There is a persistent idea that the Treaty of Versailles was a harsh and unfair treaty and that it's harshness lead to the rise of the Nazis and WWII. But I've seen posts about this claiming the treaty was not harsh considering other treaties and the state Germany was in 1918
https://www.reddit.com/r/badhistory/comments/6rhyte/some_bad_history_about_the_treaty_of_versailles/
Given this subreddit's high standards for quality answers, how do these posts from r/badhistory hold up? Is it true the Treaty of Versailles wasn't particularly harsh? Is it overly reductive to say the Treaty of Versailles led to the rise of the Nazis?
I'd say it's certainly over reductive to attribute the rise of the Nazis to the Treaty of Versailles. The Nazis initially came to power as part of a right wing coalition government with Hitler being one of the few cabinet members (as chancellor admittedly) and were only able to take dictatorial power by effectively launching a coup against the legislature (combined with the death of President Hindenburg which granted a further political opening). The Nazis really came in at the right place and time if that makes sense.
Moreover, the tacit support of the German army was crucial to their rise to power (I'd argue if the German army opposed the Nazis it would never have been possible for them to obtain such power). I'd argue that while the Treaty created certain conditions, the German army, government and people creating the myth of the German army never being defeated (the state of the German army in the 100 days offensive is just ignored) was beyond just being a Nazi thing. Sure, the home front did break before the army on the western front did but the home front starved a lot more than the army on the western front did because it received less food than the soldiers on the front. This is relevant because many actors in Germany intentionally played out the never defeated on the front narrative to justify German militancy/noncooperation in diplomatic relations.
As to the treaty itself, the Dawes plan in 1924 reduced the actual debt Germany would pay in exchange for Germany adopting a new currency to counter the hyperinflation it had previously created. It also involved the lending of $200 million USD to help re-establish German industry. Moreover the reduction in debt in practice meant that commodities such as coal were shipped in smaller quantities to France as reparations which help reinvigorate the German economy.
IMO Germany got off very easy relatively speaking all things considered.
The flaw was that to avoid a few more months of combat and have Germany unconditionally surrender, the allies , mainly Wilson, touted a" peace without victory." German armies were still in the field and on foreign soil. The failure to crush Germany later allowed the Right Wing to claim Germany was not defeated but betrayed: Stabbed in the back and that the provisions and reparations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles were cruel and destroyed the German economy. By comparison, in WW2, the allies insisted on unconditional surrender. No myth of betrayal arose and Germany remained peaceful despite being dismembered and occupied.
In evaluating the severity of Versailles, it should be noted that the Treaty of Brest Litovsk imposed on Russia by Germany was much harsher than Versailles. How much Wilson's idiocy and the lack of a definitive German defeat led to Germany's path to Hitler is not easily evaluated. Suffice it to say " peace without victory" was inconsistent with Versailles and became a core Nazi position of humiliation, betrayal and revenge.