How Did The Treaty Of Versailles Led To World War II?

Despite the treaty’s financial burden on Germany, the country’s war-fatigued economy would have eventually led to World War II. Even before the Treaty of Versailles was in place, Germany had just faced a war loss; the country had spent 170 billion marks (the equivalent to about 593 billion modern U.S. dollars) on the war. This removed Germany from first place in the world’s greatest economies, as Germany was the top spendthrift of World War I. With or without the Treaty of Versailles, the overall cost of the war was still a major blow to the Germans’ financial situation.

The main trouble with the economic strain placed on Germany was the fact that it would eventually lead to the rise of the Nazi party. In his biography, Mein Kampf, Hitler says, “…propaganda I initiated against the peace treaty of Versailles, which I introduced by some enlightenment regarding the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. I contrasted the two peace treaties, compared them point for point, showed the actual boundless humanity of the [Brest-Litovsk] treaty compared to the inhuman cruelty of the [Versailles treaty], and the result was

Already, Germany’s army had risen to 4.5 million troops, which was forty-five times the allowed size of Germany’s military under the treaty. Not only was the treaty broken with the rise of soldiers, but Hitler also conducted a successful plan to build more weapons, which also aided in Germany’s falling economy. Action was not taken by the Allies even after both Austria and Czechoslovakia were invaded. Instead, Great Britain and other supporting countries made agreements with Hitler, thinking that if they were lenient toward the treaty’s rules, war would be avoided. Without military influence or actions taken by the League of Nations, the Allied countries almost acted as if Treaty of Versailles never existed in the aspect of attempting to disarm