Treaty of Versailles

• May 1919 - biggest crisis for the new government when the terms of the TOV were announced

  • most people in Germany were appalled
  • right wing opponents of Ebert’s govt were particularly angry - blamed Ebert’s govt for betraying Germany
• TOV terms (GARGLE) (make sure you can describe two ways, political and economic, on how the treaty affected Germany) 1:

  • Guilt
  • Clause 231, accept the blame for the causing all the loss and damage
  • Armed forces
  • 100,000 men in army, no conscription (drafting), no air forces, no submarine, only 6 battle ships, Rhineland demilitarized
  • Reparations
  • have to pay 6,600 million for damages, they had time to pay untill 1984
  • crippled their economy and caused inflation
• TOV terms (GARGLE) (make sure you can describe two ways, political and economic, on how the treaty affected Germany) 2:

  • Germany lost territory
  • Alsace lorraine given back to France
  • Coal fields take to France for 15 years
  • All German colonies made mandate of League of Nations and given away to other countries aka no more resources
  • lost Danzig aka no more ports
  • League of Nations
  • set up as a way of nations to settle disputes
  • Germany not allowed in League of Nations
  • Extra points
  • forbade anscluss between Germany & Austria
• Military Restriction:

  • 100,000 men in army
  • no conscription
  • no air forces
  • no submarine
  • only 6 battle ships
  • navy significantly reduced
  • Rhineland demilitarized
• Germany lost:

  • 10% of land
  • all of overseas colonies
  • 12.5% of its population
  • 16% of its coal and 48% of its iron industry
  • army was reduced to 100,000, not allowed to have air forces and navy was reduced
  • Germany had to accept blame for starting the war and forces to pay reparations
• Supporters of the Weimar Govt felt betrayed by the Allies

  • Kaiser was gone - why should they be punished for his war and aggression?
  • opponents of the regime turned fury onto Ebert instead
• Ebert was reluctant to sign the treaty but had no choice

  • Germany couldn’t go back to war
  • In the minds of many Germans, Ebert and Weimar Republic were to blame for the treaty
• Treaty became a rallying point for Ebert’s opponents

  • believed the govt had been ‘stabbed in the back’ by the Socialist and Liberal politicians who had signed the armistice
  • believed Germany hadn’t been beaten on the battlefield but was betrayed by the civilian politicians who didn’t want to continue the war
• Treaty was still a source of bitterness in Germany when Hitler came into power in 1933
• TOV caused economic chaos:

  • reparations
  • ruhr
  • hyperinflation
• Reparations - Germany was forced to pay reparations of 6600 million pounds for the allies in annual instalments of 2% of Germany’s annual output

  • Announced April 1921 - a shock as the war had ended a long time ago
  • Germans protested this was intolerable strain on the economy as they were struggling to rebuild after the war, protests ignored
• Occupation of Ruhr (January 1923) - French and Belgian troops entered the Ruhr (legal under TOV) and began to take what was owed them in the form of raw materials and goods

  • 1922 - nothing was paid
  • Ebert did his best to gain time and negotiate - French were running out of patience as they had debts to pay the USA so they invaded Ruhr
  • Govt ordered workers to strike so the French had nothing to take but - French reacted harshly, killing over 100 workers and expelling over 100,000 protesters
  • Halt in industrial production in Germany’s most important region caused collapse of the German currency
• Hyperinflation - Germany had no goods to trade due to the Ruhr incident so they printed more money (need to describe to causes and effects) 1:

  • considered an attractive solution as it paid off debts in worthless marks
  • too much money in circulation and not enough goods to buy means that prices and wages rocketed
  • people had to carry home their wages in wheelbarrows and wages were paid daily instead of weekly and prices rised quickly
• Hyperinflation - Germany had no goods to trade due to the Ruhr incident so they printed more money (need to know two causes and effects + why the TOV was blamed) 2:

  • middle-class Germans lost the most so they no longer supported the govt- savings they had that could’ve bought a house in 1921 can now only buy bread, month pension couldn’t even buy 1 cup of coffee
  • did incredible damage to the Weimar government - gave right-wing opponents problems to blame them for and many linked it to the hated TOV, reparations and Weimar politicians
• August 1923 - new govt under Gustav Stresemann took over (need to know two actions Stresemann took to tackle hyperinflation)

  • called off resistance in Ruhr
  • called in worthless marks and burned them, replaced with a new currency
  • negotiated to receive American loans under the Dawes plan
  • renegotiated the reparations payment
• Economic crisis was solved quickly

  • some historians pointed out that perhaps Germany’s problems weren’t as severe as it had been made out at the time
• Can be argued that the TOV isn’t the main cause of their economic disaster as they would’ve had economic issues anyway because of their actions in the war
• What year did the French and Belgian troops enter the Ruhr?

  1923
• What year did the Germans first stop paying reparations


  1922
• How many Germans were removed from their homes during the seizing of the Ruhr?

  150,000
• When was the TOV signed?

  1919