...World War One World War One has shaped many people’s view of the world today. Even though there were some advancements from the war, the setbacks outweigh the advancements. For example, most of France was destroyed, the war left Europe’s countries divided, and millions of people died. This left France and Great Britain angry and wanting revenge against Germany. Even though Germany did play a crucial role in World War One, they should not be blamed for the beginning of the war. Germany should not be blames because they fought in self-defense against Russia. Germans did not believe Germany started the war (Doc. 8). For them, the war was a war of self-defense against Russia (Doc. 8). Russia mobilized on the 31st of July in 1914 (Doc. 8) and Germany...
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...of Versailles was a text of peace that was written by Germany’s Allies and disagreeably signed by Germany. It was intended to end the First World War and to prevent the Second World War. The treaty contained many parts and articles; one being The League of Nations that was created by United States president, Woodrow Wilson. As a result of the treaty, Germany was forced to reduce the size of their army and they were restricted heavy artillery. They also lost a great deal of their land and money. Instead of preventing World War II, The Treaty of Versailles activated it (Brower& Sanders, 2014). Germany’s Economy In the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was instructed to lose a great deal of their land including Saar, West Prussia, Malmedy, Memel, Danzig, and Upper Silesia. These pieces of land were given to other countries like Belgium, France, Lithuania, and Poland. When Germany lost their land, they also lost their farms and industries making them also lose their economy. As part of the treaty, Germany was to pay Great Britain, Belgium, and France a large sum of money, adding to the economical stress (Brower et al, 2014). This was punishment to pay for all of the damage that World War I caused. The decline in Germany’s economy caused hyperinflation (Comments of the German Delegation, 1919). Applying Principles Attributed to Wilson The Treaty of Versailles strictly put all of the blame of World War I on Germany. As a result, the treaty only punished Germany by making them...
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...The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty sent to Germany by the victorious nations in World war one. The Treaty of Versailles included many demands towards the German nation, however many argue these demands were too harsh. After examining the demands made in the Treaty of Versailles, it seems that not only was the treaty of Versailles too harsh but could lead to another war. For example in the Treaty Germany was forced hand over 13% of its land mass to other nations and as a result gave Germany motive to reclaim their lost land. Furthermore both the direct and indirect economic sanctions placed on Germany in the treaty of Versailles would have weakened the German economy and hence gave the German people a desire to regain their economic...
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...European war in 1914. The spark that led directly to the outbreak of war was the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. The events that took place in Europe prior to 1914 have to be focused upon as being pivotal motives in the outbreak of war. Russia deeply influenced and played a key role in the outbreak of World War One, but it is difficult to say she was the sole cause. The different alliance groups, Nationalism, economic stability, domestic tensions and the divergent Foreign Policies in the Central European countries were collectively the reasons that brought about a general European war. Russia’s history preceding 1914 constituted to the decision making of the July Crisis. The Russo-Japanese war of 1904 left Russia defeated and powerless both economically and militarily. [1]‘Russia suffered 400,000 casualties, lost two of its three fleets and denuded its western frontier fortifications of troops and armaments.’ The defeat to Japan caused Russia a major embarrassment and Russia was intent on building up her military strength for the countries social security. By 1910 the ‘Small Program’ followed by the 1913 launch of the ‘Great Program’ enabled Russia to add additional spending to the army and military but Russia’s military strength still lacked its initial power. World War One may have been a way in for Russia to regain her losses, build up her the power she once had and rid the threats of both Germany and...
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...To a certain extent, Hitler was to blame to the outbreak of World War II. The fact that he strongly believed he could reclaim the German losses under the Treaty of Versailles without any interference from the League of Nations, and the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact show that Hitler was determined, and wouldn’t settle for anything less than what he wanted. Hitler wasn’t the only one who was to be blamed for the second world war – the failures of the League of Nations and Treaty of Versailles, the practice of isolationism in countries such as the US, Britain and France, and appeasement were also to blame. The fact that Germany was limited to an extremely small army, 6 naval ships, and no air force, submarines or tanks at all was something that encouraged Hitler to build up an army, regardless of what the Treaty of Versailles stated. By 1936, the Germans had a total air force consisting of 5,116 planes, and were extremely close to overtaking the size of the British air force. This was eventually accomplished, as the Germans ended up with 5,606 planes in 1937. One of the main reasons for the outbreak of the war was that Hitler was certain he could regain everything that Germany lost as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. His certainty was appealing to the German people, as they felt they needed a strong leader who would provide them with ‘lebensraum’, or living space. With the growing amount of aircraft in possession of the Germans, Hitler, an extremely aggressive...
