The Treaty of Versailles (1919)

The Treaty of Versailles (1919)- Blame for War- Armed forces- Loss of Land- Reparations

- Blame for war: Germany had to take full responsibility for the war, after expecting blame the rival countries forced them to pay for it. The Germans bitterly resented being blamed for the war, they thought they were being blamed because they lost the war.

- Armed forces: The German army was cut to 100,000 men and only volunteers could join. The navy were only allowed 36 battleships and they were not allowed to build any submarines, planes or tanks. Germany was also not allowed to put any troops in the Rhineland. The German soldiers and sailors hated this, they wanted to rebuild their forces.

- Loss of Land: Germany lost land to France, Belgium, Denmark, Poland and the league of nations. Austria was forbidden to ever unite with Germany. After the War it became a matter of Pride for Germany to regain it's former lands, many of the Lands contained many Germans who wanted to be a part of Germany.

- Reparations: In 1921, it was decided in the treaty of Versailles that Germany must pay £6600 million repartitions in gold and goods. Germany were not able to pay this and they had to borrow huge sums of money from the USA.

- Overall, Did the Treaty of Versailles make another major war more likely? - The treaty of Versailles almost guaranteed another war because Germany was angry and wanted revenge. They particularly hated the fact that they had to accept full blame for the war. The treaty of Versailles was very harsh and when Germany started to disobey these rules Britain and France allowed them because they did not want another war. The German people did not like the loss of land or the high taxes, the German people as well as Hitler wanted them to pay for forcing Germany to sign the treaty of Versailles.  

Hitler's main aims in Foreign policy:- To make Germany a great power again- To Unite all German speaking people under his role- To gain territory for Germany in the East to provide Lebensriaum (Living space) for the German people

The Treaty of Versailles

hitlers main aims in foreign policy