The Versailles Treaty and Post-War Germany: The Challenge of Defeat and Reconstruction

Some scholars believe that the Versailles Treaty made another war more likely by laying ruinous reparations on Germany, assigning sole guilt for the war to Germany, and removing pieces of German territory to satisfy other nations' claims. Since this was done without Germany's participation in the Treaty Conference, it was not surprising that Germans resented the Treaty, and thought of it as a symbol of their defeat.