Did world war 1 contribute to the cause of world war 2?

Answer 1

the terms of the treaty of Verseilles was a hardship on post war Germany and combined with a world wide recession added to the discontent in Germany. This situation was used by many political parties to gain favor among the German people. Communist parties, socialist parties and fascist parties all claimed to have a remedy to rectify this injustice and the most successful group was the National Socialist Party. France and England were viewed by the German people to be too harsh on war repayments and many people saw a glimer of hope by listening to politicians who professed that s strong military action was a solution. Indeed as Germany had advanced technologies in warfare and the Allies were tired of conflict, Adolph Hitler, an effective speaker and WW1 veteran drew support for having Germany reclaiming resource rich areas such as the Rhineland as territory to reclaim.

As France especially was already preparing for another war ; they built eastern defenses aimed to prevent Germany from invading France, it seemed that they were in a defensive posture. Clearly not the role to take as they claimed victory in WW1. The German military was aggressive and had been successful in the Franco Prussian War earlier in the 20th century against France. When Stalin refused to enjoin in a treaty with England & France, this was a positive factor for the German military leaders. In Hitler they saw an aggressive man with a vision for rebuilding Germany even at the cost of another war. As the United States did not join the League of nations, a major world power seemed out of the picture. It was clear to many experts that Germany had the capacity and will to rectify the defeat suffered in WW1.