Unrest and the Treaty of Versailles

1. Using the information from Chapter 4, what were the threats to the new Weimar Republic? How did the Free Corps assist the government

A like to the conditions present in Russia after its abdication of its king, organisation was limited and power was in the streets for the taking. The threat of communism was great, where popularity was great, as well as miliatry power, leading to revolutions from the party against the newly established government. The Weimar republic used the Free Corps to kill all hostile threats in the revolting cities, to remove the communist party alltogether (in these ares). Also, the issue of the the peace treaty with the allies put an enourmous amount of pressure on the government and people alike, for such an extreme request for war damages.

2. How did the Germans react to the Treaty of Versailles?

The German people were shocked by such extreme measures taken by the allies to compensate for war damages. Germany had thought that they had done as asked, remove Kaiser Wilhem II from mpower and establish a democracy, while surrendering to the allied powers. Instead, they had been blamed for starting the war and were forced to pay for the damage done by the conflict, that was so great that it would not pay it off for over 90 years. Th poeple of Germany thought it not to be fair and blamed their military leaders for the armasist. They had initially refused the terms of tghe treaty and prepared for an invasion.

3. Who were the "November Criminals"?

The November Criminals were the military leaders who agreed upon the Armasist in surrendering to the Allies.

4. Read chapter 5. Why didn't Field Marshal von Hindenburg and the other general fight instead of having the Weimar government sign the Treaty of Versailles?

The military strength was far too low to fight off an invasion, defeat was assured and there was nothing Germany could do to effectively defend itself.

5. What were the major aspects of the Treaty that caused Germans to object so strongly to it?


Over a tenth of the land, people and resources were lost, while cutting down the military to a number far too low to be effective. It also put all blame on Germany and prevented it from uniting with Austria.