The Impact Of The Versailles Settlement On Germany

Question 1

When did Germany sign the armistice?

Answer 1

11th November 1918

Question 2

What was the harshest terms in the armistice?

Answer 2

Article 231 - War Guilt clause
Allowed all other parts of the treaty to be acceptable as the Germans were responsible for what happened

Question 3

What was the armistice?

Answer 3

Not a surrender, but an agreement to stop fighting and withdraw German troops from occupied territory while waiting for a peace agreement

Question 4

When was the Paris peace conference and what was it

Answer 4

Started 12th January 1919 - conference to settle the peace terms of the war, set in the Palace of Versailles and in and around Paris. Germans couldn’t attend or see the treaty till 7th May

Major decisions made by the 4 main leaders
. Woodrow Wilson (US president)
. David Lloyd George (British PM)
. Georges Clemenceau (French PM and conference chairman)
. Vittorio Orlando (Italian PM)

Question 5

What happened on 16th June 1919?

Answer 5

Allies gave Germany 7 days to accept the terms of the TOV, not agreeing to most of Germany’s proposed changes to the terms
This provokes a political crisis in Berlin and a new coalition government was formed

Question 6

When was the TOV signed by all powers?

Answer 6

28th June 1919

Question 7

How did Germans of all political views see the treaty?

Answer 7

A diktat (dictated peace) as Germans couldn’t see or negotiate the terms before they had to sign

Question 8

How was Germany viewed up to 1914?

Answer 8

One of the greatest military powers in Europe

Question 9

How did propaganda portray Germany’s war efforts in WW1?

Answer 9

as victory only being a matter of time, even when Allies halted German advances into France in Spring 1918
Nobody in Germany was told how bad the German situation in the Western front had become by 1918
- support for war efforts was very strong in Germany, even amidst the hardship caused by the allied blockade

Question 10

How did the TOV cause further resentment for Germans?

Answer 10

Already resentment due to the shock of the Kaiser abdicating and the armistice
TOV contained harsh terms and most Germans wouldn’t accept moral responsibility to feel the need to fulfil these terms

Question 11

Which parts of the TOV did the Germans hate?

Answer 11

. Separation of East Prussia from rest of Germany by the Polish corridor
. ‘War guilt clause’ seen as an unjust humiliation as Germans believed they were forced into a just war, and it tried to justified the reparations
. Reparations too high for German economy to handle
. Allied occupation of some of West Germany
. French control of the Saarland coal mines caused friction as German bans on festivals took place in French-controlled areas
. Disarming of Germany and exclusion from LON seen as unjust discrimination

Question 12

What part of Wilson’s 14 points was denied in the TOV and why?

Answer 12

The right to national self-determination as millions who spoke German were now living in non-German states such as Czechoslovakia

Question 13

What did ministers from all parties believe about the TOV?

Answer 13

Shared Scheidemann’s view that accepting the treaty wouldn’t work in line with German honour
It seemed possible to amend some of the terms after it was revealed to the German government in May

Question 14

How did the TOV cause a political crisis?

Answer 14

. Allies rejected German requests for changes to treaty
. Demand for acceptance of treaty within 7 days (pressure)

Question 15

Who wanted to reject the treaty and who believed there was no choice?

Answer 15

Scheidemann and some of his ministers wanted to reject the treaty
Majority of cabinet and SPD members believed Germany had no choice but to sign

Question 16

What was the new government after Scheidemann resigned?

Answer 16

Coalition cabinet under Gustav Bauer

Question 17

What was the last ditch attempt to force a rejection of the treaty of Versailles and how did it go?

Answer 17

. High ranking officers with the support of Von Hindenburg discussed the possibility of resisting signing the treaty via military action
. Ebert told Groener he would support the rejection of the treaty if there was a high chance of success
. Groener, a realist, told Ebert that military resistance would fail

Bauer cabinet forced to sign the treaty

Question 18

How did the SPD act and react to the TOV?

