Germany and the Treaty of Versailles.
The Treaty of Versailles was one of five seperate treaties, collectively known as the Paris peace .
settlement which was for the five defeated states after World War I. This treaty was the most significant, and .
it was also thefirst treaty that was signed. On June 28, 1919, the treaty was signed in the Hall of Mirrors in .
the Versailles Palace in France. It may have been possible to avoid a second World War if Germany would .
have been treated differently in the treaty. That is not to say, though, that the treaty was all to blame; by no .
means does this possibility imply that Germany was rightous in it's sick, attempted conquest. Any country .
would have been agitated by the implementation of the treaty.
Complete and full responsability for the first war was tagged onto Germany and its allies. Germany .
was forced to pay reparations to cover the costs of the war to the Allied forces. This was the last part of the .
treaty, Article 231, and it was deamed the "War Guilt Clause." .
The amount of money that Germany was expected to reimburse was actually a pretty rediculous sum .
of money. Germany had spent a lot of money on the war, too. They did not have the economic ability to .
actually pay back the money. In addition, the amount Germany was to pay was not even established until .
1921. .
Militarily, Germany was forced to deconstruct. They had to dismantle their military equipment and .
they were forbidden to produce aircrafts, battleships, heavy artillery, and basically any other major war-.
prone apparatus. Another big change was that Germany had to dramatically reduce the size of their army .
and navy.
Germany was forced to give back Alsace and Lorraine to France, and Allied troops planned to .
occupy part of Germany. Also, the west bank of the Rhine River in Germany was to be occupied by the .
Allied troops for fifteen years. This was also a large advantage for France because Germany was also forcd .
