202410151433 Status: #idea Tags: #history #politics #economics #world_war_1 # The Treaty of Versailles was simultaneously too lax and too strict towards Germany The Treaty of Versailles was extremely lax towards the German ruling class - it sought to have the Kaiser removed but left the process of removing the power structures supporting the Kaiser and the military apparatus to the new republican government. On the other hand, the treaty was *extremely* strict economically, imposing a huge sum of reparations payments on Germany (which the Allies refused to forgive or reduce substantially until many years after the war). These economic sanctions impacted the everyday German severely, leading to episodes of hyperinflation that ruined the economy. This punishment structure was exactly *backwards* from what should have been done. The ruling class of Germany should have been removed and imprisoned, with the new republican state integrated into the League of Nations politically and into the Allied block of the UK, France, and the US economically. This would have increased the legitimacy of the republican government politically by removing its main internal threats, while also improving its economic stability and growth. The Allies must have learned this lesson from WWI, as after WWII this was precisely what was done for West Germany. --- # References [[Reference Notes/Books/The economics of World War I|The economics of World War I]]