The Treaty of Versailles
Reparations
This was the debt Germany owed to the Allies for In January 1921. The total sum due was decided by an Inter-Allied Reparations Commission and was set at 269 billion gold marks (the equivalent of around 100,000 tonnes of pure gold), about £13 billion or US $64 billion ($785 billion in 2010), a sum that many economists at the time deemed to be excessive. The yearly amount paid was reduced in 1924 and in 1929 the total sum to be paid was reduced by over 50%. Payments ceased when Adolf Hitler's National Socialist German Workers' Party took power in 1933, with only about one-eighth of the initial reparations paid. The final payments were made on 4 October 2010, the twentieth anniversary of German reunification.
Forced to pay the equivalent of 382 Billion dollars today
15% Of Agricultural Land Lost
10% Of German Industry Lost
Allies Could Claim Compensation
Stab In The Back
Many Germans believed that the army had been stabbed in the by weak politicians. Right-Wingers who looked back fondly to the pre-war days when Germany was powerful were happy to blame the new democratic government for making peace.
The “Dagger-stab-in-the-back Legend”: Austrian right-wing caricature of a Jew stabbing the German Army in the back with a dagger. The capitulation was blamed upon the unpatriotic populace, the Socialists, Bolsheviks, the Weimar Republic, and especially the Jews. (1919)
Military
The first line of part 5, in the Treaty of Versailles says; "In order to render possible the initiation of a general limitation of the armaments of all nations, Germany undertakes strictly to observe the military, naval and air clauses which follow."
RhineLand occupied by Allies For 15 Years, no German troops allowed In
Restrictions on the manufacture of machine guns
Navy limited To 15,000 Sailors, 6 Battleships and 6 cruisers - NO SUBMARINES
Blockades on ships - prohibited
Air Force disbanded
Poison gas - not allowed
Armed aircraft are prohibited
Army limited To 100,000 men, and conscriptions will be abolished
Tanks and armoured cars - not allowed
Import and export of weapons - prohibited
War Guilt Clause
Germany To Blame For War
These terms had several very dramatic consequences on Germany.
The German people felt bitter that they were excluded from the league of nations and enforced to live by other peoples rules.
The disarmament of the armed forces was viewed as an embarrassment and the Germans felt very insecure about their inability to defend themselves: it also meant a loss of status as military power means that a nation has political power.
The economy was ruined as much of the produce and profit had to be sent to the allies as reparations payments. This meant that the German economy was unable to recover itself.
Initially they refused to sign the treaty and opted to scuttle the fleet in protest.
10% of German lands were lost as a result, all of Germany's overseas colonies were taken away and shared between the allies and a massive 12.5% of the German population found itself living outside of the new German borders.
Allows all other restrictions on germany to be done legally
Lays sole responsibility for the war on Germany and her allies, which is to be accountable for all damage to civilian populations of the Allies.
