How Did The Treaty Of Versailles Affect Germany

The First World War caused millions of deaths and destruction all over Europe and around the world. When the war ended, the victors gathered to mend the results of war through a peace treaty that blamed the defeated− the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was signed in 1919 and greatly affected the world both directly and indirectly. However, while it did attempt to fix the damage done by WW1, it added further burdens and injury to an already weak Germany that eventually led to the Second World War from their feelings of revenge and rage. This is because the Treaty of Versailles was an imperfect agreement that punished Germany too much and negatively affected both Germany and Europe in physical, political, and financial ways. The physical alterations of German land by the treaty led to the expanding displeasure of the German people. As Macmillan (2001) mentions, many echoed similar opinions; "why should Germany lose 13% of its territory and 10% of its population?" As a result of the treaty, Germany lost its overseas colonies, Alsace-Lorraine, Poland, and more. Henig (1995) states that, "the Germans never accepted that they had suffered defeat". The loss of land came as a great shock to many Germans, because it officially confirmed their humiliating defeat that they had originally refused to accept. This affected Germany in two ways. One is that Germany would have less people to collect taxes from and less land to work on, thus giving her a hard time economically and a weaker