Germany’s overseas empire was also taken away. Leaving them with no allies. The countries that used to be allies of Germany were then controlled by the League of Nations, meaning they were protected by each other. Germany having no allies meant that if another war were to break out they had to defend for them selves and because of the military restriction it would be very hard for them. Another term of the Treaty was the army restrictions. They were only allowed 100000 men in their army, these men had to be volunteers; ban on submarines and aircraft; restriction of only 6 battleships; and German troops were forbidden to enter the Rhineland.
Also, one of the reasons the Freikorps rebelled against the government was the signing of the Treaty, which they strongly disagreed with.
Political unrest was also a large factor of the bad times in Germany. Erbert and his government made many mistakes, gaining opposition from many people. Erbert was very unpopular for signing the armistice on the 11/11//1918 because many people thought the troops were strong enough to continue fighting. It could also be argued that if the Armistice was not signed, the problems held by the Treaty of Versailles would not be a problem at that moment. However Erbert was forced to by the government, but this caused the ‘Stab in the back’ myth.
Not only were they unpopular because of the signing of the Armistice, but the signing of the Treaty of Versailles was also strongly frowned upon. The terms were so harsh that workers went on bans, therefore receiving no income of money, when large amounts were important in the times of hyperinflation. Also Erbert printed more money which radically encouraged hyperinflation.
People also wanted a party change, as a democratic government was not what people wanted. Another reason for the great unpopularity of Erbert and his government were that he used the left wing to put down the right wing, loosing support from both directions.
Because of the war, there were large after affects. After signing the armistice and accepting the blame for the start of world war one, they were very unpopular with the rest of the world. They were humiliated and looked down upon, but could not afford to upset any countries because of their tiny armed forces, due to the Treat of Versailles. They were completely unprotected.
There was also a huge political divide between the rich and the middle class. This is because of hyperinflation. The rich could afford the items and it did not affect them as heavily. The lower class sometimes benefited from it because many power class farmers could sell their crops and animals for a lot of money, they also had access to food by growing it themselves. However, the middle class were usually the factory workers who were not paid as much as they needed, and some people did not trust the banks keeping all their savings with them. This meant that their money was now worthless.
Also, many people did not like the fact women were working and found it untraditional and wrong. Also, because of the loss of soldiers in the war, there were many widows trying to earn enough money for them and their children to live, which hyperinflation made even harder.
Overall, I think that the Treaty of Versailles was the main reason Germany faced so many problems from 1919-1923. It caused a domino affect on the other reasons affecting Germany as it made any slight problems a lot worse, mainly due to hyperinflation. I think hyperinflation is definitely the largest problem. And was the result of the Treaty, because it was so extreme that the mark was worthless and could not be used to buy absolute necessities. If the Treaty was not signed, the problems would be much more easily solved. For example Erbert would not be under such hatred and pressure by the people and would not have to use parties to put down each other. Germany would have protection, money, land, people and respect without the Treaty of Versailles.
