Over a period of 20 years, Germany was hit by persisting waves of chaos which put them into a state of despair. Prior to 1919, a series of events sparked the fuel of war which eventually exploded in 1914. With the increasing intensity of nationalistic movements destroying the unity of Europe, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the scapegoating of the Serbian state, and the liberal free press increasing the publics lust for war, a conflict erupted in 1914 (Chang, 2017a). After the Versailles Peace Treaty was signed by Britain, France, Italy, and Russia in 1919, extreme reparations were implemented in Germany which led to the collapse of German society and government (Mckay, …show more content…
These reasons indicate that The Great War had a profound effect on Germany’s future after the conflict was “resolved.” (Resolved meaning ended by the Versailles Peace Treaty and all the reparations that came with it). To what extent did the reparations made by Germany’s enemies affect the socio-political relations of the inhabitants of Germany between 1919 and 1939? My significance is “France completed their goal in paralyzing Germany, however, it would come back to haunt them in World War II. Forced demilitarization, debt, and unemployment allowed for the rise of the Nazi regime which would threaten the safety of all those they deemed tainted/not pure and add to the decline in German socio-political relation.” My thesis is “Although it seems that the socio-political relations in Germany improved with the rise of the National Socialist German Worker’s Party, it is evident that the reparations imposed upon Germany after World War I destroyed the socio-political relations of Germany as the political unity of Germany disintegrated and left a huge power gap to be filled by the National Socialist German Worker’s Party, unemployment rose and acted as a debilitating force that was felt by much of Germany, and demilitarization and debt …show more content…
459). Michael Streeter’s mentions in his “South America and the Treaty of Versailles” that the reason for “helping” Germany was to “…combat Russian Bolshevism… [and], stimulate their own economic activities” (Streeter, pg. 111). In “German Unemployment and its Presentation in Post-War Fiction” from “Monatshefte fü Deutschen Unterricht, Vol. 28, No. 2,” it states “Alfred Karrasch’s Stein, gib Brot… treats of the success of the public works program of the new German government,” however, these two novels “show quite a tendency towards propaganda” (Monatshefte fü Deutschen Unterricht, pg. 66). Thus, the argument created in the previous paragraph is nullified as the claims that were made were false. I will add an indepth analysis to these quotes to further my point and make it clear that the counterargument has been