Title: ToV & Germany
Headings: Describe how the Treaty of Versailles weakened Germany:
Describe how the Treaty of Versailles weakened Germany:
a. Germany lost territory
b. Armed forces
c. Economy

Content: b. Armed forces
The Rhineland had to be de-militarised. This was to protect France from future invasion by creating a ‘buffer’ zone between France and Germany. This weakened the Germans so much that they could not even put down internal riots – when they sent in the army to deal with a rebellion in April 1920, the French invaded to make the German army leave. The Treaty restricted the Germans’ armed forces to only 100,000 men in the army, no submarines or aeroplanes, and only six battleships. In addition, conscription was banned (soldiers had to be volunteers). The idea was to reduce Germany’s armed forces to a size where they could never endanger the countries round about. German cartoons of the time show the German army too tiny to defend them even against small ‘ dungervolk’ like Czechoslovakia. And Germany was at the mercy of France, which invaded again in 1923 to take in kind the reparation payments that Germany's aid it could not pay. Yet the Treaty excluded Germany from the League of Nations – Germany could not defend itself by force, or through the League! c. Economy
The Treaty’s territorial decisions affected Germany’s economy.