As you can see there was a huge loss of important
Territory. The Polish Corridor meant that East Prussia was spilt up from the rest of Germany. Also the fact that there were a number of Germans living in these parts of the new formed land meant that one Woodrow Wilson’s request in his fourteen points was almost impossible to carry out. He stated that the east of Europe would have Self-Determination. That could not be possible if Germen people where living in Germanys old territory, as another country and government would rule them.
One of the worst conditions, I feel, of the Treaty of Versailles was the “War Guilt” clause. Germany had to take sole responsibility for starting the war and take all of the blame for the war. This may have angered the Germans most out of all of the conditions, as they did not even feel that they had, alone, started the war. I feel Germany did not start the war it was a whole number of things but they were being forced to say that they did. This did not affect the country like the reparations did, but it was more to do with the pride of the country. Many Germans felt very bitter about this condition and it had a lot to do with the starting of World War Two. Not only did the Germans feel that they had not started the war, but they did not even feel that they had lost the war. They thought that they had only agreed to a cease-fire. Therefore they should not had been treated so harshly or been treated as a loosing state. Germany only signed the treaty because they thought it would be based on Wilson’s 14-point plan.
The massive reduction in military power angered and humiliated a lot of the German people. The German worked and fought hard for what their military had achieved and possessed and it was the pride and joy of Germany. Germany had been greatly weakened so in the occasion of war she would not be able to defend herself. They were to hand over submarines, aircrafts and armoured vehicles, and in the last order to show their strength, they sacrificed their military forces. During the First World War, Germany had about 2.2 million troops and to go from this to 100,000 troops had very serious affects. There was a much greater number of unemployed as there was not enough employment for them all, so these ex-troops had to be paid benefit. This money had to be raised by increasing the taxes, which made the whole of the country angry not just those who had lost their jobs. People no longer were given the chance to serve their country as had been able to before.
There also lies the fact of the peace conference in Paris in January 1919. Britain, represented by Prime Minister Lloyd George, France, represented by Prime Minister Clemenceau, and America, represented by President Woodrow Wilson, all attended the conference. Germany however had not been invited and was not told about it. Germany had not been invited to the conference because England and France wanted to blame someone for the war, i.e. Germany. So if Germany were not there they could not defend themselves against the British and the French, it would have only complicated matter further if they had been there. They did not know anything about the peace conference so did not know anything that had been said at the conferences and didn’t know that the Treaty was not to be based on the fourteen-point plan. When Germany found out about the arrangements in the Treaty they became angrier. They called the Treaty a diktat because they were not allowed to have any say in the makings on the treaty.
Germany was literally slaughtered by the Treaty of Versailles financially. They were being billed the enormous figure of £6.6 billion, had they had to pay this figure, and it had not been changed under the Young Plan in 1929, they would not have stopped paying until 1984. Because Germany had recently been fighting in the war the country was in ruins. Buildings were in need of restoration and whole towns had to be rebuilt. All this required a sufficient amount of money, which Germany did not have very much of, because of the reparations. Also there was food shortage, most of which was to be sent of to other countries.
In conclusion, I disagree that the main reason of Germanys hatred was based on the loss of territory, even though that is an important factor. In my opinion the most important reason to have angered the Germans is the “war guilt” clause. This is because it is simply a fabrication of the truth. Germany did not cause the war by themselves, which the Germans knew, but they still had to take sole responsibility for the war. Which caused most of the hatred, being blamed for something you did not do. I suppose it made Germany feel weak, like a child being told off and punished for something they didn’t fully understand. I feel, because of this treaty Germany, even to this day, has gone down in history as the loosing side and the side that started the war, but Germany was very greatly angered by the treaty of Versailles for all of the reasons listed in this essay.
