A View on the Treaty of Versailles

In the years leading up to World War Two, Germany was ostracized by the international community for its significant role in World War One. This ostracism was more than a popular misconception of German motivations during the Great War. In the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War One (WWI), Germany was held accountable for everything that had happened in the years other countries were fighting Germany, paving the way for general anti-German sentiment abroad. Domestically, the Treaty of Versailles was viewed with opprobrium by policy makers and big business. Germans were humiliated by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and resented the loss of territory as well as the onerous reparations required by the treaty.

On June 28, 1919, Germany accepted the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles as a defeated belligerent nation. The United States, Great Britain, and France stripped Germany of many of a nation-state’s accepted arsenal of economic and military tools. German possessions won from the Turkish Empire were granted provisional recognition of independence. The provision required a foreign “Mandatory” such as France or Great Britain to oversee administration of internal policy “…until such time as they are able to stand alone.”[1] Similarly, the territories of Alsace and Lorraine were restored to France as they were in 1871, with the treaty noting “…the wrong done by Germany…both to the rights of France and to the wishes of the population of Alsace and Lorraine…” Certainly, there would be a grudge felt by Germans at having territory they possessed for forty years taken away.[2]

The grudge was further strengthened by Germany’s agreement to pay reparations. Part of the territory lost by Germany was the coal-mining region of the Saar Basin; the mining region was transferred to France and was to be considered part of Germany’s reparations.[3] Though the Treaty of Versailles recognized that “…the resources of Germany are not adequate…to make complete reparation for all such loss and damage…” the treaty nonetheless required that Germany would “…make compensation for all damage done to the civilian population…during the period of the belligerency…against Germany.” If Germany was held accountable for “all damage done to the civilian population” during the entire span of time it engaged in hostile military actions, then social and environmental issues only marginally related to the war became the fault of Germany and Germans.

The Allies further declared that “…Germany accepts the responsibility…for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.” Germany was essentially blamed for everything that happened during the war. And though World War I was begun by a Serbian assassinating the Austrian heir in Bosnia, Germany was blamed for everything that occurred during the Great War. Such a stark declaration within an international treaty bred bitterness within German hearts.[4]

Also a source of bitterness was the threadbare state in which the German state was left by the Versailles treaty. The Allied powers stripped Germany of its offensive and most of its defensive capabilities. For example, the German Army was limited to seven divisions of infantry and three divisions of cavalry with the total fighting force not to exceed 100,000 men, including four thousand officers. The Army was “…devoted exclusively to the maintenance of order within the territory and to the control of the frontiers…”[5]  Defensively, Germany was could not fortify the banks of the Rhine river, its common border with France, nor build fortifications within fifty kilometers of the Rhine. Germany, under the Treaty of Versailles, was to be considered the global equivalent of a toothless lion.[6]

There can be no doubt that the German political and social environment was primed with bitterness, anger, and resentment toward the Treaty of Versailles and the disposition of German defeat in 1918. From the losses of territory, to the laying blame for the war on Germany, and finally to the severe limitations on German military forces, Germans were ready to strike out against what they perceived as unfair international restrictions and prejudicial ostracism.

---

[1] Article 22. The Treaty of Versailles and After: Annotations of the Text of the Treaty (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1944)

[2] The Treaty of Versailles and After: Annotations of the Text of the Treaty (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1944)

[3] Article 45. The Treaty of Versailles and After: Annotations of the Text of the Treaty (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1944)

[4] Articles 231 and 232. The Treaty of Versailles and After: Annotations of the Text of the Treaty (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1944)

[5] Article 160. The Treaty of Versailles and After: Annotations of the Text of the Treaty (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1944)

[6] Article 42. The Treaty of Versailles and After: Annotations of the Text of the Treaty (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1944)