In relation to the experience of the Germans in the inter-war period, why might some people in Britain have been sympathetic to the view that the Treaty of Versailles had been too harsh on Germany and that Hitler was a good nationalist leader?

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In relation to the experience of the Germans in the inter-war period, why might some people in Britain have been sympathetic to the view that the Treaty of Versailles had been too harsh on Germany and that Hitler was a good nationalist leader?

On 28th June 1918, German representatives from the newly formed Weimar Republic signed the Treaty of Versailles, thus acknowledging their defeat in the First World War and simultaneously accepting the war guilt clause, Article 231, which attributed the blame for the war to Germany. This clause became the justification for many of the terms imposed upon Germany.

In the immediate post-war period the vast majority of the British population upheld the Orthodox viewpoint on the issue of German war guilt. They felt Germany was to blame for the war. Famous slogans from the period such as, ‘squeeze the German orange until the pips squeak’ summed up the British position on the type of punitive treaty that Germany’s behaviour had warranted. There was however some sympathy for Germany amongst high-ranking British diplomats and politicians such as Harold Nicolson who believed the treaty to be neither ‘wise nor just’. Many other members of the British intellectual elite were critical of the treaty and, at the outset of the inter-war period, sympathetic to the view that it was too harsh. One of the most influential opinions was that the economist J.M. Keynes, who criticised the amount of reparations payments imposed upon Germany (£6m), as he believed that the amount put intolerable pressure on the German economy. Despite the reservations of these influential men the overwhelming majority of the British population were of the opinion that the treaty was too harsh.

15 years after the treaty had been signed, Hitler became the President of Germany. Many people in Britain, including Neville Chamberlain the Prime Minister, felt that to some extent, Hitler’s refusal to obey the terms of the treaty was justified, as the terms had been too harsh. What then were the main reasons for this change in opinion?

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In September 1923, failure to deliver a shipment of timber as part of their reparations payments gave France an incentive to occupy the Ruhr valley, one of Germany’s main industrial areas. The French intended to make Germans work for them in order to complete the payments. In response to the occupation, the Ruhr workers were encouraged to offer passive resistance to the French troops. To pay the striking workers a wage more marks were printed, however printing money whilst productivity levels remained low resulted in hyperinflation and hardship for many German people whose savings lost their value.

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