The Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919 by Britain, France and America to decide on what to do with Germany following World War One. The treaty was extremely harsh on Germany, ordering reparations and huge territorial losses in order to make her weak. This caused huge anger within Germany, the ideal situation for the rise of a dictator who seemed to have all the answers to save Germany. Therefore the Treaty of Versailles can be seen to be the earliest cause of the Second World War, as it led directly to the rise of Nazism, and a hunger for revenge. There was much conflict between the three powers whilst writing the treaty, due to the huge differences in the aims of their leaders. The French, led by Clemenceau had lived through two German attacks, and therefore were hungry for revenge. Their aims were highly punitive, in an attempt to gain compensation and security. By contrast, the Americans faced no immediate threat from Germany, and also had no territorial or economic aims, therefore the USA was keen not for revenge, but to build a lasting system of International relations, which became known as the League of Nations. The British people wanted to punish the Germans, whilst Lloyd George wanted to destroy German Militarianism, but was cautious of driving Germany to Communism. The result was a Treaty consisting of large German territorial losses such as Alsace and Lorraine, and the German colonies. The Rhineland was de-militarised, and put under Allied occupation for 15 years, and reparations to the sum of £6,600 million were to be paid to the World War One victors. The treaty left Germany bankrupt and weak, as well as angry and disillusioned. Hitler used the Treaty to gain popularity throughout his rise to dictator by gradually disobeying it, breaking the terms much to the nations delight. The harsh treaty, far from Lloyd George’s original fears, did not drive Germany towards Communism but towards Fascism, as a leader who it seemed could solve the depression of the 1930’s. Thus from the treaty stemmed British invasion of Germany in 1939 and therefore World War 2.
The Treaty also caused Britain to invade Germany in another respect, by the physical breaking of the Treaty by Hitler, Britain was eventually forced to take the action that they initially promised. Throughout the 1920’s, Hitler broke the Treaty several times. Firstly, Germany renounced the reparations and planned to rebuild the German army. The Treaty was thus revised by the Dawes plan, which significantly lowed the reparations. Germany demanded an equal sized army to Britain, and as time progressed, it became clear by treaties such as the Locarno treaties, that the powers did not really believe in the League of Nations, which had been determined by the Treaty. The Locarno treaties attempted to satisfy the German Chancellor Streseman, by suggesting that Germany’s eastern borders were not of British concern, and therefore she could alter them as she pleased through treaties or war. Treaties between Germany and Poland, and Germany and Czechoslovakia were also accepted, and the Powers agreed to set up a conference on disarmament under the League of Nation’s supervision. These treaties, signed under Chamberlain, were also the first signs of the British policy of appeasement, and its failure is often considered a key reason for the declaration of war in 1939 .
Appeasement continued throughout Chamberlain’s time as Prime Minister of Britain. At first it was believed that by appeasing Hitler, i.e. allowing him to have what he wanted, it would satisfy him without the need for war, however as time progressed it emerged that this was not the case. Hitler was not satiable, the more he was allowed, the more he wanted, and the more he believed he could get away with taking. The case for appeasement can be justified by the fact that the only other option was war, for which Britain was completely unprepared after the losses of the First World War. Chamberlain believed that Germany’s grievances were legitimate despite the fact that he did not trust Hitler. At Munich, although he sacrificed the support of Czechoslovakia, by ceding areas of Czechoslovakia with majority Germans to Hitler, he avoided a war for which in 1938 Britain was unprepared and may very well have lost. In Austria, Chamberlain allowed an Anschluss, a joining between Germany and Austria, which was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles. The Austrians welcomed Hitler, so Chamberlain was reluctant to interfere. Coupled with this, Britain was too weak to interfere.