Originally posted by Strangelove
Well Germany was responsible for the bulk of the damages, there no refuting that. The Allies were a bit overzealous in assigning blame to Germany and basically gutted its economy and military which led to the rise of Hitler, nationalism, and eventually the Third Reich.So what I'm saying is that yes, Germany should have been punished, just not to the extent that it was.
The real question is of course how much would have been enough? Allowing Germany a military would not have been liked by other mayor powers, perhaps allowing to keep the Rhine land industry active would have helped, as Germany had no real way of making money to pay for the damages, but lowering the amount of money required from Germany would have just hurt the economies of the "victorious" nations... That wouldn't have made people happy...
The allied nations would of course always try to get the best for them out of the treaty anything less would not have been accepted, besides at that time they figured that the demilitarization of Germany would mean that they couldn't become a mayor threat to the world again, as even building a military would immediately mean war.
Originally posted by FishyIf the French hadn't taken over that town in Germany, then...
The real question is of course how much would have been enough? Allowing Germany a military would not have been liked by other mayor powers, perhaps allowing to keep the Rhine land industry active would have helped, as Germany had no real way of making money to pay for the damages, but lowering the amount of money required from Germany would have just hurt the economies of the "victorious" nations... That wouldn't have made people happy...The allied nations would of course always try to get the best for them out of the treaty anything less would not have been accepted, besides at that time they figured that the demilitarization of Germany would mean that they couldn't become a mayor threat to the world again, as even building a military would immediately mean war.
Germany should have paid, but the payments should have been smaller, or maybe further apart.
Hi
okay, in my AP History Course, in Germany, we discussed that matter as well. The real start of the war was partially to blame on the German government (not the people themselves, they had no idea what was going on) and the entire ally system in Europe at that time. In defense of my nation I´d like to add, from the geographical aspect Germany had to take soem kind of stand.
Blaming Germany entirely for the war was wrong. What was even worse about the Paris negotiations was that the German delegates were not allowed to negotiate. The Contract was too strict, especially for a weak Germany like that. They´d just completely democracized themselves without actually understanding the idea of democracy in general. In Addition the Germans, the people, did not even realize that their government was losing the war. And there was also a story that said the military had been betrayed by the government. So the inner situation in Germany was already feeble and tense. And then you add this contract, which demanded of a military nation to quit being military and brought severe economic hardship. A lot of people at that time thought this was a dictatorial peace. Even the french Embassador said that this is just a temporary thing.
Talking about the french, Germany and France have been at odds ever since the Foundation of the German Reich 1871, and even prior to that. The British tried to ease restrictions, cause they cared for a political balance in europe. But France still got away with a majority of their claims (Still France was not satisfied). World War I was not planned as a World War, and admittingly the German government has not acted at its best, but you cannot have a war all by yourself. The allies did not make that article that put all the blame on Germany, priority, but they did not understand enough about the Germans as to phatom how they´d feel about all this.
In defense of the allies, the Germans had a contract with Russia prior to the end of the War, and they set a pretty harsh example for the TOV.
I´d criticize the TOV most in terms of money. They never succeded in setting a fixed price on the reparations, which was crucial for German economy. Money does not only make the world go round, it can also make the world stop.
O...k, some rather strange history coming our way.
A Serbian, Gavrilo Princip, shot Franz Ferdinand, A-H invaded, Russia defended Serbia - hence it went into war.
To say Serbia started war, is little far fetched and historically innacurate. It was a factor in WWI, but it was not the war starter. Kaiser in Germany was planning a war, mass mobilizing Germany, and lets not forget the infamous Schlieffen Plan.
Perhaps if Woodrow Wilson's 14 points were taken as proposed, Germany might not have let Hitler come into power. After death of Stresmann in '29, Germany again went into a rapid decline, hence leaving a rather large opportunity for Hitler, or someone radical alike to raise into powers.
Lots of ''ifs''...
Wilson's fourteen points might SOUND nice for peace and prosperty and etc, but in reality they're actually rather unrealistic.
Another if: If the League of Nations had actually done shit to stop Hitler getting appeased, such as arming at the border of the Rhineland when Hitler remilitarized it.
The first League of Nations made the concept of "collective security" laughable at best.