What was the impact of the treaty of Versailles on Germany?

Another of the most important impacts of the Treaty of Versailles was obviously the restrictions imposed by the treaty on the German armed forces. The Germans did not accept the guilt for starting the war and the armed forces of a country with an aggressive foreign policy like Germany posed a great threat to the allies and so they restrained the army. The number of soldiers in they army could go up no further that 100,00 and must be maintained through a process of subscription rather than on a voluntary basis. The use of the navy, including submarines, and the air force was temporarily disallowed. This particular step taken by the allies is not particularly surprising at all because the European countries like Britain, France and Italy needed the active help of the USA to defeat Germany and so they were quite likely to take those steps to establish military security on the continent.

The issue of financial burdens imposed on Germany as a compensation for the losses incurred by the Allies, termed 'reparations', and were most certainly an important impact of the Treaty of Versailles. Even before the Allies had drawn up a conclusion on the amount of money Germany should have to pay as compensation, Germany was having to pay a certain sum of money, amounting to nearly 100 million German Marks, which was considered unfair for a country still suffering from the consequences of a devastating defeat in a major war. Ultimately it was decided Germany should pay £6600 million in compensation which was a devastating amount for a country with a crumbling economy. The imposition of 26% fine on the revenue earned by the government through exports further worsened matters, especially when the earnings of the government largely depended on the exports of the country. Apart from these major set backs it should also be noted that there were further restrictions as Germany lost its colonies overseas, the amount of investments in other countries was restricted, there was a ban of tariffs for five years and the country was forced to grant the Allies the status of the most favoured nations and give them discounts on products which turned out to be big obstacles on the path of the recovery of the German Economy.

The actions taken by the League of Nations was also an important impact of the Treaty of Versailles. Germany being excluded from the league increased public German belief that they had been unfairly treated. The actions which were taken in the treaty removed all possibilities for a peaceful revision probably to be done at a later date. The absence of the USA from the league removed a moderating influence on the treatment of Germany by the allies.

Another argument is that the Treaty of Versailles fuelled the fire of resentment that the republic faced in its later years from the right wing extremists like that in 1919-1923 Kapp Putsch and Munich Putsch. In the longer term this hatred remained to be a strong factor in the rise of Adolf Hitler. It could be looked upon as the cause of the economic crisis in 1923 and 1929.

In conclusion we might say that the Treaty of Versailles not only resulted in the loss of Germany's colonial position, the collapse of her economy and the breaking down of her military but also acted as a rallying point for right wing opposition for the newly born Weimar republic. The various impacts explained above gave strong grounds to the ultimate destructor of the Weimar republic-Adolf Hitler who cunningly manipulated the issue to win support from the German people. Little did Weimar authorities know that signing the Treaty of Versailles at those embarrassing terms would ultimately lead to the Weimar republic being doomed and therefore catalysing the rise of Hitler.

Charlie Matthews 12CAS 07/05/2007

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