The Treaty of Versailles was the fundamental agreement which marked the end of World War 1 (WWI). However, it destabilized the German economy throughout the 1920s, and intense animosity between European powers resulted. Ordinary citizens of Germany believed that the country was betrayed by the politicians who signed what they considered to be dictated peace (Hanson, 2020). The disgruntled populace felt compelled towards embracing leaders like Adolf Hitler who saw remilitarization as the only way honor could be restored (Romano et al., 2020). The fact that a significant number of Germans failed to accept the terms of their republic’s surrender during WWI inevitably led to World War 2 (WWII).
Belligerents During WWI
WWI was a conflict between the Central Powers and the Allied Powers. The former included Germany, the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, and Austria-Hungary (Tampke, 2018). The latter consisted of the US (1917 – 1918), France, Great Britain, Russia (1914 – 1916), Japan, Italy, and Romania (Marcovitz, 2017). The war lasted between 28 July 1914 and 11 November 1918. Nevertheless, the state of war persisted until 28 June 1919 when the Treaty of Versailles was signed (Hanson, 2020). Instead of laying the foundation for lasting peace, the agreement caused fierce indignation in Germany.
The Impact of the Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles imposed tough conditions on Germany which included the demand to take responsibility for triggering the conflict. The Germans had to pay £6.6 billion in reparations and maintain a limited military force (Marcovitz, 2017). For instance, the country was to remain without an air force and submarines, and was only allowed to have six battleships. Conscription was disallowed, no troops were to be stationed in the Rhineland, and the entire military force was not to exceed 100,000 men (Romano et al., 2020). The Germans considered this to be an unfair punishment and felt the need to fight back.
Germany had not actually started the war, and its actions prior to the conflict were not different from those of other countries. There had always been military alliances among the powers in Europe, Russia, Japan, and the Ottoman Empire (Hanson, 2020). For a few years before 1914, the Balkan Peninsula witnessed significant political instability (Tampke, 2018). The viability of the pacts was tested when the heir to the throne of Austro-Hungarian Empire was killed in Bosnia by a Serbian nationalist. Austria-Hungary appealed to Germany for support while Serbia petitioned Russia to help its ward off an invasion by Austro-Hungarians (Marcovitz, 2017). The allies of both parties pledged their assistance, and the situation quickly escalated into a full-blown world war.
Mistakes Done During the Peace Negotiations
Besides having the same level of culpability as any other European power, Germany was also concerned that the Allied Powers were utilizing the opportunity to settle old scores. Others such as Ferdinand Foch advocated for the imposition of harsher punishment than the Treaty of Versailles required in order to prevent Germany from becoming a military superpower in the future (Hanson, 2020). Therefore, the stakeholders at the time were focused on either punishing Germany over past actions or trying to obstruct its efficiency to mobilize armed forces in the future. Ignorance of the context merely froze one stage of the conflict as it planted the seed for the next stage.
Part of the reason why the stakeholders failed in their missions is because some of the events remained unknown. Germany was excluded from the six months of negotiations which culminated into the Treaty of Versailles (Romano et al., 2020). Had the Central Powers been allowed to tell their side of the story, the Allied Powers could have had bases for interrogating the feasibility of their proposals (Tampke, 2018). The popular sentiments among the Germans were that the agreement was forced on them, and indeed, the victors threatened war if Germany declined to did not assent to the proposals.
The Impact of Adolf Hitler’s Rise to Power
Hitler exploited the resentment that the Germans had towards the victors of WWI to rise to power. He was the chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 (Marcovitz, 2017). The then leader of the Nazi Party argued that Germany had what it would take to win the second stage of the global conflict. He enjoyed popular support, and the Germans supported his idea of voiding the military articles of the Treaty of Versailles between 1935 and 1936 (Hanson, 2020). The civilian population felt the genuine need for a protector, and Hitler proved to be up to the task (Romano et al., 2020). It is noteworthy, however, that Hitler was a consequence of the WWI and the Treaty of Versailles.
Conclusion
The anger that fueled the rise of Hitler to Chancellorship stemmed off the economic instability caused by the Treaty of Versailles. The Germans were also discontented over what they saw as the needless humiliation of their country. For instance, Germany supported Austria-Hungary in the same way that Russia came to the aid of Serbia. Indeed, if all the other countries had acted with restraint, it is possible that the WWI would not have broken-out. The stage for WWII would not have been set since the Applied Powers could have never had the chance to impose harsh conditions for Germany.
References
Hanson, V. D. (2020). The second world wars: How the first global conflict was fought and won. Basic Books.
Marcovitz, H. (2017). Cause & effect: World War II. ReferencePoint Press, Incorporated.
Romano, M. J., Thone, K., Streitwieser, W., & Martin, M. (2020). Regents exams and answers: Global history and geography 2020. Simon and Schuster.
Tampke, J. (2018). A perfidious distortion of history: The Versailles Peace Treaty and the success of the Nazis. Scribe Publications.