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...To end World War 1 the Treaty of Versailles was signed (International Conciliation, 1919). Through the Treaty Germany was blamed for the war and was punished. This caused economical issues for Germany to face, and a loss of self-determination (International Conciliation, 1919). Some people believed Germany was not punished enough for the war and Germany believed they should have been treated differently. Germany was blamed for all of the events that took place during World War 1 and the German economy suffered from this (International Conciliation, 1919). The Treaty damaged Germany’s economy by not returning their confiscated goods back to them and also by using them to pay for the damages of the war (International Conciliation, 1919). Foreign authorities were also allowed to build canals and railroads on German territory as they pleased (International Conciliation, 1919). The Treaty called for Germany to surrender territory, such as Alsace-Lorraine (International Conciliation, 1919). This loss of territory caused Germany to lose around 2.5 million ethnic Germans, according to the authors (International Conciliation, 1919). These provisions critically harmed Germany’s economy because they were forced to pay for damage that they could not afford, and the terms of this agreement were completely decided by the countries Germany fought against in the war, while Germany had no control over the terms of paying reparations for the war (International Conciliation, 1919). They had some...
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...responsibility for the outbreak of The Second World War has been exaggerated From the instant Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany from January 1933, began to challenge the Treaty of Versailles and adapt an aggressive foreign policy, which heavily contributed to the outbreak of World War Two. Some historians argue that Britain and France were to blame for the Second World War because they did not stand up to Hitler.The historian AJP Taylor argued that Hitler simply continued the aggressive foreign policy but others point out that he did not initially intend to the take back Germany's former colonies, this theory is known as the Functionalist argument. On the other hand the other theory which is the Internationalist argument, these historians such as Gerhard Weinberg argued that Hitler had a master scheme all along and that he had planned the Holocaust. The functionalist view may argue that Great Britain and France were more to blame as they did not stop Germany, eventually they turned a blind eye. Chamberlain proposed the policy of appeasement which made concessions to the dictatorial powers of Hitler, he had done this because the British armed forces were not ready for a world war with Germany in 1938. However appeasement was wrong because Hitler was a dictator who could not be trusted to keep his word, especially because he had made it clear that he wanted an Empire in the East to give German Lebensraum and would only be stopped by war. Appeasement also made Britain look weak...
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...I would say that the cause of World War II was not during the actual period of the Second World War 1939-1945. The possibility that the actual ‘roots’ that led to war was due to the unfairness of the Treaty of Versailles signed by the Allis in 1919 at the Paris Peace Conference, that ended WWI. Countries of the Central Powers were bitter and stuck with having the whole blame of First World War and the lost of their land and money while none of the Allied Powers took any blame. This unfairness may have made war inevitable. Germany wanted revenge by gaining back what they had lost after the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler promised revenge to the German people, who did not want to live with the horrible way they where force to live by treaty. Hitler knew that the Germans would not stand for this. Thus, the Treaty of Versailles led to the rise of a dictator who caused and directed events that led to the outbreak of WWII. Allied delegates in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles witness the German delegation's acceptance of the terms of the Treaty Of Versailles, the treaty formally ending World War I. Versailles, France, June 28, 1919. When the fighting ended in WWI with an armistice in 1918 there was the need for peace. This peace was aimed to be achieved through a coalition between the three major countries of the Allied Powers: Great Britain, France, and the United States of America. The Central Powers were left out of this coalition called “The Paris Peace Conference” because they...
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...start of World War One. One could say that it was Germany alone that was responsible for the beginning of the war, but one could also argue that Germany was only partially responsible, and that there are other countries to blame as well. In this essay I will be discussing whether Germany was solely responsible for the outbreak of the war or if there were other factors that we should take into account. Firstly I will be talking about why the war started in the first place, or at least why it is said to have started. Most people believe that it was the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand that really pushed Austria-Hungary off the edge. After the failed ultimatum, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. As Serbia was allied with Russia, Russia joined in on the war. But because of the triple-Entente, France and England had to join in as well. Germany was also pulled in as they had promised to back up Austria. Because of all this, I think that the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was what really started the war....
