Or we can take a hybrid view, that the invention of radio and the right wing mythology already present before WWI in Germany would combine to 'super charge' propaganda. Most however have agreed that it was a combination of events and decisions that came into play that caused the Great Depression. France was able to make the claim that the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine were indeed part of France and not part of Germany by disclosing a letter sent from the Prussian King to the Empress Eugénie that Eugénie provided, in which William I wrote that the territories of Alsace-Lorraine were requested by Germany for the sole purpose of national defense and not to expand the German territory. What are the differences between the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. American and British representatives refused the French claim and after two months of negotiations, the French accepted a British pledge to provide an immediate alliance with France if Germany attacked again, and Wilson agreed to put a similar proposal to the Senate. Learn more. Hindenburg—after prodding from his chief of staff, Wilhelm Groener—concluded the army could not resume the war even on a limited scale. A furious Vittorio Orlando suffered a nervous collapse and at one point walked out of the conference (though he later returned). This led to banks not having sufficient capital, banks closing, and people, especially those with surplus capital, to hoard it. I think the only Great Depression-related badhistory I've ever heard that was worse came from myself, at around 7 years of age, thinking that the Gold Rush and the Great Depression were two names for the same thing. [107] On 8 May 1924, after negotiations between the Lithuanian Government and the Conference of Ambassadors and action by the League of Nations, the annexation of Memel was ratified. Barnett asserts that its post-war eastern borders were safer, because the former Austrian Empire fractured after the war into smaller, weaker states, Russia was wracked by revolution and civil war, and the newly restored Poland was no match for even a defeated Germany. 15], Article 119 of the treaty required Germany to renounce sovereignty over former colonies and Article 22 converted the territories into League of Nations mandates under the control of Allied states.[n. He wanted the Germans not be made to sign at the "point of the bayonet". R5: What even the fuck? [110][111][112][113] Following the signing of the peace treaty, the numbers drastically decreased and by 1926 the occupation force numbered only 76,000 men. [37][38] Thirty Persons Witness Momentous Act in Frelinghuysen Living Room at Raritan", "A Picture and an Argument: Mapping for Peace with a Cartography of Hope", "The Treaty of Versailles Punished Defeated Germany with These Provisions", "Le rôle de l'impératrice Eugénie en septembre et octobre 1870", "Review of "A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II, "Bibliographical Introduction to "Diary, Reminiscences and Memories of Colonel Edward M. House, "The Surrogate Hegemon in Polish Postcolonial Discourse", "Why was the Zimmermann Telegram important? 14] The money would help to pay for Allied occupation costs and buy food and raw materials for Germany.[67][n. [171], In regards to the Silesian plebiscite, Blanke observed "given that the electorate was at least 60% Polish-speaking, this means that about one 'Pole' in three voted for Germany" and "most Polish observers and historians" have concluded that the outcome of the plebiscite was due to "unfair German advantages of incumbency and socio-economic position". [28], Initially, a "Council of Ten" (comprising two delegates each from Britain, France, the United States, Italy, and Japan) met officially to decide the peace terms. Find an answer to your question How did the treaty of versailles lead to the great depression 1. [vii] Production increased so that by 1937, military exports had increased to 82,788,604 Reichsmarks. [52] [27] Russia was excluded due to their signing of a separate peace (the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk) and early withdrawal from the war. [108] During the 1940s, Mantoux wrote a posthumously published book titled The Carthaginian Peace, or the Economic Consequences of Mr. Keynes in an attempt to rebut Keynes' claims. It's because Woodrow Wilson was literally Hitler. He is the author of the History in an Afternoon textbook series. The size of the BAOR fluctuated over the following years, but never rose above 9,000 men. 11] In 19th century, …, On September 1919 the world Baseball series was in town hosting both Babe Ruth as well as Boston Red Sox. [89], Many in China felt betrayed as the German territory in China was handed to Japan. (, da Atti Parlamentari, Camera dei Deputati, Discussioni, Foreign Minister Brockdorff-Ranzau when faced with the conditions on 7 May: "Wir kennen die Wucht des Hasses, die uns hier entgegentritt. [171] Once the region was partitioned, both "Germany and Poland attempted to 'cleanse' their shares of Upper Silesia" via oppression resulting in Germans migrating to Germany and Poles migrating to Poland. Robert Wilde is a historian who writes about European history. The upshot is, in Germany at least, the government was critically unpopular and there were serious uprisings lead by the Left and the Right, but the government dealt more harshly with the Left-wing uprisings (compare the Kapp Putsch, where most participants were granted amnesty, to the subsequent Ruhr uprising, where both the Reichswehr (regular German Army) and the Freikorps were sent in and the whole thing was suppressed with many summary executions), leading up to the German Federal Elections of 1932, where the SA intimidated voters. The plebiscite resulted in c. 60 per cent of the population voting for the province to remain part of Germany. [139] [107], On 13 January 1935, 15 years after the Saar Basin had been placed under the protection of the League of Nations, a plebiscite was held to determine the future of the area. Hitler, very successfully, made himself the franchise of the anger and frustration of the German people, and was very vocal at expressing the discontent of German people on the Treaty of Versailles. It wasn’t the cost that proved the problem since reparations had been all but neutralized after the 1932 Lausanne Conference, but the way the German economy became massively dependent on American investment and loans. On 7 November 1932, the Reich Minister of Defense Kurt von Schleicher authorized the illegal Umbau Plan for a standing army of 21 divisions based on 147,000 professional soldiers and a large militia. ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. 3] The sovereignty of part of southern East Prussia was to be decided via plebiscite while the East Prussian Soldau area, which was astride the rail line between Warsaw and Danzig, was transferred to Poland outright without plebiscite.[n. It was signed on 28 June 1919 in Versailles, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which had directly led to the war. The signatories and the Weimar government that had sent them were seen by many as the "November Criminals.". Bofors was bought by Krupp, and in 1921 German troops were sent to Sweden to test weapons.