It deprived Germany of wealth-earning areas, such as the coalfields in Silesia. As well as this the treaty also imposed harsh reparations on Germany (£6,600 billion). Germany asked for reductions however the victors, especially France were not forgiving and needed money to pay debts to the US. With no gold reserves and a failing income Germany could no longer afford to pay and declared itself bankrupt. Why was the Ruhr occupied and what were the consequences?
Also with the France, Britain and USA not agreeing on the terms of the treaty made it even harder for it to end. Germany’s anger from the treaty came from a few of conditions which one wasn’t entirely true. The first of these conditions were that they were to blame for the war, this condition so bad that no man in Germany would sign it not even a soldier under direct orders. Also the amount of money that Germany had to pay back was very unrealistic ($6600 million) and would cripple their country for years to come. There were other factors that Germany thought that were very unfair such as their tiny army and the amount of land that was taken from them.
Despite protest by majority of the country the German government agreed to sign the treaty on 28 June 1919. This has really been the worst possible start for the Weimar Republic. The country had already been demoralized due to the war loss and the country is thrown into even more disarray by the signing of this treaty. There was a hatred of the treaty and it cut across all classes in Germany. The treaty created a history of bitterness in German Society.
The peace treaty did not satisfy France as it was not harsh enough in the eyes of France. After suffered badly from WWI with umpteen casualties, France was determined to cripple Germany completely as a form of revenge as well as an assurance against future German revival. Some provisions of the treaty did meet French demands, such as the return of Alsace-Lorraine from Germany; the German disarmament which set a maximum strength of 100000 soldiers together with the dissolution of the air force and the reduction of navy to 6 batttleships; and a whopping reparation of 132 billion gold marks to be paid over 42 years. These clauses would severely weaken Germany economically and militarily which certainly catered to French aim. However, French felt these punishments were not harsh enough to eliminate the chance of future German revival.
The Treaty of Versailles left the Germans feeling guilty, humiliated, and resentful. The German people have a strong sense of national pride and now they were humiliated, they were in ruins. The treaty destroyed their military and made them pay war reparation therefore causing inflation and loss of jobs. Many Germans were bitterly disappointed by the treaty and this disappointment sparked the lasting bitterness that would
From the start there was economic instability because of the cost of World War One and there was widespread disillusion within the German people. The public did not support the Weimar, and the administrative branch of the government, including the Judiciary, also teachers did not back it up either. Mass unemployment, damages to the infrastructure also from World War One, and the demand for reparation payments put lots of pressure on the inexperienced democracy. Not only in Germany, but all over Europe, fundamental and anti-democratic movements gained support. 2.
The Republic couldn’t pay back the loans, and the agriculture depression grew even worse, because it was already there before the Depression kicked off; it had not been solved at all. The farm couldn’t provide enough food, so it ended up sending the whole country again into inflation, starvation, and poverty. These economic and social problems became the last straw that broke the camel's back; they brought down the Weimar government. The coalition government couldn’t take decisive action on dealing with the Depression because of its frequent change of Chancellors and its multi-party system. This over-democratic PR system of the Weimar Constitution had made people favoured the old autocratic Kaiser system.
A huge sum of money was being taken out of the German economy, which made it extremely difficult for Germany to compete in the trade market. This created a huge dent in the German economy and angered German citizens as they knew that they were sending huge amounts of money to the Allies. As a result of this term, there was little money left to spend on the remains of the German Military which was another hard blow. This term of the treaty was not fair at all when Germany’s existing losses are taken into account, and it really made Germany suffer during tough times. The treaty would have been far more reasonable had the reparations been made smaller.
The years leading up to the war the German people were dreading it, there were protests in Berlin in July 1914. The proletariat knew that they would have to bear the brunt of the war. However once the war broke out, the government played on the German’s people nationalism as he presented the war as defensive one against Slav aggression. The Enabling Act known as Burgfrieden was passed. The Act promoted national unity.
The peace settlements left a layer of bitterness specially in Germany. Germans felt that Treaty of Versailles was unjust in holding Germany alone responsible for the war because even if Germany played a vital role in causing the war, the other nations also participated in it and therefore, made a minor war into a total war. In addition, the military terms of the Treaty (army of 100,000, only 6 battleships, no submarines or aeroplanes) is another part that disappointed Germans a lot. For Germans, not to be able to send troops even to places inside Germany was a national insult.The Germans were not invited to negotiate the treaty even. The Versailles Treaty required Germany to pay stiff reparations.