The Most Important Aim of the Foreign Policy 1933-36 was to Overthrow the Treaty of Versailles
The Weimar Republic was declared on 9th November 1918, although its
first elections were on the 19th January of 1919 out of the defeat of
the First World War and lasted until Hitler abused Article 48 of the
Weimar constitution in 1933 to turn Germany into a totalitarian state.
The republic faced unpopularity right from the beginning. In June
1919, the German delegates were forced to sign the humiliating treaty
of Versailles in which Germany was forced to accept full
responsibility for the First World War (Article 231) and to pay ?6.6
billion in reparation because they could not afford to go back to war.
Germany's coalition government did consider restarting the war instead
of accepting the terms but Germany was too weak. There was also the
'Dolchstoss theory', the stab in the back theory in which it was the
Politicians that brought the Germans out of the war when they were so
close to victory.
All of these problems provided the basis for some of the other
problems which the faced the new republic. Austen
The Allies drew up the treaty based on the 'war guilt' clause, article
231, which stated that Germany was responsible for the outbreak of
war. This meant the Allies could impose reparations, reduce Germany's
armed forces and take resourceful territory, calling it a punishment
because they could not afford to go back to war. Germany's coalition
government did consider restarting the war instead of accepting the
terms but Germany was too weak.
The treaty only allowed Germany to have an army of 100,000 men and
there were on average seven applicants for each place. The short term
impact of the army reductions were disastrous, however in the long
term this aspect back fired on the Allies as such a small army meant
they could be trained to be an elite force, and it pushed people
towards unofficial armies such as the Nazis.
The Treaty of Versailles seemed to cause a very large amount of
Although the United States appeared isolationist in the 1920s, it cannot be called truly isolationist as policy remained interventionist over some issues. Although it did not join the League of Nations, it worked closely with them, especially over humanitarian issues. It also instigated and signed the Kellog-Briande Pact in 1928 along with 63 other nations, outlawing war. Furthermore, interventionism continued where it was most convenient in regard to colonial interests, trade opportunities, ensuring peace overseas and the repayment of foreign debt. Although President Harding claimed we see no part in directing the destiny of the world', it seems that a foreign policy of interventionism was needed in directing the destiny of the United States.
The Roosevelt Corollary greatly affected American foreign policy. It was in sharp contrast to the Monroe Doctrine, put in place to stop foreign intervention with the American continents. In 1823 President Monroe implemented US policy that stated European powers were not allowed to colonize or interfere with the newly budding United States or the Americas. In 1904 President Roosevelt expanded upon this policy in response to European intervention with Latin America. This policy became known as the Roosevelt Corollary. The document echoed the style of leadership President Roosevelt became synonymous with. This more aggressive form of policy became known as Big Stick Diplomacy. Foreign policy in the United States would forever be changed by President Roosevelt’s reinterpretation of the Monroe Document. The Roosevelt Corollary would later go on to affect decisions the United States made in regards to the Cold War, Cuba, The Middle East and many more. To understand the impact of this, we must look back to the Monroe Doctrine.
Well, President Roosevelt had wanted to go to war with the other nations for a while. He knew what would happen if Germany took over. Roosevelt knew Hitler would get power hungry and he knew how everything would turn out. So, Roosevelt wanted to stop this from happening. Roosevelt wanted to cut off the tie before the string got frayed. The second big question was, was it for a good cause? Yes. Roosevelt wanted to stop Germany before World War 2 had even begun to start. Roosevelt wanted to just stop Germany before Germany could get more countries as part of their empire. Unfortunately, Roosevelt had failed in manipulating
Roosevelt paved the United States’ path from isolation to power. When World War II broke out in Europe, the country was largely isolationist. “Isolationist rhetoric reflected real public sentiment, as Roosevelt knew” (Renka, The Modern Presidency…). Roosevelt, however, seemed a step ahead of the nation. He stood firmly against Hitler and strove to align the United States with Western democracies and to strengthen the military (Greenstein 20). In 1938, Roosevelt’s foreign policy speeches began to reveal an obvious swing away from isolationism (Renka, Roosevelt’s Expansion of the Presidency). When Churchill reported in 1940 that the United Kingdom could no longer afford to pay for American weapons, Roosevelt used this opportunity to increase the United States’ influence in European affairs and lean his country slightly away from isolationism. Knowing Congress would oppose a loan to the United Kingdom, he created an entirely new program he called “lend-lease” (Greenstein 20).
There is no excuse for the horrible things Nazi Germany did during World War II. But one can get a better idea how that war started by learning about how World War I ended. The Treaty of Versailles was created by the winners of World War I, like France, Great Britain, and the United States, to make peace. So how did it help contribute to an even worse war less than twenty years later? It was mainly because it was too hard on Germany’s territory, military, economy, and national pride.
3. The main German aim was to support Austria-Hungary, Germany's only firm ally. 4. The German government realized too late that the conflict could not be localized.
