On November 18th of 1918, Germany, a member of the Central Powers, surrendered unconditionally to the allies. World War I had ended with a total of 37 million casualties, including 9 million dead combatants. German propaganda had not prepared that nation for defeat, and its suddenness resulted in a sense of injured German national pride. Following the defeat of Germany in World War I and in the midst of a great worldwide depression, both the social and political climates were prime for a dictator such as Adolf Hitler to rise to power.
             A year later, in June of 1919, the leaders of the Allies met at the Palace of Versailles to decide on the peace settlement after World War I. The treaty, which was a compromise of ideas from George Clemanceau, Prime minister of France, David Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Vittorio Orlando, the Prime minister of Italy, and Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States. According to the terms of the peace agreement, Germany was forced to reduce its army to 100,000 men, reduce the navy to 6 warships and was not allowed to have any submarines, destroy all of its air force and give land to Belgium, France, Denmark and Poland. This was not all, however. The allies concluded the Germany must be forced to "pay" for it's mistakes against the rest of the world, so it was also forced to hand over all of it's colonies, agree to pay reparations to the Allies for all of the damage caused by the war, a sum totaling over 6 and a half billion marks, and to accept all blame for the war in the 'War Guilt Clause'. To Germany, the Treaty of Versailles seemed as if the Allies dictated it purely on revenge. In such a war-ravaged country, it seemed impossible for the government to pay back this incredible amount of money. Although economists at the time declared that such a huge sum could never be collected without upsetting international finances, the Allies insisted that Germany be compelled to pay...