Taylor Fitzgerald

Treaty of Versailles DBQ

Period 5
How Did the Versailles Treaty Help Cause World War II
Atrocities can happen anywhere and can be caused by anyone. World War I was a war that
resulted in 10 million deaths of soldiers, killed 7 million civilians, and wounded 10 million more. The Treaty
of Versailles was made for Germany to make them pay back with reparations and to be punished for
causing WWI. So how did the treaty help cause WWII? The Versailles Treaty, a document that was made
to end WWI and was supposed to prevent another war, caused German insecurities and humiliation in
these four ways: it took away important territories owned by the Germans, reduction of the German
military, forced Germany to pay ridiculous reparations, and it forced Germany to take full responsibility for
causing the war and destruction with the War Guilt Act.
To begin, after WWI, according to Document A,(1919), essential territories were taken away
Germany such as coal producing areas, Lorraine, Alsace, the Polish Corridor, part of East Prussia, and a
part of Denmark(Versailles Treaty). The lost of the Polish Corridor and Danzig were difficult because then
Germany lost the income from the ports stationed there. This means even more money was lost.
Germany was already in a very depressed economic struggle. This was especially hard on the citizens
that had to adapt to another country, because the one they were in was split in half. These people had to
adapt to a new lifestyle and they might oppose the new laws or leader.
More so, Germanys military was reduced to a maximum of 100,000 troops. This military was
more like a police force. The role of the army was strictly devoted exclusively to the maintenance of order
within the territory and to the control of the frontiers(Treaty of Versailles Article 160). Frances army was
built of 660,000 troops, more than 6 times the amount of Germanys. This left the people of Germany
insecure about their safety.
On another hand, Germany was also required to pay harsh reparations for 20 years to pay back
for the war and damage that they had caused. The payments had started on May 1, 1921 and were set to
end on May 1, 1951. However, Hitler comes to power and stops all payments in 1933. Within these years,
Germany had begun to pay less and less. In 1921, the payment was 132 billion gold marks. But in 1929
they had dropped to 112 billion gold marks. After the first payment, German citizens felt resent towards
the Allies and were angered and humiliated.
Finally, Germany was required to take full responsibility for the damages and destruction of WWI,
and for causing WWI. This was done by the War Guilt Clause. German citizens saw this as injustice, and
an evil thing that needs to be destroyed. When Hitler came to power, "he restored a sense of pride,
reawakened a sense of self-respect, forcing the world to look at Germany anew"(Moyer, Victory must be
ours: Germany in the Great War 1914-1918). With this new German pride, citizens were made to feel
more confident with themselves. Citizens felt a new sense of nationalization for the German state. With
this, they began to blame the Jewish population for losing WWI.

The atrocities of WWI could be blamed on many things. But as for what cause it, you could
blame only a few. The Treaty of Versailles is one. How, could be explained in four ways: Germany
suffering harsh territorial losses, reduction of the German military, very strict and harsh reparations, and
lastly the War Guilt Clause. These things could've been prevented, but for now, we can only prevent what
happens in the future.