During the1930’s the Western economy was still in terrible shape from the Great Depression and the Stock Market Crash of 1929. “Evident instability – with cycles of boom and bust, expansion and recession - generated profound anxiety and threatened the livelihood of both industrial workers and those who gained a modest toehold in the middle class. Unemployment soared everywhere, and in both Germany and the United States it reached 30 percent or more by 1932. Vacant factories, soup kitchens, bread lines, shantytowns and beggars came to symbolize the human reality of this economic disaster.” (Strayer, 990) Like Germany, the Western democracies were economically in trouble and looking for stability and recovery. The United States’ response to the Great Depression, under Roosevelt, came in the form of the New Deal “which was an experimental combination of reforms seeking to restart economic growth. In Britain, France and Scandinavia, the Depression energized a democratic socialism that sought greater regulation of the economy and a more equal distribution of wealth, through peaceful means and electoral policies.” (Strayer, 993) The lack and need for restoration was clearly global. Hitler’s promise of civil peace, unity and the restoration of national pride would seem very appealing and very similar to the wants and needs of the Western democracies; but through peaceful means. No one was interested in or could afford setting off a heavily funded war by taking a stand against Hitler. Through a policy of appeasement allowing Hitler to take back land that was ordered dematerialized by the Treaty of Versailles, the British and the French tried to avoid all-out war but to no avail. Hitler continued his conquests eventually having most of Europe under Nazi control. A second war in Europe had
What started with an assassination of an Austrian prince unpopular in with royalty in Vienna and plotters in Belgrade ended in war. Four years of artillery, machine guns, and poison gas had ruined the countryside of Europe. Woodrow Wilson put the blame for dead millions at the feet of secret diplomacy, excessive armament, imperialism, and the lack of international cooperation. His plan for a lasting peace was presented to the world in the form of the Fourteen Points, some of which were present in the final plan for peace, the Treaty of Versailles, which faced internal opposition at home. It was the strength of this opposition, from self or fawning-historian labeled "progressives" to conservatives and isolationists, in conjunction with the intractability and incompetence of President Wilson that encouraged the Senate defeat of the Treaty of Versailles.
German foreign policy during the Third Reich is a great source of great debate. Many historians agree that Hitler did make the big decisions of foreign policy after 1933. However, the disagreement occurs when discussing the extent which the foreign policy was derived from Hitler’s own “ideological pre-possessions and programme” (356). According to the structuralists, the foreign policy emphasized expansion and contained unclear and unspecific aims. This was due to the “uncontrollable dynamism and radicalizing momentum of the Nazi movement and governmental system” (353). Hitler’s foreign policy stressed his image and ideological fixations, not his direct intervention and initiative. Hitler is seen as an opportunist who makes spur-of-the-moment decisions, rather than a man with a concrete plan (354).
Ellicia Chiu Mrs. Daly World History: Period 3 4/27/15 How Did the Versailles Treaty Help Cause World War II? The first World War is recorded as one of the “deadliest conflicts in human history”. With over 16 million dead, it was one of the first wars with a high amount of casualties. However, the one that tops the list with around 60 million deaths was World War II.
The Treaty of Versailles was a violation of Wilson’s ideals. The Treaty is one of the most important agreements (or disagreements) that shaped 20th century Europe socially and physically. Woodrow Wilson on January 22, 1917 in an address to the United States Senate called for a peace without victors, but the Treaty signed by the participating nations was everything but that. The blame for the war was placed on Germany and justified the reparations that were outlined by the treaty for the war. The terms of the treaty were very harsh to the Germans and they took on great resentment. It was a fragile peace agreement that would be used as fuel to keep hostilities going 20 years later.
Hitler had long been obsessed with attacking and controlling France. After their defeat in World War I, the German people, government, and military were humiliated by the enormous post war sanctions leveraged against them from the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler wanted to defeat and humiliate the French people in the same way that his country had to. For him, revenge was necessary. The German plan was to swing into France using a new tactic known as Blitzkrieg or “Lightning War”.
Some major terms of the Treaty of Versailles affected Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey. The most notable was the treaty signed by Germany. They were forced to sign the war-guilt clause, pinning all the blame on Germany for starting the war which led to Germany having to pay for all the damages caused by the Allies being subjected to the casualties of the imposed aggression of Germany and its allies. Germany considered this too harsh.
The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, marks the day that WWI descended into armistice. However, the involved countries reached an agreement as to the events following the war on the 28th of June, 1919. The famous Treaty of Versailles was known for its role in ending war. But it was not known for being a double-edged sword, as the ending of war came with the consequence of causing future war. The Treaty consisted of uncontested biases due to Germany's unconditional surrender. The Allies held a gun to Germany's head, with their trigger finger tense. Each article of the Versailles Treaty only made Germany more restless, until 1933 when Hitler produced his own gun and pointed it at the Allies. The Treaty had a series of unproportional effects upon Germany and its people. It caused a rift between the two sides because of the alliances that it formed, brewing tension. The punishments enforced upon Germany were unrealistically huge and it increased the wish among the Germans for the nullification of the Treaty. Finally, the accumulated hatred amongst the people gave birth to potential for a revolution. The Treaty of Versailles is, therefore, an indirect cause to World War II, because of the alliances it caused, the punishments it enforced, and the hatred it developed.
In the 1932 election, the National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party had successfully won the most votes, and President Paul Von Hindenburg appointed the Nazi party leader Adolf Hitler as Chancellor. The Nazi party had become the most powerful political party in Germany. The Nazi’s changed Germany’s political, economic, and social structure once Hitler became chancellor. Despite the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler changed the economy by rearming Germany and creating an air force. Though the Allied Powers condemned Hitler’s decision to break the treaty they did nothing. (Lindsay, James