Treaty of Versailles

Effects on Germany

Background

Paris Peace Conference

Germany did not participate

Allies dominated the meeting

France and Britain wanted to punish Germany

Treaty signed on June 28, 1919

The terms were harsh and put severe limits on Germany

Political Effects

War Guilt Clause: Germany forced to accept blame for damages caused by World War I

Loss of power and status

Territorial losses: Alsace-Lorraine went back to France

Danzig (Polish Corridor) given to Poland

Land lost to Belgium, Denmark & Czechoslovakia

Lost colonies in Africa and Asia

Weimar Republic was weak: Germans blamed this government for the

country’s defeat and the humiliation of the treaty

Political Effects

Threats of revolution by monarchists and communists Kapp Putsch (1920) - was a 1920 coup attempt

during the German revolution aimed at overthrowing the Weimar Republic. Based on opposition to the Treaty of Versailles imposed at the end of World War I

Beer Hall Putsch (1923) - a failed attempt at revolution that occurred on Nov. 8 and 9, when Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff, and others unsuccessfully tried to seize power in Munich, Bavaria, and Germany.

Hitler’s Attitude Toward the Treaty: Said it was an outrage

Wanted to overturn it

Political Effects

Hitler’s Political Goals:

Lebensraum (Living space); get it by invading eastern Europe and Russia

Regaining lost lands

Combating communism

Social Effects

Treaty viewed as attempt to punish Germany John Maynard Keynes said said it reduced them

to servitude, degraded their lives and deprived them of happiness

Germans want revenge for treaty It took away German pride Was seen as a slap in the face

Change in borders causes loss of population and national identity

Inflation has direct impact on people’s lives Poverty and despair Disease (tuberculosis)

Social Effects

Anti-Semitism in Germany

Germans blamed Jews for losing the war and the economic problems in Germany

Rise of Hitler and Nazism

Belief that Aryans are the master race

Goal was to kill all Jews and “inferior races”

Economic Effects

Reparations: $33 Billion to France and Great Britain over 30 years

Loss of resources, tax base, and industry

Severe inflation:

Government printed money to pay war debts and reparations

This devalued the mark

People directly affected

Unemployed or overworked

Economic Effects

Costs of war and the terms of the treaty led to the collapse of German economy

Dawes Plan (1924):

$200 million loan from U.S. slowed inflation and stabilized German economy

Germans dependent on U.S. support