First of all, there were the political effects on Germany, as a result of the Treaty. Germany lost a fair amount of land, not to mention the German citizens who resided in the siezed lands. Approximately 13% of Germany's land was lost, exceeding 28,000 sqaure miles of land in total. Along with that land, six million German speaking people were forced to be governed by foreign countries as a result. Many people living in the lands taken away, such as North Schleswig, actually wanted to be part of Germany. Even missionaries living in German colonies were not allowed to practice their profession any more. Some of the land lost included Belgium taking Eupen, Malmedy, and Moresnet, Denmark taking Northern Schleswig, Czechoslovakia taking Troppau, and Poland gained West Prussia and Posen. Germany lost all of her African territory as well as land in the Pacific. Alsace-lorraine was returned to France and Upper Silesia went to Poland. As well, the League of Nations took the liberty of controlling certain areas of the land that Germany had left. Until 1935, The League of Nations had control of the industrial area of Saar, the port Memel, and Danzig was made a free city under the League of Nations as well. In total 48% of Germany's iron production and 16% of her coal production was lost because of her loss of land. The union of Austria and Germany,"Anschluss," was also outlawed and had to be approved by the League of Nations. Not only that, Germany was forced to resign the right of self- determination in domestic affairs. This meant that being the defeated country, they no longer had control over matters such as education systems and public health. Politically the country was unstable and there were several attempts to overthrow the government that signed the despised treaty. The blame was pinned on the German government and there was an attempted communist overthrow in 1919 and the "friecorps," also tried to take over in 1920. Germany's government was more vulnerable than ever at this time, which lead to Hitler's rise later on.
Another good example of how the Treaty of Versailles was unfair, was the "War Guilt Clause," which wrongfully held Germany soley responsible for the devastating world war. There were definitely reparations that needed to be paid in order to rebuild Europe after years of war, but Germany was certainly not fully responsible for all of the damage. The obscene amount totalling 6,600 million pounds in gold and goods was to be paid in full
by Germany to the Allies. An amount that large almost guaranteed that Germany was going to fall into a depression, which wasn't going to help the nation's attitude towards the Triple Entente. People who have nothing to lose are more likely to wage war, which is probably why Hitler became so popular. As well as gold and goods, Germany was to ship all of the coal produced in Saar to France, for five years. Along with all of the territory that Germany lost, were the industries within it. For example, Alsace-Lorraine was a huge iron-ore producer which could have helped Germany repay her debt, but it was given to France. The main problem was how the country was going to repay all of this money, if their main industries were to be taken over. An example was in 1922, when Germany failed to pay the full amount due for that year. The problem was not that Germany was refusing to pay the debt, it was that she could not produce what was needed to pay reparations that year. This lead to the French invasion of Ruhr, where the Germans were practically slaves to the French. Germany had to also stop all trade with the countries of the Triple Entente. As a result of all of Germany's revenues being diverted to the reparations, it created severe over-inflation, which only worsened an already bleak situation. Several economists such as J.M. Keynes of Britain, thought the figure of 6,600 million pounds was too high and would only lead to Germany being poorer and more bitter, and this was true.
Perhaps the part of the treaty which angered the Germans the most, was that they were rendered helpless with the loss of most of their army. They were allowed a total of 100,000 men, which would hardly prevent or aid in an attack. This lead to Germany being basically at the mercy of the Allies. Conscription was also outlawed and anyone in the army had to serve for at least 12 years, so that there were no more than 100,000 men serving at one time. That is the reason that France came in so easily and took over the industrial area of Saar. As well as drastically shrinking Germany's army, the treaty stated that Germany was to have no Navy, they were not allowed to build submarines, planes or tanks, but had to do so for the enemy. Also, out of her 23 battle ships, Germany was permitted to keep 6. This only further fueled the bitter hate for the treaty. Also as a "safety precaution," the Rhineland was demilitarized and no troops or military activities at all were to be exercised in that area. Allied troops were to be stationed in the Rhineland as well. As one last defiant move by the Germans, they scuttled their Navy in Scapa Flow after being told that they were to surrender their fleet to Britain. A once prosperous and highly militarized country was almost helpless and it only helped to gather followers for Hilter when he began his climb to power.
There was definitely some punishment due, but the treaty went too far in every possible way, hence the name "Diktat," given to it by the Germans. Wilson's 14 points was basically forgotten as the Triple Entente finally got their chance at revenge in every possible way against Germany. Even though it was Germany who finally proposed a cease-fire on November 11th, she was made militarily helpless with 100,000 men and hardly any equipment to speak of, and there was nothing that they could do about it. With no say in the amount of reparations, the impossible amount of 6,600 million pounds was to be paid by the Germans for the damages as a result of the war. The depression that followed was probably the reason Hitler was able to get people to believe in him and follow him. Politically, Germany was as weak as she ever had been, making it easy for extreme groups to come into power. The Treaty of Versailles would inevitably fuel the anger needed for Germany to rise up and take back their dignity, eventually causing WW2. I do believe whole-heartedly that the Treaty of Versailles was cruel to the German people, whose government was the one to blame for the war, and that the " Big Three" could have been more lenient in their decisions.
