Unrest and the Treaty of Versailles

Weimar Germany Readings- Chapters 4 and 5

1. Using the information from Chapter 4, what were the threats to the new Weimar Republic? How did the Free Corps assist the government?
-In March 1919, the communists organised riots and strikes in Berlin in an attempt to seize power. The government ordered anyone seen carrying weapons to be shot on sight. The Free Corps were the ones to kill them.
-The leader of the Independent Socialists, Kurt Eisner, was killed in February 1919. With Eisner dead, the moderated Socialists and the Communists argued about which should take his place. In March 1919 the Communists won and the province of Bavaria was made into a Soviet Republic on Russian lines. They took houses from the middle class people of Munich and gave them to workers. They took food, cars and clothing from the rich. They formed a Bavarian Red army to protect themselves. The government in Weimar put Munich under siege. This caused a food shortage in Munich. On May 1, the siege suddenly ended. Government forces and the Free Corps entered the city and they killed all of the communists.

2. How did the Germans react to the Treaty of Versailles?
Germany was expecting it to be a fair treaty because they had done what the Allied had demanded; the Kaiser had given up his throne and they had elected a democratic government to rule Germany in his place. On May 7 the Allies announced the terms of the peace treaty. Germany would lose one tenth of its land, all of its overseas colonies and most of its armed forces. Germany was blamed for starting the war and had to pay for the damage done in the fighting.
The Germans were horrified and didn't think the treaty was fair at all. They felt betrayed by the allies and by their own politicians who signed the treaty.

3. Who were the "November Criminals"?
Germany called their politicians who had signed the treaty "November Criminals" because they had signed it in November. They said they had stabbed Germany in the back by making peace with the Allies.

4. Read chapter 5. Why didn't Field Marshal von Hindenburg and the other general fight instead of having the Weimar government sign the Treaty of Versailles?
Field Marshal von Hindenburg said that Germany wouldn't be able to defend itself in the west. There was no way out but to sign the treaty.

5. What were the major aspects of the Treaty that caused Germans to object so strongly to it?
-Land: The treaty took a lot of Germany's land away, and also cut the country into two parts. Losing all of this land meant losing people, farms, mines and factories. Losing overseas colonies meant losing raw materials.
-Arms: The army had to be less than 100,000 men, it had to stay in its territory, the army was not allowed into a section of land called Rhineland, the navy had only six ships and no submarines, and there was no air force.
-War guilt and reparations: The treaty blamed the start of the war on Germany and it must pay reparations.
-Germany was not allowed to unite with Austria.
- Allied armies were to occupy all German land west of the Rhine River for 15 years.