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The effect and consequences of Versailles upon Germany and its population are eloquently

portrayed by historian David Fraser in his biography of Erwin Rommel "Knight's Cross



The Armistice and the Versailles Treaty provided for the occupation of the western regions

of Germany; enormous (and unpayable reparations); the emasculation of Germany as a military

power; the surrender of a large part of the German High Seas Fleet; acceptance by Germany of

certain self-accusatory clauses admitting guilt for the war; and vast territorial losses -

Alsace and Lorraine to France and the Eastern provinces to a resurrected state of Poland.

....

The Hohenzollern and Hapsburg empires vanished. The concert of Europe, destroyed by the

outbreak and savagery of the war, was succeeded by economic and political instability and

widespread dissatisfaction over the new frontiers. While the Russian Bolshevik experiment

was attempted in other countries, what lingered o...