The treaty was played up by Nazi Germany for political reasons and as such is often mentioned as one of the reasons for Germany to start the war.
In practice the reparations asked of Germany where significantly less than what France had to pay as reparations for the 1870 war.
German economy was in a much worse state after 1929 than France was in the later half of the 19th century, making it a heavier burden. But that’s not due to the treaty itself.
French Marechal Foch famously said of the treaty «It’s not peace, it’s an armistice for 20 years ! ». They already knew at the time that it was not enough to significantly impact Germany.
France had wanted the reparations set so high that it would permanently destroy any German economic prospects. Britain and the US had to restrain them, which may explain why Foch was even more hysterical than is usual for the French.
To be clear, it was a contributing factor as much as the “evil Jews destroy our country” was. Meaning, it was a propaganda tool, but otherwise completely untrue.
The fact that Germany’s economy went down the drain during the Great Depression is quite obviously because of said economic collapse, but the propaganda machine was running full speed, and never really stopped
Please note that historians consider the treaty of Versailles with her ‘unrealistic’ reperations a core contributor to WW2.
The treaty was played up by Nazi Germany for political reasons and as such is often mentioned as one of the reasons for Germany to start the war. In practice the reparations asked of Germany where significantly less than what France had to pay as reparations for the 1870 war.
German economy was in a much worse state after 1929 than France was in the later half of the 19th century, making it a heavier burden. But that’s not due to the treaty itself.
French Marechal Foch famously said of the treaty «It’s not peace, it’s an armistice for 20 years ! ». They already knew at the time that it was not enough to significantly impact Germany.
Sounds about right. It’s take all of about 8 minutes for the Maga screachers to do the same.
France had wanted the reparations set so high that it would permanently destroy any German economic prospects. Britain and the US had to restrain them, which may explain why Foch was even more hysterical than is usual for the French.
To be clear, it was a contributing factor as much as the “evil Jews destroy our country” was. Meaning, it was a propaganda tool, but otherwise completely untrue.
The fact that Germany’s economy went down the drain during the Great Depression is quite obviously because of said economic collapse, but the propaganda machine was running full speed, and never really stopped
It would not remotely surprise me if the US is upset at the debt incurred from this and decides to start a war because of perceived unfair treatment
Or they could do what they usually do and just start a war for no reason at all.