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Heading Towards WWII World War II was a result of how World War I was resolved. The Treaty of Versailles, signed at the end of the Great War, was supposed to bring about change and peace. The League of Nations, a part of the Treaty, was an international alliance for the preservation of peace. Although it did change world politics, the Treaty did not bring about peace, but ironically led to a more violent and deadly war, World War II.
Signed on June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles aimed to punish the Central Powers for causing the war by forcing financial reparations be paid to the Allies. These reparations were imposed on Turkey, Hungary, Bulgaria, Austria, but mostly on Germany. Payment in the form of trains, ships, natural resources, and even livestock was accepted, but mostly in the form of gold. This was to cover the cost of the loss the Allies. Germany promised to pay for civilian losses, as well as $ 5 billion a year until a final sum could be totalled. The Treaty also called for the disarmament of Germany.
This involved both reducing its military, nearly stop all production of war material, and demilitarizing its posts. With the reparations and disarmament in place, the final blow came in Article 231 of the Treaty which stated that Germany must admit that they, with the Central Powers, were solely responsible for starting WWI. Territorial changes occurred at the end of the war as well, due not only to the breakup of the Turkish, Austrian, and Russian empires, but because of the land claimed by the Allies. The unconditional sovereignty of Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Austria, and Poland was recognized by Germany. In total, Germany lost thirteen percent of its European land.
Alsace-Lorraine was once again a part of France. The Saar Basin was in the hands of the League of Nations for fifteen years. Belgium received land along the German border. With many more land transfers, including the complete loss of the German colonial empire, the map of the world had taken on great change. With reparation costs in the billions of dollars, the German economy took a strong hit. This, with losing much of its land, caused great resentment and anger because Germany was not given a chance to represent itself in the League of Nations.
Because of the magnitude and manner of these resolutions, there was a rise of Adolf Hitler and eventually war as Germany geared up for WWII.
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Research essay sample on World War Ii League Of Nations
