What happened to Germany under the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 1

The allies proposed a series of harsh rules restricting military and economical growth to prevent another world war from happening. This meant that the Germans could no longer produce u-boats and the size of their military was greatly reduced. A consequence of this is that massive inflation occured in Germany. It was said that German currency was only useful for lighting things. At the peak of inflation, it might take a wheel cart full of money to get a weeks' worth of food.

Answer 2

Germany officially took the blame for the entire war, meaning that it would be solely responsible for paying for all damages.

The Rhineland was made into a demilitarized zone.


Germany could have no more than 100,000 troops.


The borders of Germany were restored to the same area as in 1871. All disputed territories had to be given up. The two most important territories were Danzig, a port that was returned to Poland and Alsace-Lorraine, which was returned to France

Answer 3

The country was demoralized. The Kaiser (Wilhelm II) abdicated, the Rhine region was controlled by France, and Germany had to pay millions of dollars in reparations to the victorious Allies (which ultimately ruined the national currency and bankrupted many citizens). Germany was restricted to a very small army, and practically no naval or air forces. Most of the German fleet, 74 warships, were interned at Scapa Flow, Scotland, but 52 ships were scuttled there by their crews to prevent the British from using them.

It quickly triggered rampant inflation that destroyed life savings and massive unemployment. This permitted the formation and spread of subversive revolutionary groups (e.g. Nazism, Communism, Socialism) many of which were willing to carry out acts of terror and assassinations throughout Germany. The economic disturbances in Germany from the Treaty of Versailles gradually spread across most of the world, being a major cause of the Great Depression.

Ultimately it caused WW2 which resulted in the physical destruction of most of Germany and its political partition into West Germany and East Germany from 1945 until 1989.

Thus the Treaty of Versailles had serious impacts on Germany for 70 years even though the treaty itself only lasted into the early 1930s!

Answer 4

The allies proposed a series of harsh rules restricting military and economical growth to prevent another world war from happening. This meant that the Germans could no longer produce u-boats and the size of their military was greatly reduced. A consequence of this is that massive inflation occured in Germany. It was said that German currency was only useful for lighting things. At the peak of inflation, it might take a wheel cart full of money to get a weeks' worth of food.