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Examining the Impact Of The Treaty Of Versailles

Examining the Impact Of The Treaty Of Versailles


After the Allies victory in World War 1, much of industrialized northern France lay in desolate ruins. The Allies, and the French in particular were very bitter towards their defeated enemy, and vowed to extract reparations. For a young newly formed German republic, these debts to the world were of such incredible proportions, that nobody ever believed that they could be paid. Facing a full occupation, they had to try. Outside of Germany, the Allies were divided by their respective opinions of the Germans. A combination of war debts to the USA and the enormous reparations thrown onto Germany caused a complicated and unstable economic flow, that ultimately cumulated in a global depression. The Treaty of Versailles was not a solution, but a careless and vengeful reprimand that only protracted and intensified hatred and the same problems as before.

The German people finished the war in a state of near starvation, thanks to the British blockade. The German army had surrendered while on French and Belgian territory, and the common people and the common people felt betrayed by the government, by their leaders, and the world all of a sudden was a scary, confused place. The new German republic established at Weimar moved quickly to Berlin, and watched hopelessly in 1921 as the Allied Reparations committee handed them a bill for 132 billion gold marks. There was absolutely no way that the Germans could afford to pay such a pricey bill. In 1921 they paid 2.5 billion gold marks, but the next year inflation caused an economic crisis at home, and they could not pay. They proposed a delay on payments for three years, so they could stabilize their government and economy, and then hinted strongly that drastic reductions of reparation would have to be made later. Germany was never close to being in a position to pay what the allies demanded, and to demand it was an invitation to precipitate deep hatred and resentment culminating in huge problems a few years down the road.

Even during the writing of the treaty, the Allies were deeply divided as how to treat Germany. The US wanted to embark on a strategy of reconstructing Germany into a civilized western country. The French on the other hand wanted violent and...

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Category:   World War II

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