Monday, May 20, 2019

Why Was the Treaty of Versailles so Unpopular in Germany?

Why was the Treaty of Versailles so unpopular in Germany? The Treaty of Versailles was the peace treaty that was drawn up by the Allies and Germany after the First institution state of warfare. It was made to prevent Germany from starting a war again and to pay back the Allies for the capital they had spent. The Germans had hoped that the Allies would treat them fairly in the negotiations for the treaty, tho the Allies, in particular France, believed that Germany should be brought to its knees.France was not as satisfied as it would have liked, because Woodrow Wilson, who s in like mannerd for America in the peace conferences, valued those in power in Germany to be punished, rather than the German people. In the end, the treaty stated that Germany had to pay ? 6000,600,000,000 in reparations, they lost a lot of land (including the Ruhr Valley), they were stripped of their aircraft and air force, they exactly had six battleships and nothing else, they had no modern weapons, and they were only allowed 100,000 soldiers.The western part of Germany called the Rhineland was de-militarized (taken over by British and French troops and controlled by the Allies). Finally, Germany was made to select that they were the ones who started the war. The Germans hated the treaty. They believed that they had been shamed globally, and they were humiliated. Germany had always been well known for having a sanitary army, and now they had only 100,000 soldiers, no modern weapons, only 6 battleships, and no navy or air force.The thousands of soldiers that were simply sent firm from the Western Front were now unemployed, living in a realm that was becoming poorer by the day, and wanted revenge. They believed that Germany could have won the war, but the new classless government had taken their chance. They also stated that the country would be powerless against the smallest of nations. The Germans were also furious about the various terms of the Treaty. They hated Clause 231 the War Guilt clause which stated that Germany had caused all the overtaking and damage of the war.Firstly, the Germans did not think that they had caused the war (for the Germans, the war was a war of self-defence against Russia, which had mobilised 31 July 1914). During the 1920s, the Germans published all their secret documents from 1914, to prove they had tried to midriff the war. Secondly, the Germans hated clause 231 because accepting it gave the Allies the moral right to punish Germany it validated all the common terms of the Treaty. The Germans also disliked the reparations, which were to be paid in instalments until 1984.They did not accept that Germany had caused all the damage. They felt up that the huge sum was just designed to destroy their economy and starve their children. Most of all, they hated reparations because they too had rebuilding work to do. Germanys economy was ruined, but, instead of being able to pump investment into German industry, the country had to send abroad huge sums of money that German industry was not yet strong enough to earn. Finally, the territorial terms of the Treaty of Versailles also made the Germans angry. Germany lost 10% of its land.The Saar was a worthy coalfield, and West Prussia and Upper Silesia were rich farming areas, so their loss further weakened Germanys economy. The loss of the Polish Corridor separated East Prussia from Germany, and further damaged the German economy. Germany lost 16% of its coalfields and half its campaign and steel industry. The loss of all Germanys colonies was seen as the Allies building empires. The loss of Malmedy to Belgium, Schleswig to Denmark, Memel to Lithuania, Alsace-Lorraine to France was also a national humiliation. The Treaty of Versailles also stopped Germany joining with Austria.This seemed unfair to the Germans, because everywhere else in Europe, the Treaties of 191920 gave peoples self-determination, but they divided Germany, and put 12. 5% of its population into other countries. The army believed that the government had betrayed them by signing the Treaty, and the semipolitical opposition backed this. A huge number of the German population were now against the new democratic government and the Treaty of Versailles, and it became known as the Versailles Diktat (the Treaty had been forced on the Germans). Becky Hutton

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