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...dominance before World War I was gathered by evaluating backgrounds of authors and the reliability of their information. From gathering a variety of evidence of different perspectives, the extent of data was able to confirm the validity of my research question: How did German nationalism lead to World War I? The levity of German dominance before World War I had influenced the continuous opinion of most authors. On the other hand, those who disagreed with the statement were unable to be fully convinced of a more drastic situation. The impact of extreme nationalist efforts, threatening neighboring territories, and Kaiser Wilhelm’s reign had sparked the beginning of World War I. Sources selected to support the thesis were analyzed to the reputation of the website and the author. Identifying the origin...
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...outbreak of the First World War, all responsibility must not lay on her, for she was not the only country involved in the outbreak. Many will argue that “Germany must bear ultimate responsibility for the outbreak,” but historical evidence proves that this is not so. First of all, it is Serbia who provoked the initiation of the First World War. This provocation came in the assassination of Austria’s Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, by a Pan-Slavic nationalist. This problem would not have escalated to greater lengths if the Serbian government had warned the Austrian-Hungarian government of the intended plot to murder their Archduke, of which they had knowledge. When the Austrian government learned that...
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...very end of WWI (World War I), the Treaty of Versailles was signed. Once this was done it made Germany take the fall for the initiation of the World War I. That was apart of the “War Guilt Claus” and Germany was also held responsible for all the material costs in damages. Germany was made to pay a debt for which they were not responsible. Germany was also taken over by the government having control over their rivers, and railroads and canals were to be built on German property and used at the discretion of foreign establishments. Under these provisions, Germany was bound to be in debt. The government basically took control over all of their funding, and their ways of making money. Their economic state was in danger. Germany’s View In Germany's view, how would the country have been treated differently if the principles they attribute to President Wilson had been applied? The League of Nations was a group of people who wanted nothing but peace amongst the people of every state. President Wilson was apart of the League of Nations and he was the only one who tried to keep the peace, but he also wanted everyone to take blame for their actions (for war, and other mishaps) and he wanted everyone to move past it. In the end, Germany still received all the blame. Since the League of Nations was meant to be like a peace treaty, it was odd that Germany was not included in this agreement. Germany was never formally invited to join the League of Nations. The President was afraid that this...
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...particularly interested in was the idea of reparations that needed to be repaid to both the European nation and the United States. “The amount of such compensation is to be determined by a commission nominated solely by Germany's enemies, Germany taking no part” (Wilson, 1919). The problem they came across was that not only did Germany have to agree to pay an indemnity; however, the amount of which needed to be paid was never stated. The amount that needed to be paid could result in a collapse of the German economy. Another issue that came about was the provisions that Germany could not keep relations that had been built in foreign countries, resulting in Germany losing out its share of the world economy. “The peace document shows that Germany's position as a world power is to be utterly destroyed” (Wilson, 1919). Ultimately, it comes down to Germany’s right of self-preservation and self-determination. With the European powers looking to disband Germany all together, it was realized that Germany will inevitably cease to exist if it followed the rules that wanted to be established in the Treaty of Versailles. The principal aspect of President Wilson’s speech is the thought the there was no single fact, single act, that triggered the war in Europe. Wilson felt that the war fell on the Europe as a continent, and that all the countries that participated in the war should be responsible. Acts of espionage and alliances that were formed were the ultimate reason that war occurred. And they...
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...people killed between 1934 and 1945, one might ask what could be responsible for that amount of devastation. The answer, however, is quite simple. One man is the leading cause of all those lives lost: Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Regime. Germany was in an exceedingly unpleasant state after the loss of World War I. The Treaty of Versailles had forced them to take full blame for the war, and with it came an overwhelming amount of debt. The French wanted to dismember Germany to make it impossible for them to renew war with France. The loss of World War I was still sharp on many minds, and the economic depression was in full effect. The Weimar Republic was Germany’s new form of government that replaced the German Empire....
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...At the end of World War One Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles which stated: “Germany was to admit war guilt and pay unprecedented reparations of 132 billion gold marks (Weiss, 1996, p. 218).” Along with Germany having to admit war guilt and pay reparations to other countries, Germany had to allow trading rights to the allies, their army was reduced to 100,000 men, the air force was abolished, the navy was reduced, their merchant fleet was confiscated, colonies and overseas investments were seized, and they were refused into the league of nations. The Treaty of Versailles left Germany suffering and in economic hardship. In 1934 Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany and offered the individuals of Germany hope for the future. Adolf Hitler...
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