It is accurate to suggest that the Treaty of Versailles was mainly responsible for the political and economic instability in Germany in the years 1919-23. The treaty led to political and economic problems because of the terms included in it. The German government was seen by many to surrender to the dictation of Britain, France and America. Forcing the country to submit a lot of land, losing a huge percentage of their population and having their military force. All of these terms are what led Germany to economic and political instability in the years 1919-23.
Following the Auxiliary Service Law in December 1919, which required all able-bodied Germans to work for the war effort, there was a sharp increase of social unrest as Germans felt their rights being curtailed. The winter of 1916-17 was the peak of discontent as the severe food and fuel shortages were at their worst. Civilian deaths from starvation and hypothermia increased from 121,000 in 1916 to 293,000 in 1918 and infant mortality increased by over 50% over the duration of the war. This led to huge resentment among Germans as they questioned the injustice of the loss of lives. 16% of the 1.8million who died at war were conscripted and all families were somehow impacted by the war, which consequently led to a decline in the popularity of the Royal Family.
On the other hand, the anguished effects of WWI were still enduring in the Germanic collective memory. Many Germans perceived The Versailles Treaty, signed by the Allies in 1919, as a humiliation. The treaty contained a number of heavy impositions to Germany which were socio-economically unbearable to a once great and powerfu l nation. The amount that had to be paid to the Allies as war damage 2 made the Mark lost all its value, causing a hyperinflation so severe that the prices increased by over 100 times in just one year (Bresciani -Turroni, 1968.). The hyperinflation crisis, which was only solved in 1924, lasted enough time to ruin thousands of Germanic families, thus worsening the general feeling of rage against the treaty.
This is unfair because only Germany was required to pay for the reparations (about 6,600 million Euros). Also no other country’s army was restricted only Germany’s was. They were banned from using gas bombs, tanks, aircraft and heavy artillery and their troops were reduced to 100,000. This makes them unable to even defend themselves. Another reason it’s unfair is because that Germans lost about 13% of their land while no other European countries lost its territory.
Treaty of Versailles was the peace treaty which officially ended World War I. it was very burdensome on the German economy. Germany was just a devastated by the war as anyone else, but they were very hard pressed to rebuild with the massive reparation payments they were required to make. But the reason why they did soo debt on them is because of Germany made a great destruction on countries, especially on French. I think the reasons for WW2 were: Treaty of Versailles, Hitler’s rise to power and Militarism. Treaty
They could also start up their industries again. This could only happen with loans from America. In October 1929, the price of shares on the ‘Wall Street Stock Exchange’ collapsed and many Americans and American businesses went bankrupt. Now at this time, America was still loaning Germany some money but as they became bankrupt, so did Germany because the USA had pulled back their loans to Germany and expected Germany to also pay interest. Germany then fell into a deep economic depression.
Two and a quarter billion dollars is a large sum of money, and if the United States were to lose this money, it would have more than likely been catastrophic and it would've brought about economic collapse in America. It was vital that in some way, the United States ensured the return of their borrowed money. At the time, many people were aware of the massive amounts of money funded in the war. In opposition to Woodrow Wilson's War Message, Senator George W. Norris talked about the money that has been spent.We have loaned many hundreds of millions of dollars to the Allies in
One thing the Germans were not happy in the treaty of Versailles is the War Guilt Clause, take blame for the war. Because of this they had to the reparation to the big three. The German government didn’t have the money to pay for the reparation as the country just lost a war and the factory are destroy and the environment is in a poor state. So then the USA banks lend Germany government loans. Its was all going well as Germany was getting in a better state and they are paying their reparation until 1929.
The effects of the great depression caused mostly by Wall Street crash and therefore the American investors urgently needed the return of money they had lent to businesses. German companies were dependent on these loans. After this, German industrial output fell and unemployment rose. This caused a disaster for export industries but high unemployment meant that domestic demands for goods fell too. This is shown in these statistics.
I will argue that although the Treaty of Versailles was the most important cause, it is the way these were connected which explains the crisis. The Treaty of Versailles entailed the loss of 13.5 per cent of Germany’s land; 13 percent of its population, 16 per cent of its coal production, 15 percent of its farming production and 48 percent of its iron production. Moreover, the treaty took away the German overseas colonies, a valuable source of raw material. Michael Burleigh, in his book ‘The Third Reich A New History’ states, ’... they were treated in a discriminatory and offensive manner.’ Furthermore, the Treaty of Versailles read, ‘By the date which must not be later than March 31st 1920, the German army must not comprise more than...’ The German nation had been a very militaristic country and was proud of mits army, deducing the army and air force infuriated the citizens of Germany. In addition, the treaty also forced the Germans to ‘...accepts the responsibility of Germany and her Allies for causing all the loss and damage of the war.’ This term was seen to be unfair by many as it required Germany to accept full blame for the cause of The Great War and had to pay £6.6 million as reparation, pushing them into an economical breakdown.