The treaty of Versailles had also taken away useful agriculture land from Germany. North schlesulig was useful for grazing land, however Denmark had taken it. Upper and eastern Silesia had gone to Poland and those areas are known for producing textiles so the German’s did lose plenty of agricultural land.
The treaty of Versailles had restricted the German’s to having 100,000 armed men. The navy was only allowed six battleships with no submarines and no armed vehicles were allowed either. Conscription was also banned. This had really humiliated Germany as they were once a great empire that was very threatening but that was no more. In addition, the Rhineland was de –militarized too.
Germany was very unstable at the moment. For the first time in Germany democracy was introduced. In result, many different groups such as communists, Sparta cists, the right, had all tried to overthrow the democrats since they were new to power. The Weimar republic faced many problems from these opponents some being Sparta cists uprising in 1919, kapp putsch in 1920 and the Munich putsch in 1923. The main fact of Germany politically, is that it was unstable.
The economy of Germany was suffering as it had lost many of its resources since their colonies and land were taken away from them. The fact that Germany had to pay £66 billion was enough to hurt any countries economy. Germany had paid their first instalment but they refused to pay the second and said they would not pay, because of this France and Belgium sent their troops and take over the Ruhr. The workers there did not work for them and they followed with ‘passive resistance’. Production was falling and this caused prices to rise. The government tried printing out bank notes but they were worthless. This caused hyperinflation to happen. This therefore meant there was lack of natural resources and raw material. People of middle class would suffer because their salaries at the end of the month would not be enough to buy necessities. People getting pensions and people who lent money would also suffer.
The treaty of Versailles also made many people in Germany poor, unemployed, and hungry and short of money. Moreover lack of business confidence and a lack of jobs were present. The idea of ‘no anschluss’ by the treaty was thought to be unfair by Germans because other countries were going through self-determination while they were not allowed to unite with Austria. Germany was also pariah from the League of Nations which would have been humiliating again.
The German people detested the fact that a part of Germany (East Prussia) was separated which made it much harder for transport. Nearly all countries were told by their government not to trade with Germany which left them the odd ones out again. The German merchant fleet was given to Britain which would have mired transport and trade for Germany.
Overall I can say that the impact on the treaty of Versailles was extremely harsh and aggressive. The treaty of Versailles left Germany no where. It took all its resources away. I think the treaty of Versailles was a total diktat!
