How accurate is it to suggest that the Treaty of Versailles was mainly responsible for the political and economic instability in Germany in the years 1919-23?

The treaty of Versailles was mainly responsible for the political and economic instability in Germany in the years 1919-23. The key terms of the treaty can be listed under the following headings. These consist of: territorial arrangements, War guilt, reparations, disarmament and maintaining peace (the League of Nations). These different key terms each negatively impacted the political and economic stability in Germany thus creating instability.  

 An example of a key term of the treaty which created economic instability was territorial arrangements. An example of a territorial arrangement pertaining to this was that the Saar area of Germany was to be under the control of the League until 1935, when there was to be a plebiscite. The Saar area was one of Germany’s main industrial areas notorious for its coal production, which was to be given to France. This immediately therefore had a substantial affect on the German economy as the loss of the Saar area meant a loss of the ability to export coal which in turn would cost them in monetary terms.  This had previously vastly benefited the economy, but the loss of it would pose a detrimental effect on the economy. The loss of the Saar area reduced Germany’s industrial strength which would later result in other countries viewing them as weak and not wanting to trade with them in the future further creating economic instability. The key term of reparation payments, which the sum was fixed at £6600 million also caused great economic instability through demanding Germany to make substantial payments which they couldn’t afford. The Treaty of Versailles contributed mainly to the political instability faced by Germany in particular the war guilt clause. The war guilt clause angered governments from both the left and right as they felt they felt it was unjust and found it impossible to accept. They felt that Germany could not be held solely responsible for the outbreak of the war, which was a view shared also by many Germans. They and the German people blamed the Weimar government for the bestowing of the war guilt clause as a direct result of them signing the treaty. Therefore they blamed the Weimar government for the other key terms imposed on Germany.  This led to political instability as it resulted in other governments very much opposing the Weimar republic and showing bitterness towards them. Therefore each government had different aims contradicting Weimar’s, which in turn would create political instability as the people of Germany may begin to favour parties other than Weimar considering many already resented it for the signing of the treaty. The TOV was the main factor contributing to instability and was the fundamental cause of the difficulties Germany experienced. It ultimately gave Weimar’s opponents strength to undermine the republic creating political instability.

The right posed a threat to stability in Germany in the years 1919-23. The right was made up of the DNVP, Nationalist splinter parties, the Freikorps and the Consul organisation.

The TOV terms mainly contributed to the economic instability faced by Germany however there were other underlying problems. For example the government printed