Some major terms of the Treaty of Versailles affected Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey. The most notable was the treaty signed by Germany. They were forced to sign the war-guilt clause, pinning all the blame on Germany for starting the war which led to Germany having to pay for all the damages caused by the Allies being subjected to the casualties of the imposed aggression of Germany and its allies. Germany considered this too harsh.
On top of the guilt clause, Germany’s military and territory were cut down by the treaty. Limiting the Germans to what they had as far as military strength was to help lower the chances of Germany “starting” another war. It’s army was reduced to 100,000 men. Germany’s navy was also reduced and to top it off, Germany had to eliminate its air force.
Germany’s military wasn’t the only thing to take a hit. Germany had many territorial losses as well. It had to return Alsace and Lorraine to the French and a few sections of Prussia to the new Polish state. It had to establish about 30 miles east to west as demilitarized zones. Germany was stripped of armaments and or fortifications so as to protect France from any moves from Germany in the future. Germany was immensely irate but nonetheless agreed to the treaty and its dictated peace.
After David Lloyd George, the prime minister of Great Britain, wanted to make sure that Germany paid for the dreadful war. He made his platform for being elected on the basis that he would make sure Germany was punished.
France’s main objective was to insure national security. France felt it had taken the worst of the war as it was at the forefront of Germany’s attacks. This led France to want security from the possibility of attacks in the future. In order...
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...n of Austrian Demands. And Russia for its mobilization of its troops that gave the Germans an excuse for mobilizing its own. I would stay with the reduction of German troops and arms to discourage any enthusiasm of going to war anytime soon.
I don’t believe I would agree with having Germans work their own mines to make another country take all of their profits, forcing Germany to be unable to pay its workers, which in turn would starve its people. This would be less harsh on the Germans which I strongly believe would have helped to discourage the second world war. Germany would have been much less humiliated if the other factors were also sharing the blame and received their penalties. Ive heard it said that a generation that receives a beating, is usually followed by one that deals a beating. Germany received a beating, which in turn led to them seeking revenge.
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Show More“The British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, recognized the feelings of the British people when he said ‘the Germans are going to pay every penny: they are going to be squeezed … until the pips squeak” (. This was the general conscious the British and the French people had because they felt they were owed for all of the wartime damages that occurred, the civilian and Soldiers lives that were lost, and because of the recourses the allies used to fight central powers. Ultimately the British and the French wanted revenge on Germany and for the first time they were in the power to do it. “Germany was not invited; as the defeated party, it was only required to sign the treaty once the cost of defeat had been established”2. The German s had no say at the negotiating table at the treaty of Versailles and because of this the “Big Four” ultimately and the power to punish Germany however they sought fit. This was a long shot from “Wilson’s proposed, “peace among equals,”2 and created much resentment from the German people. “Acceptance of blame appeared in Clause 231 of the treaty, later known as the ‘War Guilt clause’. Once Germany was made to acknowledge that it was responsible for the
To start with Germany lost a majority of its land and territory. Germany lost about thirteen percent of their land including Rhineland, which had to be demilitarized. (The Holocaust) The Treaty of Versailles only allowed Germany to have a certain amount of war materials. The amount that they were allowed to have was six battle ships, six light cruisers, twelve destroyers, twelve torpedo boats and their Navy could have no more than
Many people in other lands thought that the treaty was a way of making legal the punishment on the Germans and this was in violation of Wilsonian idealism. The peacemakers should have been able to set aside hatred that was built up from the past in order to come up with a more proper and fair settlement. Instead of doing this, they placed the blame on the Germans by forcing them to pay for reparations they couldn't afford, insulting them with the accusation of guilt from the war and taking away their territory. The treaty would only intensify the hatred felt by all the parties involved in the treaty and heighten German nationalism. This was a poor beginning for democracy in Germany and for Wilson's New World.
