Describe the Effects of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany

Describe the effects of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany (9 marks) The Treaty of Versailles was the Peace Settlement between the Allies and Germany at the end of the First World War. The German authorities had little choice but to accept the treaty. The treaty rules were harsh and affected Germany negatively. One of the main effects the treaty had on Germany was the fact they had to admit and put their hands up to being responsible for causing the war. The effect that this had was that everyone was going to hate Germany but also the country itself would be angry which could lead them into starting another war.Due to the fact they had to claim responsibility, it also meant they had to pay compensation to the allies. These payments, called reparations, would be paid monthly and would total some ? 6,600 million. Again, this made the country angry risking the start of another war, but also it meant that it would affect Germany finically causing them to be in major debt and cause pover ty. In addition, Germany faced a large amount of territorial loss as a result of the treaty. In fact, Germany lost 13% of its land which contained 6 million Germans.The land Germany had owned was given to countries such as Poland, Denmark, Belgium and Lithuania. Consequently, Germanys population went into poverty and many of them lost their homes creating an overall negative effect. Moreover, the treaty stated that Germany had to disband their air force, limit the army to 100,000 soldiers and cut the navy to 15,000 sailors. Due to the limitation and cuts, many people lost their jobs causing them to go into poverty. The army had gone from employing 3 million people to now 100,000 people resulting in 2. million people becoming unemployed. As there weren’t as many soldiers, this meant Germany was vulnerable and became an easy target. Germany was open for an attack, but it meant Germany would be unable to attack other countries. Overall, the effect of the treaty of Versailles on Germany had an negative impact. Germany were spiralling downwards as they were in a large amount of debt, unprotected, vulnerable, angry and the population were in poverty. There is a clear risk of a war being created due to the harness of the treaty.