World War 1 As a Catalyst in World History

World War I and World War II

The causes of World War II had their roots in the aftermath of World War I. World War I did not settle the issues that had led to it, and added new tensions among and within many countries.

POLITICS

At the end of World War I, Europe saw major political changes. Paradoxically, it led to a rise in both republics and dictatorships. Before World War I, Europe's countries had only three republics but 19 monarchies. Within a few years of World War I's end, ther were 2 monarchies left, and 14 republics (Author not given, 2003). In Russia, the monarchy was overthrown for a Communist government.

HARSH PEACE TREATY

The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919, created a climate that would help lead to World War II. 27 victorious countries met with each other (Author not given, 2004), each with its own agenda. The three greatest powers of the time, the United States, Great Britain, and France, could not agree with treaty goals. The U.S. wanted to focus on forming the League of Nations, which could be used to settle disputes before they led to war, while France and Great Britain, who suffered many financial and personal losses from the war, wanted to use the treaty to punish Germany (Author not given, 2003).

The Treaty forced Germany to accept responsibility for the war and required them to pay reparations they were ill-prepared to pay (Author not given, 2003). The size of Germany shrank while Italy and France grew. The Weimar Republic, the 1918 German government, was unpopular and was not able to control the country (Author not given, 2003). The standing army was reduced greatly, wounding Germany's pride (Author not given, 2004). Many ex-soldiers joined a secret army, the Freicorps (Author not given, 2003). All these things raised feelings in Germany that they had been greatly wronged by the other countries (Author not given, 2004).

ECONOMIC FALLOUT

All of Europe suffered economic hardships after World War I, but Germany especially so. Its foreign colonies were given to other countries (Author not given, 2004). All the European countries suffered great inflation because they simply printed more money to try to cover their debts, many of those debts caused by the cost of fighting World War I (Author not given, 2004). This resulted in financial hardships even for the middle classes and those who had lived off investments (Author not given, 2003). At the same time, war-based industries were no longer needed, and unemployment rose (Author not given, 2004). European countries lost physical property, and much land was made unusable. As a result of all these financial stresses, in less than three months the value of the Mark dropped from 4.6 million marks to the American dollar to 4.2 trillion marks to the dollar. Inflation seemed unstoppable (Author not given, 2003).

PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS