Early Unpopularity

• 1. The Treaty of Versailles was signed in June 1919
• 2. Ebert signed the Treaty of Versailles:

  • After the armistice, a peace treaty called the Treaty of Versailles was imposed on Germany
  • The terms of the treaty were mostly decided by the Allied leaders - David Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson
  • The new German government wasn't invited to the peace conference in 1919 and has no say in the Versailles Treaty
  • At first, Ebert refused to sign the treaty, but in the end he had little choice - Germany was too weak to risk restarting the conflict
  • In 1919, he accepted its terms and signed
• 3. Terms of the Treaty of Versailles:

  • Article 231 - Germany had to take blame for the war - the War-Guilt Clause
  • Armed forces reduced to 100,000 men - no armoured vehicles, aircraft or submarines, and only 6 warships
  • £6.6 billion in reparations - damage caused by German forces
  • Lost its empire - areas occupied by Germany put under control of League of Nations
  • German military banned from the Rhineland meaning Germany was open for attack on the left
• 4. Why did Germany feel Betrayed by the Weimar Republic?

  • Germans called the treaty a 'Diktat' (forced upon Germany), and many blamed Ebert for accepting its terms
  • Some Germans believed the armistice was a mistake and that Germany could have won the war - they felt 'stabbed in the back' by the Weimar politicians, who brought the Treaty of Versailles upon Germany unnecessarily