Download The Treaty of Versailles and its effects on Germany

The Treaty of Versailles and its effects on Germany
International Politics
Dr. Keele
The battle of World War I was the first great big battle that was among several countries.
Central Powers of Germany & Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria waged a war
against most of Europe, the Allies. The Allies consisted of the United Kingdom/British Empire,
France, Russian Empire and later on the United States, Italy and Japan. What triggered the war
was a series of events that culminated with the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of
Austria. That set off a roller coaster of events and when the war was over, the Allies were
victorious and Europe was left in ruin. The Allies and many neutral countries blamed Germany
for the start of the war and punished them with rules and regulations known as the Treaty of
Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty that occurred at the end of World War I.
The treaty of Versailles grew out of retribution due to Germany destroying most of Europe and
so many lives being lost. Germany was basically stripped of everything, tasked with paying back
reparations to Allied nations who suffered severe loss in the war. Germany was humiliated and
decimated, a shell of a once great nation. The Treaty of Versailles greatly affected Germany and
its people and it begged the question, did the Treaty of Versailles lead to the rise of Adolf Hitler
and World War I?
World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war that
spanned from July 28, 1914 to November 11, 1918. It began due to the assassination of Franz
Ferdinand the Archduke of Austria by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, and a member of an
organization called the Black Hand, a group apart of the Kingdom of Serbia. The Archduke was
assassinated due to political motives, the main one being to break off Austria-Hungary’s south
Slav provinces and combine them to form Yugoslavia. Austria-Hungary gave an ultimatum to
the Kingdom of Serbia, which was partially rejected, causing Austria-Hungary to declare war,
leading directly to World War I.
Austria-Hungary invaded the Kingdom of Serbia after negotiations broke down and
mobilized their troops on July 28, 1914. This caused Russia to partially mobilize in response to
Austria-Hungary move on Serbia. This caused Germany to prepare to mobilize due to AustriaHungary and Germany having a dual alliance. Russia was a part of the alliance but could not
agree with Austria-Hungary on territory issues. The German government issued a statement to
France telling them not to get involved and that they remain neutral. France responded by pulling
their troops back from the border but activated their reserves just as a precaution. Germany took
this as a hostile act and declared war on France. Germany also declared war on Belgium due to
Belgium not allowing German troops to cross their borders to get into France. Great Britain
entered the war declared that Germany had defied the ultimatum that Belgium was to remain
neutral.
It seemed that in this first great war, as well as, the second, Germany was the aggressor
and showed no signs of slowing down, it seems that they wanted to start war and the situation
that arose between Austria-Hungary and Serbia gave them the reason to do just that. From the
start, their alliance seemed to struggle with strategic plans on how to attack. Miscommunication
was the biggest problem, Austria-Hungary had the idea that Germany was going to help with the
invasion of the Kingdom of Serbia. The leader of Austria-Hungary believe that Germany was
going to cover its northern flank against Russia, while the Germans thought Austria-Hungary
would command all of its troops to Russia while Germany concentrated on France. This
confusion led to Austria-Hungary dividing its troops between Russia and Serbia.
When the war started, no one believed that it was going to last as long as it did. World
leaders believed that it would be a quick skirmish and that the problem would be resolved
quickly. No one knew the magnitude of how many casualties would be lost in this war, the
economic toll it took on Europe to rebuild after the destruction of war. Europe was devastated
after the war and all the blame fell upon Germany. All of the Allies along with other countries
believed that all the damage was Germany’s fault and felt that they should pay for all of the cost
of rebuilding Europe back up. They decided to make Germany pay for the lives lost and to make
sure that peace would remain throughout the world. The Treaty of Versailles was created to
make sure that this was taken care of and that Germany would suffer harshly.
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty that occurred at the end of World War I. It
officially ended the war between Germany and the Allied Power. There were other treaties that
the Allied Powers conducted with the other countries involved with the Central Powers but this
treaty was one that was the harshest. The Treaty of Versailles grew out of retribution due to
Germany destroying most of Europe and so many lives being lost. Germany was basically
stripped of everything, tasked with paying back reparations to Allied nations who suffered severe
loss in the war. Germany was humiliated and decimated, a shell of a once great nation. Most
historians agree that without the harshness of the Treaty of Versailles there would be no Adolf
Hitler.
The Allied representatives gathered in Paris in 1919, a few weeks after all hostilities had
ended. They were faced with the unenviable task of figuring out how they were going to
reconstruct or create a workable structure. They had to respond to irreconcilable demands and
pressures of the victors and the defeated alike. Many of them felt that the war’s end was an
opportunity to push their own agenda. Some Allied leaders were reluctant, but publicly
committed themselves to negotiating what they claimed as a liberal and just postwar settlement,
one that would promote peace and humanitarian values. It would create a new international
organization enshrining these principles.
Liberal idealist and American President Woodrow Wilson wanted to bring peace and
stability not only to Europe, but the entire world. He wanted to spread liberal principles and
wanted World War I to be the war to end all wars. Wilson believed, unlike his contemporaries,
that if Germany were to receive less harsh conditions, that peace would be able to flourish.
