Topic: Khilafat Movement

Assignment by Adeena Farooq

Q1: What was Satyagraha?

Ans: Satyagraha, popularly known as a “technique of non-violent public protest”, is one of the greatest
contributions Gandhi made to the modern world. Gandhi’s contribution was unique in that it offered a
solution to conflicts without the use of physical force. Further, in contrast to the traditional means –
physical force or violence, Satyagraha emphasized more on the means - non-violence - than on the end -
attainment of truth. Gandhi’s uncompromising insistence on non-violence in the pursuit of satyagraha
made it a distinctive as well as a controversial technique of social and political change. The concept of
satyagraha is less understood than practiced today. The situation was not different even when Gandhi
was alive. More than Gandhi wrote and talked about satyagraha, he practiced it. Although the concept
of satyagraha did cause confusion at times among Gandhi’s followers, his charismatic leadership
overshadowed their confusion. Gandhi’s sudden death and his incomplete and inconsistent writings on
satyagraha forced his followers to make inferences based on their experiences as to what exactly is the
philosophy of satyagraha. This has resulted in a lot of misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the
Gandhian principle of satyagraha. In this paper, the author looks into some of the misconceptions of the
concept of satyagraha and its true meaning.

Satyagraha, characterized by adherence to truth, non-violence, and self-suffering, by operating within a

conflict situation, aims at a fundamental social and political. In order to effect change, it uses soul force
against conventional violence. Noncooperation, civil disobedience, and fasting are some of the major
non-violent means employed by satyagraha movements. Non-cooperation includes actions such as
strike, walk-out, hartal (voluntary closing of shops and businesses) and resignation of offices and titles.
Non-cooperation is a refusal to follow a requirement which fundamentally violates truth and is against
mass conscience. Civil disobedience is a non-observance of certain specific laws which are
dehumanizing, and against one’s conscience. Civil disobedience includes activities such as non-payment
of taxes, jail-going campaign etc. Although Gandhi never put down in words the procedure and the
process of satyagraha, observing the innumerable satyagraha campaigns one could tell them. Firstly,
fundamental rules. Secondly, code of discipline, and thirdly, the various steps in a satyagraha campaign
as follows:

First, Fundamental Rules and Self-reliance at all times. Outside aid may be accepted, but should never
be counted upon. Second, Initiative in the hands of the satyagrahis. Satyagrahis, through the tactics of
positive resistance, persuasion, and adjustment, must press the movement ever forward. Third,
Propagation of the objectives, strategy, and tactics of the campaign. Propaganda must be made an
integral part of the movement. Education of the opponent, the public, and participants must continue
apace. Fourth, Reduction of demands to a minimum consistent with truth. Continuing reassessment of
the situation and the objectives with a view to possible adjustment of demands is essential. Fifthly,
Progressive advancement of the movement through steps and stages determined to be appropriate
within the given situation. Direct action is to be launched only after all other efforts to achieve an
honorable settlement have been exhausted. Moreover, Examination of weakness within the satyagraha
group. The morale and discipline of the satyagrahis must be maintained through active awareness of any
development of impatience, discouragement, or breakdown of non-violent attitude. Seventhly,
Persistent search for avenues of cooperation with the adversary on honorable terms. Every effort should
be made to win over the opponent by helping him thereby demonstrating sincerity to achieve an
agreement with, rather than a triumph over, the adversary. Another was Refusal to surrender essentials
in negotiation. Satyagraha excludes all compromise which affects basic principles or essential portions of
valid objectives. Lastly, Insistence upon full agreement on fundamentals before accepting a settlement.

Q2: What were the provisions of Treaty of Versailles?

Ans: The Treaty of Versailles was the peace settlement signed after World War One had ended in 1918
and in the shadow of the Russian Revolution and other events in Russia. The treaty was signed at the
vast Versailles Palace near Paris - hence its title - between Germany and the Allies. The three most
important politicians there were David Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson. The
Versailles Palace was considered the most appropriate venue simply because of its size - many hundreds
of people were involved in the process and the final signing ceremony in the Hall of Mirrors could
accommodate hundreds of dignitaries. Many wanted Germany, now led by Friedrich Ebert, smashed;
others, like Lloyd George, were privately more cautious.

