ABSTRACT
The treaties that ended World War I did not bring worldwide peace – various nations fought against each other or were torn apart by civil war. Also, the Treaty of Versailles left two dangerous legacies: a bitter, impoverished Germany and an Eastern Europe made up of small, politically-fragmented states. Interwar politicians, particularly nationalists and other rightwingers, began to exploit the situation created by Versailles. Their aggressiveness and opportunism, coupled with the political inertia of those who might have opposed them, led to World War II.
