Unrest and the Treaty of Versailles

1. Using the information from Chapter 4, what were the threats to the new Weimar Republic? How did the Free Corps assist the government?

One of the threats to the new Weimer Republic was the Communists who were organizing riots and strikes to seize power in Berlin. This was a threat to the Weimer Republic because it shows a possible threat to the Weimer Republic power, which would be bad for whomever was leading it. The Free Corps was called upon by the Weimer Republic to shoot anyone who had a weapon in their possession (and do it right on the spot), in the end the Free Corps killed over a thousand people including sailors who were just trying to get their pay.

Anohter threat to the new Weimer Republic was the republic set up by the Independent Socialists in Bavaria, with Kurt Eisner as their leader. The republic in Bavaria was barely able to move ahead when a right-wing student shot Eisner in February 1919, but at his funeral over hundreds of thousands of people payed their respects to him by attending the funeral. Since so many people attended the funeral it shows how popular he was, which is a threat to the new Weimer Republic because these people could get mad at the new repubic by revolting, the Weimer Republic could lose a lot of its popularity, and there could be other groups like Communists who are just as popular and therefore a threat to the Weimer Republic. The Free Corps did not assist the government with this threat, and they didn't help with the immediate threat after as a result of Eisner's death.

The resulting threat was who would take power or replace Eisner. There was great debate between the Socialists and the Communists on who should take power. The Communists end up taking power and make Bavaria into a Soviet Republic on Russian lines. The Free Corps did nothing to help the Weimer Government with this threat as well, and which helped to lead to the downfall of the Weimer Republic and being led by Communists for a while, but later the Free Corps was able to put down the Communists in Bavaria and Berlina and restore the Weimer Republic.

2. How did the Germans react to the Treaty of Versailles?

The Germans absolutely hated the Treaty of Versailles, they thought that it was completely unfair. Therefore, they decided to protest as much as possible to not sign the treaty. the captains of the German fleet that were being held by the British sank the British ships in protest, and the German army made plans to defend the country against the possible invasion. The allies had told Germany that if they didn't sign the treaty in five days that they would invade Germany, which was decided after the German government protested agains the peace terms.

3. Who were the "November Criminals"?

The "November Criminals" were the politicians that had signed the armistace in November. These politicians were given this nickname by the citizens because the citizens felt like they were stabbed in the back by making peace with the Allies. The people believed that the politicians would sign what was best for Germany and not agree to the terms that were made in the treaty, such as losing one-tenth of their land.

4. Read chapter 5. Why didn't Field Marshal von Hindenburg and the other generals fight instead of having the Weimar government sign the Treaty of Versailles?

Field Marshal von Hindenburg and the other generals didn't fight instead of having the Weimar government sign the Treaty of Versailles because they all knew that if they fought it would basically be suicide for them. Field Marshal von Hindenburg made the point to President Ebert that they could be successful in defending the east of Germany, but would not be in the west and that "the success of the operation as a whole is very doubtful." Therefore, he and the other generals wanted to fight against the treaty and for Germany, but they saw that if they were to fight it would be very bad and they would lose without a doubt.

5. What were the major aspects of the Treaty that caused Germans to object so strongly to it?

The major aspects of the Treaty that caused Germans to object so strongly to it were the land, arms, war guilt and reparations, and not allowing to unite with Austria along with other minor aspects. The land part fo the Treaty caused the Germans to object so strongly to it because they lost so much land that was very valauble to them, such as losing 48% of the iron production, and the Treaty had cut Germany into two. Since Germany had lost such valuable land, not only in Germany but their colonies as well, they didn't recieve or have as much resources as they needed and left Germany a lot less productive. Also, the arms aspect of the Treaty angered the Germans because they had to greatly decrease their army, navy, and air force. The army could only consist of three divisions of calvary and seven divisions of infantry with a total of one hundred thousand men, the navy could only have six battleships and no submarines, and the air force was completely gone. This basically led Germany defenseless and unable to fight against the Treaty or attack again. The war guilt and reparations also made Germans very angry because the Treaty said Germany had to admit that the war was completely their fault and they had to pay all the damage caused in the war in the other countries (the reparations). Lastly, the minor aspects of the Treaty greatly angered Germans because they couldn't unite with Austria, the Allies would occupy all German land west of the River Rhine for fifteen years, and German had to sign it without and discussion. The Germans wanted to unite with Austria because they were their German-speaking neighbors, and the Germans definitely didn't want the Allies to be in their western land because it was like babysitting and they just didn't want it. The Germans greatly disliked the fact that they couldn't discuss the aspects of the Treaty and they called it a "Diktat," which means a dictated peace because they couldn't really do anything about the Treaty.