In 1919, delegates from across the world converged in Paris to the palace of Versailles, which used to host French Kings from long before, to discuss the end of World War 1. For the past 4 years, brutal fighting had happened across the world in The Great War, where the fighting was deadlocked in a brutal war of attrition. However, after the entry of the United States into the war, and the subsequent Hundred Days Offensive, the Central Powers, led by Germany, realized it was over, and surrendered. Here, the Allied Nations, led by the United States, Great Britain, France and Italy, set out to make peace, while also punishing Germany for their actions in the war.
The treaty forced Germany to give up 13% of its territory and 10% of its population. However, it also forced the German Republic to get rid of its air force, only allowed 100,000 troops in the Reichswehr, the German Army, and, worst of all, the Germans had to pay $33 Billion(1919) in reparations, which would make $605 Billion today.
However, the Treaty and its terms were infuriating to the German people, who demanded resistance, as they believed it was too harsh. A major part of this was that they already spent most of their money on the war, and they physically couldn’t pay the reparations. This economic crisis was exacerbated by the Great Depression, so when an Austrian painter named Adolf Hitler said he was going to forcibly reverse the terms of the treaty, the German people voted the Nazi party into office, which would later begin World War 2. After the surrender of the Nazi’s in World War 2, people began to realize that the Treaty of Versailles probably was a major factor in causing the 2nd World War, and understood that if it was harsher or more lenient, this would have never happened.
But should it have been harsher or lenient? We don’t know, but based on what we have, we could guess based on what might have happened had it gone differently, and answer this question.
However, we first need to understand what was in the treaty in the first place. First, the Germans lost all their colonies, which, although a source of pride among Germans, wasn’t that much of a benefit, and the colonies didn’t contribute much to the German economy. With the surrender of Russia, Germany gained the Baltics, Belarus and Ukraine, which they would have to immediately give back to the Soviets. Meanwhile, they also had to give Poland independence in the former areas of Russian and Austrian Poland. However, the Poles in the Eastern parts of Germany revolted and joined the new Polish state. Because the Allies realized that the Poles needed something to jumpstart their economy, they were given a coastline. However, the majority German city of Danzig was administered by the League of Nations, an organization like the UN which sought to keep peace in the World. This would cut Germany in 2, as it didn’t have a land route to East Prussia. Meanwhile, Memel, a region of East Prussia that was mostly Lithuanian, had to join the rest of Lithuania. In the East, the terms of Versailles, although somewhat harsh on Germany, were generally ok, as those areas didn’t have many Germans in them, and much of the land transfers were determined by referendums. In the West, the Germans lost some tiny territory to Belgium, while also losing Schwisig Holstein to the Danes, as it was a mostly Danish area. However, the French also got Alsace Lorane, a mostly German speaking area that France had for a century before losing it in the Franco Prussian War. This would gain France a good defense on the Rhine River, and would later be the site of the Maginot Line. The initial return to France was mostly positive among the people in Alsace Lorane, but it grew more hostile with increased Francification in the region. However, that was not enough for the French, as they wanted the heavily resource rich Saarland, which had many vital materials such as coal. However, that was opposed by the other allied nations, but the Germans couldn’t have it either, so they put the Saarland under international mandate, which would continue until it was annexed by the Nazi’s in 1935.
With these territorial losses, the Germans lost around 10% of their population and 13% of their land. Not much of these territorial losses were that unjust, as they weren’t mostly German anyway. However, there was still the Polish gap between Germany and East Prussia. On the other hand, however, there is an argument that could be made that the Germans were punished too harshly, because they had won the war in the East, and were only starting to lose in the west, with no ground invasion into Germany.
However, it gets worse for the Germans. Infamously, Article 231 in the Treaty of Versailles stipulates that Germany has to accept responsibility for all damages in the war, and has to pay 132 Billion Gold Marks, which was around 200-300% of Germany’s pre-war income. Although all Central Powers nations had to pay reparations for the war, this was much more extreme for the Germans, and would have absolutely nuked the German Economy. In fact, it had to be shrunken by the Entente to 50 Billion Marks, which was still a lot, around 60-90% of pre war income, but not as much, and seeing that the German economy recovered in the 1920’s rapidly, they were able to pay around 50% of the reparations. However, in the 1930’s, it was soon impossible to pay. So, the US implemented the Dawes plan, where the US loaned Germany, and Germany had to use the loans to pay reparation to France and Britain, who would pay the loans to the US. However, after the Great Depression, this plan became faulty, which exacerbated the German economic collapse. However, despite the reparations being somewhat unfair, they weren’t going to doom the Germans to poverty forever.
However, the most unfair thing in the Treaty of Versailles was the demilitarization of Germany, which was more harsh and unusual than the other terms of the treaty. First, the Rhineland had to be demilitarized, and occupied until 1930. Now, this was somewhat reasonable as the French didn’t want to get invaded again. However, it gets worse from there, as the Allies took steps to make sure Germany could never be a military power again. First, they only allowed 100,000 troops in their army, no air force, no submarines, no tanks, or much else. At that point, Germany could barely defend itself or keep the peace in Germany, as the German Revolution was in full swing as Communists and Freikorps were battling in German cities. This was also an incredibly stupid decision, as in 1919, there was a real fear that, once the Bolsheviks consolidated Russia, they were going to cross the Vistula and invade Europe to spread the Communist Revolution. Now thankfully, this didn’t happen because the Reds were defeated at Warsaw, but this was a genuine fear at the time, and, with only 100,000 troops in the Reichswehr, the Russians would plow through Germany.
Now, clearly the Germans hated this treaty and everything it stood for, but what did the Allies think of it? As it turns out, they hated it too. The Italians infamously didn’t get the territory they were promised in the 1915 Treaty of London, which led to much resentment towards the Alles. The French didn’t think it was harsh enough. However, the British and the Americans thought it was to harsh, with Prime Minister David Lloyd George being worried that the Treaty was too harsh on Germany, and predicted that the Germans were going to resist it. Also, Ferdinand Foch, the marshall of the French Armies infamously predicted that “This is not peace. This is an Armistice for 20 years.” In 1939, his predictions came to fruit.
Now, to be clear, the German plans for peace were no better than the Treaty of Versailles, as a matter of fact, they were much worse. For example, in the Treaty of Brestk Lovtoksk, Russia had to lose 15% of its territory and a 3rd of its population. Also, most of Russia’s industry was in the territories. Brestk Lovtoksk was appearing more like the Germans were trying to prevent the Russians from being a power again.
So, was the Treaty of Versailles too harsh? I would say so, because, although Germany needed to be punished, it did not need to be punished to the point of never allowing Germany to be a power again. The terms of the Treaty led to mass resentment inside Germany, and when an Austrian painter said that he would reverse the terms of the Treaty by any means necessary, he was voted into power. The seeds of the next world war, which would be more terrible than the last, were sown.