War Guilt Clause

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.

The accusative countries decided the amount of compensation Germany had to pay: “Germany undertakes, that she will make compensation for all damage [...] of the Allied and Associated Powers” (Doc C). This caused Germany to spiral into starvation and debt. Hitler sought revenge and rejuvenation because of this.

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

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.

Though the amount Germany had to pay in reality was less than the amount stated, they still had to pay over $30 billion in reparations to victorious countries. Other restrictions were placed on Germany, as seen in the Treaty of Versailles, which calls for Germany to cut the size of their army and prohibits Germany from taxing exported goods to Allied Countries that are not also taxed to the rest of the world (Document 1). Germany’s response (Document 4) to this highlights the unfairness present in these requests, “The sum to be paid is to be fixed by our enemies unilaterally, and to admit of subsequent modification and increase…” showing that there is no room for negotiation on Germany’s

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 allie sentenced Germany to pay for all of the war damage. The document stated, “The Allies require, and Germany undertakes, that she will make compensation for all damage done to the civilian population.” (Doc C) Germany was forced to pay for war destruction which costed them so much money their stock market crashed and their country was in an economic crisis. “The amount of payments to be made by Germany shall be determined by and Inter-Allied commision... 132 gold marks to be paid in 30 years.”

The allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage (Doc D). The War Guilt Clause states, the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggressor of Germany and her allies (Docs D)which indicates that the aggressor Germany must pay the reparations to the countries they aggressed and have full responsibility of the damage they caused to the people of those countries. Due to the unfairness of the Treaty of Versailles , the people of Germany lost some of their pride. Their humiliation and loss of pride, causes the people of Germany to want to fight back. As a result they support Adolf Hitler. The Germans admire Adolf HItler because they felt he gave them a sense of pride, reawakened a sense of self-respect, forcing the world to look at Germany

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

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

How significant was the Treaty of Versailles to Germany? This is the question that has been posed to us for our first analytical history essay. I will go into depth about my opinions on both the long-term and short-term effects of the Treaty of Versailles. I believe that the Treaty had a powerful impact on Germany- it practically ruined their economy, and gave the Germans all the more reason to hate the Allies, eventually contributing to the beginning of World War 2. Although the Allies had a right to demand certain things from Germany (as they were the instigators of the war), they should have been more lenient and taken Germany’s poor economic situation into account. The war was a mistake on the part of the German government, but it was the people who payed the price. I have taken into account Germany’s loss of territory, the war guilt, the economical effects of the Treaty, and the armaments and discussed them in this essay.

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

The Article never used the word guilt, but read, "...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..." In response to taking the blame for WWI, Germany proceeded to produce a great supply of records disproving the guilt they accepted in the Treaty of Versailles. During and after the war, many of the European powers also provided inconsistent records of the events of the war -- this was later referred to as the ‘World War of Documents’ by Bernhard Schwertfeger. Again, this information lends itself to the argument that while all the great powers in Europe shared some responsibility for the events of WWI, Germany is still the most at

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.

November 11, 1918, Europe would be left in utter devastation from the effects of World War I. These effects which would have unprecedented effect on the development on European nations into modern nations. However, the immediate impact of the policies and treaties created by the “Big Four” (Great Britain, Italy, France and The United States) would leave devastating irreversible consequences on the Great War’s losers. The most important treaty that the allies would make would be The Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28th, 1919. This treaty would have the most destructive consequences on Germany, whom would become bitter, nationalistic, and isolated from its effects. As Holborn puts it, “the treaty did not solve the problem of reparations, which was not settled for years to come in a fashion that would have stabilized the social and economic conditions of Europe. The struggle about the economic settlement of World War I kept alive and magnified the national hostilities which the political provinces of the peace produced.”1 The Treaty of Versailles would require Germany to surrender vast amounts of territory in Europe and oversea, diminish its military might significantly, impose insurmountable financial and economic demands, as well as making her accept the ‘War Guilt Clause;’ this in turn would make the Germans feel a national humiliation and cause tremendous resent, this in turn would lead to the rise of authoritarianism, expansionism and the public demand for redemption.