"This is not peace, this is a twenty-year truce."
When French Marshal Foch signed the Treaty of Versailles, he had a precise foreshadowing of the second world war, a war that changed world history as a revenge war waged by Germany twenty years after its defeat in World War I.
Why, twenty years later, did Germany, which should have been weakened in the First World War, and indeed suffered enormous demographic and economic losses, so why, twenty years later, could not wait to open the purgatory of war and plunge the whole of Europe into a sea of blood and fire?
The humiliation suffered by Germany in the Treaty of Versailles was the most important spiritual reason for his eagerness to heal the wounds of the soul with war, and the majority of the German people did not think that they had truly lost the First World War, and after such a great sacrifice, because of a ridiculous sailor uprising, because of the destruction of a small group of people in the country, the bitter fruit that Germany swallowed was simply unbearable.
Economically, Germany itself was not unharmed, he was transfused by the US government after the war, his strength was restored, and the economic crisis of the 1930s made the German people choose Adolf. People like Hitler became their fuehrer, and after the Western world had hurt a lion, it took good care of him to recover, expecting the lion to attack the enemy in the East, which eventually led to the outbreak of World War II.
One. Politically, the German people did not give in
1. A war in the hearts of the German people
The First World War was not overturned by a decisive battle, nor was it marked by the defeat of Germany because the enemy had invaded the capital. He was the hunger caused by the long blockade, the toss of a small number of people at home, the death of the German giant, although the fate of Germany had actually been doomed after the United States entered the war, but when the German soldiers in French territory heard the news of the Reich's abdication, they were more angry than happy.
Among these soldiers was the famous corporal with a mustache, and this reluctance was buried in the deepest recesses of the German people, the Junker nobles who returned to the farms after the war and closed their doors, the small citizens of Frankfurt who opened beer halls, the military and police who were busy arresting extremists on both the left and the right in Berlin, all of these German people, there were indeed angry heartstrings in their hearts, and after being touched and resonated with Hitler, the Germans were once again ready to fight.
Compared with Germany's bloodlust, France and Britain, which also shed too much blood in the First World War, have in fact lost the fighting spirit to continue fighting, and there are many reasons for their appeasement of Germany, but the fear caused by the painful memory of the First World War in their hearts is undoubtedly the most important one. The more afraid of what the more what will happen, and the same is true between countries!
2. The harshness of the Versailles contract
Although Britain and the United States, due to the psychology of checks and balances, rejected France's plan to weaken Germany too much.
The expropriation of all the colonies, the seizure of German territory, the establishment of the Polish state, the massive war reparations, still brought great suffering to the German people, the most economically and militarily powerful country in Europe, the workers had no bread, the peasants had no basic necessities, the Junker nobles lost the traditional Prussian territory, the military service system was abolished, he became a piece of fat in Europe, and all the people were hurt.
Germany lost about fifteen percent of its territory and population, coal from the Ruhr industrial zone was transported to France, strikes left two hundred German workers shot by the French, the seeds of hatred were buried in the hearts of the German working class, huge reparations caused the living standards of the German people to plummet, and the country that produced half of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century actually froze to death and starved to death every day on the streets of Berlin, and the Germans' reparations for the Versailles Contract were not paid until 2010.
Two. Economically, Germany gradually gained the power to wage World War II
1. Germany itself has in fact suffered very little harm
In the second half of the First World War, Russia effectively withdrew from the war, and the Kaiser abdicated when the German army was still in French territory, and the industry and agriculture in Germany suffered very little physical damage, he was only extremely short of raw materials, and his skeleton was still there.
The French saw the fact that he was concerned about the Ruhr and the Rhineland, and demanded that Germany hand over fifty percent of its machinery, seeing that German industry still had great potential.
Hitler's slogan of asking for butter and not bread was also based on the fact that industry was still strong, and the huge military orders triggered by the war were a shot in the arm for the big companies such as Krupp.
Not only in the manufacture of the military, but also in the design of the military industry, Germany's Panzer tank series, Juncker and Stuka aircraft series, Bismarck battleships represent the highest level in the world, the scientific quality of the German people, the country's good education, so that a steady stream of talents to strengthen the country's strength, if it is not Hitler's extreme policies, the idea of the atomic bomb is also the earliest produced in Germany.
2. Germany's gradual rightward shift as a result of the economic crisis
Adolf, Hitler was the elected Chancellor, and in any case we should remember the fact that, although his devilish speeches and extreme policies were demagogic weapons, the Nazi Party suffered repeated defeats in the initial elections, the German people, although unwilling, actually wanted to live in peace, Hitler's extreme slogans, under normal circumstances, although he had a group of die-hard loyalists, were not enough to give him the power to lead Germany.