The League of Nations was created. This did happen even if Germany was initially excluded from it. Land
had to be handed over Poland, France, Belgium, and Denmark. This did happen - all the land Germany
was required to hand over, was handed over. Territory put under League of Nations control was handed
over to the League. All overseas colonies were to be handed over to the League. This did happen. All
land taken from Russia had to be handed back to Russia. This did happen though land in the western
area became Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia in keeping with the belief in national self-determination.
Germany’s army had to be reduced to 100,000 men. On paper this happened. The fact that Germany
side-stepped the rule did not mean that she literally broke it - though what she did was a deliberate
attempt to break this term. German soldiers in the 1920’s was signed on for a short contract of service
and then put in the reserves once their time had finished. Therefore, Germany never had more than
100,000 soldiers serving at any one time though she certainly had substantial reserve soldiers which
boosted Hitler when he renounced the clauses of Versailles. Germany’s navy was reduced to 6
battleships with no submarines. This happened. Germany could not afford battleships in the aftermath
of the war and most navies were now moving to smaller (by degrees), faster ships that could also carry
weapons that carried a punch - such as cruisers. Aircraft carriers were also being developed with greater
commitment. Submariners were trained abroad - Versailles did not cover this, so it did not break the
terms of Versailles - only the spirit. No air force was allowed. This happened but as with submariners,
potential pilots were trained abroad or using gliders in Germany to educate them in the theory of flying.
This did not break Versailles. Western Germany was to be demilitarized. This happened. Germany was
forbidden to unite with Austria. This happened. Germany had to accept the "War Guilt Clause" and pay
reparations. The former happened in the sense that Germany signed the Treaty which meant that she
accepted this term on paper - if not in fact. Germany did try and pay reparations when she could do so.
She did not refuse to pay in 1922. She simply could not produce what was needed that year and this led
to the French invasion of the Ruhr. In the 1920’s it was the Allies who took the decision to reduce
reparations and eased Germany’s plight in so doing. The first instance of refusal to pay reparations came
in 1933 when Hitler announced that Germany would not pay - and the Allies did nothing. Therefore,
throughout the 1920’s, in nearly all parts of the Treaty, the terms were carried out. It was after 1933
that there was a systematic breaking of the terms when the Nazis came to power.
Q3: To what extent could it be said that the Treaty of Versailles did not satisfy any of the ‘Big Three’
Nations?