Wilson’s fourteen-point speech took many domestic progressive ideas and translated them into
foreign policies; free trade, open agreement, democracy and self-determination. Wilson gave his
fourteen-point speech which he believed by reordering the international system and using liberal
policies would be a way to bring peace to the world. He believed in handing out moderate
punishment, both economical and territorial, to Germany in hopes that they would be encouraged
to establish a democratic government. He felt that if Germany was given a lesser punishment,
they would be more susceptible to help rebuild Europe and refrain from waging war out of
bitterness in the future.
Wilson also wanted a League of Nations to be added in the treaty, The League of Nations
would be a group of countries that would provide peace and security to the world, believing that
the threat of economic and military punishment, including Germany, would prevent future wars.
Many of the European leaders did not agree with Wilson and his liberal philosophies. They felt
that President Wilson was being pontificating when it came to how the treaty should be written.
Georges Clemenceau, French prime minister stated “God was content with Ten Commandments,
Wilson must have fourteen.”
The Europeans delegates that were at the conference were only interested in the parts of
Wilson’s fourteen-points that show national interest in their country. After some debating the
League of Nations was written into the treaty with Germany, but the rest of the treaty did not go
as planned. The rest of Allied Europe were very angry at Germany and did not want them to get
off easy. The rest of the Treaty of Versailles was made out of anger and frustration and desire for
retribution.
Many delegates that had been involved with creating the arrangements of the treaty, the
famous British economist John Maynard Keyes, emerged from the process feeling unfulfilled.
He proclaimed that the harsh peace terms of the Treaty of Versailles that were imposed on
Germany were unimaginable and would lead to future wars.
Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919 after negotiating amongst
themselves and coming to an agreement. The treaty stated that Germany had to take full
responsibility for the loss and damage that they and their allies caused, known as the War Guilt
Clause. Germany and its people thought that the Treaty of Versailles was deeply unfair and was
complete humiliation. Germany had to pay reparation payments, $20 billion gold marks ($5
billion) in gold, commodities, ships, securities, or other forms, as a way to pay for the destruction
of Europe that was caused by the war. The payments were a severe economic burden on
Germany, especially in the 1920s, between 1920-1930, the German economy was deprived of
between 1 to 2.5 billion Reichsmark annually. This amounted in the late 1920’s to nearly 2.5 per
cent of Germany’s GDP. The fiscal consequences forced Germany to reduce its military, the
production, deployment of advanced military technology was restricted or altogether indicted.
The treaty forced Germany to reduce their military personnel down to 100,000 in the
army and 15,000 in the navy. Germany was not allowed to spend excessive amounts of money
on their military not even to fund men that came in as reserves. They were limited to how many
military schools for officer training, how many battleships and dreadnaughts their navy can have,
paramilitary forces were prohibited. Rhineland, a territory in Germany, was to be demilitarized
and all fortifications in the Rhineland and 50 kilometres (31 miles) east of the river were to be
demolished and never rebuilt. Military structures and fortifications on the islands of Heligoland
and Dune were to be destroyed. Germany was also prohibited from all arms trading, they were
limited to how much weapons they could stockpile, such as chemical weapons, armored cars,
tanks, military aircrafts.
Germany having a reduced military did pose the question of, if they were not paying
enormous amounts of money to fund their military, how come Germany didn’t have the money
to pay their reparations sooner. “When assessing Germany’s ability to pay, the reparation
commission argued that Germany save 50-100 million (1-2 billion Marks) in military cost
annually. The savings that Germany was producing were more than compensated for by the
payments for pensions which cost Germany around 250 million (5 billion Marks) per year.
(Keynes) Pre-1914, Germany had a weak economy that was very generous with its welfare
spending, it placed a burden on the Reich’s budget. Without the restrictions that the Treaty of
Versailles had put on Germany, they would have actually spent more money on their military
and put Germany in more of an economic bind. The restriction actually forced the Reich to cut
public spending, against the preference of many German taxpayers. This cut made the German
people angry at the fact that their public funding was not going to support and help the German
people but to other countries. The German people felt that they were taken advantage by the
League of Nations.
The treaty also stripped Germany of 25,000 square miles (65,000 square kilometers) and
7,000,000 people of its people. Germany had to give up the gains it acquired in the Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk. In Western Europe they had to give Belgium sovereignty over Moresnet and cede
control of the Eupen-Malmedy area. Germany had to cede the output of the Saar coalmines back
to France and restored the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine. The sovereignty of Schleswig-Holstein
was given back to Denmark. In Eastern Europe, Germany had to recognized that Czechoslovakia
was an independent country and cede parts of the province of Upper Silesia. Germany also had
to recognize Poland as an independent country, and give portions of Upper Silesia to Poland as
well. The province of Posen, as well as, Pomerania were transferred to Poland so that the new
state could have access to the sea and became known as the Polish Corridor.
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