The Treaty of Versailles held Germany (a.k.a Germany Empire), and Germany alone, responsible for World War I: not Serbia who planned the assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand; not the Austrian-Hungarian Empire whose ultimatum was intentionally designed to be unacceptable to the Serbs and would therefore lead to war; not the Russian Empire who claimed honor required them to defend their fellow Slavs despite an unprepared military. War guilt was thrust solely upon the Germans.
[Can anyone explain why Austria escaped any responsibility in both World Wars?!?]
The Treaty of Versailles was equally harsh with regards to reparations to be paid to the victorious Allies, and very quickly it became apparent that either Germany was having difficulties paying or was intentionally not paying the expected reparations, resulting in a conference in 1921 to resolve the outstanding issues (in particular, get Germany to pay up).
The diplomats' speeches are claims, counter-claims and rebuttals in flowery prose: that Germany destruction of factories, mines, machinery was intentional to post-war economic superiority; that Germany refuses to tax appropriately to pay the reparations; that Germany disavowal of responsibility is ultimately breaking the terms of the treaty. Ultimately it comes down the war guilt.
This quote by the German representative is both enlightening and self-serving:
This statement deflects from the question of overall German responsibility to impress that no one - victors or vanquished - can, with clear vision, state whom was responsible for the war. It is also very likely directed at the German public, who were hearing the stabbed in the back narrative from their former military leaders, insisting that Germany was not defeated by the Allies but by a civilian government who stopped supporting the war and, ultimately, signed a dishonorable treaty.
Alas, history has shown that Germany was at least complicit with Austria-Hungary in starting the war, such as Wilhelm II giving Franz Joseph Germany's unconditional support for a war against Serbia or both countries' generals (e.g., Conrad von Hötzendorf) devising ways to start the war. I read (somewhere) that Wilhelm requested that German mobilization be stopped and von Moltke stated the complicated railway mobilization could not reversed; the responsible railroad supervisor stated post-war that, in fact, mobilization could have been reversed. Oops.
Directly and indirectly the reparations conference led to Germany hyperinflation, Dawes Plan notwithstanding, which would lead to National Socialism, Hitler's rise to power, and World War II.
Image Credit
- "Versailles: Château de Versailles - La Galerie des Glaces" by wallyg is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
