Did Versailles cause ww2: no!
Did versailles help Hitler (&NSDWP) win an election?: Yes!
Versailles is the lightning rod but not the lightning!
When Der Reich bailed in '18, there were no foreign troops on german soil: The citizens had been told "we're winning", "we're winning", "tactical retreat", "we've asked for an armistice".
Germans particularly did not understand the "war guilt" clause; Everyone behaved like alley dogs on the run-in to war (& after).
Hitler was a loony when he tried a putsch in Munich in '20 - something, but in '33 after the great depression had demolished the Weimar compromise & replaced it with Hindenberg's kleptocrats +40% unemployment, anything looked good.
Or as the 'great power' historians put it: Germany & Russia were great powers that had their borders trimmed after being 'on the wrong side in WW1'. There was no way those borders were not going to be reviewed once those powers regained their strength.
My reading of history is that if the depression hadn't swept normal politics (& economics) away, ww2 might have been avoided - for a while.
Some of my sources:
1918, War & peace by Gregor Dallas
Rise & Fall of Great Powers by Kennedy
The Owl of Minerva by Regler
Conf. proceedings: "Versailles, 75 yrs later" (Haven't ponyied up $85 for this yet); the historians are seriously digging into ww1 now; few veterans & aging politicos are left to fire bomb their homes!
Or as WH Auden wrote in "September 1, 1939":
"I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-Second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low, dishonest decade:...
In August of 2004, Zappi, Homba, Bambam887, RedScorpion and MOOXE all pitched
in to create this Close Combat site. I would to thank all the people who have visited
and found this site to thier liking. I hope you had time to check out some
of the great Close Combat mods and our forums. I'd also like to thank
all the members of our volunteer staff that have helped over
the years, and all our users that contributed to this site!
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