Short Essay: The Effects Of The Treaty Of Versailles On Germany

The Treaty Of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a 15 part long essay that covered the end of World War I. It was signed on June 28th and included 440 articles, most of which concerned Germany. In this essay, I will go over the effects of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany, as it had a very lasting effect on the people of Germany and set the stage for Hitler’s takeover. The Treaty basically collapsed Germany’s economy and due to the demanding nature of things included in the Treaty (such as reparations), thousands starved. Germany was basically forced to take credit for the entire war, and was forced to pay $33 billion marks in reparations due to Parts VIII and IX of the Treaty (originally, they were supposed to pay $63 billion marks, but the amount was lowered). Germany was not allowed to participate in the discussion, so all of the decisions (including Article 231, which stated that Germany claimed full responsibility for the war along with its allies) were made without it’s input or opinion. Along with these drastic measures, Germany was also not allowed to join the League of Nations (Part 1 of the Treaty),

In order to combat this, Germany tried to re-inflate its economy by mass producing money. This decision was made in 1923. At first, this solution seemed to work, but so the country was absorbed in an insane amount of hyperinflation. Hyperinflation (monetary inflation occurring at a very high rate), degraded Germany to the point where a loaf of bread, which before hyperinflation was worth about 250 marks, was now worth 200,000 million marks (BBC- GCSE Bitesize- Weimar- crisis of 1923). People would literally use marks in order to light fires, as they were practically useless. Hundreds starved or became homeless (or both), as things were now so outrageously expensive, no one could afford them. All of this only served to make the economy even