The first term of the treaty was to make Germany except that they were to blame for starting the First World War. The second was to disarm Germany; in the treaty they said that Germany could have no more than 100,000 men in their army. They banned conscription and limited the number of army ship they could have. They also wanted Germany to demilitarise the Rhineland, a stretch of land on the boarder of France and Germany.
The third term of the Treaty was to make Germany pay reparations to compensate for all the damage the Germans had caused France in the First World War. The final term of the treaty that affected Germany was to order Germany to give back colonies and overseas territories that they had before the war.
On the 7th May 1919 the terms of the treaty were announced in Germany. These demands were not well accepted and there was uproar in the country. Germans didn’t want to except that they were to blame for starting the war and certainly did not want to give any of their money to the countries that had just beaten them in the war in reparations.
When the German government at that time decided that their only option was to sign the treaty the country did not approve at all. They felt that their government had betrayed them by giving in to the treaty.
Each German person had to pay money to the government to go towards the reparations. People in Germany were going hungry and had no money to spare. In 1922 the German government had no money left to pay the reparations. France became very angry and attacked and took over the Ruhr. This only led to the German public feelings towards the government stronger. They felt that they were not getting the protection and security that they needed in the country they were living in. The government were not helping the situation and their only solution to the problem of poverty was to print more money. This did not solve the problem; it made the problem significantly worse for everyone. Hyperinflation took place and the value of money dropped so low that it was completely worthless. The publics’ feelings towards the government were getting stronger and stronger as poverty continued to starve their children and kill the sick.
All these factors added to the reasons why the German public did not feel confident with the present government in power.
When Hitler and the Nazis first made their policies known in Germany, other countries regarded them as very extreme but for them to disobey the Treaty would have been unheard of. Two out of the “big three” had drawn up a treaty and the other country had signed it. Breaking the treaty seemed almost completely wrong and something that no one would consider doing. But Hitler’s speeches were encouraging, pulling out the major disadvantages of signing the treaty. Considering most of the country did not agree to the signing of treaty in the fist place, their opinions were not too hard to sway.
Hitler promised all the things that the Treaty of Versailles had taken away; money, land, an army, jobs and hope. He made Germany’s future look better and did this by overrunning the Treaty and the counties that backed it. The public saw this as a positive step forward as they did not agree to the signing of the treaty in the first place.
The German public did not see how Hitler was making false promises; they were so poverty stricken that they did not care how Hitler managed to help them, as long as he did. Breaking the treaty seemed the only thing to do.
