The Treaty of Versailles and the rise of Nazi Germany

¶ … Treaty of Versailles

Response

The Treaty of Versailles heavily penalized Germany with war reparations and effectively neutralized the nation's military; deprived it of a number of territories Germany considered its own; forced Germany to accept blame for the entire war; and created even more animosity between Germany and the Allied powers that had defeated it than had existed before. It is often cited as one of the main reasons that the National Socialist party rose to power. Although all of Europe suffered economically as a result of the devastation of World War I, the hyperinflation of Germany was particularly acute and the result was Germany suffered proportionately more than its neighbors. Anger and resentment began to boil up, causing many people to blame weak leadership, other European nations, and people within Germany deemed to be 'alien.'

Most historians today believe that World War I was caused by a domino effect of secret alliances; militarism on the part of all of the major European powers (not just Germany); and resurgent nationalism. As a result of the perception that the Versailles Treaty was ineffective, there has been great resistance to the notion that losing nations must be punished and that their economies should suffer as a result of their government's wrongs. This was one of the later rationales behind the Marshall Plan, which sought to rebuild Europe, including Germany.

Response 2

Although President Wilson idealistically went into the Paris Peace Conference hoping to establish a more peaceful Europe, France and Great Britain sought revenge against Germany. Their attitude, while ultimately counterproductive in the long run, is more understandable when one considers that unlike the U.S., the war was fought on European soil and both the UK and France had experienced physical and economic devastation as a result of their participation in the long, grueling conflict. Wilson hoped that the League of Nations, also established by the Treaty of Versailles, would prevent future world wars from occurring. However, the final settlement was so excessively partisan and showed such favoritism to the Allied powers, it merely served to outrage Germany vs. making the future safer for democracy. The fact that the U.S. was not permitted to join the League, despite the fact that it was Wilson's brainchild, further weakened its influence. Although the contemporary United Nations' objectivity has occasionally been questioned, it is not nearly as problematic in nature as was the Paris Peace Settlement and the subsequent League of Nations generated by the Treaty of Versailles. Versailles is a cautionary tale of extracting revenge rather than fostering a more peaceful world when negotiating a final end to any international conflict.