Ans: The Treaty of Versailles was drawn up to aid peace after World War 1. Although it had many
provisions, a main one was to make Germany accept responsibility for the war and therefore pay
reparations to the Allies. In January 1919, the leaders of the victorious powers (namely Wilson,
Clemenceau, and Lloyd George: the ‘Big Three’, and Orlando of Italy) met to decide how the defeated
powers should be dealt with. The negotiations went on for 12 months at the Palace of Versailles, just
outside of Paris. Many compromises were made by the countries involved, and many say that this
means the ‘Big Three’ went away unsatisfied by what they received from the Treaty. All of the
peacemakers had different aims and attitudes towards the defeated countries, who incidentally were
not invited to the meeting. It was signed on the 28th of June 1919. The final treaty was over 200 pages
long and had over 440 clauses, including the constitution of the League of Nations. Some of these were
very general, applying to the whole of Europe, and others were surprisingly specific, but maybe less
important to the state of the nations (for example, “the return of… an African chieftain’s skull to
Britain”1). One of the main clauses of the treaty held Germany solely responsible for starting the war
(the ‘War Guilt’ clause, Article 231 of the treaty), and Germany was forced into accepting it. They had to
pay £6,600 million in reparations, which would have taken until 1984. Initially, horror was the retort
from the nation; they had not been represented at the conferences and almost refused to sign.
However, threats of invasion from France pressured them into it. France and Belgium had received a lot
of damage from German forces, who destroyed Northern France’s industrial production. Even during
Germany’s retreat, they blew up coalmines to increase the damage for their enemies. So, this was an
important part of the treaty, especially for those who needed to rebuild their countries or wanted
revenge for invasion. France had suffered particularly badly in the war; much of it was fought on French
soil leaving many areas destroyed. Clemenceau had one main intention, which was to cripple Germany,
both economically and militarily, principally to lessen the chances of another attack, but probably partly
for revenge. During the Franco-Prussian war France had lost Alsace-Lorraine to Germany, and this
definitely increased tension between the two countries. Predictably one of his demands was for this
region to be returned to France. So, France’s aims were probably the simplest, to destroy Germany’s
army and economy with the reparations. Continental peace and coexistence were less of a reason for
the treaty, more a chance to protect their country from further attack. Clemenceau also demanded that
Germany’s colonies should be taken and handed out to the victors of the war. He thought the
demilitarization of the Rhineland, which would act as a ‘buffer zone’ between France and Germany,
would also help secure their safety. Completely dissolving Germany’s military forces was also another
idea Clemenceau was very keen on. The resulting treaty satisfied Clemenceau in some ways, but he did
not receive everything he wanted. Germany did, in fact, have to pay huge sums to the nations; 1 Years
of Change: European History 1890-1945. By Robert Wolfson France thought that Article 231 still was not
harsh enough for the damages done to them. Another thing that he wanted was for Germany to be split
up into smaller countries, France felt threatened by such a large power so close to them. This was
unlikely to happen after ‘russification’ had occurred not so long ago. This was, in a way, a security
measure for France, as they predicted Germany would fight back in the future (as they did, in World War
2). Germany’s army was set at 100,000 men, and her navy was completely disbanded, which matched
France’s aims. There was no way Germany would be able to attack France again with such a small army,
and her previously strong navy abolished. David Lloyd George expressed many different aims at the
meetings, but a few were, in fact, similar to those of France - even if they were for dissimilar reasons. An
example would be the obliteration of the German navy, which France also sought. However, Britain’s
motivation for this was that they had had naval supremacy for a considerable length of time, and before
the war Germany had almost built up their navy to a comparable size. Britain considered this a threat,
not only during war but also to their empire. Germany had openly been trying to accumulate and
empire, and Britain was unwilling to let them take any of theirs. This was another thing that Britain was
very protective of, and had felt threatened by the Kaiser’s blatant greed for land. Lloyd-George did not
see the complete economic annihilation as a practical idea; he thought that Germany’s strength in
monetary terms was important for the development of Europe. He also predicted that another war
would be caused by the discontentment in Europe (“We shall have to fight another war again in 25
years’ time.” Lloyd-George, 1918), so the treaty would have to quell all of this anger, which it was
