Would it be fair to say that WWII would probably have been avoided had Germany not had to take the blame for WWI?

by [deleted]

[deleted]

IsntAFailure

I wouldn't say WWII would have been avoided, If they weren't blamed for WWI, perhaps the events leading up to WWII would have played out differently? maybe even a prolonged star of WWII? There would still be hostility between nations (mostly against Germany), huge debts that wracked up, and German nationalist would still have been hostile against the German government for 'giving up'.

If you're thinking about abolishing Wilson's 14 points all together, so no war guilt clause requiring Germany to pay off the damage done to other nations, their army limited to 100,000 and so forth, then Germany would have been in a position much sooner to start another war. Although the Weimer Republic did wonders in introducing a Democratic-like government (aside from article 48), the major issue with them not succeeding was the fact Germany faced too many downfalls for democracy to get them out of the rut. The nationalists who believed the military hadn't lost the war still would have found the Weimer Republic and the culture it brought with it as disgraceful.

Although having the guilt placed on them brutally destroyed their economy, The political revolutions after the transition from the imperialistic ruling to a republic created mass distraught between the political parties.

It's possible to say that some of the above could have been disputed altogether, it's hard to generalize the actions that would have taken place had terms been different. It's even harder to predict how the key figures in WWII would have reacted with the change in events, it's quite possible that their actions would alter on a different path but their motives still very much the same.

The major reason as to why WWII started is highly due to the fact many German nationalist felt they didn't lose, or at least they couldn't accept defeat. They were pissed at their government for ending the war when they believed they weren't finished. The Weimer Republic was beautiful in bringing in a constitution. Their downfall heavily resides on the natural occurrences, like the depression, that the NSDAP took advantage of and blamed the republic for the troubles they were in. Heavy manipulation and propaganda led to Nazi empowerment which inaugurated policies leading to war.

It's hard to say that had Germany not been blamed for WWI, WWII would have been avoided when so much occurred, with or without war guilt clause, during the 20 years interval.