Another problem that the Government had to deal with was the invasion of the Ruhr. The Ruhr was Germany’s main industrial land where many people were employed and many supplies such as coal and oil were produced. As the Ruhr was taken over Germany lost large amount of money not being able to earn from the productions. This lead to Germany not being able to pay back reparations caused in the war. The French marched into the Ruhr and took control as a sign of domination and also part of the payment that wasn’t payed off (according to the Treaty Germany were meant to pay it back by June 1919). This links to Hyperinflation as the Ruhr being invaded lead to Germany not making enough money therefore more money had to be printed; invasion of the Ruhr is a cause of Hyperinflation. Furthermore the invasion relates to the Treaty as it is because of the Treaty’s demand that the Ruhr got invaded.
Also the political violence made it harder for the Government to operate as there were accusations that because of the Governments decisions which were ‘not agreed to by the public’ all the other problems occurred. However weather political violence existed or not it would not have a key impact on the other problems. The political violence was a way to find someone to blame for the ‘loss’ in the war and the people who were involved in these violent demonstrations blamed the Government. A major reason that the Weimar government was blamed is because Armistice and the German people’s negative attitude to why the Armistice was signed. This issue links to the Treaty as signing it resulted in frustration and loss of trust, just like Hyperinflation. Hyperinflation meant rising prices, rising prices meant that the German people were more likely to support other parties which did not include a feature about rising prices, especially by millions.
The Treaty of Versailles was not an option, the Weimar government had to sign it weather they wanted to or not. The treaty demanded a lot of things from Germany was sure not able to provide, however in shame and disappointment from the German people the Weimar government signed it. The Treaty caused chaos within Germany as it lead to Political Violence, Hyperinflation, The Ruhr being invaded and many other problems. All these problems also listed above are linked to the Treaty.
Since the Treaty has many links with other problems its shows that it was a major problem that if wasn’t present other problems wouldn’t result in especially in such a unpopular way. The treaty triggered the country to turn on the Government which soon lost support and had many rivals. Furthermore the Government was seen as the ones to blame for all the drama whereas no one looked outside the box, no one realised that if the treaty didn’t exist Germany would have been a peaceful and well run Country. What’s more the treaty was a trigger and cause to world war 2- as seen in many comics (eg Peace and future cannon fodder).
As you can see the little boy is weeping with the treaty next to him and he is thinking of 1940 which is when he is going to be older. The three men appear to represent Georges Clemerau, David Lloyd George and Woodrow Wilson. The boy seems to be a representation of young Hitler when he first thinks to fight for his country.
