The Treaty of Versailles was the main reason behind World War II. Discuss

For essay questions it is important to carefully read the question. Some elements are the key to answering the question. Here discuss and the main reason are essential. "Discuss" implies providing elements that support the statement, i.e. that explain the utmost importance of the Treaty of Versailles in causing World War II but also giving elements that contradict the statement. You need to think of elements not related to the Treaty that could also explain the reasons behind the war. Finally, you need to judge which elements most strongly explain the causes of World War II.
I would first define and give the main conditions of the Treaty and Versailles: it was signed on the 28th of June, 1919 by the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany and stated the conditions of surrender of Germany. However, the elements in the Treaty were agreed beforehand by the winning countries without consulting Germany. The conditions were extremely harsh on Germany's military and economy: Germany was held responsible for the war and had thus to repay war repairs to the other countries and had to demilitarise the Rhine region and reduce its army to a 100 thousand men. The Treaty of Versailles was perceived by Germany as a "diktat", a very unfair treaty that ashamed the country. Hitler often used the unfairness of the Treaty of Versailles and the need to take revenge on those that brought Germany to its knees as a reason to go to war. As other reasons one could mention the 1929 financial crisis, which hit severely the German economy and thus made people prone to be part and elect more extreme political parties. One can also mention the belligerent desire of the Nazi Party and its ability to use propaganda.

Answered by Caroline A. History tutor

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