The Versailles Treaty, which formally ended WWI was signed on June 28, 1919 at the great "Hall of Mirrors" in the chateau of Versailles, France.
Germans had resented the treaty from the very beginning.
Even moderate politicians had denounced it as a "document of hatred and delusion", as well as "a peace of violence".
France now shouldered the burden of having to enforce the Versailles Treaty, but France alone was much too weak to bear this burden. For example, in the 1930's when Germany began to "re- arm" itself. The United States and Great Britain did not share France's natural fear of Germany and rarely gave France the backing it needed. The pre- 1914 balance of power, with Russia and France alligned against Germany, Austria- Hungary no longer existed. Looking east, all things were uncertain. Treaties with Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary & Turkey was creating a group of new Slav states.
The emergence of these came as a result of the high principles of "national self determination", which was strongly urged by President Wilson.
However none of these new states were strong enough to counter balance Germany, while the "new" Soviet Union was too embroiled in it's own revolutionary politics.
Further perils were being created by large groups of German minorities in several of the new states.
In April of '21, the Allies had fixed a total sum to be paid by Germany in reparations. The sum was a staggering 200 million gold marks, equal at the time to be about 40,000,000 American dollars.
It's primary aim was to prevent Germany from ever again disturbing European peace. Under this treaty, the allies had laid the entire responsability of the war on Germany, which was to be almost totally disarmed. The German army was to have no more than 100,000 men, it's navy only six warships above 10,000 tons and absolutely no submarines. Germany was also forbode any military aircraft.
The German west bank of the Rhine river was to be occupied by allied troops and Germany was to pay for all of the losses and damages suffered by the allied nations during WWI. The Versailles Treaty also deprived Germany of large parts of it's territory and population, redrawing the map of central Europe in the process. For example, Poland was "re- created".
Poland had not existed as an independnt state since 1795. It incorporated territory taken by Germany, including the Polish Corridor, a narrow strip which extended from the Baltic near Danzig (now Gdansk) and cutting off eastern Prussia from Germany.
The Danzig population was almost entirely German and was included within the frontiers of Poland but made a self governing free city under the protection of the newly created League of Nations.
Alsace- Lorraine was returned to the French, it was seized by the Germans from France in 1871. Saarland, a wealthy industrial province, was to be governed by the League of Nations for 15 years, after which it's fate would be decided by a tribunal consisting of it's own residents. In the meantime, France would administer it's coalfields. Germany would be deprived of it's Chinese, African and Pacific colonies as well. The Versailles Treaty removed from Germany approxamately 13% of it's pre- war territories, 10% of it's population, 75% of it's iron ore and 25% of it's best quality coal.
The moderates had particular reason to feel jilted or cheated.
For two years, president Woodrow Wilson had declared that the allies were not at war with Germany, but with Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Prussian militarists of his army. At Versailles, the German people found themselves treated as severely as if they were still ruled by right wing nationalism. Their delegates, headed by Count Brockdorff- Rantzau, were not given a place at the negotiating table.
When finally given a hearing, the Count delivered an insolent speech without bothering to even rise from his chair. He refused to admit sole German responsability for the war. Wilson described this speech as "tactless", and left allied leaders red faced in anger. There is no doubt that this was a reflection of German resentment.
The moderates suffered as well from Wilson's refusal to deal with the German high command. This only allowed the militarist and anti- democratic right wingers to distance themselves even further away from the armistice of November, 1918 as well as the terms of the treaty, and to blame the left and center politicians of the new Weimer Republic.
The armistice was signed while Germany's army still occupied foreign territory and presented an unbroken front on the west. The German right wing would denounce the treaty, and thus brand the Weimer leaders as "November criminals... by whom Germany had been stabbed in the back".
Nothing so assisted Adolph Hitler, as well as other right wing politicians in the coming years as to be able, whenever anything went wrong or awry, to point a finger at Versailles and blame their democratic opponents.
British Prime Minister David Lloyd George said during the Paris peace conference "I cannot concieve of any further cause of future war than the German people, who have proven themselves to be one of the most powerful and vigorous races in the world, should be surrounded by a number of small states who have never previously set up a stable government for themselves, but each of them containing large masses of Germans clammoring for reunion with their native land."
Members of the League of Nations pledged mutual protection against aggression, arbitration over disputes and a three month delay before taking any military actions after such arbitrations. However, Germany was still excluded until 1926, and the United States Senate overrode president Wilson's determination to join (a portent of two decades of United States isolationism, ending only with the attack of Pearl Harbor in 1941.)
The German government then decided to resign rather than to pay the Allies, however a new government was soon forced to acquiesce. Facing major budgetary defecits, the governemrnt decided to literally print more money. The result of this was inflation on a scale never before (or since) equalled. Prior to the war, 4 marks was worth approx. one US dollar. By the beginning of 1922, there were 162 paper marks to one U.S. dollar.
The French government delared in December of 1922, that Germany was in default with it's reparations payments, and in January of 1923 French and Belgian military began to occupy Germany's industrial heartland, the Ruhr valley, taking control of it's railways and mines.
The German government urged people of the Ruhr to show "passive resistence", and printed yet more money. The already catastrophic German economy was worstened. Businesses throughout the country were forced into bankrupcy, and thousands of workers were put into the streets and the lifetime savings of people were being wiped out.
Later that month, a new chancellor, Gustav Stresemann as well as the Reichsbank president, Dr. Hjalmar Schact, began a currency reform. One million old marks were replaced one new Rentenmark (which was later renamed Reichsmark). This, as well as other measures, brought a rather impressive economic recovery. Inflation plummeted, businesses again prospered and unemployment fell.
In 1924, an international commitee, under American Charles Dawes, provided Germany with a loan of 800 million Reichsmarks, about 190 million U.S. dollars.
Five years later, yet another committee, under Owen Young, reformed the system of reperations payments. At this time, international relations seemed "hopeful" at best.
In 1925, the European powers met in Switzerland, and for the first time since the war Germany was given an equal place at the negotiating table. Agreements emerged including treaties guaranteeing Germany's borders with Belgium and France. The most important agreement of all for Germany was the arbitration treaties with both Poland and Czechoslovakia. These laid down the rules for border disputes between Germany and these two countries. No post- war German politician ever accepted as permanent the eastern borders drawn at Versailles. By agreeing to arbitration, the other European powers were agreeing that Germany's claims to lands to the east were negotiable. This was actually the first step in the "appeasement" of Germany. A new era of European peace seemed promising. That promise was shattered in October, 1929 when the world's financial markets crashed and the still fragile German "democracy" was shaken from it's shallow foundations.