The Treaty Of Versailles: The First Cause Of World War II

The world was sent into turmoil during and after the first world war due to the complexities of its origins and the mayhem brought with it. The world never wanted or believed that anything that extreme and ghastly would ever happen again. Tragically, an even worse war was just on the horizon and was already being placed into motion as soon as World War I ended. World War II was unspeakable and monstrous war that caused damage to the whole world, especially Europe, and turned everywhere into a battle zone. But this horrendous war did not just begin spontaneously, it was created by various events that when combined created the worse war in the history of humankind. It began with the Treaty of Versailles which left Germany weakened and led to

The Treaty of Versailles, although intended to be a peace treaty, caused more problems than solutions. Despite the war being fought by many countries in Europe all the blame was placed specifically on Germany. For starters Germany had to claim sole responsibility for the war, even though they weren’t the technical “spark” for the beginning of the war. Following that they’d have to pay for the entire war, a cost coming up to about $56 billion dollars, as well as lose all their colonies, lose Alsace Lorraine, and have all their armed forces be limited to just 100,000 troops. All these extreme measures were just way too much for one country to deal with all at once. Germany went from being one of the strongest countries in the world to dealing with problem after problem after the Treaty of Versailles. The harshness of this treaty angered the Germans, not only due to its intensity, but also due to its unfairness. Many years earlier when France was dealing with the backlash from the Napoleonic wars and Europe was being put back together with the Congress of Vienna the French were treated with civility and fair punishment. Winston Churchill later on gave his opinion on the matter in The Gathering Storm in which he talked about how the way treaties were conducted had changed over time and were no longer what they used to be. He

In Causes and Consequences of World War II fascism is defined, Ross states that,“Fascism is a dictatorial political system in which the state is the supreme source of law, order, and national life. Ordinary people are given few rights and are expected to submit to the will of the state.” Created by Benito Mussolini, this right wing style of government emphasized authoritarian, intolerant, violent standards and would proceed to take over Italy and help influence the start of World War II.The creation of fascism was a result of many concerns and fears in Italy during the 1920’s; civilians were scared of the increased industrialization and modernization of Italy, the rise of socialism and communism, and was part of the reaction to enlightenment ideals. The extremely nationalistic government spoke to the people due to its promises to fight against everything they feared. Mussolini suggested “The Third Way” which means a way that is somewhere between socialism and capitalism would be the best decision for the people. The fascist party suggested a few basic promises/ solutions that they would promise to the people in order for them to know that the fascist party was reliable, their solutions/ promises included, “I. Fascists will not seek revolution; II. Fascists will work within the system but maintain violence against socialists; III. Promise to work