Which had a greater impact on the on the start of the second world war

After the Treaty was put into action Hitler came along, he was a very good speaker and he could manipulate people very well he toured round Germany and told Germans that they shouldn't follow the terms of the treaty. Soon he grew in power and the Nazi party was born and in 1921 Adolf Hitler became the leader of it, his party grew in power and in members. Hitler wanted revenge and he wanted to overturn the clauses of the treaty as Germany was made to suffer in many different ways.

We know that the treaty was unsuccessful as it leads to another war; Hitler came into action and firstly stopped paying the reparations which caused stress between the Germans and French, Hitler did this so he could restore Germanys former glory. However before Hitler came into power in 1922 the Germans failed fell behind on the payment as they ran out of money therefore the industry collapsed. This enraged the French therefore in 1923 they invaded Ruhr (industrial area of Germany) the French were allowed to do this, the area was full of raw materials and coal which was equivalent of the reparation payment therefore they took anything of any value. Even though Germany was heavily in debt the USA's Dawes Plan saved the situation and extended reparations payments. However as Germany had no money and were disarmed there was no way a war could break out as they had no money to buy artillery and weapons to start one.

Another term in the treaty was that Hitler wasn't allowed to build up Germany's army or navy, Hitler ignored this and overlooked the situation and started to build put his own army, navy and the Air force which was totally breaking the rules of the treaty, even here it shows that the Treaty didn't work at all as rules were being broken and nothing was being done about, this suggest that the European countries may have still been scared of Germany as they might repeat the Great War. As Hitler built up his foundations and security it created tensions around Europe as many countries thought that war was going to break out again. However other countries were also building up there armed forces to prepare if another war broke out, and as we know it did as it was expected, it could be said here that Germany could've been stopped when it was building up its forces however all the nation and countries were cowards therefore they let Hitler do what they wanted. The treaty just made matters worse as Hitler wanted what belonged to him however it was taken away from him by the treaty therefore he would go to any length to get it back and restore power and glory in Germany.

Due to the treaty a lot of land and colonies were lost, in total it lost 10% of its land in Europe, along with 12.5% of it population and !6% of it coalfields and also 50% of it iron and steel industries. Won of it major losses were Alsace-Lorraine West Prussia (Polish Corridor). In contest Hitler wanted to regain the lost territories and land such as the Polish Corridor and the Sudetenland which was apart of Czechoslovakia now. First his main aim was to get back the Sudetenland as the majority of people living there were German, he would eventually want the whole of Czechoslovakia. Bennes the Czech prime Minster was ready to defend the land and hope that Britain and France would follow the treaty and help protect the Czechs and the Sudetenland. However they backed out as they were to busy trying to appease Hitler as they tried to give him what they wanted to avoid anther war. Therefore the Treaty had failed to protect the Sudetenland, as Chamberlain was busy appeasing Hitler. The Sudetenland eventually went to Hitler when the French Italian leaders and Chamberlain attended the Munich Conference.

Hitler saw that the treaty was week as he had gotten away with so much. Therefore Britain and France tried to appease him, which was simply giving Hitler what he wanted to try and control him and prevent another war which we know didn't happen. However if Britain and France didn't give Hitler what he wanted he would use aggression and threats to get what he wanted just as he did during the Munich conference to get the Sudetenland. He kept on asking for new demands and pushing Britain and France however they had to agree as war would break out if they didn't. Chamberlain was very blind as he still believed that an international agreement could prevent war.

Hitler saw that the treaty was week as he had broken many clauses by building up his armed forces and regaining land. Britain thought appeasement would do the trick however it didn't, but you could argue that Britain and France were doing this to by time to prepare and recover for another war as they new at the end of the day that Hitler would settle this like a man. If war broke out earlier Britain wouldn't have been prepared as they were still recovering from the Great War. Appeasement was good thinking by Chamberlain to buy him more time to prepare ad build up his armed forces.

France and Britain thought that Hitler would happy with what he had received as he had regained land including the Sudetenland, however he wasn't finished yet, as he said he wanted to restore Germany to it former glory so there was one more thing which he wanted. However the more Britain and France gave him the more he wanted.

Hitler used the Sudetenland as a smoke screen just to get the whole of Czechoslovakia s he wouldn't just settle for a small piece of land he wanted all of it, everything which belonged to him. This went unpunished by Britain and France, and soon other countries simply wanted more land. The policy of Appeasement was failing and Hitler was getting out of hand and bounds.

In 1939 Hitler then singed the Nazi-Soviet union packed with Stalin and USSR. This bought the end to appeasement and it brought tow aggressive countries together. Here Hitler included a secret clause in the pact to divide Poland between Germany and USSR; however this was just a smokescreen to invade the USSR later as he wanted Poland to himself. Appeasement was still failing even though it ended, during the invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany and the Second World War had begun.

Chamberlains policy of appeasement and the treaty of Versailles were to big impacts on the start of the Second World War. In my eyes I think that the Treaty was the bigger impact than appeasement because if this wasn't put into action appeasement would have never been used and the Second World War wouldn't have begun. The treaty was harsh on the Germans therefore they wanted revenge and Hitler was there to do o and restore Germany's glory. However even so if Britain and France tried to stop him breaking the terms of the treaty then there would be no need for appeasement anyway and WW2. However on the other hand appeasement had been working in the eyes of the public as they thought that Hitler had no intention of war. It came to a point were Hitler couldn't be appeased as he just took control and advantage when crossed the line. The treaty of Versailles to some critics was to harsh and unfair as it left the Germans weak and resentful, this is why it lead to anger and a Second World War this was predicted even when the treaty clauses were released and it became true. This is why Hitler took revenge and tried to restore Germany and its belongings. However there was some advantage in appeasement as it bought time for Britain and France to prepare for the outbreak of war.