 Elazar Barkan argues that by " forcing an admission of war guilt at Versailles , rather than healing , the victors instigated resentment that contributed to the rise of Fascism . " Norman Davies wrote that the article invited Germany " to accept sole guilt for the preceding war " . Klaus Schwabe wrote that the article 's influence went far beyond the discussion of war guilt . By " refusing to acknowledge Germany 's ' war guilt ' the new German government implicitly exonerated the old monarchial order " and more importantly failed " to dissociate itself from the old regime . " In doing so " it undermined its claim that post @-@ revolutionary Germany was a historic new democratic beginning deserving credit at the peace conference . " 
