treaty of versailles

diktak

no other political issue produced such total agreement within weimar germany as the rejection and condemnation of the treaty of versailles. the treaty’s terms were seen as unfair and were described as diktat - a dictated peace. the germans expected to negotiate a peace agreement with the Allies but a settlement was imposed on them without talks.

wilson’s 14 points

germans also believed that the peace settlement would be based on wilson’s 14 points of january 1918 but they were disregarded.

war guilt clause

germans dismissed the war guilt clause and as a result viewed allied reparation demands as illegitimate. article 231 of the treaty held germany responsible for all the losses and damage suffered by the allies during the war and provided the basis for reparations. The total sum wasn’t decided in 1919 but was determined by a reparations commission which reported in 1921 and fixed germany’s liability at 132 billion marks.

territorial arrangements

the territorial arrangements designed to give the new state of poland access to the sea aroused deep resentment as 1 million germans were put under polish rule without any say. this seemed inconsistent with the allied commitment to national self-determination. germany lost the ‘polish corridor’ ‘upper silesia’ and ‘danzig’ which became a free city under league of nations control. the output of the saar coalfield was to be given to france for 15 years. germany was stripped of the whole of its overseas empire. the colonies were passed onto the care of the allies as mandates.

restrictions

the german army was restricted to 100k men and was not permitted to have tanks or heavy artillery. germany wasn’t allowed an airforce. the german navy was permitted a limited number of ships and no submarines. the rhineland remained part of germany but became a demilitarised zone. the western part was to be occupied by allied military forces for 15 years.

humiliation

when the reichstag accepted the treaty of versailles in june 1919, the new democracy of weimar was forced to take responsibility for germany’s defeat in the war and would be identified in the german’s minds as the regime who accepted the humiliating treaty.

the treaty undermined the weimar republic by leaving political moderates looking naive as they had argued the allies would behave leniently towards a democratic germany. many germans shared the views of the right that germany should’ve refused to sign the treaty and condemned republican leaders for agreeing to it.