WW1 questions

Why the treaty was called diktat?

Diktat is to dictate a decree or order. After the war or trying to end it Germany was told to not only take all the blame for the war but pay reperations to other countries as well. This is why they called it Diktat as they were being told to do this or hostilities would resume. Of the many provisions in the treaty, one of the most important and controversial required Germany to accept sole responsibility for causing the war and, under the terms of articles 231-248 (later known as the War Guilt clauses), to disarm, make substantial territorial concessions and pay reparations to certain countries that had formed the Entente powers. The total cost of these reparations was assessed at 132 billion marks ($31.5 billion, £6,600 million). The Treaty became known as a Diktat - as it was being forced on them and the Germans had no choice but to sign it. Many in Germany did not want the Treaty signed, but the representatives there knew that they had no choice as Germany was incapable of restarting the war again.
What is conscription?
Conscription was introduced in January 1916, targeting single men aged 18-41. Within a few months World War 1 conscription was rolled out for married men.
Men who got called up for service could appeal to a local Military Service Tribunal. Reasons included health, already doing important war work or moral or religious reasons. The last group became known as the Conscientious Objectors.
750,000 men appealed against their conscription in the first 6 months. Most were granted exemption of some sort, even if it was only temporary.
Only 2% of those who appealed were Conscientious Objectors. Despite the legacy of this group only 6,000 were sent to prison. 35 received a death sentence but were reprieved immediately and given a ten year prison sentence instead.

Who was to be blamed for ww1 and why?
1. Germany was to blame for WW1. Germany started all of the fights and caused a war. Many people sympathize with Germany because after the war they dealt with food shortages and isolation, but overall Germany was to blame for the war and everything could have easily been prevented during WW1.
2. Alliances between countries was the real reason.
Alliances were the big thing to blame because leading up to World War 1 there were two extremely powerful and strong Alliances, the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente. When Austria-Hungary's heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia Austria-Hungary's government blamed Serbia and declared war on Serbia and then country after country declaring war on each other because they were attacking each other's allies and that's how World War turned from an internal affair in to a war between Alliances.

Was Germany to be blamed for the war?
In response, another German historian, Gerhard Ritter claimed that Germany didn't have a plan for domination, and that is was only trying to support its main ally Austria Hungary and that the First World War was more the fault of the military than that of the German policy. Also he says that Germany's aim wasn't a war but to empower Austria Hungary, its only true ally. From my point of view, Ritter's thesis is more believable as he is trying to identify what really happened in the war without comparing anything to things that happened later in history. Nevertheless, I believe that Germany wasn't guilty for the outbreak of the First World War and that it shouldn't have been blamed just because they lost the war. I support this with what Ritter says that is a very intelligent and believable thesis that explains what really happened in the First World War. From my point of view, every country that participated in the war should have been blamed because they all caused damage and loss. But if there was just one country to blame I would say that the First World War was Serbia's fault because it was a Serbian terrorist who killed Franz Ferdinand and started the First World War.
The moral justification isn't hard to find. Russia was the only Allied power to enter the war "on its own". If you look at the stated reasons of other countries: Germany declared war on France because it expected France to ally with Russia. Great Britain joined the war because Germany violated Belgian neutrality. And USA joined the war because of German submarine warfare. So one way to view this war is: Germany turned a local conflict between Austria-Hungary and Russia into a world war. Consequently, Germany is the responsible party here.

Of course there is also a different approach to the whole situation: in addition to the "official" reasons each country had its own interests. Especially France despite being invaded by Germany cannot claim that the war was forced upon them: the French were looking for a chance to take back Alsace-Lorraine ever since their defeat in the Franco-Prussian war. So France would have happily declared war on Germany hadn't Germany done so first, it's beyond doubt that France wouldn't have stayed neutral.

The situation is somewhat less obvious with Great Britain, one can argue whether a different strategy on the German side would have prevented it from entering the war. Still, it is doubtful that Great Britain would have watched Germany destroy the balance of power in Europe without intervening, given that Great Britain was always trying to make sure that no single power ever dominated Europe. The conflicts between Great Britain and Germany over colonial territories didn't help of course and Great Britain clearly had its interests here.

The only war participant where it is hard to say anything are the United States. They had economical reasons to participate but it is unclear whether the USA would have found a different pretense to join the war had Germany not declared unlimited submarine warfare and thus hurt US trade directly.

