Political

The Treaty of Versailles

World War I came to an end with the German surrender and the request for the Armistice. This action caused a reunion of the victorious nations in order to set up the reparations that the defeated empires would have to pay as consequence of losing the war. These victorious nations did not arrange the consequences with an objective point of view, but with a feeling of resentment and wanting the defeated empires to pay for what they had supposedly cause. The reparations were argued and established in France in 1919, known as the Treaty of Versailles.

The Treaty of Versailles was a peaceful agreement made in order to deal and reconstruct Europe after the devastating war. “The Big Four”, best known as Great Britain, France, United States and Italy, were the leading nations due to their victory and they decided to create this arrangement in order to prevent other war and maintain Europe and the world in peace.

This treaty consisted of many impositions, especially on Germany; military and legal restrictions along with territorial changes and the payment of reparations made this nation even weaker than it was after the loss of the war. The imposing of a democratic form of government and the creation of organizations in order to maintain Germany supervised, were some of the terms given in the treaty, which at the end provoked a crisis in this weakened nation, known as the guilty one.

The “big four” had all democratic forms of governments, reason why the USSR was not invited to the sign of the agreement. The anti-communist feeling grew even bigger after the creation of the Soviet Union, as they saw it as a threat and did not support the expansion of this socialist ideology in Europe or the rest of the world.

Italy, one of the victorious nations, was the one who earned the less in the whole treaty. As a democratic leader and as part of “The Big Four”, Italy expected to win more and get more advantage as an effect of changing from alliances, obviously for a matter of interest. 

The Treaty of Versailles ended in 1919 with Germany accepting all the terms imposed and with the ease of the victorious nation because of the achievement of their objective.

The Treaty of Versailles was made with the goal of reorganizing Europe and making the defeated or “guilty” nations to pay for what they had done. At the end this agreement caused a lot of difficulties, terror and destruction to appear inside Europe and the world. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the main causes for totalitarianism to develop in Germany, Italy and to increase in Russia. A feeling of resentment and revenge appeared in Germany; because of the payment and control the treaty imposed over them, Italy; because they believed its nation was going to gain more, and the USSR; because of the growing of the anti-communist feeling and the rejection of their participation in the treaty. In short, the Treaty of Versailles caused strong and dangerous ideologies to develop mainly in these three nations, which will bring as a long term consequence a second and even worst world war.

In this cartoon shows how the victorious countries; "The Big Four"

forced  Germany to agree with everything that the Treaty of Versailles proposed

Map of Europe before the Treaty of Versailles

Map of Europe after the Treaty of Versailles

Rise of Nazism

After the Treaty of Versailles, a lot of nations ended up with a strong feeling of resentment and revenge; these brought totalitarian governments to appear throughout Europe. Fascism appeared in Italy, when Benito Mussolini created the Fascist Party in 1919. Fascism will be the base for Nazism, one of the world’s most nationalistic ideologies, to appear. This ideology is going to be spread, starting with it a strong process of revenge and the rebirth of an empire; what at the end will affect Europe and the world in a major and devastating scale.

Versailles gave Germany no possibilities to be a strong nation again. By imposing a democratic government, known as the Weimar Republic, the rule of the Kaiser finished along with the chances to build the strongest military empire in the whole world. By that time, Adolf Hitler, an Austrian soldier who had served during the First World War, had already started to involve himself in the Germans politics by becoming the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party or Nazi Party in 1923.

The Weimar Republic had a weak government due to inflation; which brought a big debt, unemployment and the lack of confidence in this government, which made the creation of new political parties possible. Political corruption, violence and instability started in Germany, bringing a period of crisis.

The Nazi Party tried to take over the government, reason why the members of this party including Hitler, were arrested. After Hitler made it out from jail, he will focus on achieving power in a legal way. He became Chancellor and after the president died he took the title of Führer (Leader), achieving with this, total power and dictatorship over Germany.

With the power under Hitler and the Nazi Party, Nazism was established as the leading ideology in Germany. This ideology stood out for its theory of the Arian Master Race, the enthusiasm and support it received from the people and the fact that they should lead the other races throughout the world.

Nazism was so easily spread through Germany and the world because it emerged at the perfect time. Germany was in an internal crisis due to the economic instability, big debts, political corruption, violence, unemployment and many other factors which made the achievement of power way more easily than in the case the nation had been stable. Because of this crisis and the well prepared propaganda along with the youth movements, the Nazi Party achieved power and started its totalitarian regime. The great feeling of resentment due to the loss of the war and the Treaty of Versailles was still lived in Germany. Hitler’s party, with Nazism had the exact answer to what these people were living; the cause why Germans supported this socialist party, along with the improvements it planned. In short, Nazism spread so easily because it made German people feel proud of who they were and made them think that their race, the Arian race, was superior to all the other races in the world and their destiny was to rule the world. These is the exact opposite that Versailles made them feel, so at the end it was a matter of feeling that made them adopt Nazism so easily.

Symbol of the Nazi Party

Symbolism

Bibliography:
Farah, M.  and Karls, A. (2001). World History: The Human Experience. United States: McGraw-Hill Companies.
http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/versailles.htm

By: Janice Brandes