USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR I

[SOURCES]
In the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was subjected to reparations which are:

(A) ** Payments made for damage caused during the war

(B) An act on behalf of the League of Nations

(C) An agreement to end all fighting

(D) giving up land previously owned

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -One of the most controversial terms of the treaty was the War Guilt clause, which explicitly and directly blamed Germany for the outbreak of hostilities. The treaty forced Germany to disarm, to make territorial concessions, and to pay reparations to the Allied powers in the staggering amount of $5 billion.

Concept note-2: -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-3: -The terms of the treaty required that Germany pay financial reparations, disarm, lose territory, and give up all of its overseas colonies. It also called for the creation of the League of Nations, an institution that President Woodrow Wilson strongly supported and had originally outlined in his Fourteen Points address.

Concept note-4: -understanding that is relevant to the question For example, the payment of reparations was not in itself Germany’s main objection to the Treaty because this had been agreed at the signing of the armistice in 1918. However, it was the unfair and dictated scale of the reparations that was the devastating blow.

Concept note-5: -The Treaty of Versailles is one of the most controversial armistice treaties in history. The treaty’s so-called “war guilt” clause forced Germany and other Central Powers to take all the blame for World War I. This meant a loss of territories, reduction in military forces, and reparation payments to Allied powers.