The Effects Of The War Guilt Clause On Germany

After the war, Germany had several of its territories stripped from its sovereignty (Document A). It would lose what was the Polish Corridor in order to create the now country of Poland, (Document A). The Polish Corridor was very important, as Danzig was a port city that allowed the Baltic Sea to be open to the Germans for various trading routes, but also the Corridor was home to rich coals deposits that crucial to Germany’s economy at the time. Germany also lost territories to the west in which was called the “Demilitarized zone.” (Document A). This area of land included the Rhine River Valley, a historic and very industrial area that was also very critical in Germany’s economic decline, as it being lost would strip Germany of two industrialized areas that would produce goods for them to use and sell. However, the depression that would hit Germany did not end there as the Treaty of Versailles not only took key land from them but also forced them to pay the war debt or Reparations (Document C). According to The Economic Consequences of the Peace, Germany had to pay 367 billion US dollars over the course of 30 years starting in 1921, (Document B). They were furious of this, sparking the malice that would later form as a result of this document. They steadily paid this until 1933

The paper, originally designed to be the sole protector from future German invasion, cost 75 million lives. This paper caused humiliation, cost billions of dollars, and most importantly, did the opposite of its intended purpose. This paper was designed to maintain peace and stability in the world after the outbreak of World War I. The Treaty of Versailles planted the seeds of hatred in Germany, and soon enough, this hatred allowed for the rise of Adolf Hitler, a cruel and vicious dictator. The Treaty’s territorial losses, harsh reparations, war guilt, and military restrictions imposed on Germany caused the outbreak of World War II.

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”.

Leah Griffin 3/6/15 HIST 121 Document Analysis Paper World War I played a key role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. After the devastating war, Germany was viewed as the main instigator and the European Allied Powers decided to impose strict treaty obligations upon Germany. This treaty, also known as the Treaty of Versailles, was signed by Germany and went into effect in June 1919 (“Treaty of Versailles, 1919” 1). The treaty forced Germany to give up the land it seized from multiple countries during the war and also forced Germany to recognize the independence of several others (“The Treaty of Versailles – 1919” 37-43). The treaty also forced Germany to agree to many other humiliating terms that did not rest easy with the German public

Germany had to give up all of their territories including the Polish corridor, Lorraine, Alsace, Denmark, and Danzig. This is seen in Document A, showing a map of all of the territories Germany lost. Underneath that map, it says that those territories were also coal-producing areas which made up forty percent of Germany’s coal production.

Germany emerged from World War I with huge debts incurred to finance a costly war for almost five years. The treasury was empty, the currency was losing value, and Germany needed to pay its war debts and the huge reparations bill imposed on it by the Treaty of Versailles, which officially ended the war. The treaty also deprived Germany of territory, natural resources, and even ships, trains, and factory equipment. Germany’s population was undernourished and contained many widows, orphans, and disabled veterans living in poverty. The new German government struggled to deal with these crises, which had produced a serious hyperinflation.

After the war, all the countries signed a treaty called Treaty of Versailles which was a peace treaty between the countries in war. When Treaty of Versailles was signed Germany was asked to pay for all the reparations it costs for other countries. In article 232 in Treaty of Versailles it says “Germany has to compensate for their damage to the people. By land, sea, air…” (Treaty of Versailles). Germany lost all of it’s economy in paying off.

The final product of the Versailles Treaty’s terms was the humiliation of Germany and more importantly, its individuals. Supportingly, Document D reports 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 allies.” (Document D) As the Treaty enforces blame, it singles out Germany. This attempt to prevent war only fueled the fire, creating bitterness that would be a massive contribution to World War II. In agreement, Document D continues the theme, relaying that, “What they knew of the treaty was etched

The Treaty of Versailles was penned during the Paris Peace Conference, mainly to decide upon Germany’s consequences for beginning World War One. When Germany signed the treaty, it lost a tenth of its land to surrounding countries. Not only did they lose part of their country, but they also lost their overseas territories, including Chinese ports, Pacific Islands, and African colonies. One of the actual causes of the war was that Germany wanted ‘a place in the sun’, and requested

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.

The Treaty of Versailles brought an end to democracy in Germany as it was harsh on the government and the people. The War Guilt Clause in the treaty made Germany solely responsible for the cause of the war and its damages. Germany had to pay huge war reparations and give up land to surrounding nations. Furthermore, the War-Guilt Clause creates anger among civilians as many sailors sink their fleets rather than handing them over to Britain. Also Germans felt humiliated from the War-Guilt Clause due to believing they were wining. Moreover, Germany could not afford the large reparation payments; hence the government began printing extreme amounts of money. The French and Belgium troops seized Ruhr, an industrial heart of Germany. Slowly the value

Their military was downsized to the maximum of 100,000. All weapons that remained from World War I were to be scrapped in efforts of disarming Germany. Submarines and aircraft were banned completely in Germany and only 36 ships were allowed to serve as the German Navy (Goldstien, Dillion, p.124,1988). Under the conditions of the treaty, Germany was also responsible for an estimate of 6.6 million dollars-worth of war reparations (Goldstien, Dillion, p.130,1988). In result of the high war reparations, Germany suffered great economic depression. Due to depression, the high rates of unemployment and severe inflation caused the people of Germany to become resentful toward the Treaty of Versailles deeming it’s terms too harsh. During these times of economic difficulty and doubt all throughout Europe, people were hopeful for leaders that were capable of reversing the severity of the current conditions.

After World War One, Germany’s conditions were tragic since Germany had signed the Treaty of Versailles which stated if they were named cause of the war that they would have to pay reparations to countries affected by the war and take full responsibility for the war, the loss of important territory and colonies. The signing of the treaty stripped Germany of its power, which then led Germany to the Great Depression.

Although the loss of territory had impacted Germany physically, and became perhaps the driving force behind the Nazi imperialistic policies, it was perhaps the least damaging restriction to the economy from the treaty, especially since many of the areas were poor agricultural fringe areas who had a different ethnic culture to that of the Germans. Another implication of the Treaty of Versailles was the disarmament of the German forces, being cut down to a force of only one hundred thousand men, and crippling the German military industry. As well the Allies were to occupy the left bank of the Rhine River, a site of industry for the Germany military. Perhaps the most damaging to the German economy were the reparations which the Allies forced upon Germany. The Allies demanded that Germany repay most, if not all of the $150.5 billion that they calculated the war cost. There were other significant features of the treaty designed to make Germany unable to compete on the international market such as not being allowed to impose tariffs on the Allied goods until 1925, and the transfer of German patents to the Allied forces. After the war the Germany economy had been crippled, and was slow to recover. Essentially recovery came when the restrictions on Germany had been ignored.

The harsh reparation payments of the Treaty of Versailles, which amounted to $32 billion US, in conjunction with the hyperinflation caused by the Ruhr Invasion of 1923, meant that the Germany economy would always struggle. The heavy dependence on foreign loans in 1924 to resurrect the German economy meant that Germany was very vulnerable to world economic forces, the German foreign minister at the time, Gustav Stresemann, acknowledged this stating that Germany was “dancing on a volcano”. However, the progress made by Stresemann in reducing the impact of the reparation payments on Germany allowed her to make significant economic improvement and in 1927, Germany reached the same steel and coal production levels as it had pre-war. However, many historians, such as Richard Bessel, believed that the seriousness of the economic problems in Germany prevented any real improvement, as there was little prospect for any true reform. Despite this, the Stresemann Government achieved some economic stability through the Dawes Plan in 2914, which drastically readjusted the reparation payments to meet Germany’s capacity pay.