History

l ef t st r onger than bef or e the war because i t was now su r r ounded on i t s easter n bor der by a ser i es of sm al l , weak states. T he th r eat f r om Russi a was r em oved because of the Russi an Revo l u t i on . Al though Germ any l ost the coal of the Saar and the i r on or e of Al sace- L or r ai ne, i t was ?ab l e, i n a r em ar kab l y shor t t im e, to dom i nate the t r ade of the cen t r al and easter n Eu r opean states? (Stei ner ).1 Germ an i ndust r y qu i ck l y r ev i ved , too. T he r educt i on of the Germ an arm y st i l l l ef t i t at 10 0 ,0 0 0 ? l ar ger than Germ any ?s nei ghbou r s to the east and l ar ge enough to hand l e t r oub l e i n Germ any? and had the benef i t that i t wou l d hel p the econom y to gr ow by r educi ng gover nm en t spend i ng on the m i l i tar y. O ne cou l d ar gue, as d i d the econom i st Key nes, that the T r eat y was a ?Car thagi n i an peace,?2 r educi ng Germ any to a power of the second r an k and perm anen t l y p r even t i ng i t f r om r etu r n i ng to gr eat - power status. T he ar r angem en t s f or the Saar and Al sace- L or r ai ne wer e an

i l l ust r at i on? tak i ng away f r om Germ any the m ean s of ever wagi ng war . U l t im atel y, however , Germ any was not r eal l y weakened because i t was ab l e to r ecover , and i t en joyed econom i c p r osper i t y du r i ng the 1920 s. T he l oss of ter r i tor i es and co l on i es m i gh t have been i n tended to weaken Germ any, bu t i t does not seem to have done th i s. T he basi c st r ength of the Germ an econom y was not bad l y weakened . T he r eal si gn i f i can ce of the l oss of ter r i tor i es was i n the w i sh f or ?r evenge? wh i ch i t cr eated i n f ar - r i gh t po l i t i ci an s, wh i ch becam e im por tan t i n the 1930 s. A si gn i f i can t po l i t i cal p r ob l em f aci ng Germ any was that i t had a ser i es of weak , coal i t i on gover nm en t s, none of wh i ch l asted l ong. For exam p l e, the gover nm en t f orm ed f o l l ow i ng the f i r st el ect i on i n 1919 between the SPD , Z en t r um and the DDP on l y l asted a f ew m on ths and ther e wer e th r ee gover nm en t s between Febr uar y 1919 and June 1920 . H en i g says that ?hen cef or th Germ any wou l d be r u l ed by a

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