jun 28, 1919 - Treaty of Versailles
Description:
The Treaty of Versailles was signed by Germany and the Allies (represented by USA, Britain and France) at the Palace of Versailles in Paris. The treaty was the most important of all the treaties signed at the Paris Peace Conference - it officially ended the war.
Causes
1. The treaty was designed to punish Germany. The Allies wanted to humiliate Germany as much as possible and used the War Guilt Clause to do so. The War Guilt Cause made Germany accept full responsibility for the war or face further conflict.
2. All countries in WW1 suffered, France especially. France wanted Germany to pay for what they had done and to be weakened enough so that they could never challenge them again. Britain was also of this mindset, though they did not want revenge like France. Germany ended up having to pay 132 billion gold marks (nearly $50 billion AUD) in war reparations to the Allies as well as give up 13% of their land. The land they relinquished to the Allies made up 48% of their iron production and a significant amount of their coal production, which was another big hit to their economy.
Effects
1. The war reparations and loss of land contributed to the collapse of Germany's economy. Unemployment rates skyrocketed as a result. The whole country was starving and hate for the Allies and the Treaty grew.
2. As a result of the Treaty of Versailles a chaotic environment was created which enabled the rise of two fascist dictators. As one of the Allies, Italy was expecting to get more territory out of the Treaty of Versailles, to expand their growing empire. The USA opposed this, and Italy received only a small amount of land, leaving the whole country feeling cheated. Italy's government were already seen as weak because of their struggling economy so when Italy was denied most of the land they wanted, the public's resentment towards the government grew. Mussolini used this resentment to gain power and become a dictator.
Germany was humiliated and broke with a weak government after the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler rose to power with fascism by using the people's hate towards the Allies and the government.
Added to timeline:
Causes of WW2
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