Was the Treaty Of Versailles the main cause of World War2?

Question

Pls state the reason for your answer.

Answer 1

Anyone who has answered yes has clearly never studied German or European history. This is how false information is spread.

The Treaty of Versailles was not the main cause of WWII. Not by a long shot. A previous answer mentioned clause 231 - the war guilt clause, and that was important, but not decisive, in causing the second world war.

The second world war was caused by a number of factors. First, Germany was never conquered. When the war ended in 1918 the Germans were still on foreign soil. Unlike at the end of WWII which saw Berlin occupied by Allied soldiers, WWI ended with the Germans on the attack! Most German people felt that their generals had sold them out and given up on a war they were winning (and believe me, after 1917 when the Russians pulled out it looked very probable that the Germans would win the war).

Next, the Treaty of Versailles. Article 231 - the war guilt clause as it is often known - put the blame on Germany. That wouldn't have been so bad except that it also imposed reparations. I do apologize that it's been a number of years since I last worked with the actual numbers, but I can say that the amount which was owed by Germany would have had them paying until the year 1989. It was an awful lot of money. However, I'd like to point out that Germany did not have to pay reparations to the USA. The Americans, bless their hearts, decided not to be part of that deal. However, they were getting German money since Great Britain and France owed them a chunk of change. I encourage you to look up how the payments actually worked, it's kind of amusing to see how the Americans ended up on top in the end.

Next point - Economics. I hope none of the people who claimed that the Treaty of Versailles was the main cause of WWII forgot about the depression. That would be, well, depressing. Starting with the American stock market crash in 1929 and continuing from there to other world markets, the great depression was behind WWII as well. Hungry people are much more likely to accept radical ideology than well fed people. But, there's something bigger, and it's what I consider the main cause of the second world war (although it's open to debate, I think my main cause is much more plausible than the Treaty of Versailles).

The fear of communism. Plain and simple. In the 1930's when Hitler started getting interested in lebensraum (living space) and thereby getting interested in neighbouring countries, he looked east. Heck, he'd even written a book about how he was primarily concerned with expanding to the east! Now imagine yourself as a British politician - you've got a guy in Germany who's spouting rhetoric about expanding to the east and you've got a bunch of communists in the east who (up until about 1936) are spouting off rhetoric about how it will one day spread to the west. Hey, looks like they cancel each other out! And in fact, Hitler didn't look like such a bad guy at the time. Sure, he had a few thousand people in concentration camps, but remember that Stalin had many many many more thousands in his own concentration camps in the USSR! The main reason, as far as I'm concerned, for WWII was that people read Hitler wrong. Stalin read him wrong when he signed the German-Soviet non agression pact (oops, where did all these Nazis come from, comrade?), Chamberlain read him wrong when he assumed Hitler would be happy with the east (but the Belgians make such good beer!), and the French definitely read Hitler wrong (but it was mostly their alliance with the Belgians that did them in - read on the Maginot Line).

So in the end I am going to entirely disagree with anyone who has stated that the Treaty of Versailles was the primary cause of World War II.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

Answer 2

No, I do agree the Treaty of versailles has been very tough with the german population, I do agree that the povertry and the hunger after the war and then versailles were imbearable but most of all hitler became popular by saying what the Kaiser said before him: The germans were the best population and culture of ever. They had the right to rule the world because they were far better than any other. Try to think like a German worker, you were raised up believing in the superiority of The Great German but the dream has been broken and you don't know how to feed your children. You are full of rage agains the the entire world, expecially against french and of course Jewish because they're stranger in your own country (this is not my opinion I'm only trying to imagine what a german worker coud think at that time!) and you perceive them as richer then you are. In this situation you are full of hate and rage, that's why you consider Hitler, not really educated, humble family one like at the end the leader to follow...he's the expression of your feelings and he propose you to conquer the world and to prove that even in disgrace you are far better then the rest of the world! Sorry for my english...i'm italian and my english is a little bit rusty at the moment...

Answer 3

I think so. It certainly humiliated the Germans to a point where they wanted revenge. Given the extremely large sums of money that the Germans were forced to pay and the vast territories lost due to this treaty, one could conclude that the Treaty of Versailles was practically a prescription for World War II. The writers of this treaty were clearly intent on severe punishment. I am not sure that they realized that they forgot all about the one thing this treaty was for. Peace.

Answer 4

It wasn't the treaty itself that was the cause, but lax enforcement of it's policies and certain clauses that the German and Soviet Union were against specifically the war clause

"Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) is commonly known as the “Guilt Clause” or the "War Guilt Clause", in which Germany was forced to take complete responsibility for starting World War I. England and France played the primary role in the article, while the United States did not play as active a role, mostly due to President Woodrow Wilson's principle of "peace without victory".

Answer 5

The treaty prohibited a lot of Big Business in Germany, from doing what they do best, so with that in mind, there was an interest to "back some one" who would do something about that treaty. Yes it was a major portion to cause that War.

Answer 6

You ask "the main cause" of WW2......I think it was WW1, the most stupid, cruel and senseless war ever. From WW1 came all of the tragedy of XX century (fascism, nazism, bolscevic communism). In 1939 Germany was back to full power, the third Reich was the largest nation in Europe. Did they really want a revenge? I am not sure. Hitler proably did not intend to fire a worldwide war. He wanted to cretate a solid cushion between Germany and Russia, and so invaded Poland. The rest, like in many other wars, followed like a landslide (see what happened in Vietnam and what happens today in Iraq)

Answer 7

Definitely. As Foch said, "this isn't a peace treaty, is a truce for 20 years".

It pushed Germany too far, most of the clauses were humiliating for Germany and had a flagrant spirit of revenge, Hence, the arising of German nationalism and of Hitler.

Answer 8

Yes, in a way. The French angered about all the death, 1.4 million French soldiers, and the destruction of historical monuments, strangled the Germans with its harsh demands. Germany, as a result, went bankrupt and Germany becamea poverty stricken country.

Answer 9

it was a shxt treaty as far as China was concerned.
It gave all german-occupied land in China to another occupier in China , japan .