Historiography
Main
Arguments:
A.J.P
Taylor
·
Germany didn’t take signing seriously
·
Germans intended to repudiate it at some time, if it did not fall to
pieces on its own absurdity
David
Thompson
·
Allies could do no more than try to produce some order from chaos,
determine the details of frontiers, and plan projects of compensation, and
leave the achievement of greater precision and perfection to subsequent
negotiation
·
Biggest mistake was to mention at all the ideals of absolute justice
or perpetual peace – impossible outcome
Fritz Fischer
·
Germany between 1914 and 1918 tried to secure a position in the world
which she believed was hers by right
·
This idea did not disappear with the fall of the monarch in 1918
John Terrain
·
War guilt clause was a stigma on the entire German nation
·
They resented it
G. Schultz
·
War ended with the collapse of the strongest military powers in Europe
·
Allies were therefore objectively free to decide their policies
without limiting factors
·
Peacemakers failed to establish a permanent order
John Sherer
·
German sovereignty survived
·
Treaty restrictions were irksome, but made no serious inroads on
national sovereignty
·
Made German nationalism
·
Created Hitler
·
Weakened but no so weakened that it could not rise again within a
generation to threaten the balance of world power
Douglas Newton
·
Whether Germany was treated justly is not a question of fact but of
moral judgment
·
Hash, but victorious Germany would have been harsh too
·
Peace fell short of the ideals of reconciliation
Quoted
Evidence that suggests the Treaty was harsh to Germany:
·
A.J.P Taylor - “The treaty seemed to them wicked, unfair, dictation,
slave treaty.’
·
Douglas Newton – “Peace which fell short of ideals of reconciliation”
Quoted
Evidence that suggests the Treaty was fair to Germany:
·
John Sherer – “German Empire survived…it’s sovereignty was
secure...alone of all the defeated nations it preserved its territorial
unity. The treaty restrictions
were irksome, but made no serious inroads on national sovereignty.” “Germany was weakened, but not so
weakened it could that it could not rise.”
What historians claim the
Treaty caused problems for the future? What were some of those problems?
·
APJ Taylor – “Germans intended to repudiate it at some time in the
future.”
·
David Thompson - “The mentality [to secure a position in the world,
which she believed was he right] did not disappear with the fall of the
monarchy”
·
John Sherer – “Provided a powerful stimulus for German nationalism
To What extent does the Treaty
of Versailles reflect that the Great War was not the war to end war?
·
John Sherer – “Germany was weakened, but not so weakened that it could
not rise within a generation to threaten the balance of world power.”
·
Douglas Newton - “The absence of any genuine peace negotiations…made
all of Germany believe the [Weimar] Republic had been treated shabbily.
Prioritize each source in terms
of usefulness and reliability to a historian studying the aftermath of the
Great War:
·
Douglas Newton
·
John Sherer
·
AJP Taylor
·
G Shultz
·
Fritz Fisher
·
John Terrain
Weaknesses of the Weimar
Republic:
Instability and server problems
·
Ineffective constitution
·
Left –wing rebellions
·
Right-wing terrorism
·
Inflations crisis of 1923
Failures of the Weimar Republic
Craig:
·
The Republic’s basic vulnerability was rooted in the circumstances of
its creation
Geary:
·
The Weimar Republic failed to build on the fundamental compromises
achieved in 1918; it had lost the hearts and the minds of the people
Ardagh
·
Germans were loosing faith in the very principle of parliamentary
democracy…a growing number of politicians believed that democracy was
unworkable
Hiden
·
No single problem ‘caused’ the downfall of the Weimar Republic…the
interactions of…problems, many of which predated the Republic, progressively
weakened the new German state.
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