Treaty Of Versailles: Accountability Of World War I On Germany

The Treaty of Versailles unfairly forced Germany to decimate their own army and the treaty took away some of Germany’s land. Document B states, “Germany must not exceed one hundred thousand men, including officers…” Because of this Germany was left outnumbered and suffered a maddening loss of power. Germany also lost their treasured Baltic sea port, which they relied on for different resources (Doc A). More importantly, the German citizens in that area were forced to either relocate or adjust to their new culture. Due to these forced injustices Germany started WWII.

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.

Between the years 1919-1939, the Treaty of Versailles affected Germany in many ways such as economically, politically, loss of German territories, and caused Germany’s armed forces to struggle. The Treaty of Versailles was when Germany and The Allies signed a peace treaty, ending WW1. The treaty stripped Germany 25,000 square miles of land and over 7 million people. The treaty also caused Germany to go into a great depression.

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 was signed on June 28th 1919 by the Germans in order to obtain world peace. However, this agreement seemed to only provoke the nation. According to the clauses of the document, Germany would have to pay for all damages caused by the war and they even had to claim full responsibility for initiating the war, often referred to as the War Guilt Clause. The German population also felt resentment with the government for giving away so much land to the various countries that had won the war. Around the time of the treaty, Adolf Hitler of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party was getting much attention because of his promising ideas to reduce unemployment which was a crisis that was caused by the depression of

The Treaty of Versailles & WWII DBQ The Treaty of Versailles had the most direct impact on the general German acceptance of the Nazi Party, which in turn caused World War II to break out. While it was not the sole cause, if such harsh terms had not been imposed upon an already struggling post-war country, a war of the scale that the Second World War was might not have happened at all. David Lloyd George and Georges Clemenceau both wanted to ensure a strong Germany would never return, and given the great losses from both sides this is understandable, however giving such a nationalistic country with barely a military to protect themselves will only produce one thing: rebellion. While the Treaty of Versailles ended World War One, since it took land, restricted military, needed large reparations, and demanded an admittance of guilt from Germany, it set the stage for a bigger war and was one of the

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 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

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 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.

“The Allies continued to regard the treaty as an international contract” (Doc D) Laurence V. Moyer, Victory Must be Ours: Germany in the Great War 1914-1915, 1995 since Germany accepted the fact that the war was caused because of Germany’s aggression and her allies, and caused all the loss and damage to the allies. After continuous years of the treaty, Germans saw the Versailles treaty as an “evil thing which must be destroyed,” and as an act of humiliation because they were made to be seen as a disgrace and cast off from other nations. When Adolf Hitler came to power, Germans admired him because he made them feel a sense of pride, reawakened a sense of self-respect and forced the world to look at Germany from a new perspective. (Doc D) Leading to a huge impact on why it helped cause World War II since Germany now saw how betrayed they were by the treaty, and felt the need to put their trust on a new leader such as Hitler, who could restore Germany into a powerful nation again, in their

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.

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.

The Treaty of Versailles had terms in which were extremely harsh on the German military. The terms of the Treaty such as the war guilt clause, the reparations and the colonial losses had the largest impacts on Germany, weakening the nation and the confidence of the people. The treaty was devastating for Germany as it had to surrender its biggest glory, being the German Army. The treaty accounted for the reduction of the German army to 100,000 men, all of which had to be volunteers and a navy that could only be comprised of six battle ships. Aircrafts and submarines were banned. These changes significantly minimized German power and made the nation vulnerable on a worldwide scale. These conditions took a large toll on German morale, embarrassing

During the 1930s, ‘revisionist’ historians sought to revise the view of German responsibility for the war. Communist historians believed that the war was the result of the competition of capitalist businessmen, and emphasized the role played by Imperialism. Others still blamed politicians, declaring that diplomacy, before the war was bankrupt of ideas and men of ability, they blamed the leaders. “A peaceable, industrious, sensible mass of 500 million Europeans, was hounded by a few dozen incapable leaders, by falsified documents, lying stories of threats, and chauvinistic catchwords, into a war which in no way was destines or inevitable.” And according to British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, in his personal war diaries, accepting the blame wrote, “We muddled into war.”