The War Guilt Clause

Second, the reparations of the Versailles Treaty further stalled Germanys attempt at a Democracy by critically maiming its economy. Germany,

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 blamed Germany for the losses France experienced in World War I. The treaty required Germany to pay for these losses. Germany was required to pay France 132 billion marks in reparations. This fine was excessive in order to show that Germany was weak and to further weaken the German government. This caused inflation. The German government inflated the amount of money so much that it became so worthless that people used

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.

The Treaty of Versailles caused massive amounts of inflation due to the German government's attempt to create more money. After paying the reparations, Germany's economy was destroyed. When they tried to gain money by simply printing more, the value of the Reich Mark decreased dramatically, causing cheap objects to be worth millions of

The defeat of Germany in World War I and the followed signing of the Treaty of Versailles reshaped the German society and economy and also created upheaval within them. The loss of the war and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles led to the collapse of the imperial government and economy (Aleskerov 25). As a result, in 1918, a new government called the Weimar Republic was established. During its history, the Weimar Republic was unstable and suffered budgets and high rates of unemployment essentially caused by the Treaty of Versailles (“Treaty of Versailles, 1919” 1). The Treaty of Versailles required that Germany pay outrageous war reparations which had notable effects on Germany’s economy (Aleskerov 26).

Germany was responsible for a large portion of damage inflicted during WWI. This lead to the Versailles Treaty obligating Germany to pay reparations to repair the damage inflicted during the war. Articles 232 and 233 of the Versailles Treated required Germany to pay a $341 billion in a thirty-year period. At first, Germany felt angry and humiliated for having to pay these reparations, so they decided to pay an insignificant amount of money each time they made a payment. (Doc C) These reparation fees have upset Germany increased the rising tensions between Germany and the Allied

A third factor linking the Treaty of Versailles and the start of World War II was paying for reparations. Germany had to pay an enormous amount of money after the war as “compensation for all damage done” (Doc C). Told to pay what was worth 367 billion US dollars in 2010, the Germans were angry and humiliated. They payed very little, even after the amount was reduced. Once Hitler came to power all reparation payments stopped, and Germany only paid 2 billion marks in total (Doc C). The Germans were angry that they had to pay such reparations, and in economic trouble after paying so

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

With the Treaty of Versailles Germany owed 367 billion over the next 30 years for damage and civilian population. Germany was humiliated and angry, they paid very little in the 1920’s showing resentment of the payments. In 1933 when Hitler comes to power and stops all reparations (Doc c). Hitlers immediate response is to stop all payments breaking the Treaty of Versailles. His immediate response shows how he resented to payments and the other countries control they have over Germany and the humiliation.

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

The Treaty of Versailles ended the First World War between Germany and the allied powers. Because Germany had lost the war, the treaty was very harsh and unforgiving against Germany. Germany was forced to “accept the responsibility” of starting the war and had to pay the allies a whopping 6,600 million pounds, which at the time was a staggering amount of money.

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).

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.

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,