Diktat

This was a term described to those people in Germany who felt that the Treaty of Versailles was imposed with negotiation. Germany's many complaints were: ~The Treaty was considered to be very different from what President Wilson's Fourteen Points ~"Germans found it impossible to understand how and why the guiding principle of self-determination was not applied in a number of cases. They viewed the following areas as "German", but excluded from the new German state and placed under foreign rule: Austria, Danzig, Posen and West Prussia, Memel, Upper Silesia, Sudetenland, Saar" (Two Key Documents Packet 32). ~The loss of German colonies was not in the script of the Fourteen Points. ~Germany could not accept the War Guilt clause (Article 231 of the Treaty) ~They considered the reparations as totally unreasonable and the actual amount of the reparations wasn't even determined until a later date. From the German viewpoint, that meant they would be forced to sign a blank check. ~The imposition of the disarmament clauses was seen as unfair because Britain and France got to have highly armed militaries. It seemed as Germany had been unilateral disarmed*. ~Germany was excluded from the League of Nations but was forced to accept the rules of its Covenant. This hardened the views of the Germans who saw the League of Nations as a tool of the Allies rather than as genuine international organization.


 * the disarmament of one party. Wilson pushed for general (universal) disarmament after the war, but France and Britain were more suspicious. As a result only Germany had to disarm.

All information was obtained from the Two Key Documents packet pages 32 and 33.