Essay: Treaty of Versailles

It is June 1921 in Germany, and it has been 2 years since The Weimar Republic has signed the Treaty of Versailles. The terms that were stated in the Treaty of Versailles are that Germany first must pay 1 billion marks to the League of Nations. Germany must also not have an army greater than one hundred thousand men and must not attack any other nation. Also Germany must return Alsace-Lorraine to France. The Weimar Republic is slowly working towards rebuilding after this great war through rebuilding its economy to their former glory and the nation as a whole. The Treaty of Versailles has allowed The Weimar Republic to pay an amount based on what they would be able to pay has allowed them to become more successful in the rebuilding process. Many Germans are still upset with the outcome of World War 1, such as former commander in the army, Adolf Hitler, who blames the loss of the war on Jewish people and other minorities. In 1929, the United States Stock Market crashed which has caused economic turmoil throughout the world. Luckily, The Weimar Republic has paid off their reparations so the only negative effects were that the value of a mark slightly diminished and half a million Germans became unemployed.
This scene is imaginary because instead of being charged with reparations that Germany would have been able to pay, The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to pay 276 billion marks which was later lowered to 226 billion marks. This sum was impossible for Germany to pay and would have taken them decades. This caused the German mark to decrease in value to the point where marks were essentially worth nothing. Because of this a large amount of Germans lost their jobs and were left homeless without food and feeling lost. After this, in 1929 the Stock Market in the United States crashed and banks called on Germany to pay the reparations through the loans they had made. At the same time, the Chancellor of Germany was Heinrich Bruning who raised taxes and cut public spending in the hopes of strengthening Germany’s international relations. “Bruning raised taxes and cut public expenditures, deliberately driving the German economy into the worst of the depression, for the purpose of strengthening Germany’s hand in international relations.”  The conditions present in Germany during this time allowed for the the Socialist German Workers’ Party to gain political power and be able to become the second largest political party. The misery only got worse and six million Germans were unemployed leading to Chancellor Brüning being ousted, and replaced by Franz von Papen, and in 1933 President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany, this was when Hitler was able to gain power and in 1933, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, allowing Hitler to not follow the constitution. “This Enabling Law went much further than any of the earlier ones. The Government was to be empowered not only to issue decrees but to pass laws, including such as deviated from the Constitution of 1919.” After this, Hitler censored the press, outlawed labor unions, and banned all other political parties. He had effectively gained totalitarian control of the government. He then established the Gestapo which is a secret police force for the Socialist German Workers’ Party. He also sent his opponents who he believed posed a threat to his totalitarian control of Germany to Concentration camps and established Nazi Youth Organizations that were required for all children above the age of 10.
There is a conjecture as to what Adolf Hitler promised to centre leaders in order to pass the Enabling Act. The centre leaders wanted a committee to me made that would be informed on what actions were being taken place under the law. “The Centre leaders, however, had made one request before committing themselves to support it: that a small committee be set up which should be kept fully informed of the measures to be taken under the new act”
I am altering the Treaty of Versailles terms that forced Germany to pay a ridiculous amount of reparations that would be impossible for Germany to pay off. Although these reparations are not the sole reason that the Socialist German Workers’ Party was able to gain political party, it certainly helped them gained more power than they would have otherwise and made it simpler for Adolf Hitler to gain total control of Germany. One of the largest shortcomings of the Treaty of Versailles is that it did not include any plan for the economic rehabilitation of Europe. “Provisions for the economic rehabilitation of Europe.” This means that they did not have any plan to return Europe back to its former economic status. This allowed Adolf Hitler and the Socialist German Workers’ Party to gain power under the ideal that they they could help Germany regain their former economic status. Another conjecture that led to World War 2 was Germany’s pursuit of lebensraum which means living space. Nazi Propaganda believed that those who were an enemy or unworthy or being a citizen were detrimental to Germany and because of this they needed lebensraum in order to create a better and stronger Germany. “Nazi Propaganda sought to target those whom it considered an enemy or unworthy or being a citizen, Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, Communists and other political dissidents…these themes were used in arguments for lebensraum or living space for Germany’s expansionist plans to help create a bigger, stronger Germany.”
It is 1934 Germany is currently under the leadership of Chancellor Edwin Nottle who has controlled the country since 1932. He has been working hard to fight to rebuild our great nation after the World War and to try to pull our country through this depression. Despite his efforts to help our nation, the past years have still been a difficult time for our nation. After we lost the war, we signed the Treaty of Versailles which forced our nation to pay one billion marks to The League of Nations consisting of the United States, France, England and Italy. This amount was difficult for our nation to pay and caused the value of our marks to drop almost fifty percent. Because of this many people lost their jobs, however the government is helping many by providing shelter and food. There is still a movement led by Adolf Hitler and many former soldiers who blame the results of the World War on Jewish people. This movement is known as the Socialist German Workers’ Party and has gained popularity in recent years especially among former soldiers. This political party is still considered a far right group and many people consider the members of this party to be bigots, however some people have used their unfavorable conditions such as being homeless due to the depression and have transformed it into hate for Jewish people through this party.
The reason that analyzing why different terms for the Treaty of Versailles could have created a different outcome is because the original terms that were laid out in the Treaty of Versailles led to World War Two which is the most deadly war of all time. If there is a possibility that this war could have been prevented, it is important for Historians and all people alike to study these possibilities in order to ensure something like World War Two will never be repeated.