To what extent was the Treaty of Versailles fair to
Germany?
The Treaty of Versailles was created to cripple Germany so that they
could not start another war. One side of the argument is that the Treaty
was extremely unfair to Germany, as it took away some of her most
valuable assets and fuelled nationalism. However, the other side of the
argument is that as Germany caused a lot of damage, she deserved to be
punished and prevented from stirring up more trouble.
The military clause was the harshest and mo st damaging clause, and was
greatly disapproved of by Germany. The size and power of the German
army was one of her greatest assets. By restricting her to an army of only
lOO,OOO volunteers, the Treaty left her defenceless and vulnerable. For
such a large country, an army of lOO,OOO men was just big enough to
keep order within Germany, but was not large enough to defend Germany
from other invading powers. The army was a symbol of German pride
and an important political source of nationalism. Having almost h alf of it
taken away ruined Germany’s Great Power status, and made her an easy
target for other countries. In addition, the Rhineland became a
demilitarised zone, meaning that Germany was open to attack by France.
On the other hand, some groups believe that the military clause was fair,
as it punished Germany as well as giving the smaller countries of Europe
a chance to establish themselves. Furthermore, restricting Germany’s
army and weapons meant that there would be no threat to the British
Empire, security or international trade, and it prevented the break out of
another large, destructive war.
The war guilt and reparation clauses also had a great impact on Germany.
Many groups believed that Europe had slid into war and that it was not
one country’s fault since most were involved in the arms race and
alliance system. Therefore they believe that as Germany did not single handedly start the war, they should not have to take the full blame for it.
In addition, the German economy was in pieces, so the peopl e were
worried that the fine of £6.6 billion would completely destroy their
country and economy. Germany was also forced to sign a ‘blank cheque’
because if they did not, Britain would not lift the naval blockade. This
seemed harsh when linked to the other economic problems that Germany
was experiencing. The payments were the equivalent of around 5% of the
national income. As Germany could not afford to pay this, they had to
borrow a lot of money from America. In addition, they had to import raw
materials, which lead to a balance of payments deficit. This caused
currency decline and inflation.
Despite this, others believed that Germany deserved to take the full
blame for the war and therefore should pay for all the damage caused.
Furthermore, as Germany originally created the principle of paying
reparations and had previously imposed reparations on France after the
1870 war, many groups thought that it was only fair for them to also
have to pay. In addition, many people believed that the reparations
were fair as the amount was changed to a more reasonable figure in
1929.
The last clause was about land. Germany lost 10% of her land and her
entire overseas empire was taken away. This was a major blow to
German pride and economy. She also lost the Saar and Upper Silesia,
which were important industrial areas. The Saar was German speaking
and had a plentiful supply of coal, and Upper Silesia contained key iron
and coal resources. Meanwhile, as Germany was losing land, the British
and French were increasing their e mpires by taking control of German
and Turkish territories in Africa and the Middle East. Germany thought
that this was very unfair, as neither Britain nor France had worked hard to
earn this land, and it did not belong to them. Former German colonies
became mandates controlled by the League of Nations. The Treaty also
forbade Germany to join together with its former ally Austria, which
went against self-determination.
On the other hand, some people believe that Germany’s entire
overseas empire was taken away as it had been one of the causes of
bad relations between Britain and Germany before the war, and that
taking it away would solve many problems. In addition, they think that
forbidding Germany to join with Austria was a good idea, because
Austria would have added 12 million people to Germany, which would
have enabled it to dominate the continent.
Considering the amount of land that Germany lost, how was she
supposed to pay such a huge reparations bill, especially since she had
lost 16% of its coalfields and almost half of its iron and steel industry?
The terms of the Treaty that are unfair seem to outweigh the supposedly
fair terms. Germany’s greatest asset was its large and extremely powerful
army. By having most of it taken away from them, left them w ith little
confidence and pride. It also meant that they had no way of seizing land
or boosting their economy, and left them with little protection from
other powers. Leaving Germany this weak and vulnerable cannot be seen
as a fair punishment. In addition, Germany was deprived of the ability to
negotiate any of the terms of the treaty, and had to take full
responsibility for all the damage caused by the war.