...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 were blamed for the war. Through...
Words: 746 - Pages: 3
...In 1918 the treaty of Versailles was created, it was implemented to end World War One and create a sense of safety for everyone except the people of Germany. All the points made on the treaty where against Germany, this lead to Germany's rebellion and the start of World War 2. In saying that, I agree with the quote “This is not a peace treaty, it is an armistice for 20 years” - Ferdinand Foch because it never did end the war, only stopped it for a while then led to a new war, a greater one. The treaty simply put too much loss on Germany which caused the civilians to suffer. This is when Hitler stepped in, he lolled the people into a sense of safety, so they followed him. What he had created in Germany is what caused the beginning of the Second World War, the peoples need for comfort and Hitler’s promise of it. The main points of the treaty of Versailles where to destroy Germany's military it accomplished this by reducing its army to 100000 men and no tanks, reducing their navy and not being permitted to build any submarines and having no air force. To return land including Alsace-Lorraine and all its colonies in Africa, china and the pacific islands. Their Rhineland was to be dematerialized causing a lot of financial loss, as well as they had to pay 33billion (US) in reparations. Union with Austria was forbidden and Germany had...
Words: 799 - Pages: 4
...World War One was, and still remains, one of the bloodiest events in the history of mankind. It all started off with the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and from there, domino-like events led to the Great War. On one side, there were the central powers: Germany, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ottoman Empire, etc. The Allies were composed of Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and the United States, that joined toward the end of the conflict. Many other countries participated as colonies of the ones mentioned like ANZAC, making it truly a “world” war. The motivations and reasons to join the war varied. Some countries were in an alliance so they joined to help an ally. Other reasons included excessive nationalism, imperialistic rivalries with another country, or in Britain’s case, defending the neutral country Belgium when it was invaded by Germany....
Words: 1318 - Pages: 6
...The Great War The Great War, which is more commonly called World War I began on July 28, 1914 and lasted until November 11, 1918. It was a global war centered in Europe and involved more than 70 million military personnel. There were over 9 million combatants, and 7 million civilians died as a result of the war (Keegan, 1998). It was one of the deadliest recorded military conflicts in history, and was the reason for numerous major political changes. The main event that led to the spark of World War I was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Who was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne (Willmott, 2003). Archduke Franz Ferdinand was a friend to Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, the two met in mid-June 1914 to discuss the situation in the Balkans. Two weeks later, on June 28, Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, were in Sarajevo to inspect the imperial armed forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Taylor, 1998). Gavrilo Princip along with members of the nationalist Young Bosnia movement learned of the archduke’s planned visit. They decided to take action and were supplied with weapons by a Serbian terrorist organization called the Black Hand, Princip and his fellow members traveled to Sarajevo to reach there in time for the archduke’s visit. The car Ferdinand and his wife were in took a wrong turn near where Princip happened to be standing. Seeing his chance, Princip fired into the car, shooting Franz Ferdinand and Sophie at point-blank range. Ferdinand and his wife...
Words: 1254 - Pages: 6
...The Weimar Republic and Democracy World War 1 had an immense effect on the world. One result of the war was the Versailles Peace Treaty, which took a great toll on Germany. This treaty, and the war itself, served many negative consequences and deeply affected the political climate of the new found Weimar Republic. With the conclusion of WWI, Germany needed to form a peace treaty with the Allies and therefore were obligated sign the Treaty of Versailles. When the Allies announced the conditions of this treaty, the Germans were shocked – it was even worse than what the most cynical expected; there was all around opposition. However, as a losing nation they knew their hands were tied and they did not have much, if any, arguing power. Although Germany was not included in the treaty negotiations, the delegation was allowed to state its opinion. One demand of the treaty was for Germany to acknowledge that they alone were guilty of causing the war. “Such a confession in my mouth would be a lie” (Brockdorf-Rantzau 9). Germany was willing to admit that they contributed to tragedy in the war, but refused to take full blame for this would simply lead to more destruction in Germany’s future. The German delegation’s goal was to not upset the Allies further, but to instead try to gain some support from them and lessen the severity that they felt the conditions included. “I believe we should proceed to restore those parts of Belgium and Northern France... we cannot accomplish it without...
Words: 847 - Pages: 4
...World War I The Crisis That Shaped The 20th Century Stephanie Deprey US History Week 7 World War I was one of the biggest events that shaped the 20th century. Also known as the Great War raged from the summer of 1914 to November 1918. It was a very complicated time and occurred due to many different reasons and spanned over many different nations. There were also some very big effects on the world during and after the war that not only stunned America, but the whole global economy. This was only the start however of many huge conflicts to follow and still continue with world fighting to this day. One factor leading to World War I was fear. Everyone was afraid of everyone else in regards to power and what each would do with that power. Another interesting factor was cultural malaise leading to a feeling that there was something wrong with society and that war would be the way to purge society of its poisons. Perhaps, per this cultural malaise, war was inevitable. Decisions were made with great speed, without proper time for reflection. Perhaps some of the most fateful errors were caused by nothing more complex than lack of sleep. Although these are some interesting points and a good start to look at, there are still some more complex causes leading to war. By the beginning of the 20th century, nationalism had become the dominant emotional bond providing Europeans with a sense of community, tradition, a set of moral standards, and a motivation for political activity...
