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Originally Posted by D.J. Fluck
I've been quiet and I intend to stay quiet, but I have to say this..
The last time forces overtook a country and let them recover on their own it led to the rise of a man that was mostly responsible for the deaths of nearly 10 million people...(Hitler). After that, the country was held under control of many different countries for many years...if the major countries would have followed through in the first place and helped with the recovery, Hitler would most likely never have never come to power...
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The main terms of the Versailles Treaty consisted of transferring a number of German colonies and territories to other countries, and:
(1) occupation and special status for the Saar under French control;
(2) demilitarization and a fifteen-year occupation of the Rhineland;
(3) German reparations of £6,600 million;
(4) a ban on the union of Germany and Austria;
(5) an acceptance of Germany's guilt in causing the war;
(6) provision for the trial of the former Kaiser and other war leaders;
(7) limitation of Germany's army to 100,000 men with no conscription, no tanks, no heavy artillery, no poison-gas supplies, no aircraft and no airships;
(8) the limitation of the German Navy to vessels under 100,000 tons, with no submarines;
Basically, it was an extreme case of the implementation of what are now called "sanctions" that probably led to the rise of Hitler. Just the forcing of huge, for the time, "reparations" on a bankrupt and war ravaged country was enough to insure disaster. Then there was the attempt to demilitarize Germany, which worked for a while, but obviously not for long.
Sorry about this post being a little off-topic. I won't let it happen again.