To sum up: yes, to a large part it was justice of the winner. Germany capitulated so the Allied powers could dictate their conditions. With the world shocked over the atrocity of the war and looking for somebody to blame the Allied powers of course chose to blame everything on Germany. Then again, Germany made it pretty easy to justify this position by giving everybody a good pretense to join the war.
So what happened was, the assassination sent Austria-Hungary over the edge. They demanded that Serbia open up an investigation into the assassination (by a Serbian Nationalist). The Serbian government encouraged Anti-Austrian propaganda, and desired to weaken Austria-Hungary as much as possible, through nationalist uprisings by Serbians living in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so they rejected the Austrians demands.
This caused the Austrians to declare war on Serbia. The Germans, specifically Chancellor Bethmann, desperately tried to stop this, seeing that Russia's involvement would ignite a Global Conflict. Unfortunately, Austria-Hungary was too caught up in their rage to listen to the Germans' great advice, and went ahead with their attack on Serbia. Russia quickly and aggressively mobilized their army in preparation for a massive war, leaving behind any hope for peace. Germany was extremely alarmed by this, and sent ultimatums to Russia and France asking them to suspend mobilization within 12 hours. They refused, and Germany felt that they were forced to declare war on both countries in order to survive the inevitable World War.
What are the differences between treaty of Versailles and 14 points?
When the peace processes were to start after the finishing of World War One, there were four people who were major components in the treaty of Paris: Clemenceau, George, Orlando, and Wilson. Clemenceau wanted revenge on the German's by punishing them through the treaties because he believed that they were at fault for the war; George was in agreement with Clemenceau although he did not feel that Germany should suffer severe punishment; Orlando who wanted the irredenta to be re-established; and President Wilson of the United States of America wanted to create a mild peace with Germany in a fair way. In view of this, Wilson created fourteen points that he wanted accomplished in full as a result of the peace treaties. His fourteen points were his plan for a world peace and included plans for the end of secret treaties, freedom of the seas, free trade, arms reduction, the just settlement of colonial claims, the establishment of a League of Nations, and the evacuation of occupied territories and national self-determination. Many of his points were carried out in the Treaty of Versailles, although not all of them were successful or followed completely.

Wilson's fourth point in his plan was the reduction of national armaments. He stated that there should be "adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments [would] be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety." In the Treaty of Versailles, it was stated that the German army was to be limited to 100,000 and that Germany was not allowed to draft its citizens or to have an air force. Also, Germany was no longer allowed to operate submarines because of the unrestricted submarine warfare that they had displayed during the war, and their naval ships were limited in size and in the amount that they were permitted to own. Furthermore, the Rhineland was to be permanently disarmed and occupied by the Allies for fifteen years to ensure that there would be no attacks against France that might start another war. In addition to this, it was stated that Germany would never be allowed to unite with Austria because they would form an incredibly strong fighting force. This resulted in much complaining by the Germans on the account that they believed they were being left without a military force significant enough to protect themselves. Also, the treaty did not require any of the other countries to perform even the slightest demilitarization.
Although Wilson wished to create a mild peace with Germany, the Treaty of Versailles twisted his points into forms of punishment and revenge against Germany. Wilson wished to have all places go through an arms reduction, while the treaty required that only Germany's army was restricted, leaving them with almost no defense forces of their own. He had also wished that the colonies would be spread equally and with consideration for those who lived in them, however the lives of the people were not taken into consideration and the results were that Germany was divided into two while many territories were returned to their original owners, which created much unrest. In addition to this, he had wished to create a League of Nations to conduct mutual guarantees of politics and territory and to maintain international peace. He could not convince his own country to join this, and the League itself, even though it was formed, held no real power and could efficiently deal with international problems. It was in this way that Wilson's fourteen points were compromised in the Treaty of Versailles, and many of the parts that were accomplished were not abided by or caused problems later on.
Impact of TOV on Germany?
b. Armed forces
The Rhineland had to be de-militarised. This was to protect France from future invasion by creating a ‘buffer’ zone between France and Germany. This weakened the Germans so much that they could not even put down internal riots – when they sent in the army to deal with a rebellion in April 1920, the French invaded to make the German army leave. The Treaty restricted the Germans’ armed forces to only 100,000 men in the army, no submarines or aeroplanes, and only six battleships. In addition, conscription was banned (soldiers had to be volunteers). The idea was to reduce Germany’s armed forces to a size where they could never endanger the countries round about. German cartoons of the time show the German army too tiny to defend them even against small ‘dungervolk’ like Czechoslovakia. And Germany was at the mercy of France, which invaded again in 1923 to take in kind the reparation payments that Germany's aid it could not pay. Yet the Treaty excluded Germany from the League of Nations – Germany could not defend itself by force, or through the League! c. Economy
The Treaty’s territorial decisions affected Germany’s economy. The loss of the Saar reduced Germany’s industrial strength. The loss of West Prussia took away Germany’s richest farming land. But reparations did the greatest economic damage to Germany. Germany had to pay for all the damage of the war – a sum eventually set at £6,600 million – in instalments, until 1984. This ruined Germany’s economy, damaged by the war, and led to the hyperinflation of 1923.

it stabilized germany"s econmy b, it left germany weaker, though still a great power. c it left germany humiliated and resentful. d . it allowed germany an easy reconciliation with it"s neighbors