Question

Analyzing the Impact of the Treaty of Versailles

In this assignment, you will be using excerpts from several documents to write an analysis of the impact of the Treaty of Versailles. Watch the video below for tips on answering a document-based question.





Historical Background:

The Treaty of Versailles between Germany and the Allied powers was signed on June 28, 1919, five years to the day after Franz Ferdinand's assassination in Sarajevo. Adopting U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's "fourteenth point," the Treaty created the League of Nations. The United States, however, never signed the Treaty and did not join the league; it worked out a separate treaty with Germany and its allies several years later. The Treaty of Versailles punished Germany with war reparations, a loss of land, and demilitarization, among other things.

With Adolf Hitler as its dictator, Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, launching World War II in Europe. The war pitted Germany, Italy, and Japan – the Axis Powers – against the Allies, which included Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States (after Dec. 7, 1941), among others. Earlier, an alliance called the Rome-Berlin Axis had been established between Germany and Italy in October 1936. A month later, Germany made a similar agreement with Japan.

You may refer to relevant historical information not mentioned in the documents.

Write an Essay
Based on the following four documents, analyze the aftermath of the Treaty of Versailles. In an essay (minimum five paragraphs in length), address the question:

How did the Treaty of Versailles help to cause World War II?
Document #1

Source: Treaty of Versailles, Part VIII, Section I, 1919.
Article 231 (aka War Guilt Clause)
The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.
From Article 232 (aka Reparations Clause)
The Allies require, and Germany undertakes, that she will make compensation for all damage done to the civilian population of the Allied Powers and to their property during the period of the war.



Document #2

Source: Margaret MacMillan, historian and great-granddaughter of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, Paris 1919, 2001.
In the Berlin cabarets, they told jokes about the worker who smuggled parts out of a baby carriage factory for his new child only to find when he tried to put them all together he kept getting a machine gun. All over Europe, in safe neutral countries such as the Netherlands and Sweden, companies whose ultimate ownership was in German hands worked on tanks or submarines. The safest place of all, farthest from the prying eyes of the Control Commission*, was the Soviet Union. In 1921 the two pariah nations of Europe realized they had something to offer each other. In return for space and secrecy for experiments with tanks, aircraft and poison gas, Germany provided technical assistance and training.

* The Control Commission was established by the Treaty of Versailles to monitor Germany's compliance with its military terms


Document #3

Source: Adolf Hitler, Nazi dictator of Germany, speech to the Reichstag* on Feb. 20, 1938.
There are more than ten million Germans in states adjoining Germany which before 1866 were joined to the bulk of the German nation by a national link. Until 1918 they fought in the Great War shoulder to shoulder with the German soldiers of the Reich. Against their own free will they were prevented by peace treaties from uniting with the Reich.

This was painful enough, but there must be no doubt about one thing: political separation from the Reich may not lead to deprivation of rights, that is the general rights of racial self-determination which were solemnly promised to us in Wilson's Fourteen Points as a condition for the armistice. We cannot disregard it just because this is a case concerning Germans.

* The Reichstag is the lower chamber of Germany's federal parliament


Document #4

Source: John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of Peace, 1920
The Treaty includes no provision for the economic rehabilitation of Europe - nothing to make the defeated Central Powers into good neighbors, nothing to stabilize the new States of Europe, nothing to reclaim Russia; nor does it promote in any way a compact of economic solidarity amongst the Allies themselves; no arrangement was reached at Paris for restoring the disordered finances of France and Italy, or to adjust the systems of the Old World and the New.

Answer 1

The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919, aimed to establish peace after World War I, but instead contributed to the causes of World War II. This is evident from the four documents presented, which highlight different aspects of the Treaty's impact.

Document #1 is a part of the Treaty itself, and it highlights the War Guilt and Reparations Clauses. Article 231, also known as the War Guilt Clause, imposed on Germany the responsibility for all the loss and damage suffered by the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals. Germany was also obligated to pay reparations for all damage done to the civilian population of the Allied Powers and their property during the war. This burden of guilt and responsibility, along with the economic consequences of reparations, left Germany in a state of resentment and poverty, which in turn fueled the rise of Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler.

Document #2, written by historian Margaret MacMillan, discusses the ways in which Germany circumvented the military restrictions imposed by the Treaty. German companies continued to manufacture tanks, submarines, and poison gas, with the help of technical assistance and training from the Soviet Union. This violation of the Treaty's provisions weakened the credibility of the Allied powers and emboldened Germany, contributing to its aggressive stance in the years leading up to World War II.

Document #3 is a speech by Adolf Hitler, in which he argued for the unification of all Germans under the Reich, in defiance of the Treaty's restrictions. Hitler claimed that the Treaty's imposition on Germany's rights of racial self-determination, promised in President Wilson's Fourteen Points, was a violation of German rights. This rhetoric of national unity and victimhood, combined with the Treaty's harsh terms, contributed to the rise of Nazism and Hitler's subsequent aggression.

Finally, Document #4 is an excerpt from John Maynard Keynes' book, "The Economic Consequences of Peace", which criticized the Treaty for its failure to address the economic instability of Europe. The Treaty did not provide for the economic rehabilitation of Europe or promote economic solidarity among the Allied powers. The economic instability that followed the Treaty, coupled with the burden of reparations, left Germany in a state of vulnerability and desperation, contributing to the rise of Nazism and the onset of World War II.

In conclusion, the Treaty of Versailles, through its harsh terms, violation of German rights, and failure to address economic instability, contributed to the causes of World War II. The Treaty's impact on Germany, combined with the rise of Nazism and the aggressive actions of Hitler, led to a global conflict that resulted in immense human suffering and devastation.