Under each of the following six points briefly explain why Germany reacted so angrily to the Treaty of Versailles.
1. Germans were not aware of the situation in 1919.
- Many of the Germans didn't know how badly devastated the military was during the war
- Really didn't even think that they lost the war - really didn't know
- Thought that Germany had signed a ceasefire and that they were at the Paris Peace Conference
- Angry because they weren't represented at the peace talks
- So much confusion in the citizens of Germany at this time
2. War guilt and reparations
- 'War Guilt Clause' - very hated by the Germans
- German citizens think that the blame needs to be shared with the other involved countries
- Expected to pay for ALL the damage the Allies were faced with
- Economy in Germany was extremely poor at the time making it hard to pay the reparations
- Belgian and French troops seized main industrial area when they couldn't make a payment
3. Disarmament
- Very upsetting - an army of 100,000 was very small
- Germany was a larger country that was suppost to be a world power and couldn't be with such a small army
- Army was a sign of pride - without it/with a small one it made a bad image
- None of the Allies disarmed as much as Germany was forced to do - going against Wilson's 14 points
- Opening doors for Hitler - revamping the army to make the citizens happy
4. German territories
- Lost a lot of territory - another shot to German pride just like the shortening of the army was
- Important industrial areas (Saar and Silesia) were lost
- They had to watch as the Allies took what they wanted from Germany's former territories in Africa and the Middle East
- Less places around the world Germany could control
- This was also a major blow to Germany's pride because it lessened it as a world power because it didn't control many nations around the world
5. Fourteen Points and League
- The people of Germany are feeling very insulted seeing that the treatment of Germany was not keeping on with the 14 Points
- Even though self control was given to some countries German-speaking people were still divided
- They were divided and sent off to live in countries that were ruled by 'non-Germans'
- By not being invited to the League of Nations Germany also felt very insulted
6. Double Standards?
- Nobody cared about Germany's complaints about the Treat of Versailles
- Is Germany operating a double standard? - thoughts of people during the time
- They were complaining that the treaty was way too harsh even though they created one even worse with Russia in 1918 (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk)
- Beliefs that Germany's harsh economic issues were self-inflected and it was their own fault - pretty insulting
- Government planning on taxing the defeated countries
