USA HISTORY

According to the Treaty of Versailles, how much in reparations did the Germans have to pay after WWI?

(A) $132 Billion

(B) $100 Billion

(C) ** $33 Billion

(D) $400 Million

(E) $55 Milion

Concept note-1: -The Treaty of Versailles (signed in 1919) and the 1921 London Schedule of Payments required Germany to pay 132 billion gold marks (US$33 billion [all values are contemporary, unless otherwise stated]) in reparations to cover civilian damage caused during the war.

Concept note-2: -The Treaty of Versailles didn’t just blame Germany for the war-it demanded financial restitution for the whole thing, to the tune of 132 billion gold marks, or more than $500 billion today.

Concept note-3: -Over the next four years, U.S. banks continued to lend Germany enough money to enable it to meet its reparation payments to countries such as France and the United Kingdom. These countries, in turn, used their reparation payments from Germany to service their war debts to the United States.

Concept note-4: -Allied victors took a punitive approach to Germany at the end of World War I. Intense negotiation resulted in the Treaty of Versailles’ “war guilt clause, ” which identified Germany as the sole responsible party for the war and forced it to pay reparations.