Germans had not been consulted about the terms discussed in the Paris Peace Conference When terms were announced ⇒ German chancellor ⇒ chose to resign rather than sign it
His successor ⇒ asked for small revisions on 23 June Allies response was that Germany should either sign or face an invasion within 24 hours.
German chancellor agreed ⇒ German delegation traveled to Paris to sign the treaty on 28th June
Germans ⇒ angry that their govt had not been represented at PPC + forced to sign the treaty → resented harsh terms of the treaty and became known as the dikat
- German Humiliation Germany → had to accept full blame for starting the war → but they did not feel like they should be blamed entirely. This was humiliating for Germany
- Called treaty a diktat In the eyes of Germans ⇒ allied powers should also bear responsibility as they had contributed to the chain of events leading to WW1 Since they had to accept total blame for the war ⇒ they also had to accept all other terms laid out by victors in TOV
- German Territorial Reduction
- Losing so much territory was a major blow to German Pride and economy
- Treaty ⇒ also prevented Germany from merging with other territories ⇒ especially Austria-Hungary → so as to weaken Germany’s position in Europe
- Many Germans felt that German speaking Austrians should be a part of Germany
- Thousands of Germans would have to live under rule of other Govts in Poland and Czechoslovakia.
- Included Germans living in the city of Danzig ⇒ which would be cut off from rest of Germany ⇒ to give Poland access to the sea
- Lost rhineland
- lost its overseas colonies in Africa and Asia
- Saar coal region and Alsace Lorraine was given back to France
- German Military Weakness
- army of 100 000 was very small for a country of Germany’s size
- Army was symbol of German pride. None of the allies were disarmed to that extent
- Germany would not be able to start another war
- Demilitarization of Germany’s Rhineland ⇒ meant that Germany’s borders were France wre not protected
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Reparations Germany ⇒ huge debts from the war effort Many Germans felt that reparations would ruin the economy
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LON Being left out of an international body ⇒ further insult to Germany