Germany 's Obligation Regarding The War

Article 231, in the Treaty, is commonly known as the “Guilt Clause”. This said that the Germans were responsible for the whole of the War. The Germans had no say in anything and just had to keep quiet and take the blame for everything.

In the year 1961, Fritz Fischer had presented his book, which was known as Germany's Aims in First World War. In the year 1967, this book was translated in English language. It had been successful in launching a debate among German historians and scholars as older historians severely criticized and opposed Fischer and his book. However, his contemporaries and younger historians supported his book. The book draws a detailed and comprehensive picture of Germany and its aims during the World War I.

In Document C, it states that Germany “will make compensation for all damage done to the civilian population of the Allied and Associated Powers and to their property during the period of the belligerency.” They were making Germany pay an impossible amount of money, and only gave Germany thirty years to pay it off. In 1929, the reduced amount was 20 billion, 112 billion gold marks and the value in 2010 US Dollars is 341 billion. This made Germany so bitter because they were held responsible for the WWII and were made to pay back so much money, which later on will make Germany go into

to be more like them so that's the more the reason why they would want

As Document C states, “...Germany undertakes, that she will make compensation for all damage done to the civilian population of the Allied and Associated Powers and to their property during the period of Belligerency…”(Doc C). Since Germany was responsible for starting the war, they should be responsible for paying for the damage. But these reparations only angered and humiliated the Germans because it caused a huge economic downfall since these payments were over $300 billion. But in the chart shown in Document C, it states that, in 1933, “Hitler comes to power” and ends “all reparations payments”. Ending these payments made Germans come to like Hitler, giving him more power than before.

One way the Versailles Treaty treated Germany unfairly was by having them take full responsibility for the war damages. Document C states in article 232 “that she will

As stated in document D, article 231 says that “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

In the Treaty of Versailles, Article 232 states that Germany must make monetary payments to the allies as the result of the damage Germany created during the battle (Hooper). This article creates a biased point of view since it was originally a peace treaty. The allies made such ridiculous requests relating forcing Germany pay for all the damages when everyone was at fault. Germany’s economy spiraled down due to the reparations they had to pay; they lost all of their money because they gave it away to the allies due to the damages they made in the war. As their economy quickly fell apart, their currency lost its value. The downfall of the economy affected the people because millions of people lost their jobs due to lack of money. In addition to the downfall of the German economy, Adolf Hitler gained power due to the promises he made to the German people (Smith 2). He promised to stop the reparation payments, to give jobs and food to the people, which make them forget the humiliation they had post-WWI making them proud to be a part of Germany again. Hitler was able to get the necessary attention due to the promises he made, which got him the power he

C, Article 232) explained how Germany was forced to pay for all the damage that was done to the Allied Powers. For example, in 1921, close to 3 years after the end of WW1, Germany was $367 billion in debt. From 1929-1931 the German civilians only paid 2 billion, granted they were indignant and therefore paid only a small amount of their reparations. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 he made some enormous changes, moreover, he cut off all the reparations, even with the League of Nations trying and failing to stop him. This shows how Germany was irate with the restrictions placed upon them in the Treaty of Versailles, and that they would not tolerate the punishment they were given. They showed this intolerance in not paying their reparations, which made other countries angry, so WW2

Article 232 states, “The [Allies]... require that she [Germany] will make compensation for all damage done to the civilian population… and to their property.” (Document E). Germany was not allowed to defend themselves or speak out against their agreement, and were compelled to accept the responsibility for starting World War I. Document F shows a chart titled “Reparations Established by Versailles Treaty with Later Revisions” and shows the dates 1921, 1929, and 1933. It displays how much Germany had to pay and how they responded/paid. In 1921 Germany had to pay 132 billion gold marks yet they paid very little due to their feelings of anger and humiliation. The amount they owed was reduced to 112 billion gold marks in 1929 and they only paid 2 billion marks over the next three years. When Hitler came to power in 1933, he stopped the process of paying the reparations. It wasn’t until 2010 that Germany would pay off their massive debt, and this was mainly their fault for not raising taxes and making their economy even worse by just printing out more money, causing

Fischer argues that German imperialism bears the onus for the Great War, as he concluded that they had gone to war to achieve European and worldwide domination. He states that Germany had ‘confidence in the invincibility of her military strength,’ implying that Germany had been building up their forces. This indicates Germany must have already been preparing for war, strengthening her army until she saw that both France and Russia were ‘militarily weak’ in comparison - to the extent that German elites believed they would remain somewhat unhindered in their continuation of ‘aggressive intentions.’ This is significant for several reasons. First, it was controversial as these ideas challenged the pre-existing general consensus of historians’ outlook since the 1930s: that all involved European nations shared a collective war-guilt from the First World War. Fischer rejects this view. He references a document written by Bethmann’s private secretary on 9 September 1914, outlining the Chancellor’s plan for peace negotiations which he anticipated would soon take place, as according to the September Programme. Fischer extrapolated that these detailed plans (that already had the support of the wider political nation in Germany) must have existed in August and July, and that this was indication towards Germany’s

The downfall of Germany after the Second World War is an outcome thought by many that time as deserving for a nation touted to have caused one of the most atrocious events in human history. The Nazi Party, which ran Germany under its terrible regime before and during the Second World War, has perpetrated a series of destructive actions that soon wrought havoc to the rest of the world. From the anti-Semitic platform of the Nazi Party that generated the Holocaust up to the unholy alliances with Italy, Japan and others under the Axis Powers that led to massive destruction of lives and properties in different parts of the world, Germany undoubtedly had the greatest responsibility to account for with

The mandate of Article(s) 231 and 232 , (respectively titled “The War Guilt Clause” and “Reparations”) of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28th, 1919 served as unintentional catalysts for the arise of revisionism in post-war Germany, and its fall out of the international order following the Paris Peace Conference. These two articles politically, socially, and economically ravaged Germany, and created societal circumstances in which a totalitarian dictatorship (the National Socialist German Workers Party or “Nazi” party) gained popularity and was viewed as necessary in order for Germany to be restored to its former status as an economic and political world power. The national humiliation and economic burden that Articles 231 and 232 created injured German pride, strained its economy and triggered a resentful and hostile outlook to the “new peace” that the Allied leaders believed they had formulated. The German people viewed this as a “dictated peace” (Diktat) that had been enforced on them. It was seen by Germany as an unfair, un-justified and un-realistic punishment for losing the war, and instead of creating a long-term and prosperous peace on the European continent, the guilt and reparations of Articles 231 and 232 ignited a flame of vengeance in Germany that would evolve into an ultra-nationalist inferno and consume the world into a second and even more devastating and savage war.

An economic failure in the result to the treaty was hyperinflation. It occurred due to the given amount of reparation payments, which were up in the multiple millions. The war had left the German economy disastrous already, and inflation was rising quickly. The banks started to print more bank notes to solve the problem. The harsh effect, however, was that the money became worthless, as less goods were there to be sold, and so heavy inflation followed. Germany could only pay its first reparation with its industrial products (a prime source for employment, and exports, thus the stability of the economy.) so when Germany declared they couldn't pay the second instalment, the French invaded the Ruhr, the main source of industrial activity for Germany. The government's response was to encourage strikes; this only led two to things; less German produce, with workers still needing to be paid. In attempt to correct this, government printed even more bank notes. Heavy inflation soared to hyperinflation. The middle class saw their savings being brought to no value, right through to the workers not being able to buy a loaf of bread. This shows a chain of failures from the republic- it contributed to the commencement of hyperinflation, and therefore the invasion of the Ruhr- loss of industrial economy. Generally,

discuss how Germany was to be made to pay for the damage World War One