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'What we will lose!' reads this 1919 German poster. '20% of our production regions. 10% of the population. A third of coal production. A quarter of bread, wheat and potato production. Four-fifths of iron ore. All our colonies and merchant navy.'
Each point of that treaty could have been engraved on the minds and hearts of the German people and burned into them until sixty million men and women would find their souls aflame with a feeling of rage and shame.
From Adolf Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf, published 1925-26, where he recorded his thoughts on the Treaty of Versailles. |
German views on the Treaty of Versailles
In Depth
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Disarmament
The disarmament terms upset Germans. An army of 100,000 was very small for a country of Germany’s size and the army was a symbol of German pride. Despite Wilson’s Fourteen Points calling for disarmament, none of the Allies disarmed to the extent that Germany was disarmed in the 1920s. It is no great surprise that Adolf Hitler received widespread approval for his actions when he rebuilt Germany’s armed forces in 1935. War guilt and reparations
The ‘war guilt’ clause was particularly hated. Germans felt at the very least that blame should be shared. What made matters worse, however, was that because Germany was forced to accept blame for the war, it was also expected to pay for all the damage caused by it. The German economy was already in tatters. People had very little food. They feared that the reparations payments would cripple them. Moreover, Germany had offered to participate in a post war inquiry into the causes of the war - the allies were not interested so Germany felt war guild was assumed not proven. German territories
Germany certainly lost a lot of territory. This was a major blow to German pride, and to its economy. Both the Saar and Upper Silesia were important industrial areas. Meanwhile, as Germany was losing land, the British and French were increasing their empires by taking control of German and Turkish territories in Africa and the Middle East. They also argued that self-determination was not being fairly applied to Germany - 12.5% of the German population was now under 'foreign rule'. |
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The Fourteen Points and the League of Nations
To most Germans, the treatment of Germany was not in keeping with Wilson’s Fourteen Points. For example, while self-determination was given to countries such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, German-speaking peoples were being divided by the terms forbidding Anschluss with Austria or hived off into new countries such as Czechoslovakia to be ruled by non-Germans. Germany felt further insulted by not being invited to join the League of Nations - she was being treated as a 'pariah nation'.
To most Germans, the treatment of Germany was not in keeping with Wilson’s Fourteen Points. For example, while self-determination was given to countries such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, German-speaking peoples were being divided by the terms forbidding Anschluss with Austria or hived off into new countries such as Czechoslovakia to be ruled by non-Germans. Germany felt further insulted by not being invited to join the League of Nations - she was being treated as a 'pariah nation'.
‘Double standards’?
German complaints about the Treaty fell on deaf ears. In particular, many people felt that the Germans were themselves operating a double standard. Their call for fairer treatment did not square with the harsh way they had treated Russia in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918. Versailles was much less harsh a treaty than Brest-Litovsk. There was also the fact that Germany’s economic problems, although real, were partly self-inflicted. Other states had raised taxes to pay for the war. The Kaiser’s government planned to pay war debts by extracting reparations from the defeated states.
German complaints about the Treaty fell on deaf ears. In particular, many people felt that the Germans were themselves operating a double standard. Their call for fairer treatment did not square with the harsh way they had treated Russia in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918. Versailles was much less harsh a treaty than Brest-Litovsk. There was also the fact that Germany’s economic problems, although real, were partly self-inflicted. Other states had raised taxes to pay for the war. The Kaiser’s government planned to pay war debts by extracting reparations from the defeated states.
The Treaty of Versailles is severe, but it is amazing it is not more so. Thanks to Wilson’s insistence, Germany lost remarkably little territory, considering how thoroughly it had lost the war. True, the colonies were gone, but the European losses were relatively few. The real difficulty was not that the treaty was exceptionally severe, but that the Germans thought it was, and in time persuaded others it was.
Adapted from a book by historian Sally Marks called The Illusion of Peace: International Relations in Europe 1918-1933, written in 1976.
Adapted from a book by historian Sally Marks called The Illusion of Peace: International Relations in Europe 1918-1933, written in 1976.
