Clemenceau had wanted Germany weakened to the point where it would never be a danger to France ever again. He was angry that France got the Saar coalfields for only 15 years, and he was angry that the Rhineland was merely demilitarised – France had wanted it made into a powerless independent country, and Germany split up. Also, reparations were not high enough for Clemenceau. He wanted reparations so high that Germany would be crippled and paying for ever. Wilson (President of the USA) was dissatisfied also.
"The fact that more than one hundred American citizens were among those who died made it the duty of the Government of the United States to speak of these things once more, with sincere emphasis to call the attention of the German Government to the fact that they were responsible for the action." The speaker in this document is saying that Germany is entirely responsible for the sinking of the British steamship. The reason stated in this paragraph is not the only factor that lead the United States into reconsidering neutrality.Another reason that forced the United States to reconsider their role in World War One was the Zimmerman Telegram. The Zimmerman Telegram was a document that stated how Germany wanted an alliance with Mexico. Germany proposed an alliance by saying, "That we shall make war together and together make peace.
The League did nothing except protest against Germany’s past aggressive behavior and Japan and Mussolini’s invasion. All this caused Hitler to be more confident that nothing will happen if they were to invade Poland. Britain and France were also at fault for appeasing Germany. When Germany had started its rearmament and invaded Czechoslovakia, they did nothing as they wanted to appease Hitler as they believe they were not strong enough to defeat Hitler and they fear setting economic embargo on Germany would affect their own economy as they have not recovered from World War 1 and the Great Depression. Hitler was a gambler rather than a planner.
Hitler then took away the “Power of the People” by replacing parliament with a self proclaimed dictatorship, which most Germans welcomed. Hitler was often described as a “Leader that got mad with power” as he lead a war that lead to many, many people dying. This so called “madness” leads to him taking over Poland and starting the war, consequently meaning Germany broke the “Treaty of Versailles”. After Germany took over Poland, Britain declared war on Germany as they refused to leave from Germany and the fact that they broke the “Treaty of Versailles”. After Britain declared war on Germany, France joined in with Britain as they felt threatened that Germany was going to take over them.
For Germany the main consequences were that they lost raw materials, manufactured goods, raw materials and precious mining land. Instead of using force, the government told the workers to resist peacefully and show the French and Belgian soldiers they were unwelcome. This was known as passive resistance. Another consequence to the occupation was that many former soldiers, such as Hitler, saw passive resistance as surrender and though that force from the German army was needed to evict the invaders. The occupation of the Ruhr lead to a shortage of goods and increased both Germany’s debts and unemployment rates.
Furthermore, German territory was taken away due to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Germany had lost it territories (the League of Nations administered the Saarland) and ( France was given Alsace-Lorraine). It was furthermore given plebiscites in Upper Silesia, Schleswig and West Prussia. This lead to the demilitarization of Germany and reduction of its army to 100,000 men and it was not allowed to have tanks. Germany felt such hatred as it no longer became a significant power with European Affairs.
They expected to have open discussions with everyone involved to produce a treaty and that there would not be any secret treaties. They hoped to be treated equally amongst other allies and managed fairly especially with negotiations. They did not expect the treatment they were given, and most of the fourteen points did not apply to Germany when she lost the war. Germany was not allowed to be part of the League of Nations, which meant she wasn’t involved in key decision making, the Germans felt this was hugely unexpected and unfair as she lost much of her strength and power. 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.
Soon both Bulgaria and the Serbs were defeated in September 1918, followed by Austria’s defeat by Italy and Turkey’s surrender. Now that all the German allies had either been defeated or had surrendered, it was only a matter of time until Germany itself surrendered. In September 1915 in an attempt to keep America out of the war, the Germans scaled back their U-boat campaign. However, in January 1917 the German Chancellor was
These consequences were significant for many reasons, particularly due to their impact on society, allies and the opposition, as well as inducing the beginning of WWII. The first cause of Hitler becoming Chancellor was Germany signing the Treaty of Versailles in June of 1919. After the end of WWI, the allies forced Germany to sign a peace treaty. In this treaty Germany was forced to take the blame for the War, pay reparations (which were set at 6.6 billion pounds in April 1921) as well as reducing their army to 100,000 men, getting rid of any air force, as well as being limited to 6 battleships. Germany also lost all overseas colonies, and their boundaries within Europe were reduced, losing in total 13.5% of their territory, which included losing 7 million people to neighbouring countries.
They were evacuated on naval vessels, civilian boats and little ships. There were over a thousand civilian casualties and an estimated five hundred and fifty four were killed and a further seven hundred and ninety one lost their lives in the course of their duties before coming to an end. When Hitler came to power he was determined to make Germany a great power again and to dominate Europe. He had set out his ideas in a book called Mein Kampf (My Struggle) that he had written in prison in 1924. His main aims were to: destroy the Treaty of Versailles imposed on Germany after her defeat in World War One.