O-LEVEL HISTORY 

German Humiliation

The Germans were angry and felt humilitated . They did not feel that they had lost the war . In 1919 , many Germans did not know how bad the military situation in Germany was , they thought that the German government simply agreed to a creasefire and therefore the German representatives should be allowed to neogitate on the terms of the treaty of versailles . 

Germans referred the treaty as a 'diktat' as their government was not represented at the conference and they were forced to accept a harsh treaty as they were too weak military and economically to continue war . 

War Guilt Clause / Reparation 

The Germans felt that they were not the only one to blame for the cause of war as many other nations were involved in WWI . 

The war guilt clause gave the Allies the right to demand compensation from Germany for their losses . Germany was made to pay reparations and this crippled the German economy as it was already in tatters after the war . There was high rate of unemployment and poverty , there was not enough food for everyone . 

Territoral Losses

The loss of German territiories greatly reduced Germany's Standing amongst the world powers and the loss of resource rich regions such as the Rhineland and Saarcoal region further hampered Germany's ability to recover economically . 

Military Reductions

The harsh limitations placed on the German military made Germany less able to defend itself against agressive nations . The army of 100,000 was very small for a country of Germany's size , as the army was a symbol of Germanpride, the disarmament terms injured the pride of Germans . It was also unfair to Germany as Germany was the only country that had to disarm. Despite the call for disarmament in Wilson's fourteen points , none of the Allies disarmed to the extent that Germany was disarmed in the 1920s . With an army of 100,000 , it was impossible for Germany to maintain law and order in a time of political instability . Germany was also vulnerable to attacks by other countries . 

Self-Determination  

The principle of self-determination called for the creation of independen nationstate for the various ethnic communities. However , while self-determination was given to counties such as Estonia , Latvia and Lithunia , the German speaking people were being divided by the terms as it forbid anschluss with Austria . The Germans were angry as " self determination " only applied to the winners of the war .