The Germans thought it unfair, as they persuaded themselves and others that they had not lost. It came as a shock that the conclusion of the reparations clause, under the terms of article 231, demanded that Germany was legally subjected to pay up and accept the “financial burden of putting Europe back together again” (merriment, 1996). The conditions of the treaty given as an ultimatum, to the German democratic parties whom, later were addressed as the November criminals for ‘stabbing Germany in the back’, had no choice but to accept the terms or face invasion. They had to Acquiesce the proposals that “curtailed the power of the nation, deprived it of its prestige, attacked its transitions, and impaired its integrity. (Abel 1938). Consequently, irritated German leaders, wanting to arouse international sympathy, deliberately lead to the mistranslation of article 231, making it refer to Germany’s sole guilt, as opposed to the joint guilt of Germany and her allies, setting off an increasing wave of righteous indignation about the war guilt lie and so with the acrid debate that was arising, the article turned into a war guilt clause enhancing the impression of a charge of German moral
Ÿ To make Germany pay for what they had done to France, both in the
In December of 1918, The Allies of Europe met in Versailles to Sign possibly one of the most changing documents in history. The document they signed nearly turned Europe upside down, broke down and put up many new social barriers, and definitely made history. The Document that the allied forces all gathered to sign was known as the Treaty of Versailles. Initially, the treaty intended to keep peace between the nations, however, forcing Germany to sign the treaty ended up as one of the worst decisions anybody could have made. The forced signing created tensions between Germany and other countries, let Germany rise back up to Power, Created an optimal situation for Germany to wage war, and ultimately caused World War II, resulting in one of the biggest failures in Debate and Diplomacy of all time.
...Germany was also excessive, resulting in more hatred in the minds of its people. The Germans had more enthusiasm to annul the treaty, assisting the promotion of Hitler's goals. He was able to rise within the minds of the German people, allowing him to reach absolute power. And with this power, he pointed a gun back at the Allies, not knowing that they had one more bullet than he.
The Treaty of Versailles is a cause of World War II because of the restrictions it placed on Germany as the alleged sole aggressor of the war. The war reparation totaled $98 billion, and under Clause 231 Germany was forced to take the entire load onto her ruined economy and attempt to repay the debt starting with an initial $5 billion payment. In terms of military, Germany was limited to a 100,000 man army, with her navy stripped to the level of a coast guard, she was allowed no heavy artillery, no weapons of mass destruction and the border with France became a demilitarized zone for 15 years following the signing of the treaty on June 28 1919. Germany also lost all her territories in Africa and became a mandate of the Allied Forces, those living in mandated zones could participate in “self-determination” after the Allies taught them how to be a democracy (...
Much of France had been devastated by the battles when Germany had invaded. He wanted to protect France and keep Germany from becoming strong enough to begin another war. George and Wilson also did not want Germany to begin another war. However, they were concerned a severe punishment would set the pretext for another war. Wilson’s concerns and proposals were largely ignored, and the final treaty had severe consequences for Germany. Germany had to accept full blame for WWI and had to give up one million square miles of land. Some of this land had been seized by Germany before WWI, and the majority of this lost land was rich in natural resources that could have been used to improve Germany’s struggling economy. In addition to losing this land, Germany also lost all of its colonies. Germany had to pay reparations to other countries for the losses and damages those countries had suffered as a result of the war. This would prove to be very difficult for Germany because it had to finance the rebuilding of its country, too. In order to keep Germany weak, its military had to be reduced and production was stopped on almost all war
The Germans wanted to get the war over with France so that they didn't have to fight Russia at the same time, so when they got delayed, they were in trouble.
