Treaty of Versailles: causes, terms, and historical impact

¶ … World War I, the diplomats attending the Paris Peace Conference met in Versailles to draft a peace treaty that would both end the state of war and redraw the map of Europe. They created the Treaty of Versailles, a document that has been placed under extreme scrutiny and analysis in the decades since its conception. Though it is debatable if the treaty can be blamed for the emergence of Nazi Germany and the outbreak of World War II, there is no question that many Germans were angered by the treaty and found its conditions to be unacceptable. As a result, there was extreme unrest in Germany after the war; leading to revolutions, a string of assassinations, and the inception of a number of radical political parties. The newly created government was incapable of handling the demands the treaty had placed on it, as well as the growing resentment and violent outbreaks of its citizens. The Germans were eager for strong leadership, and the political climate was ideal for a capable leader to take control. Adolph Hitler, the charismatic leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, was able to find widespread support among the German people by drawing upon the country's outrage at the Treaty of Versailles as well as widespread anti-Semitic feelings.

In addition to removing Germany's imperial government and replacing the democratic Weimar Republic, the Treaty of Versailles bound the German people to a number of unpopular provisions. The German armed forces were drastically reduced: the army was to have no more than 100,000 soldiers; conscription was abolished; and the Air Force was completely eliminated. The German Navy was not permitted to have submarines, and was limited to 24 ships. All importation, exportation and nearly all production of war material was brought to a halt. Germany was also forced to give up close to 13% of its land in Europe, and all of its colonial empire. Heavy reparations were to be paid for damage incurred by the Allied powers during the war. To pay for these damages, Germany was forced to borrow money from the United States as well as resort to making payments in the form of ships, trains, livestock and natural resources. To add insult to injury, the Treaty of Versailles included a war guilt clause that forced Germany to accept all of the blame for the war. The Germans, many convinced that they had never truly been defeated as they hadn't been invaded by the Allied Forces, were horrified at the strict treaty.

Given the circumstances of the time, it is reasonable that Adolph Hitler found great support among the German people. Hitler condemned the Treaty of Versailles, and blamed the humiliation and hardship it had caused, as well as the crises facing the country, on the Jewish people. Hitler and the Nazi party utilized the Jews, a people who had already faced discrimination and hatred in Germany, as their scapegoat for every wrong that was facing their people. The cornerstone of Hitler's anti-Semitic beliefs was that the Jews were planning to take over the world by "poisoning" the pure Aryan race with their blood. To assure that this atrocity would not happen, Hitler called for the extermination of all Jewish people. The German people, desperate for an ideology to identify with, supported Hitler and the Nazi party and helped to solidify their power.