Hitler and the Treaty of Versailles

World War I left Europe devastated. During the peace conference in Paris in 1919, different nations gathered to negotiate a proposal. France was afraid that Germany would attack them so they wanted to create a buffer state in between the two countries. To punish the Germans France wanted German reparations and they wanted to demilitarize Germany. In the conference Great Britain also initially wanted to punish Germany for its actions in the war. The Treaty of Versailles did some of this. The Treaty of Versailles was an agreement between the Allies and Germany that was an important step to establish international order. Germany had to give up some if its colonies to France, Britain, and Japan which was a blow to their economy. Germany also had to cut its army back to 100,000. These were all some of the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles that were put in place to punish Germany for starting the war.

After the Treaty of Versailles was signed Germany had dissatisfaction with the settlements. An organization called the League of Nations was started up about the same time as the Treaty of Versailles as well. The League of Nation's purpose was to prevent war through collective security and settle global disputes through diplomacy and negotiation. However, after World War I western democracies began to take on an attitude of appeasement. Appeasement means "peace at all costs" (Topic Outline-Causes and Course of WW I). Then according to the topic outline given, "Lax attitude on the part of the League of Nations feeds German bravado" (Topic Outline-Causes and Course of WW I). Hitler then begins to take apart the Treaty of Versailles.

The Non-Aggression Pact with Stalin is a great example of taking apart the Treaty of Versailles. He wanted to reunite all the territory that had once been German. They agreed in this to split Poland between them. Hitler would get east Prussia, now part of Poland, which had been taken from Germany in WWI. Once he had East Prussia, Hitler invaded Poland and got what he wanted. Stalin was playing right into Hitler's hands. In his foreign policy statement in Mein Kampf Hitler says," We [the Nazi party] will secure for the German people the land and soil to which they are entitled on this earth. This territorial policy cannot be fulfilled in the Cameroons, but rather our soil will be in Europe at the expense of Russia and her vassal states. A greater German state will be created; its core will be Austria, Bohemia, Moravia and parts of Poland" (Mein Kampf). Then Hitler writes that," Germany truly sees the destruction of France as a means to an end, which is to enable our nation subsequently to expand elsewhere at long last" ( Mein Kampf). These directly violate the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.