User:Engl101migliara

=French Security Demands Helped Hitler Rise to Power= French security demands, such as reparations, coal payments, and a demilitarized Rhineland, took precedent at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and shaped the Treaty of Versailles by severely punishing Germany; however, Germany found the treaty to be unjust and that encouraged Hitler’s popularity.

France's effort in WWI
France’s effort in WWI earned its triumph at a severe cost. Not only did France supply most of the troops for both Germany’s western and eastern frontiers, France also fought in two of the bloodiest battles of the war, the Battles of the Marne and Verdun. In 1914, Germany attacked France at the Battle of the Marne. French troops retreated for most of the fight until they launched a surprise attack on 8 September 1914. Although they won this battle, the French army lost around 250,000 troops. The Battle of Verdun in 1916 lasted ten months killing nearly 540,000 French troops.

Economic problems
Because the French parlement rejected income tax as a means of generating money to pay for the war, the French government sold war bonds and printed currency. This caused France to have a debilitating debt with harsh inflation. Not only did France suffer psychologically from the damaging effects of high casualty numbers, France now had to deal with a tanked economy. The main aggravator of the war was Germany, so naturally France focused in on Germany as the main source of their misery.

Paris Peace Conference (1919)
As WWI ended in 1918, France, along with the other victor countries, were in a desperate situation regarding their economies, security, and morale. The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 was their chance to punish Germany for starting the war. The war “must be someone’s fault – and that’s a very natural human reaction” analyzed historian Margaret MacMillan. Germany was charged with the sole responsibility of starting WWI. The War Guilt Clause was the first step towards a satisfying revenge for the victor countries, namely France, against Germany. France understood that its position in 1918 was “artificial and transitory”. Thus, Clemenceau, the French leader at the time, worked to gain French security via the Treaty of Versailles.

France's agenda during the Conference
The two main provisions of the French security agenda were reparations from Germany in the form of money and coal and a detached German Rhineland. The French government printed excess currency, which created inflation, to compensate for the lack of funds in addition to borrowing money from the United States. Reparations from Germany were necessary to stabilize the French economy. France also demanded that Germany give France their coal supply from the Ruhr to compensate for the destruction of French coalmines during the war. Because France was scared for its safety as a country, the French demanded an amount of coal that was a “technical impossibility” for the Germans to pay back. France wanted the German Rhineland demilitarized because that would hinder a German attack. This gave France a physical security barrier between itself and Germany. The inordinate amount of reparations, coal payments, and the insulting principal of a demilitarized Rhineland were unreasonable to the Germans.

Germany's reaction to Treaty of Versailles
“No postwar German government believed it could accept such a burden on future generations and survive…”. Paying reparations is a classic punishment of war but in this instance it was the “extreme immoderation” (History) that caused German resentment. Germany made its last WWI reparation payment on 3 October 2010. Finally, ninety-two years after the end of WWI, Germany completely finishes paying off its war debt. Germany also fell behind in their coal payments. They fell behind because of a passive resistance movement against the French. In response, the French invaded the Ruhr, the region filled with German coal, and occupied it. At this point the majority of Germans were enraged with the French and placed the blame for their humiliation on the Weimar Republic. Adolf Hitler, a leader of the Nazi Party, attempted a coup d’état against the republic to establish a Greater German Reich known as the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. Although this failed, Hitler gained recognition as a national hero amongst the German population. The demilitarized Rhineland and additional cutbacks on military infuriated the Germans. Although it is logical that France would want the Rhineland to be a neutral zone, the fact that France had the power to make that desire happen merely added on to the resentment of the Germans against the French. In addition, the Treaty of Versailles dissolved the German general staff and possession of navy ships, aircraft, poison gas, tanks, and heavy artillery was made illegal. The humiliation of being bossed around by the victor countries, especially France, and being stripped of their prized military made the Germans resent the Weimar Republic and idolize anyone who stood up to it.

Adolf Hitler's Rise to Power
Adolf Hitler stood up to the Weimar Republic and that gave hope to the emotionally defeated people of Germany. The birth of the Weimar Republic is associated with the humiliation of accepting the Versailles Treaty so it automatically had several enemies and Germans were extremely dissatisfied with it. With the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 and Hitler’s continual rise to fame and popularity, Hitler was appointed as chancellor in 1933. Because of the extravagant demands of the French on the Germans for a war the Germans did not believe they lost, Germans looked towards Adolf Hitler to save them.