After WW1, the European countries that were a part of the allied forces were mainly out to punish and destroy Germany. To end the first World War, a treaty was signed for peace, called The Treaty of Versailles. It was signed by the European leaders that were involved in WW1. This treaty was imposed on Germany in 1920 after the end of World War 1. This treaty required Germany to give up power and size from their army, it later would subconciouslly damage their economy, and place their government under harsh rule which would later kill millions of people. This signing of the Treaty was not only an end to World War 1, but just the beginning to World War 2.
Damaged Government
With WW1 being over, Germany had no main leader in charge to rule the country and make the decisions. This allowed the other European countries to slowly take advantage of Germany and cause it to pay high amounts of money and slowly destroy their army. Having no one in charge, left their government very vulnerable and easy to attack or take over. Noticing this, a German man named Adolf Hitler took charge and became the dictator of Germany in 1933. He ruled very harshly and treated his people terribly. As we know now, he was the reason for the millions of deaths of Jews, in what was known as the Holocaust.
Economy and Army
Once the treaty was signed, it was assumed that Germany would pay its dues, about 5 billion dollars, to fix all the damage it had done in WW1. In 1921, the European leaders held a meeting with Germany's leader at the time and discussed how Germany was now required to pay an extra 3 billion dollars for their damage. This was impossible for Germany and basically destroyed their economy. With no money left, this was an eye opener to all of the European countries, to try to take advantage of Germany. Since no money was in their economy, they financially did not have enough money to pay the soldiers in their army. With no money, most of the soldiers quit and found other jobs to support their families. This left Germany wide open for attack.
The Start of WW2
Noticing that their country was basically about to be taken over, some of the German leaders and people started to rally friends and family up to save their country and rights. This took about a year and a half, but eventually they convinced enough people to join an army and save their homes. The army was built in 1937 and their goal was to seek revenge for all the mistreatment the European countries were doing towards them. World War 2 began in 1939, with Germany taking the first stab towards a victory. Although many other effects caused Germany to start WW2, the major one was the Treaty of Versailles, which came from WW1. This shows that WW2 was directly impacted by WW1 and was a straight continuation.
~Courtney
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~Courtney
