Essay on Germany: World War Ii and totally Different Story

Submitted By lilpasqual19
Words: 763
Pages: 4

DBQ Germany is a peaceful place now, but that was a totally different story about 100 years ago. Just recently, a debt was paid off that had been a burden to the country for the past century. This debt was from World War I and all the repercussions the Treaty of Versailles inflicted on Germany. At the time, Germany was the only country blamed for the war, which is why they had such a large bill to pay for all the damages the war caused throughout Europe. But with this debt, Germany slumped into a period of political unrest. Resulting in harsh dictators to come in and take control, which ultimately would lead to, without a doubt, World War II. And most likely would not have been able to be avoided. After the Treaty of Versailles, Germany now faced a tough problem. As stated in article 232 of the Treaty of Versailles in Document 2, “The Allied and Associated Governments…require, and Germany undertakes, that she will make compensation for all damage done to the civilian population of the Allied and Associated during the period of the belligerency of each as an Allied or Associated Power against Germany.” This would mean that Germany would be faced with a thirty three billion dollar debt in order to pay for all the damages caused by the war. With such debt, Germany, as a country, struggled heavily economically, leading to little improvements made throughout the country during this post-war period in Germany. Although Adolf Hitler did not speak in agreement to much of this, but in Document 3, he mentioned, “The German people after twenty-five or thirty years, in consequence of the fact that it will never be able to pay all that is demanded of it, will have so gigantic a sum still owing that practically it will be forced to produce more than it does today.” As you can tell, this treaty basically put Germany though the ringer, because the country’s economy was not able to fully be restore until many long decades after the conflicts of World War I. Also included in Article of 231 of the treaty, Germany was given the duty of accepting full blame for what happened to the Allied and Associated Governments during WWI. This condition of the treaty really humiliated Germany and added to the already enormous economic burden, causing the Germans to feel unsatisfied and unhappy, and angry with the current government. With the combination of these two major components of the Treaty of Versailles, it left the German people in desperate need for a new, stronger, and more reliable leader. A perfect recipe for a dictator to come and take over Germany, which is exactly what Adolf Hitler did. With Germany left in a state of unrest and unhappiness, Adolf Hitler, who had great charisma and great promises toward the future of Germany was exactly what the citizens