The Treaty of Versailles was not a justified treaty, which created German feelings of revenge and dislike towards the victorious countries. This feeling of revenge felt by Germany, in addition with the social atmosphere of Europe, led to a Second World War in the September of 1939, just 11 years after the first World War. People at the time published reports on the unfairness of the treaty. America never ratified the treaty but Britain and France still enforced it. Germany had no choice but to sign the unfair document and it was only a matter of time before things turned for the worse. We must examine the background, clauses, and effects of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany and Europe to understand how it helped cause WWII. Then, when you look at the situation the treaty created for Europe, we can see how WWII came about.

The war had left Europe in shambles. WWI ended on November 11, 1918, leaving millions of European soldiers dead and injured. Large areas of Belgium and France had been devastated and two of Europe's most powerful countries, Germany and Austria-Hungary, were defeated and exhausted. All the European countries were now bankrupt from the cost of waging a war for four

Germany was forced to agree that it was guilty of starting the war. This clause was the most insulting and damaging clause for it blatantly and wrongly accused Germany of being the sole cause of war, and this enabled the other clauses to be severe as she was now to pay for the whole of WWI. The second clause was that Germany had to disarm.

· Jeremy Fazli [Internet] The Faults of the World War I Peace Settlement May 2, 1998, Available: http://209.235.102.0/~aer23655/versailles.htm [October 16,1999]

years. Germany had not been defeated, but knew that if it continued to fight war against the strong American army, defeat in Berlin would result. Because Germany had surrendered, her only option was to either sign the treaty, or else go back to war again, which would inevitably result in defeat. The Treaty was unexpectedly harsh, though, despite the fact Germany hadn't been defeated, she had merely surrendered.

· Ronald Heiferman World War II (Derbibooks)

Germany had to pay severe reparations, imposed to help the damaged countries rebuild after the war, at the amount of $5 billion due May 1, 1921.9 The leading British economist, John Maynard Keynes, published a book, before the increase in reparations to $32.5 billion by 1963, warning that the treaties would prevent the European economy recovering from the war damage. Germany had hardly enough money to pay the original amount, and, inevitably, great inflation occurred, destroying the economy and causing unemployment and starvation. Furthermore, another clause of the treaty was that the territory of Germany had to be greatly reduced. Britain and France had been malicious and were shortsighted by demanding Germany's money while taking away the territory that could provide the money.

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Approximate Word count = 1617
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)