How Did The Treaty Of Versailles Contribute To The Rise Of Adolf Hitler

From 1920-1933, the world witnessed, and fell victim, to the rise of one of the recognizable, controversial, and sadistic men in human history, Adolf Hitler. A man who had fought in World War 1 for Germany after refusing to serve his home country of Austria-Hungary. It is well documented that Hitler was at the forefront of the Nazi Party that had solidified their position as the newly established Third Reich when Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933, as we discussed in class. What we are going to do is highlight key facets to the rise of Hitler in the thirteen years preceding the day of his appointment. We will start with the treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles became effective in January 1920; a document
In the 21st century, we can obviously look back and see that the Treaty of Versailles was not this horrible document that vilified the German nation to the point of inexorable war in I939. However, one can make the case that the overall stench of defeat that had plagued the German nation as a result of this treaty did contribute to the rise of the Nazi Party. Not only did Hitler posses an innate ability to speak his ideas in a manner that could persuade others, but he also had an audience that had become heavily disgruntled with the regime in power. It is a recurring theme in history that when a populace either questions the legitimacy of, or no longer feels a connection to their government, they are going to act out in any way possible, even if they are not 100% on board with the alternative(s) to the status quo. What happened in Germany in the years prior to World War 2 with the rise of the Nazi Party was idle proof of this. One could, and many have, write volumes of books on the rise of the Nazi party, unfortunately I do not have that luxury so I am going to point out one more component to the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party, the Great
As a citizen of the United States, most of what I know about the Great Depression is about its effects in the States. Be that as it may, it does not take long to realize that the Depression had effects spanning far beyond the West Coast, the East Coast or the Dixie highway, because Europe was also hit hard by it. In class, we discussed how one could make the case that had it not been for the Great Depression, the Treaty of Versailles might have worked, but that is pure speculation because as we know the Great Depression did strike and one country that was stricken hard by it was Germany. Unemployment had risen at an exponential rate; millions of Germans were not only pissed off, but were now pissed off and out of a job. While someone outside of the Nazi bubble would see this as a deadly combination, those under Hitler’s umbrella saw it as a perfect storm, and that would be the