When the Alsace-Lorraine was ceded to Germany in 1871, the French culture was suppressed causing unease within the Alsatian people; yet once the Alsace-Lorraine became part of France yet again with the ending of WWI, the German traditions remained as well. To reinforce German dominance within all its territories, Bismarck shows how he plans to infuse the area with German culture as he states that it will, "...be a hotbed of disaffection for a long time to come" (doc. 1). This proves how Germany forsaw their own culture being violently imposed upon the region. region.
The peace of the mighty proved that to be wrong. The German Army in the field, although battered was still formidable in the eyes of the German leadership. They had gone to the peace table hoping for scraps and got the business end of the newspaper. The German Peace Delegation was forced to assume blame for the war, and then sit helplessly by as territories it felt were largely inhabited with Germans were made part of other states. The Germans had come to the table hoping to hear Wilson saying, “the equality of nations upon which peace much be founded on if it is to last must be an equality of rights..” (German Peace Delegation, p. 76) Instead they were hit with several Billion reichmarks in reparations, a reduced military and many other limitations politically, economically, militarily and territory wise (The Versailles Treaty, 1918).
The leaders of Britain, France and US agreed to bring peace to Europe and created a list of terms that ended WW1. These terms were known as the treaty of Versailles. The terms of the treaty mostly only applied to Germany and were really harsh on them. The treaty deprived 13% of Germany's land and demilitarized Germany's mainland, Rhineland. It also required Germany to pay 6,600 million Euros to countries that faced damages due to the war.
The war between the two countries could not be contained to just them alone due to an alliance system that linked certain countries together by pledge to back each other in time of war. This caused a chain reaction forcing Russia, France, and Great Britain to go to war with Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. During this time the United States remained neutral because they believed it was a European matter and we wanted to continue trading with those nations at war. The United States became less neutral in the war and more supportive of the allies side following several events with Germany. German U-boats sank British passenger liners killing Americans.
World War Two began in September 1939 when Britain and France declared war on Germany following Germany's invasion of Poland. Although the outbreak of war was triggered by Germany's invasion of Poland, the causes of the war are more complex. Treaty of Versailles In 1919, Lloyd George of England, Orlando of Italy, Clemenceau of France and Woodrow Wilson from the US met to discuss how Germany was to be made to pay for the damage world war one had caused. Woodrow Wilson wanted a treaty based on his 14-point plan which he believed would bring peace to Europe. Georges Clemenceau wanted revenge.
In response to the incident Wilson states that the American and German governments must resolve the situation together in order to get a better understanding of what happened and allow the American government to remain neutral. After the Lusitania incident the American government had remained neutral. The public however, was outraged and the anti-German feelings had started to take hold (Doc H). A picture posted in Life Magazine depicts a German with Belgian civilians skewered on his bayonet. This shows the general hatred for Germans that Americans were beginning to feel.
They did not receive a satisfactory reply and they declared war on Russia and France. On August 2nd, the Germany sent an ultimatum to Belgium. It was about the countries intent to send troops through Belgium. Belgium refused to grant permission. The British did not want to have war, but after hearing about the ultimatum that was sent to Belgium, Britain sent an ultimatum to Germany asking them to respect that Belgium was neutral.
I disagree with the statement “ Increased militarism was the main cause of the second world war.” Due to the fact that it was one of the many reasons why the second world war started. I think that Appeasement was the main cause of the start of the second world war. Firstly , Britain and France followed the policy of appeasement. Appeasement was by chamberlain to satisfy Hitler’s demands. This gave Hitler confidence that Britain and France would not stop him when he invaded other countries.
The German high command halted as the army was about to go for the kill (on orders from Hitler who at times would lose his nerve temporarily). Goering promised to destroy them with the Luftwaffe but despite the intense attack by the German air force, thousands of British soldiers escaped to fight another day. It was a psychological victory for England because it showed they were down but not out. Germany had won the day for sure, but despite the bloody beating England received, she was still standing.
B. Explain why Clemenceau wanted Germany treated harshly (9) Clemenceau wanted Germany treated harshly at Versailles for many different reasons. For example France received most of the land damage from WW1 and France, or Clemenceau wanted someone to pay for it. As far as they saw it, the war was not their fault, therefore they should be given money to pay for the war damages, and making the Germans pay reparations in the Treaty seemed the best way to do it. However the French also needed to pay off their debts to America and ‘why not kill two birds with one stone’ was how France’s prime minister saw it so he got Germany to pay them too on top of what was already agreed.