Answer 18

They knew that signing the treaty would rebound against them
- asked main opponents (DNVP, DVP, DDP) to state that those who voted for the treaty weren’t being unpatriotic, they had no choice
- they believed in a policy of fulfilment

Question 19

What is a policy of fulfilment to the TOV?

Answer 19

outwardly complying with the terms whilst negotiating modifications to it

Question 20

How did the TOV turn some against the Weimar Republic?

Answer 20

It alienated moderates who were happy to accept the new constitution and the promise of a ‘better’ Germany, but who also couldn’t come to terms with politicians who betrayed an unbeaten country in war through signing the TOV

Question 21

How did the TOV cause political demoralisation?

Answer 21

The Weimar Republic became associated with weakness and failure:
- politicians who agreed to the treaty were forced to become defensive
- gains of the Revolution seemed pointless as they’d lose everything through the terms

Question 22

How did right-wing resentment agains the public increase after the TOV?

Answer 22

• German nationalists couldn’t accept military defeat nor the establishment of the new republic
• signing of the TOV led many to join groups committed to overthrowing the Republic
• Extreme nationalists believed the politicians now governing German lacked legitimacy (November criminals) because:
  . They betrayed the ‘Fatherland’ several times by dethroning the Kaiser, signing the armistice and accepting the TOV

Question 23

What was the phrase used for the November Criminals’ actions of betrayal on Germany?

Answer 23

Stab in the back theory

Question 24

Why did Ludendorff and Von Hindenburg promote the ‘stab in the back’ theory?

Answer 24

. It was a justification for nationalist attacks on the Republic, its political supporters and the treaty
. The myth was appealing to ex-soldiers who suffered and returned to Germany, facing insults and humiliation (Goering)

Question 25

How was Ludendorff partially to blame for the crisis after the TOV?

Answer 25

. German army took no responsibility for WW1 defeat, despite Ludendorff having told the Kaiser that the army was on the verge of defeat in late Sept 1918
. Ludendorff had advised the Kaiser to appoint a civilian-led government in hopes of better peace terms

Question 26

Who came home from war and supported the democratic system, with some exceptions?

Answer 26

Many working-class soldiers who had been members of trade unions and supported the SPD
(Some turned towards communism)

Question 27

How did many soldiers struggle on return to Germany after WW1?

Answer 27

Couldn’t adjust to civilian life as they couldn’t find employment and had no sense of purpose the war had given them
- these men gravitated towards the Freikorps and right-wing nationalist groups to get back that sense of purpose militarily

Question 28

How did Britain react to the TOV?

Answer 28

. Lloyd George welcomed by a large crowd when returning to London after signing TOV
. public happy that Germany lost overseas empire, less of a threat to European peace

. George privately didn’t want Germany to become so weak that it couldn’t resist USSR expansion and wanted to become strong trading partner with Germany again
. Many British saw French as being greedy and feeling that Germany was being treated unfairly grew
. John Maynard Keynes believed the level of reparations was ‘one of the most serious acts of political unwisdom’

Question 29

Which country felt they had suffered most in the war?

Answer 29

France, wanted revenge at Versailles

Question 30

What were the French reactions to the TOV?

Answer 30

. Happy that their key demands were met: recovery of Alsace-Lorraine, demilitarisation of Rhineland, payment of reparations
. Many in France regarded the treaty as so lenient that Clemenceau was defeated at 1920 elections for making too many concessions
. Marshal Forch (military commander) said ‘This is not peace. It is an armistice for 20 years.’ (Prediction of WW2)

Question 31

What was the general feeling about the TOV in USA?

Answer 31

Treaty was unfair on Germany and that Britain and France used the treaty to enrich themselves at Germany’s cost

Question 32

How did USA react to the TOV?

Answer 32

. Republicans in Congress opposed it, meaning Wilson failed to win the vote to ratify the treaty, so USA had to make a separate peace with Germany in 1921
. USA refused to join League Of Nations and retreated from involvement in European affairs in the 1920s.

Question 33

What is an argument to say that German complaints on TOV weren’t justified?

Answer 33

Germany treated Russia similarly in Treaty of Brest-Litovsk