unlikely to do, despite being a ‘peace treaty’. Britain received some of the German colonies, which was
one of their aims. Overall, after the treaty they considered it fairly acceptable and were contented for a
while. Germany’s military force was weakened, meaning less threat to the empire. However, eventually
it was thought the treaty was too harsh on Germany, and also it did not deal with Germany’s eastern
borders, which Lloyd-George considered a possible trouble spot in the future. Even in Britain the opinion
was split on the treaty. Winston Churchill believed that the treaty was the best settlement that could
have been reached and “'the wishes of the various populations prevailed'”. However, Harold Nicholson,
a British delegate at Versailles, called the treaties “neither just nor wise”. So even in between the
powers in Britain, there was some disagreement. Germany’s economy was not in any way protected, in
fact it was ripped apart by reparations and debt, eventually crashing into hyperinflation. This was
something Lloyd-George wanted to avoid, and it negatively affected the rest of Europe. Woodrow
Wilson of America had the most ‘utopian’ ideal for post-war Europe. Wilson defended the treaty with
“permanency of peace is at the heart of this treaty.” And “... it is nothing less than world settlement”.
Many Americans had seen the United States involvement in the war as unnecessary, and that little had
changed in the Europe after the war. Wilson’s most noted contribution to the treaty were the ‘14
Points’, through which Wilson calls for open diplomacy, freedom of the seas, removal of trade barriers
and reduction of armaments in support of his central attempt to address the world's problems. These
were ultimately to lead to the League of Nations, which Wilson had a major part in forming; during the
signing of the treaty America went into ‘isolationist mode’ and refused to join the League anyway or
even sign the treaty. This was partly to remain on good terms with all of Europe rather than joining with
the victors, leaving America with more countries to trade with. Other aims for Wilson was self-
determination for the peoples of Eastern Europe and leaving Germany and her economy intact. Out of
the three, America was the least harsh on Germany, seeing consideration for the country as the only
way to avoid another war in Europe. America was discontented with the outcome of the treaty, which
was obviously one of the reasons that they refused to sign it. Not only was the country unhappy with
the treaty itself, but its eventual failure also led to a public anger at the effects of the war itself. All that
America had seemingly derived from the war was debt, inflation, prohibition, ingratitude, and influenza
from Allies whom she had strained herself to help. Not all of Wilson’s fourteen points actually got into
the treaty, and Germany was never even invited to the Palace, so there was no chance of it ever being a
complete ‘peace treaty’. Article 10 in the treaty called on the US to support the League of Nations, which
received national opposition due to what was viewed as a large amount of unnecessary American
casualties during the war. Although America probably softened the treaty, stopping Clemenceau from
being overly harsh on Germany, the nation as a whole was unsatisfied, while Wilson defended it to the
end. In conclusion, it would be fair to say that none of the Big Three were completely satisfied with the
treaty, as each of them had problems that were not resolved completely for them. George Clemenceau
was satisfied with clause 231, the disarmament clauses of the Treaty, getting back Alsace-Lorraine, and
being given Germany colonies as mandates on behalf of the League of Nations. However, he was
unhappy that France got the Saar coalfields for only 15 years, and he was angry that the Rhineland was
merely demilitarized. France had wanted the Rhineland made into a powerless independent country,
and Germany split up. Also, reparations were not high enough for Clemenceau. He wanted reparations
so high that Germany would be crippled and paying for. Basically, he wanted it to be harsher in
Germany. The Treaty also dissatisfied Lloyd-George; although he liked the reduction of the German
navy, for it ensured that ‘Britannia ruled the waves. However, he was pessimistic about the inclusion of
the League of Nations, and opposed self-determination, thinking it was unrealistic and would cause
problems in the future. His predictions of another war were accurate. Wilson agreed with the self-
determination and a League of Nations, but felt let down because few of his fourteen points were
included. The treaty was, in its nature, a compromise between three conflicting groups, and so did not
wholly satisfy anyone. However, that does not mean that none of their aims were achieved. It is obvious
that the three benefited at least a little from the treaty, receiving land and some compensations for the
damage done to them during the war. It could be argued that the Treaty left many tensions in Europe,
and so did not fill its purpose as a peace agreement.