The economic crisis changed all this, and in the documentary, the German society that was influenced by American capital and began to prosper was fatally dealt a fatal blow in 1927-1933, and it was in 1933 that Hitler ascended to the throne of the German Chancellor, and when the German people were wandering, Hitler's fanaticism awakened the German people's determination to save themselves.
In the elections at that time, the German Communist Party and the Nazi Party were the second and first largest parties, the left and right sides reflected the will of the people, the centrist party was no longer politically attractive, and Germany was ready to act.
3. Blood transfusions from the United States to Germany
After the First World War, the people of Europe found that they all owed money to the Americans, and Britain and France, as the victorious powers, were also heavily indebted, and they all expected German reparations to pay off the Loans of the United States, while Germany, which tightened its belt, could not pay more than 100 billion marks of reparations.
American capital saw the fact that if it wanted to get the money back, it would give the Germans the ability to produce milk, and a large amount of American capital began to pour into Germany, and they also brought with them the raw materials urgently needed by German industry, iron ore and other non-ferrous metals and oil, which was most needed by german industry where machines were still lacking raw materials, and the factories could finally be restarted.
The Theory of the Germans, the nazi ethnography is the appetite of some Wall Street tycoons, Hitler and Ford, Rockefeller and other big American capitalists have private contacts, the largest branch of the Nazis is in North America, before the outbreak of World War II, the United States every year there are Nazi Party parades, the United States or part of his capital power, in fact, is an important factor in Germany's ability to regain the ability to war.
Three. Hitler himself with soviet factors
1． Hitler's rise to power was the trigger for World War II
Adolf Hitler, this somewhat shy Corporal of world war I with a mustache, was the most direct cause of the outbreak of World War II, although there were so many political and economic factors, the probability of an extreme government in Germany was very high, but the world at that time, the contradictions between Britain and the United States, the contradictions between the United States and Japan, the contradictions between the Soviet Union and the entire Western world were also very prominent, and it was very likely that World War II would become a series of unrelated wars.
Hitler's crazy obsession, his terrible execution of the mentally ill imagination, dragged the great nation of Germany into the abyss of perdition, and what was even more terrifying was that these crazy thoughts opened the crazy bloodthirsty switch of the Germans, and the rigor of the Germans and the high quality of the people, combined with the fanatical and advanced tactical concepts, caused the great success of the German army in the early days of World War II, which expanded the scale of World War II and made him eventually a catastrophe for all mankind.
2． Soviet Union: The reason for Germany's rapid and successful completion of war preparations
Lenin's relations with Germany as the revolutionary mentor who gained experience in Germany, the giant Soviet Union created by the Russian Revolution, were delicate, and in the Western countries, Germany and the Soviet Union maintained explicit or implicit contacts, and before the direct battle between the Spanish Nazis and the Communists, the German and Soviet militaries cooperated secretly in many fields, which was before the signing of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact.
France, as a short-lived European hegemon after World War I, was extremely hostile to the Soviet Union, and Britain and the United States essentially armed Germany with the factor of resisting the Soviet Union, and their acquiescence to The growth of Germany and the suppression of France made Germany develop unscrupulously in the early stages.
epilogue:
After the defeat of the First World War, the Germans resolutely chose the path of war twenty years later, to some extent, the Second World War was indeed a continuation of the First World War, Germany was psychologically unwilling to lose the First World War, and the Allies, after insulting Germany and plundering Germany in the Treaty of Versailles, wishfully hoped that Germany would confront the Soviet Union and put Germany in a delicate and favorable international environment for a short period of time.
The different attitudes of Britain, France and the United States towards Germany caused germany's initial development, and the crazy growth process was not actually hindered, and he even got the help of American capital to complete the war preparations. Hitler's coming to power was the choice of the German people, he was the product of the economic crisis, and after materially preparing for war, the Germans also attracted the craziest leadership in spirit, and war was inevitable.
The desire for living space, the belief that Britain and the United States were objects of negotiation that could be won, the policy changes caused by Germany's strategy and the disappointment of the Anglo-American world after the signing of the Soviet-German agreement, all of these phenomena intertwined to make the war lose its final obstacle at the diplomatic level, and all the countries and political figures, seeking benevolence and benevolence, finally ushered in the baptism of the bloodiest war in human history.
Resources:
The Decline and Fall of the Third Reich
History of world war II
《World History》