Germany Rises - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 117

Figure 8.3. The Western Front
Royal Irish Rifles, Somme, July 1916 (Imperial War Museum)
One third of its coal and three quarters of its iron ore resources were gone. It was not
going to be a colonial power any more. It was not allowed a strong army and it had to pay
massive reparations. On top of all that, the Versailles Treaty [of surrender] declared that
Germany was the only guilty party in the outbreak of the war. [106]
Germany was also required “to forfeit large amounts of goods in kind, including tim-
ber, steel, and most of her merchant marine and large passenger ships.” [107] Small wonder
that, as David Frumkin suggests, it was a peace to end all peace!
The Houses of Hapsburg (Austria), Hohenzollern (Germany), and Romanov (Russia)
ruled vast territories, but all three houses and their rulers would be toppled by the end of
World War I. [108]
THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC
The war's end was a shock to most Germans. For almost four years, their leaders had lied,
telling them that victory was imminent. Anger exploded into violence as competing fac-
tions fought to dominate the promised republic. Socialists, workers' alliances, Communists
(supported by the new Soviet Regime), army officers, and nationalists took to the streets,