Essay Sample about Causes of World War II

World War I ended in November of 1918 when Germany signed an armistice agreement with the allies. World War II started less than 20 years after the conclusion of World War I because of the unfairness of the Treaty of Versailles, which then led to economic problems, including the Great Depression, and finally leading to the rise of extremist powers, or the Nazis. 

To begin, the Treaty of Versailles was claimed to be an unfair treaty. This is because it blamed Germany for the whole first world war, and made them pay 5 billion dollars in reparations to the allies. As the source mentions, “Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies” (Source A). This caused tension between Germany and the allies. Although Germany accepted to pay back the reparations, they were very angry that they lost all of this money, a lot of territory, and got their military restricted. Germany did cause a lot of damage during the first world war, but not enough to have to pay back all the allies 5 billion dollars. Germany lost a lot of territory due to the treaty as well, shown in source N. Germany still has a decent amount of land, but were very upset and angry with the treaty after having to give up a lot of the land that they used to have. Germany’s military was reduced to 100,000 men and only six battleships, which probably concerned the German population, as they may have felt like they did not have enough protection against enemies.

The Treaty of Versailles led to many economic problems, including inflation and the Great Depression. The Great Depression began with the stock market crash of 1929 and was caused by different things including overproduction and less consumption, risky investments in stocks, and the inability to pay off loans. The Great Depression left many workers without jobs. In source I, it is shown that throughout the Great Depression, the unemployment rate was sky high. Because of the unemployment rate, people without jobs were desperate for any sort of support. People chose to follow to follow extreme groups and ideas, the Nazis. This was because extreme groups promised people out of misery and poverty from the Great Depression. This gave people hope, and that was all they were looking for. People did not pay attention to what they were getting themselves into because the Nazis tried to act as though they were a positive group out to help people. As the Great Depression began to improve, Hitler was voted into the Chancellor position, which was one of the worst decisions in history. This decision to make Hitler Chancellor led to the rise of extremism in Europe. 

As the Nazis begin to take power, it is almost as if the whole world collapses. Throughout the elections, from 1920 up until March of 1933, it is obvious how much power the Nazis were able to gain in just over a decade. As seen at the first elections, the Nazis did not even make it within the top 5 for the amount of votes. May of 1924 was where the Nazis started to gain some votes in the election, but still not enough to win. After four years, the Nazis actually loose some votes and get bumped back down to 2.6% of the vote. This discouraged them for sure, so the Nazis had to promote themselves more after this. September of 1930, the Nazis really stepped it up and came in second, regards to the percentage of votes they got. As the years continued to go on, the Nazis continued to get more and more of the vote, until in March of 1933, seen in source H, the Nazis get 43.9% of the vote. This happened to be after Hitler got the role of being Chancellor. Hitler was able to gain so many votes because of his propaganda. He made people believe as though he would protect them and save them from whatever sort of trouble they were in. He told the people that he could ensure safety and make sure all of the unemployed workers would have a job again. These were lies, but the people did not know this. The lies Hitler told influenced the people to vote for him, as the people were desperate and were willing to vote for extremist powers to solve their problems, as Hitler promised he would. 

In conclusion, World War II starting just 20 years after the first World War is very important to know about. In the reasons stated above, it explains how the effects of the first World War led to many of the causes of World War II.