Q4: The Treaty of Versailles is famous for both solving and creating problems. What were the treaty’s
major accomplishments? 

Ans: The treaty, signed on June 28, 1919, was the product of conflict between the Allied victors. The
United States hoped to achieve, in Woodrow Wilson’s words, “peace without victory,” and Britain hoped
to put Germany back on its economic feet. Meanwhile, France and other Allied nations wanted just
compensation for the physical, moral, and economic devastation of the war. Given the contradictory
aims of reparations and future stability, statesmen found themselves in a terrible bind. The Allied
nations ultimately rejected the idea of peace without victory in favor of making Germany pay for causing
the war (in their minds) and for perpetuating and escalating the conflict for four long years. The treaty
forced Germany to surrender colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific; cede territory to other nations like
France and Poland; reduce the size of its military; pay war reparations to the Allied countries; and accept
guilt for the war.

Q5: What were the treaty’s most controversial provisions?

Ans: We tend to think the reparations payments were controversial, but these provisions must be
viewed in proper historical context. Reparations and harsh peace settlements were not unusual. For
example, when Russia surrendered to Germany in 1917, Germany issued extraordinarily harsh peace
terms under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (these terms were invalidated by the Paris peace settlements).
While there were a few vocal critics of the Versailles Treaty’s economic provisions, many citizens of the
nations that fought for four years felt the settlement did not go far enough. Indeed, one could ask what
was the economic value of 10 million soldiers’ lives lost on all sides of the conflict?

Equally controversial, perhaps, were the territorial adjustments dictated by the Versailles Treaty as well
as other postwar treaties. These adjustments led to resettlement of populations, and in central and
eastern Europe, new nations were carved out of old empires. New nations were created, but they were
unstable and vulnerable, given that they had little support or funding from more established nations.  
Q6: What was the treaty’s impact on everyday German citizens? 

Ans: No one in Germany was happy with the settlement, and the Allies threatened Germans with
military invasion to get them to sign the treaty. After four years of war and sacrifice, German citizens felt
humiliated to accept blame for the war and territorial loss. Equally important, the economic provisions
of the treaty slowed the nation’s postwar recovery. Slow economic growth and popular dissatisfaction
were difficult to manage, especially for the new Weimar Republic, and political leaders struggled to
manage the growing volume of complaints. When the government defaulted on payments in 1923,
France and Belgium lost patience and occupied the Ruhr mining region. In response, the German
government printed more currency to pay the French, sending German citizens into hyperinflation,
which wiped out the savings of the middle class. By the mid-1920s, the German economy recovered, and
the United States helped Germany renegotiate reparations payments with the Dawes Plan. Germany
managed to rebuild and recover after the war, but not at a pace that satisfied everyone.

Q7: Many historians have assigned the treaty some responsibility for the rise of the Nazi Party in
Germany. How so?

Ans: It is certainly true that far right parties in Germany used the Versailles Treaty to resist and reject
German democracy and the Weimar Republic, probably because the treaty was so unpopular among
German citizens. It is also true that Adolf Hitler frequently railed against the Versailles Treaty in his
speeches and promised to reverse the treaty’s provisions if elected leader of Germany. The Versailles
Treaty was one of many factors that led to the rise of radical political parties, but it is important to
remember that across Europe, citizens were looking for radical solutions to their problems. When I talk
about the aftermath of World War I in my classes, for example, I emphasize that the peace settlement
created political upheaval in victorious nations as well as in Germany. Italy was on the Allied side and
fought for the promise of land after signing the Treaty of London in 1915. After the war, however, Italian
politicians returned from Paris empty-handed because secret treaties were invalidated by statesmen
during the peace negotiations. Furious Italian nationalists launched protests and occupied the city of
Fiume (now Rijeka), thumbing their noses at the peace settlement and defying the government’s
authority. The Nazis, Italian Fascists and other radical politicians attempted to rally people against
democratic governments by using the Treaty of Versailles as a vehicle of discontent.

Q8: A hundred years later, what does the treaty have to teach us about the aftermath of war?  

Ans: The First World War had complex origins, and the war was fought over the course of four years,
wiping out an entire generation of young men and creating massive social, political, and cultural
upheavals. In my class on World War I, we spend 10 weeks closely studying the war, and we still have
many questions and concerns at the end of the quarter. When we discuss the Versailles Treaty, my
students conclude that it was an impossible task for any one treaty, conference, or settlement to put
European nations back on track after such a grueling and complicated war. They also conclude that it
seems unfair to blame the Treaty of Versailles for the Second World War. How could individual actors be
able to see or understand what was going to happen? I agree with my students on both counts.
NOTES:
The treaty of Versailles was signed between Germany and the Allied powers (the United States, Britain,
France, Italy, and Japan) on 28 June 1919 and brought an official end to World War I.

