Gage Eisenbeis

Treaty of Versailles
DBQ
WC Period 2
Hitler is one of the most widely known dictators during World War II, and the reason being he led
the Third Reich and Nazi Parties. The treaty of Versailles is not really known when people ask what
started World War II, and it is just assumed the Nazi parties originated because Hitler took power of
Germany. The Treaty of Versailles is the reason why Germany also faced harsh living conditions for
many political and economic reasons. The Treaty of Versailles ended World War One but also helped to
fuel the Germans and their leader, Hitler, leading into World World 2 because of territorial losses, military
restrictions, economic reparations, and also war guilt clauses.
To initiate, the territorial losses because of the Versailles treaty in 1919, caused many middleclass German disadvantages. In a entry from Adolf Hitlers book, Mein Kampf (1924), he puts that the
treaty of Versailles as unethical and that whining and begging will not put an end to it. and that No nation
can remove this hand from its throat except by the sword (Document A). Hitler also wanted to fight the
treaty and rearm Germany to take back their stolen land, and coal rich valleys. Life in the territories that
were taken over was harsh and the Germans had to listen to a new government and pay high taxes. Also,
all of the coal rich areas that were taken caused the economy to collapse. This made believing in Hitler
much easier since they had nothing else they could lose, due to already being mostly homeless.
Furthermore, all of the military restrictions done to Germany left it crippled, weak, and at the
mercy of nations around it. In fact, in a part of the treaty of Versailles(1919), it states that their army was
only to be 100,000 men(Document B). If they exceeded that number they would have been punished by
all of the countries surrounding them. Germany was left with the smallest army. Even Belgium had a
army three times the size of Germanys. Also, Germany also could only have 4,000 officers and staff at
the maximum. In the end Germany could effectively not harm any of the surrounding nations without
being destroyed quickly.
In addition to, Economic reparations crushed Germanys industrial economy and left many
jobless.According to the treaty of Versailles (1919), Germany was forced to accept and undertake all of
the responsibility for war debts and to compensate for all damage done to civilian homes and companies.
(Document C) A group of people called the Inter-Allied Commission, was put together to decide when
Germany would pay all of the reparations for the different allies involved in World War I. The payments
were supposed to start on May 1, 1921, to May 1, 1951, over the course of 30 years, assuming that
nothing happened during that time to cause the Commision to act. In an article showing the reparations
for 1929, Not accounting American loans, Germans pay only 2 billion marks over the next three years
(Chart from various sources). This roughly added up to 341 billion dollars in the year 2010 in American
currency. Germany only payed up until 1933, because Hitler then took over and stopped all payments

after that. This helped to start World War II by humiliating and angering the Germans by these unfairs
payments.
Lastly, the War Guilt Clause, as the Treaty is sometimes referred to, probably was the most
forceful in causing the Nazi party to come about and have Hitler rise to power. In an article written by
Laurence V. Moyer (1995), he said that Germans have begun to see the war guilt clause as a sign of
humiliation and how the atrocious treaty should burn and be gone from society (Document D). This
helped cause World War II because many Germans were eager to follow Hitler when he said he would
free them. Germans were forced to take responsibility for all of the war, this was not fair to the Germans
who are now blamed for it. This is one of the reasons why Hitler inspired pride in the country and also a
self-respect in anyone that was willing to follow him, since he fought back against the treaty and it was
through the Nazi party that he rose to dictator
Ultimately, although World War I ended the first World War with Germany, it also helped cause the
second world war in many ways. The treaty of Versailles caused very important territorial loss to
Germany. The treaty also caused huge military restrictions to what was once a very powerful nation. Also,
the treaty ruined the economy due to economic reparations. And finally the treaty ruined most of German
life and destroyed a lot of the pride they had, because of the war guilt clause, therefore causing Hitlers
rise to be a easy victory for the harsh, brutal dictator. And in the end the treaty was broken, they rearmed
Germany, and the second World War would soon begin.

Works Cited

Charles Mee, The End of Order: Versailles, 1919

Document A: German Territorial Losses (Map)
Document B: Treaty of Versailles, Article 160; Troop Levels, 1920 (Cartoon)
Document C: Treaty of Versailles, Articles 232 and 233; Reparations
Document D: Treaty of Versailles, Article 231; War Guilt Clause
German Territorial Losses, Versailles Treaty, 1919.
Hitler, A. (1938). Mein Kampf Zwei Bande in einem Band. (Ungekurzte Ausg. 135-136 Aufl. ed.).
Munchen: Zentralverlag der NSDAP, F. Eher nachf
John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1920
Laurence V. Moyer, Victory Must Be Ours: Germany in the Great War 1914-1918, 1995.
Treaty of Versailles, (1919), Article 160
(Treaty of Versailles) 225 Parry 188; 2 Bevans 235; 13 AJIL Supp. 151, 385 (1919).