economy at the time. Germany also lost territories to the west in which was called the “Demilitarized zone.” (Document A). This area of land included the Rhine River Valley, a historic and very industrial area that was also very critical in Germany’s economic decline, as it being lost would strip Germany of two industrialized areas that would produce goods for them to use and sell. However, the depression that would hit Germany did not end there as the Treaty of Versailles not only took key land from them but also forced them to pay the war debt or Reparations (Document C). According to The Economic Consequences of the Peace, Germany had to pay 367 billion US dollars over the course of 30 years starting in 1921, (Document B). They were furious of this, sparking the malice that would later form as a result of this document. They steadily paid this until 1933

As Document C states, “...Germany undertakes, that she will make compensation for all damage done to the civilian population of the Allied and Associated Powers and to their property during the period of Belligerency…”(Doc C). Since Germany was responsible for starting the war, they should be responsible for paying for the damage. But these reparations only angered and humiliated the Germans because it caused a huge economic downfall since these payments were over $300 billion. But in the chart shown in Document C, it states that, in 1933, “Hitler comes to power” and ends “all reparations payments”. Ending these payments made Germans come to like Hitler, giving him more power than before.

The Treaty of Versailles took away many of Germany’s territories to cripple their power, but at the same time, took

Hitler would later use the treaty as the cause of all the problems faced by Germany and convince the people that he could restore national pride and world recognition of Germany as an equal nation. The treaty of Versailles helped cause world war II by demanding that they pay billions in reparation, forcing them to sign the war guilt clause, taking vital land away from them, and most importantly greatly restricting Germanys military.

Germany, after losing World War 1 encountered social and economic changes. The treaty of Versailles, which was one of the peace treaties created at the end of the war, made various restrictions to Germany. Consequently, the Nazi party, greatly affected by this punishment, tried to reestablish Germany prior wealth. Germany was blamed for the harm caused during World War I, and therefore, it placed total responsibility on the reparation payments, creating huge problems that disrupted their good economic development. Part of their territory had to be given to nations such as Belgium, France Poland and Denmark, how it is clearly stated in part II of the treaty 1.

Another reason for how the Versailles Treaty caused World War II is how it forced Germany to pay an unfair amount of reparations to the other major nations. As said in document C, article 233 of the Treaty, “The Commission shall … draw up a schedule of payments prescribing the time and manner for securing and discharging the entire obligations within a period of thirty years”. Despite Germany having some part in the chaos of WWI, the 132 billion gold marks that Germany had to pay every year was unnecessary, even when that number dropped 20 billion gold marks. This cruel way of compensation was hated by German citizens and when Hitler rose to power, he sought to stop this reparation payment cycle after the second year of paying. Finally, The Versailles Treaty placed the blame of the entire war on Germany.

It was agreed that Germany was to pay as high as much as 367,000 billion dollars for all the damage that had taken place in the wars time period according to "Document C". As the document states "compensation for all damage done to the civilian population of the Allied and Associated powers and to their property during the period of the belligerency…. " meaning in the time period of WWI , all the damage that was done must be paid off by the Germans. In 1921 it was declared that the country had 30 years to pay off its debt. This made Germans outrageous, because all of their money was going straight to allied countries, causing the country to drown in

The Treaty of Versailles helped cause World War 11 because it upset Germany that they were losing stuff, having to pay for damage caused by World War 1, and being blamed for it all. so as a result of this punishment to Germany, they got very mad and wanted revenge. So they started World War 11. Germany’s Loss of Territories, The Treaty of Versailles. Lots of losses for German nations, one of them being their territory.

Even though it wasn’t their fault that the war started, the Big Four countries made them sign something that claimed it was their fault and they admitted it. In Document C, it says that Germany was forced to undertake the responsibility for all the damage that was done to the Allies. This made Germany very mad because they also had loses and they didn’t start the war in the first place. In Document D, it states that Germany had to take full blame and accept the consequences, also, that Germans saw the Treaty of Versailles as an evil thing and that it needed to be destroyed, this starting the Nazi party and for Hitler to rise in his power for all the countries to look at Germany as something else, more powerful, and for the countries to fear

This document shows that the Treaty of Versailles helped cause world war ii because Hitler didn’t make Germany pay all the reparations which made the allied countries angry because Germany did not follow the rules of the treaty which they were required to. Document number four which is Treaty of Versailles article 231 states, “most germans saw it as an atrocious injustice, evil thing which must be destroyed.” This document shows that the treaty of versailles help cause world war ii because it gives us evidence that the germans were angry with the treaty of versailles and wanted to destroy it. It also explains that many germans supported Hitler not because he killed jews but because he made them feel like their country was going to get better and he gave them self respect. Overall the treaty of versailles helped cause world war ii because it angered the Germans which caused Hitler to rise to

The terms of the treaty included Germany accepting the “War Guilt Clause” in which they agreed to responsibility for “all the loss and damage to which the [Allies] have been subjected… as a result of the war imposed on them by the aggression of [Germany].” However the Germans were humiliated at being portrayed as solely responsible, and instead of dispelling the tension between the opposing sides, having to pay such heavy penance further provoked Germany.