Question 1

Why did The Treaty of Versailles lack durability?

Paragraph one

• Begin the answer setting out the factors that proved to be a problem:
• Germans throughout the political spectrum regarded it as a harsh ‘diktat’ with humiliating intentions and implications
• Victorious powers unable to agree on how far to go, but to many it seemed vindictive, vengeful and imprudent
• It made worse the various tensions in German political life
• Outside France reservations about the treaty’s efficacy allowed the Weimar regime to virtually restore German sovereignty before Hitler became chancellor
• Post-1929 depression boosted revision of the Treaty and put paid to mere revisionism in Germany – brought Hitler to power and he wanted more than revisionism
• 1919 no consensus and resolve to diminish German power – no concerted effort to be conciliatory either

Paragraph two

• Examine the nature of the ‘diktat’
• It contradicted the principles of Wilson’s 14 Points
• Germans shocked and angry
• German military limited – 100,000 strong army, no tanks, planes and submarines, conscription banned and long-term military service imposed to prevent build-up of large trained reserve forces
• Colonies confiscated
• Article 231 – war-guilt clause, Germany to accept blame for war
• Reparations set at £6,600 million by 1921
• Lost one-eighth of territory and 6 million of population
• East Prussia separated from main part of Germany causing ethnic Germans to come under Polish rule
• German economy weak due to cost of war – exacerbated by loss of large reserves of iron-ore, coal, and zinc (transferred to Poland and France)

Paragraph three

• Possible future consequences of the Treaty:
• President Wilson wanted conciliation and self-determination but French wanted to diminish Germany’s potential as a power imposed tough military, economic and territorial terms
• J.M. Keynes very critical of Treaty – believed Wilson undermined Lloyd George’s attempts to lessen Clemenceau’s demands
• Reparations not based on German ability to pay – if implemented would cause poverty, starvation and political instability – aggravated hatred of the Treaty and enhanced nationalistic sentiment
• Marshall Foch said: ‘This is not a peace, it is a 20 year armistice!’

Paragraph Four

• German instability in 1920s
• January 1919 Spartacist Revolt (crushed by military)
• March 1920 Kapp Putsch defeated by general strike but showed that the army could soon gain an autonomy which in alliance with other conservative interests could lead to a dangerous surge in nationalist sentiment
• June 1920 Reichstag elections republicans lost their majority – for this to happen so early on was ominous
• From the early days there was an endemic problem of coalition crises in government – by second half of 1920s this situation was made worse by nationalist and anti-Semitic interest groups inside and outside the Reichstag
• Continued discontent and unwavering hostility to Versailles by all political groups made it unlikely that Germany would continue to comply with its terms

Paragraph Five

• Concessions made to Germany before the advent of the 3^rd Reich
• Early 1920s Germany unable to defy victors
• 1923 French and Belgians invaded Ruhr over German failure to pay reparations
• Caused economic crisis – new German currency
• Terms of reparations revised in Dawes Plan (1924)
• France and Great Britain coordinated a more conciliatory attitude towards Germany
• This manifested in ‘Locarno spirit’ (1924-29) which seemed to restore Germany to the family of nations
• Young Plan 1929 reduced annual payments of reparations
• After 1924 Germany received more in foreign investment than she paid in reparations
• Foreign troops had left Germany by July 1930
• Of vital importance – Locarno Pact of 1925 while guaranteeing western frontiers made no mention of eastern frontiers – so they believed that these could changed

Paragraph Six

• Hitler’s intentions:
• 1933 left League and World Disarmament Conference
• France weakened economically and politically by the depression adopted Appeasement – a policy long implicit in Great Britain’s dealings with Germany
• Hitler steadily unpicked the Treaty of Versailles as the 1930s progressed
• This was a preliminary to the implementation of lebensraum which was way beyond the mere reversal of the ‘diktat’
• The major powers acquiesced in his moves:
  • 1935 conscription
  • 1936 Rhineland and Spanish Civil War
  • 1938 Anschluss
• The treatment of Czechoslovakia was a prelude to the establishment of a new German empire stretching from the Atlantic to the Urals. The 1919 treaties had become irrelevant shadow of the attempt to limit the power of Germany for ever.