Did the Treaty of Versailles create a hostile environment in Europe that led to World War II? To answer this question, it is necessary to analyze whether and how specific articles affected the social and political climate in Europe prior to the war.

Ironically, the treaty that brought World War I to an end actually helped plant the seeds for the new conflict. Although it was signed on June 28, 1919, in The Palace of Versailles, this peace accord caused a lot of turmoil in Germany. As a result, Germany felt that the treaty was too harsh and instead of peace, it sowed the seeds of one of the worst wars in history, as H.G. Wells famously said.

One of the major issues with the treaty was that it forced Germany to relinquish some of its territories. According to Article 51 of the Versailles Treaty, Germany had to cede the territories it had acquired under the treaties of 1871 to France. Along with the loss of territory, Germany also had to surrender archives, registers, and documents of all kinds concerning the territories restored to French sovereignty.

France wanted to humiliate Germany, a desire that alienated its allies and sparked radical political movements in Germany. Paris developed a decidedly defensive posture, seeking ways to box in and humiliate Germany. This was only the beginning of what was to come.

When the treaty was presented to the Germans, the United Kingdom and France had decided to put everything on Germany, presented to them via fourteen points. The occupying forces mandated Germany to surrender about 10% of its territory and severely limited its military potential. The War Criminals clause forced the country to accept responsibility for the war and pay for the damages caused, which amounted to about $33 billion in contemporary currency. The treaty also established the League of Nations, which Germany was not allowed to join until 1926.

With the acceptance of Article 231, or the War Guilt Clause, Germany had to accept 100% responsibility for the war and its allies. This came at a tremendous cost for Germany as it had to give up a considerable portion of its territories. Germany lost all of its oversea colonies, France gained Alsace-Lorraine, and the Saarland, rich in coal, was occupied by France. Votes were held in several regions, with Poland regaining territory lost to Prussia in the 19th century and gaining territory in Prussia and Silesia, creating a strip that split Germany in two. Furthermore, the predominately German-speaking city of Danzig became a free city. The treaty demanded that Germany disarm, and the Reichswehr was limited to just 100,000 soldiers. The air force was prohibited from having combat aircraft, and the German navy lost most of its surface ships and all its submarines. Tanks were forbidden, and Germany was humiliated for a second time.

Therefore, it is evident that several articles in the Treaty of Versailles contributed to the rise of hostilities in Europe that eventually led to World War II. In conclusion, these articles shaped the political and social context in Europe by creating instability, resentment, and humiliation, paving the way for future conflicts.

The Treaty of Versailles not only left Germany feeling depleted, but it also had repercussions for other European countries, including Italy. Troubles broke out in Italy, not long after the war ended, where clashes erupted between war veterans in search of jobs and higher wages they believed they were owed for their wartime service and factory owners unable to meet their demands. Benito Mussolini capitalized on these frustrations and the anger felt by Italians who were left betrayed by the Treaty of Versailles by forming the “Fasci Italiani di Combattimento” in 1919. Essentially, this organization’s principal tenets of fascism called for a totalitarian form of government, a heightened focus on national unity, militarism, social Darwinism, and loyalty to the state. Their main targets were the leaders of the approximately 200,000 Italian workers who had successfully taken over most of the factories in Italy. Starting in the north, Mussolini’s message of restoring Italian national greatness and a better life for the middling classes resonated with the disillusioned, which helped in recruiting them. At first, the Fascists served as a vigilante organization on the streets, ending strikes for industrialists, deterring street crimes, and generally restoring a sense of public order and safety. Then, their successes translated into the political realm as the party began winning local elections. Word of their success spread as the rest of the nation continued to struggle, and the Italian Parliament seemed incapable of solving any of the nation’s problems. Consequently, with the support of major Italian industrialists and the king, who saw Fascism as a bulwark against growing Socialist and Communist movements, Mussolini became the prime minister in 1922. Between 1925 and 1927, Mussolini transformed the nation into a single-party state and removed all restraints on his power.

In Germany, a similar pattern was happening. The Germans were humiliated by the Treaty of Versailles, and with their new leader, Adolf Hitler, the “Nazi” was born. The Nazi became very popular in the 1930s due to the Great Depression that Germany was going through. Hitler promised the Germans that their country would be great again and that they would get rid of the “non-Germans”, which was code for Jews and immigrants. With Hitler on their side and now the prime minister of Germany, he conquered the countries that Germany had lost in the Treaty of Versailles in 1936 in alignment with his promise to restore German greatness. In March 1938, claiming that he sought only to reunite ethnic Germans within the borders of one country, Hitler took over Austria. In 1938, the agreement reached at the Munich Conference failed to satisfy Hitler. In May 1939, Germany and Italy formalized their military alliance with the “Pact of Steel.” On September 1, Hitler unleashed his Blitzkrieg, or “lightning war,” against Poland, using swift, surprise attacks combining infantry, tanks, and aircraft to overwhelm the enemy. Britain and France had already learned from the experience with Czechoslovakia that Hitler could not be trusted, and that his territorial demands were insatiable. On September 3, 1939, they declared war on Germany, and the European phase of World War II began.

Although the Treaty of Versailles was designed to bring peace to nations and stop a war, it ultimately set the stage for a new war, World War II. The Treaty left Germany feeling angry and hurt as its country was stripped of territories, which resulted in an economy put into depression. With the emergence of a new dictator, Adolf Hitler, Germans felt that they had a way to take their country back and reclaim what they believed they deserved. On the advent of this new war, many more lives would be lost than in World War I.