Italy is part of the big three but was not that important because Italy's experience in World War One was disastrous and ended with the insult of her 'reward' at the Versailles Settlement in 1919. Clemenceau wanted revenge for the Franco-Prussian war that started in 1870. The main agreements of the treaty of Versailles were: · Germany’s army was reduced to 100,000 men. · The German army was not allowed any tanks. · Germany was not allowed an air force.
The peace treaty did not satisfy France as it was not harsh enough in the eyes of France. After suffered badly from WWI with umpteen casualties, France was determined to cripple Germany completely as a form of revenge as well as an assurance against future German revival. Some provisions of the treaty did meet French demands, such as the return of Alsace-Lorraine from Germany; the German disarmament which set a maximum strength of 100000 soldiers together with the dissolution of the air force and the reduction of navy to 6 batttleships; and a whopping reparation of 132 billion gold marks to be paid over 42 years. These clauses would severely weaken Germany economically and militarily which certainly catered to French aim. However, French felt these punishments were not harsh enough to eliminate the chance of future German revival.
In May 1940 Germany was dominating the French in France and so the Allies had to withdraw to the beaches Dunkirk. There was then a huge operation to evacuate the soldiers by the navy and small boats sailed there by volunteers to rescue roughly 350,000 French and English troops. This left only Britain to be defeated for Germany to have defeated and captured the whole of Western Europe. Hitler’s next operation was to invade Britain. Hitler knew that the German Navy was too small to control the English Channel but he believed that with the Luftwaffe he could successfully defeat Britain.
Hitler used propaganda, elimination of the opposition, and a cult of personality to gain the support and trust of the German people in a time of economic crisis to his benefit and the rest of the world's loss. Single party states arise from a crisis, and Germany was suffering from a very large one at that time. The end of World War I in 1918 had left the economic state in shambles, and the loss struck the German people hard. Furthermore, the Treaty of Versailles the following year resulted in the demilitarisation and many cuts from German land and territory. Hitler criticized the carving up of Europe by the "Big Four" (the US, UK, France and Italy), stating that the Germans were the "master race".
To what extent did the failings of Nazi economic policy contribute to the defeat of Germany in the Second World War? There were several different factors that all had an impact on the defeat of Germany during the Second World War and the extent of which the failings of the Nazi economic policy contributed can be argued. The meagre state of the economy, through insufficient planning, did put strains on the government and this limited the full potential of the army, the production of weapons and high demand for labour. No doubt, the economy did hinder the progression of the war however I believe that there were more significant factors that contributed to the defeat of Germany. Hitler’s strategy incompetence, the Allied bombings and losing the Battle of The Atlantic were all also important factors in the defeat of Germany.
This treaty was what Willy Brandt wanted to achieve through Ostpolitik and Ostpolitik was the reason it happened which is why it is the most significant development in relations between the two Germanys. These treaties that they agreed to developed their relations as it cleared up issues that caused dispute and issues that they couldn’t decide on since the Second World War. It allowed the two Germanys to
Most of its resources were invested in mighty battleships and heavy cruisers, which were a serious headache to the large Royal Navy, but not anywhere near the threat posed by the German submarines. The German surface Navy could not achieve its goal, only die trying, and Admiral Roeder, head of the German Navy, said so himself. Doenitz, head of the German submarine force, pleaded repeatedly for producing more submarines, but his arguments were irresponsibly dismissed by Roeder, who said that Royal Navy claims that it solved the submarine problem with
Also with the France, Britain and USA not agreeing on the terms of the treaty made it even harder for it to end. Germany’s anger from the treaty came from a few of conditions which one wasn’t entirely true. The first of these conditions were that they were to blame for the war, this condition so bad that no man in Germany would sign it not even a soldier under direct orders. Also the amount of money that Germany had to pay back was very unrealistic ($6600 million) and would cripple their country for years to come. There were other factors that Germany thought that were very unfair such as their tiny army and the amount of land that was taken from them.
Why Was the Berlin Blockade so Important? By early 1948 Stalin had control of most of Eastern Europe. The Americans responded to this by making the Western Europe wealthy and pro-American because they saw the Soviet Union as a threat and a weak Germany could be taken over by communism and a strong Germany could act as a buffer against communism. On the other hand Stalin thought that a strong Germany could repeat the invasions on 1914 and 1941 so he stripped them of all useful equipment and machinery. In 1947 Britain and France decided to join their zones together (Bizonia) and then a few months later France joined to make it (Trizonia).
5. Research: a. How did Germany’s economical post-WW1 situation affect the Nazi’s rise to power? Germany’s loss in WW1 and blame for WW1 left Germany in a terrible state both politically and economically. WW1