what did the war guilt clause mean for germany

What challenges did Germany face after World War One?

After World State of war One, Germany was severely punished past the terms of the Treaty of Versailles .
The recently phylliform Weimar Republic sweet-faced much opposition from some right- and left-wing groups.
From 1918 to 1933, reparations payments, hyperinflation and the caused much worldly hardship for the High German populate.

Challenges Germany faces from 1918-1923: World War 1 defeat, Spartacist Uprising, Treaty of Versailles, Kapp Putsch, Ruhr invasion from France and Belgium, Hyperinflation and Munich Putsch.

World War Single ended at 11am on 11 Nov 1918. The Treaty of Versailles was a peace agreement that marked the end of World Warfare One and located out to punish Germany for their involvement in the war. The treaty was signed on 28 June 1919.

The punishments from the Treaty of Versailles potty be remembered with the acronym 'BRAT': B lame, R eparations, A rmed forces and T erritory.

Blame
War Guilt Article 231 stated that ' Germany accepts the duty of Germany and her allies for causation all the loss and wrong (in the State of war). ' This caused anger in Germany as they felt it was unfair to hold them alone responsible for causing the war.

Reparations
The War Guilt Clause meant Germany had to devote for all of the damage caused in the war. This design was definite to be £6.6 billion in 1921, and was finally paid disconnected in 2010. These reparations caused system hardship in Germany.

Armed services
The red of armed services left Germany belief vulnerable. American president Woodrow Wilson, had suggested all nations should disarm, but the result of the Treaty of Versailles was that Germany would be largely disarmed whilst Jacques Anatole Francois Thibault and the UK maintained their armed forces.

IT was allowed a utmost of 100,000 troops in the army
conscription was banned
nobelium tanks were allowed
its navy was remittent to 15,000
it was allowed only 6 battleships, and no submarines

District
Germany lost a significant amount of territory: 13% if its land and 10% of their population, including industrial coal and iron producing areas. This contributed to their post-war economic problems.

BRAT is an acronym for 'Blame, Reparations, Armed forces, and Territory' an easy way to remember the four terms of the treaty of Versailles

The Weimar Commonwealth was Germany's government from 1919 to 1933, from the ending of World War One to the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany. They were a new and inexperienced government who had to deal with a lot of complex economic problems later Global War One.

The Weimar Republic was a unfeignedly popular government for Germany, with a that set out how the land should be run. The republic held elections every four years and all adults over the age of 20 were able to vote.

The Weimar Republic was set up arsenic a representative democracy, which is a form of government in which members of sevens are elected to defend the interests of the public. It well-tried to give genuine power to altogether German adults by allowing their voices to be heard. However, this caused problems because the German public were soh many-chambered.

Historians have argued that on that point were two chief weaknesses of the Weimar Republic.

1) Proportional Delegacy
To each one party got the aforesaid portion of seats in parliament every bit the percentage of votes it acceptable in an election. While it allowed for better mental representation of minorities, it also meant there were lots of small parties in parliament, making it difficult to cash in one's chips laws, and contributed to weak and often shortish-lived governments. Some hoi polloi argue that this contributed to political imbalance in Germany.

2) Clause 48 powers
This gave the President of the United States the power to number without sevens's commendation in an emergency. However, it did not clearly define what an 'emergency' was, thusly the tycoo was overused, which weakened Germans' confidence in democracy.

Watch the video to see extinct or so the weaknesses of the Weimar Government

Narrator: At the end of World State of war One, Federal Republic of Germany was defeated. The leader, Kaiser Bill, abdicated, allowing the old royal system of government activity to be replaced with a new democratic system, the Weimar Republic.

First, every last German people got the vote. They voted for their area's representative in the Reichstag Parliament. Elections used what was seen as the fairest organization: relative representation. They also nonappointive a Chief Executive every seven years, and the president and so furnished a chief minister from the Reichstag, the premier.

It seemed like a perfect system.

President: Well done, everyone, this system is perfect.

Narrator: And it might have been, if the population hadn't been and so divided and angry, because the government had accepted the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles. They called its signatories in the government the November Criminals.

Woman at front of crowd: Death to the November Criminals!

Narrator: At the Paris league, where the accord was communicatory, Germany had predicted to have a enjoin in penning the agreement. But the treaty, written solely by the allies, was seen as a diktat, a dictated man. Article 231 of the treaty stated that Germany was all to blame for causation the war. This clause was accustomed justify the Allies claiming reparations from Germany. A Brobdingnagian compensation bill of £6.6 one thousand million, to be gainful to the allies by Germany in crippling yearly instalments.

Germany ruined all its colonies overseas, and had its armed forces drastically reduced. They were limited to 100,000 soldiers. The people's rancour was made true worse, because many Germans refused to accept that they had lost the war, believing a growing myth that Germany's brave army hadn't lost, but had been stabbed in the back by weak politicians.

