At the end of world war I, the European countries got together to decide what Germany's punishments should be after losing the war. The terms that they came up with were nearly impossible for Germany to meet, these terms included Germany to pay in gold, in land, in resources, and to reduce military strength. Also they had to take full responsibility for causing world war I. One of the terms that Germany had to meet was A large debt in gold for reparations to the other countries, Which was 132 billion gold marks (Doc C). Although they had to pay off reparations to other counties they did not have to rebuild bridges, roads, schools, and business as did their other allies. Germany had to suspend payments due to the Great Depression in 1931 also …show more content…
Some of these colonies included, Tanzania, Rwanda, Cameroon, Namibia, and Botswana. Germany hit a major loss in their economy by losing 60 million tons of coal. After the industrial land was given away, Germany only had access to 78 million tons of coal per year (Doc A). Adolf Hitler recognized the need for German territory, In his book “Mein Kampf’ He states the need for German expansion or the “Jewish Peril”. In the treaty Germans was restricted to certain military resources. The German army must not compromise more than 7 divisions of infantry and 3 divisions of cavalry, Germany must not exceed 100 thousand men including officers, The army should be devoted only to the maintenance of its territory (Doc B). Since Germany attacked the U.S. on civilian ships and continued after the U.S. demanded Germany to stop, The treaty placed Germany's navy severe prohibitions.
The last term that was placed on Germany during the treaty of Versailles was that Germany had to accept full responsibility for starting WWI (Doc D). Most of the German people thought this was outrageous because it demeaned their self worth. In turn this helped Hitler rise in power, because he restored a sense of self respect. Helping the world look at Germany as a better
The Treaty of Versailles formed after World War I forced Germany to pay great amounts in reparation payments, which was severely damaging to their economy and to their collective national ego. In addition, they were forced to greatly weaken their army by demobilizing, abolishing universal compulsory military service, and by having their army be comprised by no more than seven divisions of infantry and three divisions of cavalry. Furthermore, the country was also forced to return lands which they had viewed as 'Germanic' and had laid claim to, as well as overseas colonies, back to various other countries.
Germany and Austria had to make huge reparation payments and were able to do so only with
The Treaty of Versailles was a truly cruel document and expressed a large dislike for Germany. The document had a myriad of demands and if they weren 't met, then extortion was used to achieve goals. The treaty caused many hardships such as limiting the army down to almost nothing, stopped the building of large ships and took away submarines completely. Also, Great Britain and France collected money for all the damage the war had caused. To pay its war debts the country borrowed money from America, but soon after it stopped when the Great Depression began.2 In result, Germany had it 's very depression that was so severe the money ended up having almost little to no worth.
World War I ended with the Treaty of Versailles, a treaty that was largely negotiated by the Allied Powers - primarily Britain, France, and Russia - and whose purpose seemed to be the punishment of Germany, who had been part of the Central Powers. Germany was widely blamed for causing so much destruction measured both in lives and monetary value during the war, and once they lost, the victors imposed harsh sanctions and restrictions on German trade and military. Germany was unfairly used as a scapegoat at the end of the war, and did not deserve the restrictions and blame put on them. Such restrictions were morally and ethically unfair, and left Germany no room to rebuild their economy after a war that left them in shambles. During his
The Treaty of Versailles said that the “war [was] imposed upon [the Allies] by the aggression of Germany and her allies,” (Doc D), which left no room for question on who the world blamed for the war. War is a very violent, vicious, maleficent thing, taking the lives of millions of people and injuring millions more; being told that they were in fault of all of this, Germans were not only bitter but they felt humiliated (Doc D). All of this guilt was burdened on the population of Germany, and they were robbed of yet another part of their beings: their sense of worth. Living day to day in a society in which they were drowned by the debt of their country to the countries they had been engaged in war with only reminded them daily of what they were in blame for. The people would undoubtedly hunger for a change, thirst for revenge, and live in the hope that they could be made into the great nation they had once been. Soon, Germany would be overtaken by enthusiastic feelings of a “restored sense of pride” brought by Hitler (Doc D). Under his guiding hands, Germany would be molded out of defeat into a country ravenous in the pursuit of rebuilding themselves into something significant to the
The Treaty of Versailles ended World War I, and because Germany had lost the war, the treaty was very harsh against Germany. The treaty stated that Germany must accept full responsibility for the previously ended war and pay thirty three billion dollars for the damages that remained from the war. This treaty left Germany and the citizens with a shattered economy and chaos. The Treaty of Versailles left many Germans angry and frustrated due to the long term effects it
Germany was believed to be the cause of World War one, which made other European countries want to severely hurt Germany’s military and economy so that Germany couldn’t achieve future aggressions. The peace treaty called the Treaty of Versailles did just that. On June 28, 1919, the major powers in Europe, other than Germany, negotiated Germany’s punishment for the war. Germany’s military was limited to 100,000 men, they lost many of their colonies, they were forced to disarm their troops from the Rhineland, and worst of all they were forced to pay for all of the destruction caused by the war, which totaled to about 40 billion dollars. The Treaty of Versailles crushed Germany; they were weak and desperate, until Nazi Germany came to power.
Other controversial sections included the major land concessions forced upon Germany (including the loss of all her colonies), the limitation of the German army to 100,000 men, and the extremely large sum in reparations Germany was to pay to the Allied Powers.
Chapter 17 covers the first tracking of WWI and how it played out. Before the war even started, Germany had already made a secret plan to knock out France and Russia. One of the biggest events that ignited WWI was in Germany there were many languages that were spoken and most of the people wanted to leave and gain its independence. The war revolved around gaining independence and blame. The Austro-Hungarian Archduke went to Serbia to give it it’s independence meanwhile he got shot by Gavrilo Princip. Austria-Hungary had a feeling that Serbia had planned this ahead of time, which they did. Soon afterward, Austria-Hungary went to war with Serbia and wanted Germany's help, Kaiser William II made the final decision in standing behind and supporting
Germany had to pay off large amounts of reparations money and debt as a result of its defeat in WWI
During the course of the following year the Treaty of Versailles was drafted and presented to the German people on May 7, 1919. The Germans thought the treaty was too harsh and called for too many concessions on both the geographic and economic front. A war-torn Germany already had a disadvantaged post-war economy, and the Treaty of Versailles made things worse. By 1922, the German Mark was only worth 1/100th of its value in 1914 (K. Joseph & G. Owen).
Germany was demanded to pay harsh reparations for WWI because of the Treaty of Versailles, fueling Hitler's rise to power, and eventually the beginning of WWII and the holocaust. Germany was actually one of the first nations to get out of the great depression and its economy actually flourished under Hitler before the start of WWII and the holocaust. Woodrow Wilson and his supporters attempted to create an effective League of Nations, which was the basis for the modern UN. The United States economy grew very quickly and solidified their status as a world power; however the Great Depression obviously crushed it and the rest of the world’s economy. After the British and French pushed the Germans back at the first battle of the Marne, both sides
After World War One Germany was demolished, both economically and agriculturally. Then, under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was charged with sole responsibility for the war, and was forced to pay costly reparations. This
Under Article 231 of the Treat was a statement that said that Germany had to accept full responsibility for starting the war (the war guilt clause).This meant Germany took full responsibility to all the damage done throughout Europe. Not only was Article 231 a blow to the German confidence-- they weren’t the only
discuss how Germany was to be made to pay for the damage World War One