Some of the key provisions of the treaty were:

Ans: Germany lost a large tract of its territory (25,000 square miles) and millions of people (7,000,000)
to the allied nations. Poland was the biggest beneficiary and gained almost 20,000 square miles of land.
Germany had to let go of Poland and cede several other territories to France and Belgium.
A number of German colonies were lost to Britain, France, Japan, Australia, and other allied countries.
Military restrictions were also imposed on Germany and its military strength was limited to 100,000
men. Former soldiers were not allowed to rejoin, and conscription was banned. Germany was prohibited
from maintaining an air force and its naval strength was also limited to a bare minimum.
Germany was also held responsible for the war and was required to pay about $31 billion.
To ensure Germany's compliance, Allied forces captured and maintained a portion of German territory
for 15 years.
The worst provision was the fine on Germany (point 4, above), which later on contributed to the rise of
Hitler.

Provisions of the Treaty of Versailles included reducing the size of the German army to 100,000 troops.
This was meant to prevent Germany from being able to launch an offensive war again, but the
unintended consequence was that it left many young German men without viable employment
opportunities in a collapsed economy. This paved the way for right-wing extremists’ groups, such as the
National Socialists (Nazis) to recruit many thousands of disaffected soldiers.

Germany lost a great deal of territory—25,000 square miles—and seven million people under the treaty.
For example, it lost Alsace-Lorraine to the French, and Silesia, Eastern Pomerania, and areas in Upper
Silesia to Poland. It also lost all of its colonial holdings, which was an important blow to Germany's
international prestige.

Treaty of Versailles:

Ans: The Treaty of Versailles was the most important of the peace treaties that brought World War I to
an end. It was signed on June 28, 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of World War I signed separate treaties.
Although the armistice signed on November 11, 1918, ended the actual fighting, it took six months of
Allied negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. The treaty was
registered by the Secretariat of the League of Nations on October 21, 1919.

Of the many provisions in the treaty, one of the most important and controversial required “Germany
accept the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage” during the war
(the other members of the Central Powers signed treaties containing similar articles). This article, Article
231, later became known as the War Guilt clause. The treaty forced Germany to disarm, make
substantial territorial concessions, and pay reparations to certain countries that had formed the Entente
powers. In 1921 the total cost of these reparations was assessed at 132 billion marks (then $31.4 billion,
roughly equivalent to USD $442 billion in 2017). At the time economists, notably John Maynard Keynes,
predicted that the treaty was too harsh—a “Carthaginian peace”—and said the reparations figure was
excessive and counter-productive, views that have since been the subject of ongoing debate by
historians and economists from several countries. On the other hand, prominent figures on the Allied
side such as French Marshal Ferdinand Foch criticized the treaty for treating Germany too leniently.

The result of these competing and sometimes conflicting goals among the victors was a compromise
that left no one content: Germany was neither pacified nor conciliated, nor was it permanently
weakened. The problems that arose from the treaty would lead to the Locarno Treaties, which improved
relations between Germany and the other European Powers, and the renegotiation of the reparation
system resulting in the Dawes Plan, the Young Plan, and the indefinite postponement of reparations at
the Lausanne Conference of 1932.

Provisions of the Versailles Treaty:

Ans: Germany lost 13 percent of its territory, including 10 percent of its population.   The Treaty of
Versailles forced Germany to:

concede Eupen-Malmsey to Belgium

concede the Hultschin district to Czechoslovakia

concede Poznan, West Prussia, and Upper Silesia to Poland

return Alsace and Lorraine, annexed in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War, to France.

 The treaty called for:

demilitarization and occupation of the Rhineland

special status for the Saarland under French control

referendums to determine the future of areas in northern Schleswig on the Danish-German frontier and
parts of Upper Silesia on the border with Poland.

Further, all German overseas colonies were taken away from Germany and became League of Nation
Mandates. The city of Danzig (today Gdansk), with its large ethnically German population, became a
Free City.

