Also the Treaty made Germany unwillingly pay reparations for the damage they caused during the war,
The Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a treaty that Great Britain, France, the United States, and Germany signed in hopes to end all war. However, the Treaty of Versailles did the opposite and caused WWII by angering Germany and making them pay war reparations. The treaty angered many germans by depriving them of their land. This is shown in Map of Germany in document A, Germany lost parts of Southern Germany, the Polish Corridor, East Prussia, and Northern parts near Denmark. This act prompted Germany to take their land back in means of war.
According to Wilson’s war message to Congress, the imperial government of Germany posed a threat for world peace and democracy because they infiltrated nations - something a self-governed state would not do - threatened merchants with submarine warfare, and maintained an autocracy by keeping much of the German citizens ignorant of the government’s actions. Wilson confirmed that Germany had infiltrated many surrounding territories and US offices by sending spies into the area, disregarding the neutral status of said territories. Many spies were sent with the goal of -- which would lead to inner turmoil in the invaded countries. By expanding their forces with orders to disrupt - a prime example: the Zimmerman telegram to Mexico intercepted by the US - Germany would endanger the peace of countries and possibly be the cause of wars amongst them.
Germany was little sour over World War I. There was a lot of resentment with the Triple Alliance, because of the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty really maimed Germany, cutting off 15% of their European territory, and they were forced to pay heavy reparations for the war. On top of this, Germany’s military was severely reduced; about two-thirds was gone. Other countries of the world wanted to make sure Germany would not cause any more problems.
Ripped of their assets, land, military, and dignity Germany stumbled in the dark trying to regain control of itself. They feared the rebels from Russia would overthrow their government and because of their dramatically reduced military, nothing would stand in their way. They had no idea how they were going to pay off the treaty and one point their money was worth so little the French invaded and took what was needed to pay off that deposit. When Hitler came to power, he redirected the anger from the treaty of Versailles toward the allies and spark the second total war. He portrayed the first world word at a time when Germany was finally united and in a good position over the world.
Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles it is stated “The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected.¨ (Document D). The Allied powers blamed Germany and its allies for the start of WW1, the German people however felt this was humiliating, leaving them with anger towards the Allied powers. Laurence V. Moyer stated “The Allies continued... To regard the [Versailles] Treaty as an international contract… most Germans saw it as an atrocious injustice, an evil thing which must be destroyed.¨ (Document D). The German people thought of the Treaty as a document used to humiliate them by the Allies, and thus wanted to destroy it, even though the Allies thought of it as an international document.
It’s easy to say that Germany did not like this deal but was reluctantly forced into still paying. In Document C, the amount of damages that they had to pay was an appalling $367 billion dollars that was supposed to be paid back within 30 years. Paying for the reparations is regarded as one of the stepping stones into WW2 because of the fact that many Germans didn’t agree with it, so like all countries in a time of need with nowhere else to go they turned to one man, the man who started WW2. As soon as Adolf Hitler started to gain any sense of power and also had the power to enact movements in Germany he stopped paying the war reparations in 1933. This act of breaking the Treaty of Versailles is seen as one of the big pushes that lead into the next World
Germany had to accept the responsibility for causing the damages. Germany was unhappy with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Also, the germans did not like how much amount they had to pay. The amount that Germany had to pay for the reparation were a whopping $30 billion! Germany had a hard time paying the reparations because it was also at the time of the depression after the stock market collapse.
On July 28, 1914 the Great War began, but no one had any idea how much this war would change everyone’s lives. World War I would last over four years, and would claim anywhere from nine million lives to thirteen million lives. On November 11, 1918 Germany formally surrendered, and now that the war was finally over it was time to set some rules to ensure that peace was here to stay. Although everyone was doing what they thought was best for everyone involved in reality it may have all been a terrible idea. Unfortunately, it is possible that there was so much guilt and shame thrown into these “rules” that it lead to World War II.
Article 232 and 233 states that Germany had to pay for all the damage they caused in WWI and the amount was finalized by the other countries. Germany did not want to pay any of the reparations because they did not agree that they should take full responsibility for the war. Angry Germans helped Hitler into power more than before because he stopped all the payments. These articles made the German people angry and yet again look to Hitler for leadership, by looking to him, he made the decision to stop all the payment being made. By ending payments, Germany made what the Treaty of Versailles says was broken and therefore starts to get the countries who are supposed to get money from Germany angry, so now the Treaty of Versailles made Germany angry.
This happened in June 1919, representatives from the new German republic were brought to the palace for the Treaty of Versailles outside of Paris. The document said that they would be 100% responsible for the WWI, have to pay for the damage , and have to pay pension for the soldiers which added to 30 billion dollars. Some countries were aiming to weaken Germany so that they would not be able to start anymore conflicts between other countries. The size of the military was also limited and Germany also got their overseas colonies taken away and some of their land. Also, they were forced to sign this treaty because Germany
The First World War caused millions of deaths and destruction all over Europe and around the world. When the war ended, the victors gathered to mend the results of war through a peace treaty that blamed the defeated− the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was signed in 1919 and greatly affected the world both directly and indirectly. However, while it did attempt to fix the damage done by WW1, it added further burdens and injury to an already weak Germany that eventually led to the Second World War from their feelings of revenge and rage. This is because the Treaty of Versailles was an imperfect agreement that punished Germany too much and negatively affected both Germany and Europe in physical, political, and financial ways.
This caused hyper-inflation. The Treaty of Versailles hurt Germany significantly by hurting their armed forces limiting their army to 100,000 men, hurt their economy and industry by losing the Saar region and Prussia losing fertile farming land due to the agreement of the Treaty of Versailles, along with the other major impacting factors Germany had Kaiser and Germany had to pay approximately 6,600 million pounds.
And the country need to pay all the reparations. What virtually angered Germans was that they were forced to admit the completely responsibility for starting the World War I. They need to endure all the blame for the guilt. People in Germany were outraged. They did not believe that they should be treated inhumanely.
This flawed treaty also attributed to the start of World War II. In part eight of the treaty the blame of World War I is discussed. “Part VIII – Reparations – Section I: General Provisions – Article 231. The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies” (Kirchberger 365). This excerpt from the Treaty of Versailles declares that Germany is to accept blame for the war.
