Question

what is the effect of treaty Versailles in germany

Answer 1

By the end of the war the country was heavily in debt.As a result, by 1919 Germany was no longer the second most economically advanced nation in the world.The immediate economic consequences of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were a significant concern and added to Germany's humiliation

Answer 2

The overall reaction of Germans was horror and outrage. They certainly felt that they had not started the war. The people were angry that their government was not represented at the talk and that they were being forced to accept the harsh treaty without any choice or even a comment to make. This was clearly called a diktat.

Germany suffered through industry as 50% of its iron and steel industry had been lost as well as 16% of its coalfields. This was all compensation and reparation for the war. Thus it very difficult for Germany to make war material as most ammunition was produced from iron and steel and half of theirs had been taken. There were short of workers due world war one casualties and deaths which did not help revive the industry. Furthermore Alsace and Lorraine was useful for industry and profits from Saarland went to France for 15 years.

The treaty of Versailles had also taken away useful agriculture land from Germany. North schlesulig was useful for grazing land, however Denmark had taken it. Upper and eastern Silesia had gone to Poland and those areas are known for producing textiles so the German’s did lose plenty of agricultural land.

The treaty of Versailles had restricted the German’s to having 100,000 armed men. The navy was only allowed six battleships with no submarines and no armed vehicles were allowed either. Conscription was also banned. This had really humiliated Germany as they were once a great empire that was very threatening but that was no more. In addition, the Rhineland was de –militarized too.

Germany was very unstable at the moment. For the first time in Germany democracy was introduced. In result, many different groups such as communists, Sparta cists, the right, had all tried to overthrow the democrats since they were new to power. The Weimar republic faced many problems from these opponents some being Sparta cists uprising in 1919, kapp putsch in 1920 and the Munich putsch in 1923. The main fact of Germany politically, is that it was unstable.

The economy of Germany was suffering as it had lost many of its resources since their colonies and land were taken away from them. The fact that Germany had to pay £66 billion was enough to hurt any countries economy. Germany had paid their first instalment but they refused to pay the second and said they would not pay, because of this France and Belgium sent their troops and take over the Ruhr. The workers there did not work for them and they followed with ‘passive resistance’. Production was falling and this caused prices to rise. The government tried printing out bank notes but they were worthless. This caused hyperinflation to happen. This therefore meant there was lack of natural resources and raw material. People of middle class would suffer because their salaries at the end of the month would not be enough to buy necessities. People getting pensions and people who lent money would also suffer.