Perhaps the most humiliating portion of the treaty for defeated Germany was Article 231, commonly
known as the "War Guilt Clause." This clause forced the German nation to accept complete
responsibility for starting World War I. As such, Germany was to be held liable for all material damages.

France's premier, Georges Clemenceau, in particular, insisted on imposing enormous reparation

payments. While aware that Germany would probably not be able to pay such a towering debt,
Clemenceau and the French still greatly feared rapid German recovery and a new war against France.

The French sought to limit Germany's potential to regain its economic superiority and also to rearm. The
German army was to be limited to 100,000 men. Conscription was forbidden. The treaty restricted the
Navy to vessels under 10,000 tons, with a ban on the acquisition or maintenance of a submarine fleet.
Germany was forbidden to maintain an air force.

Finally, Germany was required to conduct war crimes proceedings against the Kaiser and other leaders
for waging aggressive war. The subsequent Leipzig Trials, without the Kaiser or other significant national
leaders in the dock, resulted largely in acquittals. They were widely perceived as a sham, even in
Germany.

Impact of the Treaty:

Ans: The harsh terms of the peace treaty did not ultimately help to settle the international disputes
which had initiated World War I. On the contrary, the treaty got in the way of inter-European
cooperation and intensified the underlying issues which had caused the war in the first place.

For the populations of the defeated powers—Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Bulgaria—the peace
treaties came across as unfair punishment. Their governments quickly resorted to violating the military
and financial terms of the treaties. This was the case whether the governments were democratic as in
Germany or Austria, or authoritarian in the case of Hungary and Bulgaria. Efforts to revise and defy
provisions of the peace became a key element in their foreign policies and became a destabilizing factor
in international politics.

A “dictated peace?”

Ans: The newly formed German democratic government saw the Versailles Treaty as a “dictated peace”
(Diktat). The war guilt clause, huge reparation payments, and limitations on the German military seemed
particularly oppressive to most Germans. To many Germans, the treaty seemed to contradict the very
first of Wilson’s Fourteen Points, which called for transparency in peace negotiations and diplomacy.
Revision of the Versailles Treaty was one of the platforms that gave radical right-wing parties in
Germany such credibility to mainstream voters in the 1920s and early 1930s. Among these parties was
Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party.

Promises to rearm, reclaim German territory, remilitarize the Rhineland, and regain European and world
prominence after the humiliating defeat and peace appealed to ultranationalist sentiment. These
promises helped some average voters to overlook the more radical tenets of Nazi ideology.

The reparations and a general inflationary period in Europe in the 1920s caused spiraling hyperinflation
of the German Reichsmark by 1923. This hyperinflationary period combined with the effects of the Great
Depression (beginning in 1929) to undermine the stability of the German economy. These conditions
wiped out the personal savings of the middle class and led to massive unemployment. Such economic
chaos contributed to social unrest and the instability of the fragile Weimar Republic.

Stab-in-the-Back Legend

Ans: Finally, the efforts of the Western European powers to marginalize Germany through the Versailles
Treaty undermined and isolated German democratic leaders.

Some in the general population believed that Germany had been “stabbed in the back” by the
“November criminals”—those who had helped to form the new Weimar government and negotiate the
peace. Many Germans “forgot” that they had applauded the fall of Germany’s emperor, initially
welcomed parliamentary democratic reform, and celebrated the armistice. They recalled only that the
German Left—commonly seen as Socialists, Communists, and Jews—had surrendered German honor to
a shameful peace.

 This Dolchstosslegende (stab-in-the-back legend) helped to discredit the German socialist and liberal

circles who were most committed to Germany's fragile democratic experiment. The difficulties caused
by social and economic unrest in the aftermath of World War I and its peace undermined democratic
solutions in Weimar Germany. German voters ultimately found this kind of leadership in Adolf Hitler and
his Nazi Party.

Submitted by Adeena Farooq

Class O1R