This paper looks at the Treaty of Versailles that was signed in 1919, as one of the critical factors that paved way for the emergence of Nazi Germany and as a precursor to the next World War which was the second.

The treaty imposed harsh penalties on Germany, including:
-Territorial Losses: Germany lost much area : Alsace-Lorraine to France, and parts of Poland.
Demilitarization : German military was far from being even a medium power and hardly possessed any long ranged weapons.
Reparations : It compelled them to pay off the reparation to Germany, in billions to the allied countries which weaken their economies.
War Guilt Clause : The German were completely blamed for having done this war and this led to tendency of avenging.

-Economic and Political Instability: These treaty terms were very unfriendly and caused so much economic mayhem in Germany. Present here were features of extreme adversity consisting of severe inflation, unemployment, and political instability that provided ideal environment for such ideology as the Nazism to capture the German soil.

There rose Nationalism and Revisionism: This treaty created strong nationalism in Germany because of the Germans’ perception of the treaty together with considering that Terms of the treaty as unjust instead of just. This was leveraged by political leaders like Adolf Hitler he preach for scrapping of the treaty arguing that Germany was once again going to dominate.

-Weakening of International Cooperation: The terms of the treaty and then political turmoil in Europe resulted to international relations decline and approaches to isolationism.

It is important to note that while the Treaty of Versailles could have been associated with the outbreak of World War II solely because of its punitive provisions and the resentment that it evoked in Germans who wanted to revenge for their humiliating defeat and the Treaty, the effects of Nazism had already been sown in Germany long before the second global conflict took place.