The signing of the Treaty of Versailles marked the end of the first world and was the starting point of the chain of events that enabled Germany to spark the second war shortly after. Many components of the Treaty of Versailles and the actions of the Allies contributed the toxic climate that was developing in the German state. The German economy left destroyed in the wake of World War I and the citizens of Germany feared the worst for their country’s future. The establishment of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I enabled the Nazi Party to rise to power in the German state and form a Fascist dictatorship in place of the democratic system.
The Treaty of Versailles was established and signed on June 28, 1919. The treaty was the …show more content…
Fascism allowed Hitler to fully emphasize the importance of restoring Germany back to the great state it had been before World War I. After becoming Chancellor of Germany and the death of President von Hindenburg, Hitler was able to declare himself Führer, the supreme dictator of Germany. This position and title allowed Hitler to operate above Parliament and to make laws without consulting any other groups involved in the German government. Once Hitler wielded full power of Germany, he wasted no time transforming the country into his vision for a better Germany. Hitler named the his new formation of the German state the Third Reich after the First and Second Reich which both had been great empires (“Nazism”).In the new Germany, Hitler created the Schutzstaffel, an organization that started out as the Sturmabteilung, which consisted of Hitler’s personal bodyguards that protected him when he gave public speeches and aided him in many attacks against the government before he came to power. Once Hitler became Führer, he transformed the Sturmabteilung into the Schutzstaffel or the SS which had several branches that were in charge of general policing of citizens, the combat units in Germany’s military, and the running concentration and death camps. The most well known organization that operated under the same administration as the SS is the Gestapo. The …show more content…
Germany was once again stuck in a position of losing a large war to the Allied powers. Fortunately for Germany, World War II would not end with a treaty similar to the Treaty of Versailles which essentially created the climate for the second war to happen so close to the first. Due to its late entrance to the war, the United States had the most intact economy in comparison to the countries in Europe who experienced damage to their countries since the war began. Since the United States still had a functioning economy, it was still producing goods for trade and needed potential trade partners in Europe. If the economies of European countries were not able to recover, the United States would experience a financial crisis itself due to lack of foreign exchange (“Marshall”). The United States made a proposal to allot economic assistance to European countries that were damaged or destroyed in the war (“Marshal”). The different approach to the ending of a major war lead to less conflict and damage to a single country’s government and economy than did the Treaty of Versailles. The Marshall Plan intended to fix the damage caused by several countries in World War II and did not assign blame to a single country which would have lead to a repeat of the conditions that allowed the second world war to happen in the first