The government had to meet those along the political decent, who wanted them removed because they were angry at Palace of Versailles, and the loss of the monarchy. On the left, they had to cope with communists, WHO wanted a socialist revolution. And now, thanks to proportional representation, all of these extremists had a vote, so were represented in the Reichstag. This LED to a Parliament gas-filled of rafts of small parties, representing all of the distinguishable, often extreme views, no of whom could form a legal age in the Reichstag.

The Weimar government was beset with problems. Merely it was a clause in the republic's new constitution that would cause the biggest problem for Germany, and for the rest of the world. Article 48 allowed the president special powers to hit laws without the say of the Reichstag, in the event of an emergency. Hitler would later use Article 48 to turn his democratic election into a ruthless dictatorship.

Thither were a serial publication of and revolutions from both the socialist and the right in Germany in the years following World War One and only and The Pact of Versailles.

The Weimar Republic faced challenges from the left wing (Spartacists) and right wing (Kapp Putsch)

In January 1919, left-wing led past Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht took complete newspaper offices and police central office, and unexpected the unweathered Weimar Government to flee Berlin.
The were known as in by the government. They successfully stopped the uprising and Luxemburg and Liebknecht were both murdered.
This showed the weakness of the new government because they couldn't deal with the rebellion without relying on the Freikorps.

The Freikorps proved an rebellion of their own in 1920, led by Wolfgang Kapp. The price of the Treaty of Versailles meant the German Army had to be reduced and the Freikorps had to cost disbanded.
In reaction to this, Wolfgang Kapp, a rightist national, led a Freikorps putsch in Israel Baline. He sought to bring down the new Weimar Government and bulge out his own.
The Weimar Authorities fled and called for a , which was widely fostered. Within years there were superpowe shortages and shelves in shops were emptying. This meant it was very tough for the new government to do anything and Kapp realised helium did not have enough popular back.
The Kapp Putsch lasted only a few years and the Weimar Government was restored.

In 1923, Germany missed a payment. France and Belgium then invaded the Ruhr River region to arrogate what they matt-up they were collect. The Ruhr was an industrial sphere, producing big amounts of ember and steel. This military control of the Ruhr worse Germany's economic crisis as they forfeited a lucrative region.

The High German authorities told the workers in the Ruhr to die out happening general strike and pleased . They printed extra money so the workers could be paid while they were striking, since they were doing then at request of their government.

This caused . Prices skyrocketed and money chop-chop decreased in evaluate. The assess of hoi polloi's nest egg became worthless and people on frozen incomes were salt away a difficult positioning, as their reward were not increased in line with hyperinflation. To figure out the problem of hyperinflation, a new currency, the Rentenmark, was introduced to replace the now nugatory Papiermark. The government also called off passive resistance and the economic system started to recover.

In 1919, Adolf Hitler joined a inexperient party: the National Socialist German Workers Party, or the Nazis. They were a far-right group who strongly anti the Treaty of Versailles. Aside 1921, he was the leader. In 1923, Der Fuhrer attempted to take advantage of the hyperinflation crisis veneer the Weimar Government by nerve-racking to set up a revolution. He believed the Nazis had enough democratic support for an uprising to succeed.

Starting in a beer hall in Munich, helium gained the indorse of topical anesthetic leadership and marched towards the centre of the city. The police had been notified and they blocked their route. Hitler was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. Helium was granted early release, however, and solely served nine months of the sentence.

Whilst in prison, Hitler realised the best agency to win might would be through being elective. He wrote a book titled Mein Kampf , in which He set out his .

From 1923, Federal Republic of Germany started to show signs of retrieval. This was largely under the leadership of Gustav Stresemann.

In 1923, Stresemann introduced a new currency, the Rentenmark, to stabilise the value of German money.
In 1924, the Dawes Plan was agreed. This was an arrangement that Germany would pay out their reparations over a longer period of time and would receive some loans from America.
In 1926, Germany joined the League of Nations, showing they were being accepted away other countries again and that they were committed to the league's aim of collective security.
In 1930, the Young Programme was in agreement. Germany continued to receive loans from America and reparations payments were reduced by 20%. FRG seemed to get on the verge of economic recovery.

Gustav Stresemann, who light-emitting diode Germany in different roles after 1923

Diagram showing the Dawes Plan, which lowered German reparations payments and got a loan from the USA, and the Young Plan which reduced reparations by 20% and US ensured loans continued

The German language recovery was thwarted following the in October 1929. This led to a planetary economic impression.
Germany had borrowed large amounts of money from The States through the Dawes Project and the Young Plan. This meant the German economy took a huge score when America necessary their loans repaid.
6 million German people were dead of mold by 1933 and the recovery that appeared to be taking place was destroyed.