Do you think the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh on Germany?

[normstad]

If anyone thinks the Treaty of Versailles just was about Germany, they have no knowledge of history. It in fact set up the situation in many ways in the Balkans and the Middle East that is affecting us to this day, 100 years later. The Wilson doctrine of the right of self determination is the light the Kurds have been hoping for, as did the Armenians. The lines in the sand that were drawn in the Middle East did not take into consideration the tribal associations, and this to this day still resonates in the issues that exist.

We didn't learn from history, <<snip>>

Sad.

[Phil75230]

The reparations were indeed too harsh. If the story I heard is to be believed, Belgium's claims on Germany were greater than its entire wealth before the war. The point here is to merely illustrate the spirit of vindictiveness, as opposed to fair settlement, of penalties imposed on Germany. The victorious Allies should have been patient and allowed Germany to recover at least to a reasonable minimal level before forcing reparations onto them. IMO, the hyperinflation and French reoccupation of the Ruhr was simply bad optics to the German people - which really struck a nerve that right-wing groups would exploit in the coming years.

The War Guilt Clause (Germany alone bore sole responsibility for the war) was totally untrue. It was the complex alliance system ultimately at fault, plus one great power that's not Germany jumped the gun by invading Serbia, instead of seeking other diplomatic options. Still, I will say the "German Blank Check" to Vienna certainly made matters worse.

EVEN SO, despite all this, the wider world financial conditions pretty much made The Great Depression a foregone conclusion, which would have fueled Hitler's rise anyway. Whether he would have seized the chancellorship even under those conditions is anybody's guess.