Versailles Treaty: A Catalyst for International Unrest

International Disputes

Versailles: The Western powers after the First World War viewed Germany as the main leader of the war and imposed a treaty upon the defeated nation. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the post-World War I treaties, presented by the Western powers, for German leaders to sign in order to surrender different territories belong to the different nations prior to Germany’s invasion and occupation. The different territories belonged to Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Poland, parts of Prussia and France. In addition, Germany was force to surrender all their oversea colonies to the League of Nations. However, the greatest thing that affected Germany was not their loss of colonial land but the “War Guilt Clause,” Article 231 of the

However, the main purpose of The League of Nation in preventing acts of aggression was only to preserve the existing state of affair established by the many treaties after the First World War. The League of Nation, failed to serve its purpose as it failed to prevent aggression from Japan, Italy and Germany due to the lack of enforcement from the major powers such as the United States. The first major failure was their inability to stop Japan invasion of Manchuria. The League of Nation condemnation of Japan for their action had no effect and powerless as it only led to the withdrawal of the Japan from the League of Nation (“Appeasement”, 2014). The second failure was Italy’s successful invasion of Abyssinia and China. Although there were economic sanctions given to Italy, it had no effect in deterring Italy from conquering Abyssinia and only further proved the ineffectiveness of the League of Nation (“Appeasement”, 2014). The third failure was Hitler’s breach of the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler remilitarized Germany in March of 1935. Due to the British and French government’s passion for maintaining peace, they only

The Great Depression began in the United States on October of 1929, when the stock market crashed and 16 million shares of stock sold unhurriedly ("What was the Great Depression and why did it start in the USA?", 2011). The Great Depression was a period of worldwide economic decline during the 1920s to the 1930s ("Great Depression dictionary definition | Great Depression defined", 2016). The Great depression while severely affected numerous nations worldwide; it had a special impact on Germany. Leaning towards the right winged ideologies, the population of Germany was anxious for change. Hitler’s party, the Nationalist Socialist German Worker’s party, or Nazi, appealed to Germans who desperate for change ("Hitler Comes to Power", 2016). His promises for a better Germany attracted attention especially from the unemployed, middle class and young people who wanted change. There was high unemployment rate and the German lacked confidence in their government, the Weimar republic, as their spending increases from 15 percent of GDP to 25 percent ("Commanding Heights : Germany Economic | on PBS", 2016). Hyperinflation caused by war debts, reparations and overprinting money destabilized the country and further increasing the unemployment rate ("Commanding Heights : Germany Economic | on PBS", 2016). The instability of Germany