Why the Treaty of Versailles made the Weimar Republic unpopular

Why did so many Germans blame their own new Republic for a peace treaty it had no part in writing? On the twenty-eighth of June, nineteen nineteen, two German ministers signed the Treaty of Versailles in the Hall of Mirrors, the room where the German Empire had been proclaimed in eighteen seventy-one. No German had been allowed to help write it. The blame begins with the way that treaty was made.

The treaty was written in Paris by the winning Allies, led by Georges Clemenceau of France, David Lloyd George of Britain and President Woodrow Wilson of the United States. Different courses stress different parts of this story: the stab in the back, the treaty's impact, or reparations. Germany was not invited to negotiate. In June nineteen nineteen its government was handed the finished terms and told to sign, or face the war starting again. Think about the state of Germany's forces that summer. Could the new government really have refused to sign? Not in practice. Germany could not fight on, so refusing meant invasion. Germans called the treaty a Diktat, a dictated peace, because it was forced on them without any discussion.

The terms fall into four groups, and the first is land. Germany lost about thirteen per cent of its land in Europe. Alsace-Lorraine went back to France, and land in the east went to the new state of Poland. That included the Polish Corridor, a strip that cut East Prussia off from the rest of Germany. The Saar, with its coal mines, was run by the League of Nations for fifteen years while France took the coal. Every overseas colony was taken, and union with Austria was forbidden. The second group is the armed forces. The army was cut to a hundred thousand men, with no conscription, meaning no compulsory call-up. Germany could have no tanks, no air force, no submarines and only six battleships. The Rhineland, along the border with France, was demilitarised, so no German troops could enter it. The third group is money. Germany had to pay reparations, payments for war damage, and in nineteen twenty-one the bill was set at a hundred and thirty-two billion gold marks, about six thousand six hundred million pounds. The fourth group is blame. Article two hundred and thirty-one, the war guilt clause, made Germany accept responsibility for causing all the loss and damage of the war. That clause is only a few lines long. Why did the war guilt clause anger Germans so much? Because it was the legal reason for the reparations bill, so it turned blame into money. And most Germans did not believe they alone had started the war, so they felt punished for something they had not done. Germans believed the bill would ruin them. What happened when payments fell behind is the crisis of nineteen twenty-three, which has its own video.

The terms hurt, but one claim turned that hurt against the Republic itself. It was called the stab in the back, and it said the German army had not been beaten on the battlefield, but betrayed at home by politicians, socialists and Jews. It was a myth. The army had been defeated, and its own leaders had asked for peace. Whenever you write about it, call it a claim or a myth, never a fact. Now ask what made it sound true to people at the time. Why did so many Germans believe the stab-in-the-back myth? Because the German army was still in France and Belgium when the fighting stopped, and wartime newspapers had told them they were winning. Then in November nineteen nineteen Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, Germany's most famous general, repeated it to an inquiry of the Reichstag, the German parliament. Believers gave the Republic's leaders a name, the November criminals. It meant the politicians who agreed the armistice in November nineteen eighteen, and the Republic that then signed the treaty. The hatred was real. Matthias Erzberger, the politician who signed the armistice, was murdered by nationalists in nineteen twenty-one.

Now link the treaty to the Republic's unpopularity, because that link is what the questions ask for. Here are two sentences about the army limit. The first says the treaty limited the German army to a hundred thousand men, with no tanks and no air force. The second says the army limit made the Republic unpopular because thousands of officers and soldiers lost their careers, which meant many of them turned against the government that had signed. Which one answers a question about unpopularity, and why? The sentence about careers. The other is true, but it only describes a term. This one follows the term through to the Republic's support, with because and which meant. One examiner's report records a pattern here. Students who answered the topic rather than the question's focus were unlikely to achieve high marks, despite detailed descriptions of the treaty's terms. They knew the terms, and never said what the terms did to support for the Republic. The same report says what the best answers did instead: they explained how resentment of the treaty led to opposition towards the government. That is the fix. After every term, add which meant, and end on the Republic. Put it together on a longer question. It asks why the Weimar Republic was unpopular in nineteen nineteen and nineteen twenty, with two hints, the stab-in-the-back claim and the loss of land. Every reason you write should finish on the Republic. Try sketching three reasons on paper before the model answer arrives. First, the Republic was blamed for the defeat. Many Germans believed the stab-in-the-back claim, which seemed believable because the German army was still on foreign soil when the fighting stopped, and Hindenburg repeated it in nineteen nineteen. That meant the Republic's leaders were called the November criminals, so nationalists hated the government from its first months. Second, the Republic signed a treaty Germans saw as a humiliation. Germany lost about thirteen per cent of its land in Europe, including Alsace-Lorraine and the Polish Corridor, and all its colonies. Because the government signed, Germans who felt robbed turned their anger on the Republic as well as the Allies. Third, the treaty took away Germany's pride and power. The war guilt clause forced Germany to accept the blame and pay reparations, and the army was cut to a hundred thousand men. That meant officers and soldiers lost their careers and status, and many joined groups that wanted to overthrow the Republic. The treaty's greatest damage was to the Republic's name, more than to Germany's purse. From its first months, the Republic stood for defeat and humiliation.

Now two sources, and a historian who wants to know which one helps more in explaining why the treaty caused anger in Germany. Source A is Article two hundred and thirty-one itself, from June nineteen nineteen. Its key words say that Germany accepts "the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage" of the war. Source B comes from a book published in nineteen nineteen by John Maynard Keynes, a British Treasury official who resigned from the peace conference in protest. He wrote that "the policy of reducing Germany to servitude for a generation" should be "abhorrent and detestable". Weigh what each one shows, and who made it, for this enquiry. Take your pick, and hold on to your reason before I show you. Source A is more useful here. It is the treaty's own wording, so it shows exactly what Germany was forced to accept, full blame for all the loss and damage. Your own knowledge adds why that caused anger, because it was the legal basis for the reparations bill. Source B is useful too, because even a British expert at the conference called the treaty cruel. But Keynes wrote to change opinion in Britain, so he may exaggerate, and he shows a British critic's view, not how ordinary Germans felt. So the judgement goes to Source A, because it shows the exact term that caused the deepest anger, while Source B is one outsider's argument.

Let the questions do the recap.

What were the four groups of terms, with one detail for each?

Land, with about thirteen per cent lost in Europe. The armed forces, cut to a hundred thousand men. Money, in reparations. And blame, in the war guilt clause, Article two hundred and thirty-one.

Now a different one: why is the stab in the back called a myth?

Because the army had been defeated in the field, and its own leaders were the ones who asked for peace.

One more, with a fact this video never used. The treaty also took most of Germany's merchant ships, the ships that carried its trade.

How would you turn that fact into a reason for unpopularity?

Add which meant, and end on the Republic. Losing them hurt trade and jobs, which meant more Germans felt robbed, and they blamed the government that signed.

So back to that signing in the Hall of Mirrors. The Republic was blamed because it signed, because the myth said the army had never been beaten, and because the terms hurt every German who read them.

If you can name the terms and link each one to the Republic's unpopularity, then thumbs-up: you own this one. If it's still shaky, save it. It comes with the questions, so a few practice answers will make the links automatic.

Next in the chapter is How the Spartacists and the Kapp Putsch threatened the new Republic. Hopefully that's next in your feed, but if not, search for ScholaFly H, I, oh one, oh five.

Every other video is on scholafly.com too, easy to search by video code or by keyword. Whatever you're revising, go there and have a look, or, watch the next video.