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The Impact of the Versailles Settlement on Germany 1919 - Coggle Diagram
The Impact of the Versailles Settlement on Germany 1919
Terms of the Treaty
TERRITORIAL LOSSES
13% of German territory was lost (70 000km)
Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France (along with other territories to other European states)
Danzig (a city with majority German population) became a free state under League of Nations protection.
Germany lost 75% of its iron ore, 68% of its zinc ore, 26% of coal reserves, and 15% of arable land.
All of Germany’s overseas colonies were placed under League of Nations control, in practice divided between the allies.
DISARMAMENT
Germany had to surrender all heavy weapons and dismantle fortifications in the Rhineland.
Conscription was forbidden and the German army was limited to 100 000 men
The Navy was limited to 15 000 men, with a maximum of 6 battleships and no submarines.
Germany was forbidden from having an air force
WAR GUILT
Article 231 of the Treaty meant that Germany had to accept responsibility for starting the war.
This clause made Germany liable for reparations, which was fixed as a final amount of £6.6 billion in 1921.
As part of this, Germany had to give up the majority of their merchant navy, railway, patents, and overseas investments to the allies.
THE RHINELAND
Land on both the east and western sides of the Rhineland had to be permanently demilitarised.
An allied army of occupation was based in the Rhineland to ensure that Germany fulfilled this obligation.
THE SAARLAND
This area which contained reserves of coal was separated from Germany and placed under league of Nations control for 15 years.
Therefore, as part of the reparations agreement Germany would supply France, Belgium and Italy with free coal.
France was allowed exploit coal mines in the area
OTHER TERMS
Austria was forbidden from uniting with Germany
Germany was not allowed to joint the League of Nations
The Kaiser and other Germans were to be put on trial for war
The peace settlement of Versailles 1919
The war had ended on the 11th November 1918
The German army was on the brink of defeat but they did not surrender
The armistice was an agreement to stop fighting and withdraw forces from occupied territories
The peace conference to settle to terms of the treaty was at the Palace of Versailles in January 1919.
The Germans were not allowed to attend or allowed to see the treaty until May 1919.
The German government suggested changes to the treaty but the Allies agreed to very few and In June they gave the Germans 7 days to accept the treaty
The treaty was signed by all powers on 28th June and it imposed much harsher conditions on Germany than many Germans expected or were prepared to accept
Because Germany had not been allowed to participate in negotiations, German people regarded it as a Diktat.
German reactions to the treaty
The armistice and terms of the Versailles Treaty were greeted with horror and disbelief.
Until 1914 Germany had been one of the greatest military superpowers in Europe
Official propaganda in Germany portrayed victory to be imminent, even when the allies began to force the German army into retreat. Neither civilians nor soldiers were told how desperate Germany’s military situation had become.
The abdication of the Kaiser and the signing of the armistice came as a profound shock to millions of Germans
There was almost universal resentment of the harsh terms of the treaty.
German objections mainly focussed around:
Wilson’s 14 points stressed the importance of national self-determination, but this right was denied to millions of German people who were now living in non-German states after territorial losses such as Poland and Czechoslovakia. The Polish Corridor was a major source of resentment
The War Guild Clause was seen as an unjust national humiliation
Reparations caused a lot of anger as they were seen as too high, and had the aim of crippling the German economy
Allied occupation in parts of West Germany (the Saarland) led to continued friction, as German nationalists were outraged by the outlawing of nationalist groups and patriotic songs.
The disarming of Germany and its exclusion from the League of Nations was seen as an unjust discrimination
Political Impact of the Versailles Treaty in Germany
POLITICAL CRISIS OF JUNE 1919
When the harsh terms of the treaty were revealed, Chancellor Scheidemann and other ministers had the view that signing it would be incompatible with German honour.
At this stage it seemed possible to negotiate some amendments, but when these requests were rejected by the allies, and they demanded the treaty be signed in 7 days, there was a political crisis.
Scheidemann and his ministers wanted to reject the treaty, whereas the majority of the cabinet and SPD members felt that Germany had no choice but to sign the treaty
Scheidemann resigned and Bauer became leader of a new coalition cabinet
Hindenburg and other military figures wanted to resist the signing of the treaty through renewed military action
President Ebert said he would support this if there was a chance that it would be successful
General Groener was a realist and told Eber that resistance would be futile and that Germany had no option but to accept the treaty.
The Bauer cabinet signed the treaty
REACTION OF PRO-REPUBLICAN PARTIES
Divisions after the signing of the treaty of Versailles dominated German political life
The SPD and their allies were aware of the consequences signing the treaty would have
However, they adopted the rhetoric that they took the most sensible course of action with the aim of negotiating modifications to the treaty. This became known as a policy of fulfilment.
The treaty turned even some former supporters against the Republic. Its real damage was in alienating the moderates.
The treaty caused demoralisation in government and associated the Weimar Republic with weakness and failure.
REACTION ON THE RIGHT
Right wing resentment of the Republic was intensified by the signing of the Treaty
German nationalists could not accept the military defeat nor the establishment of a new republic
Nationalists believed that the new government lacked any legitimacy because they had betrayed the fatherland.
They labelled the people who signed the treaty as ‘November Criminals’ and their actions of betrayal became known as the ‘stab in the back’ myth
Right wing ideologies appealed to ex-soldiers who had suffered in fighting for their country only to experience humiliation when they returned.
Not all soldiers who returned were hostile to the republic, as many who had been members of trade unions or supported the SPD were in favour of the democratic system
Many ex soldiers gravitated towards the Freikorps, which meant that the Weimar Republic was under continuous threats from violent nationalist groups
Reactions from abroad
Britain
British people were satisfied that Germany had lost their overseas empire, along with its large naval fleet as they believed this would make Germany less of a threat to peace in Europe.
David Lloyd George believed that Germany should not be so weak as to be unable to resist the expansion of the USSR to the west.
He also wanted Germany to be a strong trading partner with Britain.
Many in Britain saw the French as being greedy and vindictive, as there was a growing feeling that Germany had been unfairly treated at Versailles.
Economist John Maynard Keynes argued that the levels of reparations were too high and saw them as ‘one of the most serious acts of political unwisdom’.
France
The French felt as though they had suffered the most in the war and were determined to seek revenge at Versailles
The recovery of Alsace Lorraine, the demilitarisation of the Rhineland and they payment of reparations were all key demands of the French that had been met
Despite this there were many French people who regarded the treaty as being too lenient, and Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau was defeated at the next 1920 election for making too many concessions.
USA
The Americans generally viewed the treaty as a negative
There was a widespread opinion that the treaty had been unfair on Germany and that Britain and France had indulged themselves too much at Germany’s expense
The USA refused to join the League of Nations and in the 1920s they retreated from involvement in European affairs.