Words: 1477 - Pages: 6
...World War I, the mindset of many people changed. With so many dead as well as cities and homes destroyed, European people didn’t have much hope left. Also, many countries were angered because the end of war did not result in what they were initially promised. With the Great Depression in America spreading throughout the world, citizens were in desperate need of leaders to help guide them through these tough times. Many dictators promised to restore prosperity which appealed to the citizens of their nations. However, many were not aware of what would happen if these leaders were brought into power. Fascism, a new political movement, was built in Italy by Benito Mussolini. In Germany, Adolf Hitler joined the Nazi party and used the anger that Germans felt about the Treaty of Versailles to his advantage. In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin began the system of communism, a more extreme form of socialism where the...
Words: 591 - Pages: 3
...Clemenceau wanted Germany punished for all the humiliation France had suffered in the past. Clemenceau wanted Germany to pay for the cost of the War, the damage and also wanted guarantees that it would never happen again. He wanted the Rhineland to be handed over to France and Alsace-Lorraine to be returned. Large areas of France had been destroyed and everyone blamed it on Germany. Some French Politicians wanted Germany totally destroyed. However Great Britain had not suffered to the same degree as France had during the war, but Britain had to pay an enormous cost for victory. The British people expected Germany to pay for the effects of the war. When it came to the Treaty of Versailles, the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George didn’t want Germany to be punished too hard, but be allowed to recover. The USA had not suffered any damage during the war. The President of the USA Woodrow Wilson arrived in Europe in 1918. His aim was to keep World Peace and to ensure that war could never break out again. So he decided to come up with his ‘Fourteen points’, one which suggested to set up the League of Nations. The Treaty of Versailles was set up on the 28th of June 1919. The Germans were horrified with the Treaty as they considered it too harsh. They wanted to start another war, but it was impossible. The Germans expected that the Treaty would be based upon Woodrow Wilson’s ‘Fourteen points’. Germany Lost 10% of their Land. Alsace- Lorraine was given back to France as well as the...
Words: 1073 - Pages: 5
...German surrender in 1945. The emergence of Nazi party set the world on a quick path to another war was created as a direct result of the post-World-War-One war treaty created without German involvement. For the German people The Versailles Treaty was just a continuation of hostilities with great financial consequences, loss of land and a forced reduction in their armed forces. The Germans had agreed to an armistice based on United States’ President Woodrow Wilson’s “Fourteen Points” However, when the “Big Four” Prime Ministers David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Vittorio Orlando of Italy, Georges Clemenceau of France, and President Woodrow Wilson attended the Paris conference they seemed to have created The Versailles Treaty strictly on their own terms, and established blatant...
Words: 618 - Pages: 3
...1815-Napoleon’s empire ended, and nationalism began its rise. Rising nationalism would eventually be a leading cause of World War I. 11. In the 17th century, witchcraft hysteria took hold in England, Scotland, Switzerland, Germany, New England, and various other countries. Many people, mainly old women, were accused of witchcraft with no evidence. In the 1950s, many American people were accused of being communist sympathizers with no evidence. These events mirrored the witchcraft hysteria. 12. In 1648, the Thirty Year’s War ended. The Peace of Westphalia was created, allowing all German states to determine their own religion. 13. In 1699, the Treaty of Karlowitz was created. Austria took control of Hungary, Transylvania, Croatia, and Slovenia. The empire never became centralized due to all of the national groups. Austrian nationalism was a driving force behind World War I. 14. 1697-1698-Peter the Great of Russia visits the west, and decides to ‘westernize’ Russia. Although he brought many great things to Russia, the forceful way with which he introduced these western ideas made many people distrustful of Western civilization. This distrust would never go away, and would fuel the Cold...
Words: 3274 - Pages: 14
...to dissect creation and find some sort of semblance of meaning that might justify our existence. The list of our accomplishments is immeasurably vast. However, man might have proved that he can reach for ideals, but he has not proved that he can maintain them. We may have climbed mountains, but we have not been able to live for long in such high places. Despite our accomplishments, humanity’s failings have been just as extensive. Our history is also scarred with a long list of wars, injustices, unnecessary deaths, prejudices, hatreds, and disappointments. The pinnacle of our shortcomings, the end-point to our intellectual development as a species, can best be understood in the context of our World Wars. Although humanity has always lived side-by-side with war, never before in our history has so much widespread violence destroyed so many idyllic hopes and dreams. Never before was there such an example of our ignorance as a species, and blatant disregard for our intellectual successes. Both World Wars demonstrate...
