Germans React Angrily to the Treaty

1. Germans were not aware of the situation in 1919.

In 1919, many German were not aware of the militaristic situation in Germany. They thought that the German government had agreed to a ceasefire at the end of the war, and therefor should have been allowed into the Peace Conference. they were upset that they were being treated as a defeated state. They did not understand why their government was not allowed to be present at the talks and why their government was forced to sign such papers.

2. War guilt and reparations

The ¨war guilt clause¨ was the part of the treaty negotiations that the Germans hated the most. Germany felt that at the very least, the blame should be shared between a few different countries.

Because Germany was said to have started the war, they had to pay for it. The German economy was already a disaster, and they feared that the reparations would cripple them.

When Germany did not pay their reparations in 1922-23, French and Belgian troops took over Ruhr, Germany´s main industrial area.

3. Disarmament

The Germans were limited to an army of 100,000. This was a very small force for a country the size of Germany, and their army had been a source of national pride. Though Wilson´s fourteen points called for debarment, no one disarmed like Germany had to.
Adolf Hitler received widespread praise when he rebuilt Germany´s military in 1935.

4. German territories

Germany lost a lot of their territories. This was taken as a major blow to German pride and the economy. They lost two major industrial areas.

While Germany was losing their land, France and Britain were gaining territories by taking colonies that had once belonged to Germany.

5. Fourteen Points and League

The Germans felt that their treatment was not kept within Wilson´s fourteen points. While many countries were given self-determination, German speaking people were broken up into many smaller countries, like Austria and Czechoslovakia. To add insult to injury, Germany was not invited to join the League of Nations.

6. Double Standards?

While the Germans did complain about the treaty, their complaints fell on deaf ears, in fact, many thought that the Germans themselves were playing with double standards. Their treatment in the treaty of Versailles was much nicer than the way they had previously treated Russia in other treaties.

Also, Germany´s economic problems were mostly self-inflicted. While most countries had raised taxes for the war, the Kaiser government had planned to pay their debts with war reparations.