Already, Germany’s army had risen to 4.5 million troops, which was forty-five times the allowed size of Germany’s military under the treaty. Not only was the treaty broken with the rise of soldiers, but Hitler also conducted a successful plan to build more weapons, which also aided in Germany’s falling economy. Action was not taken by the Allies even after both Austria and Czechoslovakia were invaded. Instead, Great Britain and other supporting countries made agreements with Hitler, thinking that if they were lenient toward the treaty’s rules, war would be avoided. Without military influence or actions taken by the League of Nations, the Allied countries almost acted as if Treaty of Versailles never existed in the aspect of attempting to disarm
At the end of World War One, Germany was required to pay a large sum of money to the Allies consequently resulting in the German Depression. The sum Germany had to pay was set after the Treaty of Versailles was enacted at approximately six billion, six hundred million – twenty-two billion pounds, (World War Two – Causes, Alan Hall, 2010). The large amount of reparations that Germany had to pay resulted in a depression and angered the Germans because they thought it was an excessive amount of money to pay, (World War Two – Causes) The Germans hatred of the Treaty of Versailles was of significant importance in propelling the Nazis to power. Germany could not pay their reparations and was forced into a depression, (World War II – Causes). The Treaty of Versailles deprived Germany of its economic production and its available employments, (World War II – Causes). The German Depr...
The stipulations of the Versailles Treaty were aimed to bring down Germany and make it as weak as possible. One of the solutions the the victors came up was to take territory away from Germany, resulting in the country losing more than forty percent of their coal producing areas. They took away the Polish Corridor, parts of East Prussia, parts of Denmark, as well as Lorraine-Alsace (Doc A). Taking away the Polish Corridor put Germany in a difficult position, as it geographically split Germany into two pieces. In addition, the city Danzig was also a very...
However, as the treaty of Versailles was signed, that all soon, quite embarrassingly, came to an end. The treaty had already had a negative and demoralising effect on Germany after losing certain parts of their country, but this was only the beginning of what they were about to go through. The treaty of Versailles truly effected Germany once they lost most of their armed forces, being stated in article 159-184, Germany were restricted to an army of 100,00 men, no submarines or aeroplanes, and only 6 battle ships. In addition, conscriptions were also banned (all soldiers had to be volunteers). The treaty made Germany’s west of Rhineland and east of the river Rhine to be made into a demilitarized zone (DMZ). This meaning that no soldier or weapon was allowed to enter this zone. They were also no longer allowed to possess tanks, heavy artillery, poison gas supplies, airships or even aircrafts. To most Germans, this was extremely embarrassing because it meant that their military power was at a great low, in fact so low that almost every other country would not even take them seriously. With little military power/armed forces to back Germany up, they were no longer able to take part in in international relations. Furthermore, in the event of an invasion, it would prove to be very difficult to even defend themselves. Germany, due to signing the treaty of Versailles, had now become very little; a state that could prove easy for other countries to take advantage of, and had lost most of their military and weaponry that they had previously
The military clause stated that the German army was limited to 100,000 volunteers and conscription was banned, along with the army being stripped of all its air force, tanks and submarines, and left Germany with only 6 battleships. An army of 100,000 men was just big enough to keep order within Germany, but was not large enough to defend itself from exterior attacks which left Germany incredible vulnerable, which would definitely not promote the “peaceful” aim of the treaty. Especially with the demilitarisation of Rhineland, Germany was left open to attack from France, who had an incredibly negative view on Germany, and wanted to punish her further. The fact that the German army was reduced to only 0.01% of the amount of troops that Germany mobilised during the first World War. This led to a huge number of soldiers loosing their jobs, and in the economic situation which Germany was in, not many Jobs were open. Before the war, the military was Germany's Pride and an important political source for nationalism. Having the majority of it being sanctioned, this completely angered the German people, and united them with the desire to seek revenge on the Triple Entente. In 1925, Hitler said in a speech, “With the common cry- We will have our weapons again!”- He was referring to when the treaty of Versailles virtually eliminated Germany's army. We can see that this was the opinion of the majority of the German public, as the Nazi party came to power with very similar ideas, and they were voted for democratically. To make matters even worse, treaty forced Germany to use its resources and industry to build warships for the League of Nations at their own expense, which humiliated them even further. The military terms of the treaty of Versailles were too harsh on Germany, and even to an untrained eye, it is obvious