The terms of the treaty were that Germany had to take blame for starting the war which the people did not like as they saw the war as an act of self-defence. The Allies claimed reparations for the damage caused by the war, they fixed the sum of £6600 million, which was to be paid in small amounts every year, it was very doubtful that Germany could afford this after the war. The French wanted guarantees that they would be safe from any future German attacks so the German air force had to be disabled, the army was limited to 100,000 soldiers, the navy was limited to 15,000 sailors, six battleships and no submarines, and no German troops were allowed to the Rhineland. Germany also lost 13% of its land including Saarland, Alsace- Lorraine and its overseas colonies; because of this a lot of Germany was divided.
The treaty was signed in 1919 at Versailles, 27 nations attended the assembly. The three most important leaders were the French, British and American. The French wanted revenge on Germany as most of the war was fought in France, most of the damage was to the French people, and so they wanted to make Germany to pay. The British did not want revenge on Germany, but did want to make them pay for the damage caused, whereas the Americans wanted freedom, lasting peace and order.
I think the treaty was harsh and vindictive on Germany because although they had to take a lot of blame for starting the war, a lot of it was due to the Kaisers liking for war. The people did not get to vote for the Kaiser and had very little choice in how the country was run so they had to go to war when the Kaiser decided to; the punishments for refusing to do what he said were severe. I think the treaty could have been fairer on the people of Germany as after the war they were already in a bad state with poverty and disease, the Allies could have done more to help them as many of them probably weren’t keen on going to war, those who were probably did due to propaganda. I would understand that countries like France wanted assurance that Germany wouldn’t attack again as they came out worst after the war but to make Germany pay £6600 million was harsh considering the fact that the treaty took away 10% of Germany’s industry and 15% of its agricultural land.
The German government had no choice but to sign the treaty as they were in no state to go to war again, which was the consequence if they didn’t sign it. Many of the German people saw the signing of the treaty as their government betraying them as many of them as they believed they could still have won the war.
People started to revolt (Kapp Putsch), communism was now breeding in Germany, soldier that had just come back from war had to go and stop these people. The soldiers were also unhappy about the terms of the treaty, they did not like the restrictions put on them, many of these people became supporters of Hitler later on. Political extremism became part of everyday life, it was communism v. democracy, many of the communists were either arrested or shot dead.
The treaty did not really achieve lasting peace, due to the conditions, Germany was in poverty, disease ridden, people did all they could to oppose the terms of the treaty. Because of this, hatred for the Allies grew among the Germans, which made them turn to the Nazi party.
