The Impact of the Treaty of Versailles on the Rise of Totalitarian Regimes
Nowadays there is a great debate whether a democratic regime always finishes being a authoritarian or totalitarian regime. That is what I am going to talk about in this essay. I am going to focus on the period between the first and second world war.
I am going to start talking about democratic regimes. The principles of democracy triumphed at the end of the First World War. The new states that arose from the fragmentation/division of defeated empires incorporated those principles as the foundation of their political stability. A democracy is when the citizens elect their political representatives. Nowadays is very common to find democracies. But during the interwar democracy suffered a crisis that affected them a lot.
As I have said at the beginning of the essay a lot of democratic regimes were dissolved and ended in totalitarian or authoritarian regimes. For example, Russia and Hungary were democracies that were transformed in totalitarian regimes. The totalitarianism is when one person is the head of a state and he is the only one who can choose or decide, it could be also called a dictatorship. There are a lot of types of totalitarian regimes.
Last but not least, we have authoritarianism regimes. This regimes are very similar to the totalitarianism ones, but in comparison to the totalitarian regime, authoritarianism does not try to control the privacy life of citizens. An example of authoritarian regime could be China and Cuba.
As a conclusion, I would like to say in my opinion, democracies not always finish on totalitarian or authoritarian regimes. Is true that during the inter-war but especially during the second world war, for example one of the most famous totalitarian regime was Hitler regime, he reached the power through a democracy election but then he created a dictatorship.
Why did Hitler use the Treaty of Versailles to get to the power in Germany?
Nowadays it is widely believed that Hitler used the Treaty of Versailles to reach power in Germany. Because of the Treaty of Versailles where Germany lost a lot of territories and economic power. It is a result of this Hitler used it to cancel citizens that if he reached power, Germany would regain everything that if lost.
The treaty of Versailles was signed with Germany in 1919. It included military, economical and territorial agreements that for Germany went the loss of territories and colonies. These hard conditions were posed by the German people as a sign of humiliation, which produced a feeling of injustice that was the origin of Nazism. This was one of the main causes of the 2WW.
These were the main terms of the treaty of Versailles. The territory of Alsace Lorraines, which had belonged to Germany since 1870, was turned to France again. Germany had to pay high economic compositions for the damage it caused. A demilitarised zone was created in the German territory bordering France: the Rhineland. Restrictions were made to the German navy and air force. Finally, Germany had its overseas colonies, which were distributed between Great Britain, France and Japan.
In the 1920s, Adolf Hitler because lead the Nazi party in Germany. Hitler proclaimed the Third Reich and in 1934 he made himself supreme leader for Führer. He banned alter political parties, as well as feide unions. He pursued an expansionist foreign play and decided to regain the territory that Germany had lost due to the Treaty of Versailles. He believed that German people were superior to other people.
In conclusion, the Treaty of Versailles was used by Hitler to get the power in Germany. To my mind, there is no question that if the Treaty of Versailles had not been signed, Hitler would not have got to the power.
Causes of the 2WW (report)
The treaty of Versailles was the main cause of the beginning of the second world war, it consisted in the payment of Germany to France, Great Britain due to the damage it caused on the 1WW. This payment was principally territories, money and inhabilitation of military weapons. This made Germany enter a crisis and be angry, this hate was promoted by Hitler.
The Great Depression made European countries think of a solution. Most of them applied protectionist measures and competed for markets. Germany was in a more complicated situation due to the payment they had to make, and this system was not successful. So Germany searched for markets where they could buy and sell their raw materials.
As soon as Nazis came to power, they implemented aggressive foreign policies to make up for the “humiliation” Germany suffered with the Treaty of Versailles. Countries near Germany opted to a policy of appeasement, which was not successful. Germany also violated the Treaty of Versailles by rearming, this made other countries to do the same because of fear.
Germany tried to get some of the territories they took from it when the Treaty of Versailles was signed. Germany reasserted its claims over Austria and the Sudetenland, disputed Alsace-Lorraine and Saarland with France.
Germany was the main cause of the 2WW start. Their motivation was Hitler, who tried to make people angry with the rest of the people. Also, the Treaty of Versailles made people angrier and poorer, which was not good. And the violation of the Treaty was the detonator of all.
Report of the Treaty of Versailles
So as to stop the 1WW, countries had to make a peace treaty. This was completed via 5 treaties that were signed on the outskirts of Paris. This were signed separately by the defeated countries. This was called Paris Peace Treaty (1919-1920).
Due to the principle of collective security, the League of Nations was created. It wanted to make peace a fundamental principle on an international way. This was the first such as a treaty was created and later becoming the United Nations.
The Treaty of Versailles was also signed by Germany. This caused a lot of economic, military and territorial agreements that caused loss of territories to Germany. This caused the Germans to feel humiliated and this war the origin of Nazism and this caused the 2WW.
Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France from Germany and different territories from Germany and Denmark were returned to them. Germany had to pay high taxes because of the destruction that it caused. In the German territory, bordering France, some demilitarised zones were created and German army was limited. Germany lost its overseas colonies, which were distributed between Great Britain, France and Japan.
This treaty was a response to 1WW, and its main objective was Germany, which lost most of its power creating hate. This made the 2WW happened. The 2WW was happened by Adolf Hitler.