Question #6389b
1 Answer
Mainly because of the punitive measures taken against Germany.
Explanation:
The Treaty Of Versailles imposed extremely harsh terms on Germany including war reparations, loss of territory and draconian cuts in her military forces.
This encouraged the rise of the extreme right and left. When the Wall Street crash occurred and the Great Depression hit the industrial world Germany was particularly badly hit because of her debts and credit.
This gave considerable succour to opponents of the Weimar government and indeed democracy, namely group such as the Nazis. Hitler played on the worries and concerns of the German people as well as their sense of outrage and discrimination as a result of the Treaty of Versailles.
When Hitler came to power he immediately massively expanded spending on the German armed forces and began an expansionist foreign policy to reclaim territories lost under Versailles.
These included the Rhineland, Austria, the Sudetenland and then Czechoslovakia. His miscalculation about the West's reaction to the invasion of Poland triggered World War 2.
Much of this stemmed from problems caused by the Treaty of Versailles.
