World War I was the first time our world has seen conflict of such extent at a global scale. This four year long battle was known at the time as “The Great War”. This enormous battle was the first of its kind, as it saw conflict in the skies, the oceans, and on ground. The trenches held men on both sides of the battle, shooting at each other whilst overcoming the muddy distress of life on the field This grueling battle was fought between the Allies consisting of France, Britain, USA, Russia, and Italy, and the Central Powers consisting of Germany, The Ottoman Empire, and Austria-Hungary. After four years of intense conflict, the war saw an ending with Germany signing an armistice, with them not surrendering, but instead agreeing to end the war.   With the end of the First World War, an incredible change in the geo-political stance of Europe was in the rise. A conference was to be held in Paris in the year 1919, in which all the Great Powers (also known as the victors) assembled. This peace conference occurred in January in Versailles, just outside of Paris. Many nations attended this conference, but The United States, Italy, Britain, and France repented greatly, as they were known as The Great Four. After much warm-blooded negotiation, a treaty was comprised, named The Treaty of Versailles. This treaty was constructed based on everything decided during the conference.

There were many disagreements within the Big Four during these negotiations, as conflicting ideologies played significant roles in deciding an outcome. The treaty wished for Germany to accept complete responsibility for the war, give up a great deal of their land, insight great economic punishment on them, lose their military and navy, and asked for their new government to step down from power. These extreme measures placed on Germany came about, as Germany, and the central powers, had no real influence during the Paris 1919 negotiations. Germany signed the treaty, and faced an extreme depression and degradation of general life. This would later lead to something extremely terrible and harsh…

The treaty also brought about The League of Nations. The League of Nations was brainchild of American President Woodrow Wilson. It’s sole task was to achieve peace, and ensure that no great conflicts such as this war would ever occur again. Although President Wilson’s fourteen points birthed the League, America itself never joined. Wilson stood before congress and called for a “general association of nations…formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.” (Woodrow Wilson). Congress declined America’s involvement, but nonetheless the League was created and continued until 1946. They worked hard to solve disputes between nations without the use of conflict. They were also the first intergovernmental organisation the world had seen.

Now, let’s assess the inquiry question “What problems will be created at the Paris Peace Conference that will reverberate throughout the 20th century?”. To assess this question, let’s begin by analyzing what we mentioned about the conference. Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles, which negatively impacted their country extremely. The citizens were going through an economical depression. The damages owed by Germany drove their economy into the ground. At one point the exchange rate between a German mark and a US dollar was 1 trillion marks per 1 US dollar. The economic devastation drove Germany’s government into the ground and that is not the fault of the government, it is the fault of the treaty. The hyperinflation caused by the treaty put the country into a state of anarchy. The loss of almost all of Germany’s colonies angered many Germans. Their citizens realized that losing their territories had contributed to the crash of the German economy, and they resented the Allies for causing the collapse of their nation.  The economy collapsed, the government lost power, the military was weak, and the Germans were angry. All of these factors together combined to make a perfect storm in Germany. 

The Treaty of Versailles itself had three main focus points directed at Germany. Lets asses each of these three points, and draw conclusions as to how these lead to the rise of Adolf Hitler. The first of these three points was launched towards Germany’s territory. To make it simple, the end of the First World War made Germany loose a significant amount of land. Alsace-Lorraine was given back to France. Malmedy was given to Belgium. North Schleswig was given to Denmark (after a plebiscite). Memel was given to Lithuania. West Prussia (including the ‘Polish corridor’) and Upper Silesia were given to Poland. Danzig was made a ‘free city’. This was designed to weaken Germany. This land added up to Germany loosing a total of ten percent of their land mass, twelve percent of its population, and sixteen percent of its industry. The effects of this are disastrous. Families became torn apart by new borders, jobs were lost, and a general sense of overall defeat was felt in within the population. Germans had felt as if they had been torn apart to nothing, as a deep brewing anger was growing within their nation. Here is an image representing the territorial loss of Germany due to the Treaty.

The second focus point of the Treaty towards Germany was towards their military. The Rhineland was ordered to be completely demilitarized. The Rhineland was an area along Western Germany along the Rhine. France ordered this demilitarization as a buffer between the two countries to prevent Germany from ever trying to invade them again. Along with this demilitarized area, the Treaty ordered Germany to reduce their military size strictly to 100,00 men. In this army, they could have only six battleships, no submarines, and no warplanes. Stripping Germany, the once mighty strength in Europe, was nothing less than embarrassing. The country not only physically weak, but had a deep sense of embarrassment. People were angered, and felt defenselessness to the powers that now surrounded their borders. It was as if Germany had lost it all, and they desired revenge.

The final blow to Germany delivered by the treaty hit their economy. I mentioned earlier how inflation struck Germany, and how their mark (currency) became virtually worthless. This impoverished families, brought men out of work, and unable to supply for their families. An underlying sense of embarrassment was felt within Germany from these three different hard hitting factors of the Treaty. The loss of the Saar reduced Germany’s industrial strength. The loss of West Prussia took away Germany’s richest farming land. What happens to a country that was once incredibly powerful and a force to be reckoned with once it becomes embarrassed, stripped of its powers, and left in the dirt? Bad things happen.

The state Germany was left in following the treaty gave an individual like Adolf Hitler the perfect environment to rise up and gain power. The Treaty of Versailles contributed greatly to the alienation many Germans felt about their civilian, democratic government, and when these combined with the actions of the military, it provided a rich material for Hitler to use to gain the support of those on the right. The sheer presence of the reparations gave Hitler a reason to represent himself as an answer to Germany’s problems, and utilized the hatred and embarrassment within the population for his own power growth.