The Versailles Treaty System - Essay Example

The Versailles Treaty System In most of the cases, the post war treaties and agreements are signed in order to avoid a future conflictor war between the parties involved and to ensure peace. But in some cases, these treaties or agreement itself may serve as the motivation for another was as happened in the case of “The Versailles Treaty” signed after the First World War. The Treaty of Versailles was succeeded in ending World War I between Germany and the Allied Powers. This treaty was signed on 28 June 1919. This treaty was highly controversial for the Germans even though it was acceptable to the allied powers. According to this treaty Germany forced to accept sole responsibility for causing the war and to disarm, make substantial territorial concessions and pay heavy reparations to certain countries. Around 132 billion Marks which are roughly equivalent to US$ 385 billion at present were levied upon Germany as the compensation amount which really hurt the Germans. Moreover, this treaty presented for German leaders to sign on May 7, 1919, forced Germany to concede territories to Belgium (Eupen-Malmédy), Czechoslovakia (the Hultschin district), and Poland (Poznan [German: Posen], West Prussia and Upper Silesia)” (Treaty of Versailles, 1919). In short, "The Versailles Treaty system was intended to be a peace agreement between the Allies and a defeated Germany and the Central Powers, instead it created political and economic chaos, contributing directly to the rise of Mussolini and Hitler. This paper briefly analyses the role of The Versailles Treaty system in contributing to the rise of Hitler and Mussolini and the subsequent World War 2. One of the major aims of the peace treaty “The Treaty of Versailles” in 1919, which ended the World War 1 between Germany and allied forces, was the disarmament of Germany. However, Germans always had a feeling of superiority in their minds. The conditions they succumbed to accept as part of this treaty were intolerable to their pride and superiority feeling. When Hitler came into the power he has taken every step to regain the lost prides of the Germans. He deliberately started to violate the conditions of The Treaty of Versailles. In 1922, Benito Mussolini and his Fascist Party succeeded in capturing the power in Italy. Fascism and Nazism have more similarities than differences which helped Hitler and Mussolini to work together against the allied powers. Fascism and Nazism were entirely different from capitalism, communism and democracy. Fascism was driven by a sense of belligerent nationalism that encouraged conflict as a means of social improvement. By 1935, Mussolini was able to make himself the dictator of Italy and transformed the country into a police state. To the north in Germany, Fascism was embraced by the National Socialist German Workers Party, also known as the Nazis. Swiftly rising to power in the late 1920s, the Nazis and their charismatic leader, Adolf Hitler, followed the central tenets of Fascism while also advocating for the racial purity of the German people and additional German Lebensraum (living space) (Hickman) The German re-armament was a massive effort led by Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) early in the 1930s which violated the essence of the earlier peace treaty signed. NSDAP has promised the German people that they will take every effort to regain the lost German pride in the World War 1. For that purpose, military re-armament was necessary and the Hitler’s party has taken pledge to take revenge upon the allied forces for the embarrassments they faced in the First World War. The public speeches and other measures taken by Hitler and his allies succeeded in getting the much needed power for them in the German elections. Immediately after assuming power, as the head of a coalition government, Hitler has started to dictate the administration by eliminating the coalition components from the government. Hitler never believed in democracy and he always an advocate of power. He has slowly taken the full control of the administration and prohibited the functioning of trade unions and other political parties apart from the Nazi party. Hitler once declared that “We want to liberate Germany from the fetters of an impossible parliamentary democracy — not because we are terrorists, not because we intend to gag the free spirit” (Brundage) Hitler’s main aim during this period was to prepare Germany for a possible Second World War in order to take revenge upon the allied forces for humiliation they suffered at the end of World War 1 through The Treaty of Versailles. Hitler has undertaken one of the greatest efforts to boost the German economy by heavy industrialization Germany has ever witnessed. Unemployment was almost 0% during this re-armament and industrial revolution period in Germany even though the wages were very less. Hitler was successful in ensuring maximum productivity from the German public by giving all of them compulsory work schedules and employments. Thus massive industrial production at low costs made the Germany economy grow at a rapid pace. Many industries which were running on loss were re-vitalized by Hitler’s revolutionary policies and they not only improved their performances, but even started to diversify their activities. He has realized that Germany might not get any support from the external world and hence they should be able to find the resources for the possible war by themselves. The rearmament process which started in early 1930’s has strengthened and equipped Germany for a possible Second World War by the end of the 1930’s. “On March 16, 1935, in clear violation of the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler ordered the remilitarization of Germany, including the reactivation of the Luftwaffe (air force)” (Hickman). Surprisingly, it was not only Hitler and his Nazi supporters who wanted Germanys rearmament, but many influential figures in Britain and elsewhere argued in favor of the rearmament of Germany. However, Winston Churchill distanced himself from such controversies (Supporting Germany’s Rearmament). Churchill was the only world leader who assessed the intentions of Germans and Hitler’s fascist Nazi regime correctly. He argued strongly against the rearmament of Germany. But his voices were not taken seriously by the other world leaders. After attaining military power and economic stability, Hitler started to reveal his intentions. He has started his campaign of capturing Europe with the initial claim about a Czechoslovakian territory, Sudetenland, populated mostly by ethnic Germans. The British Prime Minister Chamberlain flew to Germany and signed an agreement with Germany under the mediation Italy’s fascist ruler Mussolini in order to save Europe from another World War disaster. As per this agreement Czechoslovakia was forced to surrender its disputed land to Germany even though they could not participate in the negotiation process directly. The lessons obtained from the Sudetenland issue increased the bargaining power of Hitler his self confidence of expanding German territories to the entire Europe has blossomed and attained a fearful proposition. The next war front he opened was in Poland. He has realized that Poland was a weak country and their allies Britain and France may not put many efforts to save Poland if he attacks it. His calculations were right and in order to avoid a second war front in Europe, Germany has reached an agreement (non-aggression pact) with Soviet Union. As per the secret protocols in this agreement Germany allowed Soviet Union to control some of the portions of Poland. Both Stalin and Hitler were opportunists and Soviet Union never thought that Germany had some hidden agenda in reaching this agreement with them. The rest is history. To conclude, the Versailles Treaty System humiliated the Germans and the Italians very much and it succeeded in uniting the fascism and Nazism under one umbrella. The terms included in the Versailles Treaty System were one sided and protected only the interests of the allied power. Moreover, Germany forced to surrender some of the territories it controlled and the compensation set forth was illogical. In short, the conditions included in the Versailles Treaty System are the actual reasons for the Second World War. Works Cited 1. Brundage, Matthew. “Adolf Hitlers Views and Opinions of Democracy”. December 2010 2. Hickman, Kennedy. “World War II Europe: The Road to War.”2010. Web. 22 December 2010. 3. “Supporting Germany’s Rearmament”. Web. 22 December 2010. 4. “Treaty of Versailles, 1919”. Web. 22 December 2010. Read More