How Did The Treaty Of Versailles Impact The Weimar Republic

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On the 28th June 1919, Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles by the Allied Forces and take the blame for World War 1. It was to a large extent that this Treaty of Versailles (ToV) had a significant impact on the Weimar Republic in the period of 1918 - 1933. The ToV was drawn up by the allies to ‘disable’ Germany. German people called the ToV a ‘Diktat’ - a dictated peace - as Germany had not been consulted on the treaty before it was forced to sign.The ToV brought about issues such as extreme debt, hyperinflation, flawed constitution and a dislike of the german population towards the Weimar Government which in turn prompted many attempted ‘revolutions’.The political, social and economic strain resulting from the ToV resulted …show more content…

Prior to WW1 the German people had only known of a monarchy in power. After the war the monarchy abdicated and the allies forced democracy onto Germany as a condition of Armistice. It was this new democratic Government that was to sign the treaty of versailles and take the blame for Germany’s loss in the war, and the issues that would be caused by the ToV in the future. This sudden shift in political structure at a time of despair and embarrassment created the idea of the “November Criminals,” a prejudice against the new Government that it would never be able to recover from. Since Germany had only ever been a traditional monarchy, it was unrealistic for Germany to produce a successful and able Government in the time span given. It is for this reason Germany would struggle with a flawed constitution throughout 1918-1933. Although Germany created a new democratic government their failure to reform the previous judiciary (military, government officials, police) who were still loyal to the previous monarchy created a conservative elite who continuously undermined the Government.It was due to the preconditions of the ToV forcing Germany to become a democratic government that the Weimar Republic had little chance of …show more content…

With the loss of land 16% of coal production, 15% of farming production and 48% of iron production as well as the loss of overseas colonies meant Germany lost an immense amount of valuable sources of raw material and trade - further reducing Germany’s inability to repay the reparations. This meant that even with the loan of money Germany was unable to pay the second instalment of the reparations in 1922. France and Belgium thus invaded the Ruhr Valley, one of German’s richest industrial area’s.This in turn was met by civil protest and workers refused to co- operate with the invading forces. The passive resistance in the Ruhr combined with the extreme debt resulted in the hyperinflation crisis of 1923. The extreme economic crisis in Germany was a direct cause of the ToV and had a large effect on the Weimar

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