This caused Germany to be able to re-arm their army as much as they wanted without any opposition, even though Britain never consulted France or Italy about the treaty. Because Britain never consulted other countries, it would have caused the countries relationship to decline meaning it was easier for Germany to fully abolish the treaty because the countries didn’t have as much joint power to defeat Germany. This would have caused Hitler to move closer towards his aims. The agreement led to the German army having 800 000 men in its army and having over 2000 aircraft by 1938. This was against the treaty of Versailles meaning he had abolished a term of the treaty bringing Hitler closer to achieving his aim of abolishing the whole treaty.
They put restrictions on the German military, to make Germany weak and a second-rate power. Germany had huge financial losses, which brought the rise of the ultra-nationalist Nazis. They had to take acceptance of responsibility for the damage in the war even though they weren’t the only ones in the war. Germany had absolutely no say in the requirements and matters of the treaty. The Treaty of Versailles would prove to be one of the most disastrous mistakes in history.
The Treaty of Versailles was a compromise, and it completely satisfied nobody. Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France, did not get everything he wanted out of the Treaty. He was satisfied with clause 231 (which blamed Germany for the war), the disarmament clauses of the Treaty (reducing the army to 100,000, only 6 battleships, no air force or submarines), getting back Alsace-Lorraine, and being given German colonies as mandates on behalf of the League of Nations. But even this did not go far enough. Clemenceau had wanted Germany weakened to the point where it would never be a danger to France ever again.
Lastly, Germany was forbidden to have an air force. Which means that they are only allowed to have 100,000 people, no tanks, no heavy guns, and no air force. They might as well just fight their battles with water guns. Being restricted to 100,000 people is outrageous. At the Battle of Somme 1,000,000 people had died, this is ten times more than what Germany is allowed to have in their military.
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 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.
In 1919 Germany was handed a diktat by the ‘Big Four’, a treaty that they had no option but to sign. Germany originally signed the Treaty of Versailles with the belief that it would be based around President Wilson’s fourteen points, however it soon became clear to them that this was not in fact the case. Germany felt that the Treaty had cheated them and there was much outrage across Germany. The principle complaint Germany had was that they felt the War Guilt Clause, referring to article 231 of the Treaty, was totally unjust. Germany was forced to take all the blame for damages received by the allies.
Firstly, Appeasement was a policy adopted by Britain and France in the years before the outbreak of war. It involved giving Hitler what he wanted in the hope it would satisfy him and he would stop requesting more. As Britain and France found out, Hitler was a greedy man and no intention of stopping. So all Britain and France did was allow him to strengthen the German forces and empire. An example of this was the remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936.
The pact was the final cause of war as Hitler could now invade Poland without any interference from Stalin. Britain and France had declared war on Germany as they guaranteed Poland’s independence. However, the policy of appeasement in the 1930’s also played a big role in causing the Second World War. Appeasement had led Hitler to believe that Britain and France were weak. Britain and France gave Germany the Rhineland, the Sudetenland and they were allowed to have an Anschluss with Austria.
It resulted in diplomatic isolation, as she couldn’t defend lost Germans in other countries, and there were huge military restrictions where she was only allowed an army of 100,000 soldiers and very little weaponry. She did not expect to be fined anything, as Woodrow Wilson stated there should be “no annexations; no indemnities”, but Germany was made to pay £6600 million for reparations and damage she had caused, they believed this to be too harsh and unfair as the size of the bill compared to her resources she was left with was ridiculous. Germany was already suffering from the immense