Words: 2315 - Pages: 10
...OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION October 29, 1929 was one of the most historic days in U.S. history. It was the largest crash in stock market history, and signifies the beginning of the Great Depression that lasted nearly a decade. It was the most devastating economic struggle that the United States has suffered. Although the stock market crash was the turning point in causing the Great Depression, it wasn’t its only cause. There were many different factors, beginning with the end of the World War I in 1919, that that led up the Great Depression. During World War I, the United States made a lot of money by making and supplying other countries with weapons, food, supplies and other necessities. Farmers, coal miners, textile workers, and businesses were all thriving and doing very well from the war. When World War I came to an end, the farmers, coal miners, and textile workers were the first to feel the effects of the war ending. Their goods were no longer needed for the war, and they immediately found that they had an abundance of goods that they couldn’t sell. They had to cut back on production, and employees, and wages. Once World War I ended, a peace treaty, known as the Versailles Treaty, was signed and it unknowingly became a major cause of the Great Depression. The treaty blamed Germany for the cause of World War I and demanded that Germany pay war reparation to Great Britain and France. Germany was in no position to pay the war reparations; the war cause great devastation...
Words: 752 - Pages: 4
...Woodrow Wilson I. Wilson’s Early Life Born December 28, 1856 at Staunton, Virginia; one of four children to Joseph Ruggles Wilson and Janet Wilson as Thomas Woodrow Wilson. Initially lived for only at year at Staunton; the family moved to Augusta, Georgia until 1870 moving to Columbia then Wilmington in 1784. Woodrow (who would later drop his first name Thomas/Tommy) got his early education from a few ex-Confederate soldiers who set up some schools after the Civil war and his father who taught him religion, literature and British history. In the year 1873, at sixteen years of age, Wilson attended Davidson College, North Carolina for only one year due to his health and concerns at home. 1875, he attended a College of New Jersey (better known as Princeton University) which he later graduated in 1879. That same year he would study law in the University of Virginia but would end up leaving during the second year due to personal reasons. He would continue his study of law on his own accord after returning home of Wilmington, North Carolina. Year 1882, he set up a legal practice with a friend from the University of Virginia and later passed the Georgia Bar Exam. However, he became tired with the practice of law; he decided to continue his education and attended at John Hopkins University, Baltimore. There he was enrolled as a graduate student in history and political science and earned his PH.D in 1886. With his research study, he made the dissertation known as Congressional...
Words: 2025 - Pages: 9
...leading by mid-August to the outbreak of World War I, which pitted Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire (the so-called Central Powers) against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Japan (the Allied Powers). The Allies were joined after 1917 by the United States. The four years of the Great War–as it was then known–saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction, thanks to grueling trench warfare and the introduction of modern weaponry such as machine guns, tanks and chemical weapons. By the time World War I ended in the defeat of the Central Powers in November 1918, more than 9 million soldiers had been killed and 21 million more wounded. WORLD WAR I BEGINS (1914) Though tensions had been brewing in Europe–and especially in the troubled Balkan region–for years before conflict actually broke out, the spark that ignited World War I was struck in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand, nephew of Emperor Franz Josef and heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was shot to death along with his wife by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie set off a rapid chain of events: Austria-Hungary, like many in countries around the world, blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as justification for settling the question of Slavic nationalism once and for all. As Russia supported Serbia, Austria-Hungary waited to declare war until its leaders received assurances from...
Words: 1860 - Pages: 8
...How far did the Weimar Republic Recover 1923-1929? In 1923, Gustav Stresemann was appointed chancellor in Germany. At the time, world war one had just finished and the Weimar republic was facing a lot of problems. I think Stresemann did bring a recovery however some may say he just papered over the crack which in some cases is very true. However, I think overall he did rescue Germany. I think this because he saved the economy from the hyperinflation; he signed the Dawes plan and sorted out the problems with the treaty of Versailles. However, some people may say he didn’t help Germany because the culture was changed completely and the country basically ran riot. Also, at the time that Stresemann was in charge, politicians were being killed and there were many revolts. In my essay I will argue both sides but finally come to my own conclusion. In 1922, the German government announced that they couldn’t pay anymore reparations to France due to the state of the economy. The country was in far too much debt. Of course the French were not happy and therefore sent 60,000 French and Belgian soldiers to the Ruhr. The government was hated already because a lot of people blamed them for signing the treaty in the first place which meant they had to pay reparations to France they couldn’t afford. The government told the workers at the Ruhr to refuse to collaborate with the French, consequently, the industrial production stopped. This caused a rise in unemployment and a rise in Poverty. The...
Words: 2725 - Pages: 11
