Transcript The Treaty of Versailles and the rise of Nazism

Versailles is a grand palace outside of the city of
Paris, France. At the end of WWI, leaders from the
countries involved in the war met there to write a
treaty. The Treaty of Versailles explained what the
winners would gain and what the losers would
lose.
Many of the leaders in the winning countries
blamed Germany for the war. They wanted the
Germans punished severely. Under the treaty of
Versailles, Germany had to accept full
responsibility for starting the war. Germany lost
important territory, including lands rich in natural
resources. It also lost all of its colonies.
Germany also had to pay 6,600 Million to the
Allies to cover damages caused during the war.
This was a form of compensation known as
reparations.
France and Great Britain wanted to make sure that
Germany never attacked them again. Their goal
was to make Germany a weak country. Germany
also had to reduce the size of its navy. They were
not to have an air force or any submarines.
France lost a lot in the war. Over 2 million French
people lost their lives. A large part of the war was
fought in France. Farms, homes, cities, and
Industries were destroyed. Highways, bridges, and
railroads had to be rebuilt. Reparations were used
to help rebuild the cities destroyed by the war.
Germany faced many problems after WWI. It had
lost lands that contained valuable natural
resources. About 2 ½ million Germans had lost
their lives. About four million were wounded. The
industry and farms in the country had been
destroyed. Highways, farms, and roads had to be
rebuilt.
The German workers worked hard to solve the
countries problems. However, It had to pay back
the Allied countries for the war.
Millions of dollars were leaving the country for
France and Great Britain. Because Germany was
forbidden to have a large army or navy, many
military people lost their jobs.
Prices went up as goods became scarce. Basic
items such as food and clothing were not always
available. As things got worse, people blamed the
government.
The people wanted their leaders to find solutions
to the problems. Then the stock market crashed in
the United States. This made things even worse
fro the German people. Businesses and people
around the world stopped buying as much. They
were worried about losing their money.
Adolf Hitler came on the scene with a big plan. He
and his followers, called the National Socialist or
Nazi Party, said they could fix the problems in
Germany. They blamed the Treaty of Versailles for
many of the problems. They also said that the
Jews in the country were controlling the banks and
the money. They blamed the Jews for the fact that
many Germans were not able to make a good
living.
Hitler was named chancellor of Germany in 1933.
He made sure that laws were passed quickly to
give him more power. Soon he had complete
control of the government. He had the power of a
dictator.
He and the Nazi’s worked to rebuild Germany’s
military. He opened factories to build weapons. He
put unemployed people to work by building a
superior highway system. The economy improved
for a time, but many people lost their civil rights.
However, many thought it was better to loose
rights than loose food. Anyone who spoke out
against the Nazi party was put into jail or killed.
As Hitler's strength grew, he made plans to go to
war. He started to take back some of the land
that Germany had lost during WWI. Other
European countries protested but did nothing to
stop Hitler. In 1939, Hitler invaded Poland. With
that, France and Great Britain declared war on
Germany, and WWII begin.
Who was the leader of the
Nazi Party in Germany?
What happened to people who
spoke out against Hitler in Germany?
How did Hitler improve
conditions in Germany?
Who did Hitler and the Nazi Party
Blame for Germany’s problems?
As part of Hitler’s plan to take over the world, he
began the systematic killing of every Jew man,
woman, or child under Nazi rule. The Nazi’s
imprisoned Jews in certain sections of the city and
made them wear special identifying armbands,
and separated them from their families.
The Nazi’s built concentration camps and sent
Jews by railcar to these camps.
When the Jews arrived, their heads
were shaved and a number was tattooed
on their arm.
Many were herded into showers which were
nothing more than gas chambers. In such places as
many as 2,000 Jews could be killed at one time.
Thousands died from forced labor, little food, and
exposure to the summer heat and the winter cold.
By the time WWII was over, as many as 6 million
Jews had died. Other groups were victims of Hitler
as well. He targeted anyone he thought was
inferior. Political prisoners, the mentally ill, and
the disabled.
Genocide is the planned killing of a race of people.
At the end of WWII, when the Allies gained control
of the camps, the survivors of the Holocaust had
no where to go. Many had no living family
members. They were trapped in the country
of their oppressors. The Jews wanted a state in
Palestine, their ancient homeland in the Middle
East. In 1947, the United Nations divided Palestine
into an Arab state and a Jewish State Israel.