By 1918, Germany had had enough of The Great War.
They had six million casualties.
So they asked for an armistice.
Not a surrender, an armistice.
They didn’t think they needed to surrender because there wasn’t a single enemy soldier on German soil.
In fact the German army still occupied a very large chunk of France and Belgium.
So they felt justified in saying “Look, neither side’s really won, and we’ve all had enough. So let’s just call it a day, eh?”
But the allies didn’t see it like that.
They said to the Germans “Why don’t you put your weapons down while we work out the terms of the armistice?”
And the Germans did.
Not realising that once they did that, they lost all negotiating leverage.
It took the allies 6 months to come back with final terms, in The Treaty of Versailles.
And what those terms amounted to was a complete and total humiliating German surrender.
But by that time it was too late for the Germans to do anything.
They’d disarmed.
The terms they were given included the following.
They were to surrender all their overseas colonies.
Alsace Lorraine would go to France.
East Prussia would go to Poland.
Even The Rhineland would be occupied by the conquering armies.
German and Austria would no longer be united.
Germany would be limited to just a tiny army.
Germany would have no air force, and effectively no navy, at all.
Germany would pay massive reparations to the victors, the equivalent of 100,000 tons of pure gold, more than half the gold ever mined.
And finally, Germany must formally and publicly accept total guilt for the war.
So, on the one hand taking from the Germans more than they could give.
And on the other hand, loading them with more shame than they could bear.
The Versailles Treaty was so unfair the American President, Woodrow Wilson, went back to the USA in disgust.
But with the German army now disbanded, they had no choice.
The French were determined to humiliate the Germans.
They made their leaders sign the surrender document in Marshal Foch’s private railway carriage.
Then they exhibited the railway carriage in Paris, where it became an attraction for hundreds of thousands of French tourists each year.
As a symbol of French military superiority and German inferiority.
Finally it was installed as a national monument in the woods at Compiegne.
The Versailles Treaty led economically and emotionally to the rise of Nazism and the Second World War.
It contributed to hyperinflation and starvation in Germany.
It contributed to Hitler’s rise to power.
It became the focus for German nationalism and militarism.
And ten years later, one by one, the terms of the treaty were overturned.
The Germans reoccupied the Rhineland.
The Germans reunited with Austria.
The Germans rebuilt their entire navy, and air force, and army.
And then began taking back everything they thought had been unfairly taken from them.
They took The Rhineland back from the occupying armies.
They took East Prussia back from Poland.
They took Alsace Lorraine back from the French.
And then they set about teaching the people who they felt betrayed them a lesson.
They conquered all of France in a matter of weeks.
And when the French leaders asked for an armistice, guess where the Germans made them sign it.
They made them sign it in that same railway carriage at Compiegne.
Interesting post Dave. My histories a little bit vague now, but wasn’t the problem that the Germans weren’t content with just getting back with the territories they felt were wrongly taken from them?
Lee - 5 September 2012 10:42 am
I think that was the problem Lee.
For most Germans the cause was their massive sense of injustice and overturning the Versailles treaty.
Once Hitler saw how easy it was to do that, he couldn’t stop.
The plan had been an armistice with Britain after France surrendered.
And lots of people in Britain (Halifax, Chamberlain, etc) wanted that.
Hitler just thought we’d give him our overseas colonies.
But Churchill wouldn’t accept an armistice, and invading Britain had never been part of the plan.
So they didn’t have strategy beyond “Oh well, Britain’s finished anyway. Let’s ignore them and get on with invading Russia.”
Dave Trott - 5 September 2012 12:00 pm
Ah the old French/German axis.
Here’s an up-to-date version of where it might be all heading http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/french-intellectuals-put-the-franco-german-axis-on-the-couch-a-850197.html
john p woods - 5 September 2012 1:09 pm
Don’t confuse predatory thinking with invading Poland and killing millions of people
*makes mental note*
Toast - 6 September 2012 11:27 am
Are we allowed to mention the war?
Jim - 6 September 2012 11:54 am
Dave – Predatory thinking + Greece – I’m confused now.
Grilla Login - 6 September 2012 2:53 pm
Hi Dave,
In Psychological terms It can be explained as transference.
Eric Berne MD. Wrote two books I know of on it.
“I’m Okay You’re Okay” and “Games People Play”.
They prove human behaviour works at multiple levels.
When a person, group, corporation, party or nation
ingests an unpalatable injustice
the body has to expel the poison as soon as possible
in order to achieve Homeostasis (a sense of order).
We cannot help it.
It’s innate in human nature.
It’s in Physiology and Biology too.
Our bodies create Killer T-Cells to destroy infectious cells
and stores a small army of them afterward to retain immunity.
It’s in Nature in the birth, life, death cycle of the seasons.
Maybe it all started with Lord Blackadder.
Maybe he got out of the wrong side of bed one morning
and refused to use his Elizabethan sewage bucket
preferring to dump out of the window
on to a solitary unsuspecting German visiting London.
Then it just got out of hand,
culminated in Two World Wars and
an Arms Race with the finishing line in Space.
Here’s a funny thought.
Imagine a lone Astronaut having a bad day on the Moon.
How does he transfer his feeling?
He kicks a lump of Moonrock.
It orbits the moon and
bashes him on the back of the head
then his day worsens.
That’s what happens.
What goes around comes around.
Better to be quiet and still.
Better to observe and
let the World reveal itself efortlessly.
Kev - 6 September 2012 9:09 pm
that was probably the dumbest move of the 20th century. it certainly motivated a certain Corporal A. Hitler no end.
vinny warren - 7 September 2012 12:29 am
Hi Vinny,
I think it was Mark McCormack who wrote the book called What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard Business School.
He said “When you do a deal, never leave the other guy feeling screwed. Always leave him with something. That way he doesn’t feel he has to get even later on.”
IMHO that’s the difference between predatory thinking, which is smart, and greed, which is stupid.
Dave Trott - 7 September 2012 9:07 am
Dave – Mad, not bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaFLd-hVKFY
Grilla Login - 7 September 2012 10:24 am
Absolute genius Grilla, thanks.
Dave Trott - 7 September 2012 10:49 am
A friend told me tomorrow night in Oberwesel, Germany
they celebrate “The Rhine in Flames”.
It’s a giant fireworks display.
They do this every year to commemorate
the Allied Bombing of Germany during World War 2.
Now that’s what you call turning a negative into a positive.
Kev - 7 September 2012 7:24 pm