The twentieth century is plagued by the terrors of war, but none was as terrible as World War II. The most recognizably terrible dictator of the time, and instigator of the war, was Adolf Hitler. The war, however, would probably not have occurred had he never taken power. The conditions for his rise to power was a perfect storm of poor leadership, nationalism, and the aftermath of the first world war. Germany was so weak in the aftermath, that the power vacuum that was created, as well as the oppression that was placed on the German people, that it is fair to wonder if the Treaty of Versailles had not been a “harsh peace” (Pema Dechen Rapten, n.d.) that Adolf wouldn’t have been in a position to rise to power.
Humble Beginnings At 6:30 …show more content…
The Conference was led by Prime Minister Lloyd George of Britain, President Woodrow Wilson of the USA and Premier Georges Clemenceau of France, and these men had very different ideas as to what should be the fate of Germany. Woodrow Wilson wanted a just peace, as he did not believe that Germany should be punished, and perhaps more importantly he didn’t view anybody as a victor, because of the scale of the destruction. He hoped to ensure that something like this would never happened again. By contrast, Georges Clemenceau wanted a harsh peace, he blamed Germany for the whole war and wanted to make Germany pay for it. The Germans had also invaded France in 1870/1871, which also led to this hostility. Lloyd George held the middle ground, as he felt compelled to agree to a harsh peace due to public opinion at home, but he saw Germany as a strong trading partner, and a harsh peace would destroy the German economy, thus hurting the rest of Europe as well. (Pema Dechen Rapten, n.d.) This led to a very flawed treaty that benefited nobody and would prove to be very costly …show more content…
To avoid this in the future in our time, everybody needs to be informed correctly and not go with the masses, as well as be able to step back and observe the actions of the government, or leader, completely unbiased. The Nazi party planned their rise for years, and if the masses truly knew what was going on in that time, I doubt that WWII would have happened at all, and Hitler would have never been able to leave prison and he would have rotted in jail, like he should
Humble Beginnings At 6:30 …show more content…
The Conference was led by Prime Minister Lloyd George of Britain, President Woodrow Wilson of the USA and Premier Georges Clemenceau of France, and these men had very different ideas as to what should be the fate of Germany. Woodrow Wilson wanted a just peace, as he did not believe that Germany should be punished, and perhaps more importantly he didn’t view anybody as a victor, because of the scale of the destruction. He hoped to ensure that something like this would never happened again. By contrast, Georges Clemenceau wanted a harsh peace, he blamed Germany for the whole war and wanted to make Germany pay for it. The Germans had also invaded France in 1870/1871, which also led to this hostility. Lloyd George held the middle ground, as he felt compelled to agree to a harsh peace due to public opinion at home, but he saw Germany as a strong trading partner, and a harsh peace would destroy the German economy, thus hurting the rest of Europe as well. (Pema Dechen Rapten, n.d.) This led to a very flawed treaty that benefited nobody and would prove to be very costly …show more content…
To avoid this in the future in our time, everybody needs to be informed correctly and not go with the masses, as well as be able to step back and observe the actions of the government, or leader, completely unbiased. The Nazi party planned their rise for years, and if the masses truly knew what was going on in that time, I doubt that WWII would have happened at all, and Hitler would have never been able to leave prison and he would have rotted in jail, like he should