Treaty of Versailles

• May 1919


  Terms of ToV was announced
• Right wing opponents were particularly angry, blamed Ebert’s government for betraying Germany
• Germany lost

  10% of its land

  All of its oversea colonies

  12.5% of its population

  16% of its coal

  48% of its iron industry
• Army was reduced to 100,000 men; No air force; Navy was reduced

  Germany had to sign Article 231, war guilt clause - accepting full blame for the start of war

  Forced to pay reparations - £6.6 Billion
• Most Germans were appalled

  Supporters of the Weimar government felt betrayed by the allies

  Punished because of the Kaiser’s war and aggression

  Opponents of the regime turned their fury on Ebert
• Ebert himself was reluctant to sign the Treaty but had no other choice

  The injustice of the treaty became a rally point for all Ebert’s opponents

  Believed that Germany had been stabbed in the back by the Socialists and Liberals who agreed an armistice in November 1918

  Believed that Germany was not beaten on a battlefield but by the politicians who were too scared to continue a war

  Treaty was still a source of bitterness when Hitler came to power in 1933
• Reparations bill was announced in April 1921

  Germany had to pay £6.6 Billion in annual instalments of 2% of Germany’s annual output

  Germans protested that this was an intolerable strain on the economy but it was ignored
• Occupation of the Ruhr

  The first instalment of £50 Million were paid in 1921, but in 1922 nothing was paid

  Ebert did his best to play for time and to negotiate concessions from the Allies

  But the French ran out of patience

  They also had debts to pay to the USA

  January 1923 French and Belgian troops entered the Ruhr (legally under ToV)

  Began to take what was owed to them in the form of raw materials and goods
• Results of the occupation were disastrous for Germany

  Government ordered the workers go on a strike (nothing for French to take)

  The French reacted harshly, killing over 100 workers and expelling over 100,000 protesters from the region

  The halt in the industrial production in the Ruhr caused the collapse of the German currency