Impact of Versailles Settlement on Germany

• The armistice agreement was signed on 11th November 1918
• Diktat (Dictated peace) is an order or decree imposed by someone in power without popular consent
• Germany's territorial losses from TOV were that they lost 13% of German territory and Danzig became a free state under LON protection
• Germany had to pay 6.6 Billion dollars in reparations
• War Guilt - Article 231 had to be accepted where Germany had to accept responsibility for starting the war
• Army terms of the TOV:

  • Army limited to 100,000 men
  • All heavy artillery was banned
  • Conscription to the armed forces was banned
• Anschluss is where Germany was forbidden with uniting with Austria
• Reactions to the treaty:

  • Millions of Germans were shocked by the signing of the arimistice and the abdication of the Kaiser
  • The treaty was supposed to be based off of Wilson's fourteen points and emphasised national determination and this right was rejected for Germans
  • The War Guilt clause was seen as an unjust national humiliation because Germans believed they were forced into the war by the Allies
  • Germans felt the reparations level was too high and would cripple the German economy
  • German nationalists were outraged by the outlawing of nationalist groups and banning of German patriotic songs
• Reaction of pro republic parties - SPD and allies knew the signing would rebound upon them, so they asked their opponents DDP,DVP and DNVP to state those who voted for the treaty weren't being unpatriotic
• Policy of fulfillment was the policy to comply with the terms of the treaty and in the future receive sympathy and the terms would be revised
• The TOV even turned some people against the Weimar Republic and its real damage was that it alienated moderates who had been happy to accept the constitution
• Reaction on the Right:

  • Right wing resentment intensified by the signing of the TOV