Germany:
Impose significant terms on other countries including payment (typical of the era or any war)
Gets imposed significant terms by their enemies
Cries about it even though Austro-Hungary was gutted and broken into pieces.
Has managed to convince or spread a narrative of victimhood of its “unfair terms”.
Sore losers smh.
jackt-up on
Lmao I love how the Chad always wins no matter what country he is
HistorianEntire311 on
And that led us to the Second World War, apparently treating your neighbors like shit has terrible consequences.
BasedAustralhungary on
I mean even if I agree I also find kinda obvious why they’d react like this, the Entente barely went into Germany’s territory and situation before that seemed to give them the upper hand over the war. When they signed the armistice they just had the idea (and expected because It was accorded when they signed the armistice) that they were going to be treated as equals and with some respect around the integrity of the country. After all… It is true that they kinda didn’t lose the war.
elderron_spice on
Both France and the Russian Empire/Provisional Russian Government aren’t sore losers, though; they accepted the land swap and paid their reparations.
The Germans, on the other hand, are very sore losers who, despite getting the most lenient treaties out of all those imposed on the Central Powers (and Russia), made Versailles one of the focal points of their revanchist rhetoric.
wcube2 on
Bitter Losers gonna bitter.
IronVader501 on
You can go further.
IIRC the Sum of Reperations in the Treaty of Frankfurt was specifically set to be the same % of GDP as the one Napoleon had demanded of Prussia in the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807
Constant-Still-8443 on
I think what made the treaty of Versailles different is it made an already bad time for the world much worse for Germany. The affects of the Great Depression were probably the worst in Germany thanks to the reparations.
Command0Dude on
The war reparations wasn’t the problem.
The problem is that they neutered the German military, effectively paving the way for the rise of fascist militias/private armies.
Le_Bruscc on
The French were whining about Alsace-Lorraine for the next dour decades after the Franco-Prussian war, and it was a major reason for their participation in WW1.
The Bolsheviks immediately tried to reconquer the lost land the second Germany wasn’t there to guard it anymore.
The way this meme is framing things is insanely disingenuous.
Blackghozt on
I would disagree with Brest-Litovsk. Those lands (Poland, Baltics, Ukraine, and Belarus) were not Russian lands but occupied governorates, so in reality, occupators simply changed, nothing else…
whistleridge on
Chad France: digs deep and pays back in 3 years a reparations sum (~25% of annual GDP) intended to cripple them economically for a generation.
Soyjack Germany: doesn’t pay back its WWI reparations (~20% of GDP) until 2010. And not only did they not meaningfully pay any reparations from WWII (any amounts paid out were far exceeded by Marshall Plan monies received), they *still* refuse to even acknowledge reparations claims by Poland and Greece.
My__Dude__ on
Bruh Versailles wasn’t even harsh. Germany lost its colonies which weren’t needed for its survival and strong industry anyway and lost some land but still was allowed to keep almost all their land in europe.
If you want to talk about unfair or drastic measures look at what was done to austria, hungary and the ottomans.
emperorsolo on
“No reparations, No annexations!” – Vladimir Ilylich Ulyanov in 1917.
FreyaTheMighty on
“That is how peace is made.”
Picturing 3 treaties that failed to safeguard peace in any way, shape, or form.
Komrade_Krampus on
I mean going back further, treaties of Tilsit during the napoleonic wars were brutal to Prussia and that was within living memory of the Franco prussia war. The cycle goes on and on.
BoddAH86 on
[Germany will remember that.]
hagamablabla on
If you invoke vae victus, you better hope you never lose.
RPS_42 on
The difference is that the Soviets stalled the peace negotiations to hope for some magic revolutionary collapse of Germany, so they were in a much worse position after the Germans continued their offensive operations.
Material-Garbage7074 on
Humiliating the defeated and thus preventing true reconciliation (because it is impossible to reconcile if the defeated harbor resentment and feelings of revenge) is a terrible way to build lasting peace. Very bad.
Fit_Employment_2944 on
Turns out how peace was actually made was the treaty with the harshest terms of any of the four
22 Comments
Germany:
Impose significant terms on other countries including payment (typical of the era or any war)
Gets imposed significant terms by their enemies
Cries about it even though Austro-Hungary was gutted and broken into pieces.
Has managed to convince or spread a narrative of victimhood of its “unfair terms”.
Sore losers smh.
Lmao I love how the Chad always wins no matter what country he is
And that led us to the Second World War, apparently treating your neighbors like shit has terrible consequences.
I mean even if I agree I also find kinda obvious why they’d react like this, the Entente barely went into Germany’s territory and situation before that seemed to give them the upper hand over the war. When they signed the armistice they just had the idea (and expected because It was accorded when they signed the armistice) that they were going to be treated as equals and with some respect around the integrity of the country. After all… It is true that they kinda didn’t lose the war.
Both France and the Russian Empire/Provisional Russian Government aren’t sore losers, though; they accepted the land swap and paid their reparations.
The Germans, on the other hand, are very sore losers who, despite getting the most lenient treaties out of all those imposed on the Central Powers (and Russia), made Versailles one of the focal points of their revanchist rhetoric.
Bitter Losers gonna bitter.
You can go further.
IIRC the Sum of Reperations in the Treaty of Frankfurt was specifically set to be the same % of GDP as the one Napoleon had demanded of Prussia in the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807
I think what made the treaty of Versailles different is it made an already bad time for the world much worse for Germany. The affects of the Great Depression were probably the worst in Germany thanks to the reparations.
The war reparations wasn’t the problem.
The problem is that they neutered the German military, effectively paving the way for the rise of fascist militias/private armies.
The French were whining about Alsace-Lorraine for the next dour decades after the Franco-Prussian war, and it was a major reason for their participation in WW1.
The Bolsheviks immediately tried to reconquer the lost land the second Germany wasn’t there to guard it anymore.
The way this meme is framing things is insanely disingenuous.
I would disagree with Brest-Litovsk. Those lands (Poland, Baltics, Ukraine, and Belarus) were not Russian lands but occupied governorates, so in reality, occupators simply changed, nothing else…
Chad France: digs deep and pays back in 3 years a reparations sum (~25% of annual GDP) intended to cripple them economically for a generation.
Soyjack Germany: doesn’t pay back its WWI reparations (~20% of GDP) until 2010. And not only did they not meaningfully pay any reparations from WWII (any amounts paid out were far exceeded by Marshall Plan monies received), they *still* refuse to even acknowledge reparations claims by Poland and Greece.
Bruh Versailles wasn’t even harsh. Germany lost its colonies which weren’t needed for its survival and strong industry anyway and lost some land but still was allowed to keep almost all their land in europe.
If you want to talk about unfair or drastic measures look at what was done to austria, hungary and the ottomans.
“No reparations, No annexations!” – Vladimir Ilylich Ulyanov in 1917.
“That is how peace is made.”
Picturing 3 treaties that failed to safeguard peace in any way, shape, or form.
I mean going back further, treaties of Tilsit during the napoleonic wars were brutal to Prussia and that was within living memory of the Franco prussia war. The cycle goes on and on.
[Germany will remember that.]
If you invoke vae victus, you better hope you never lose.
The difference is that the Soviets stalled the peace negotiations to hope for some magic revolutionary collapse of Germany, so they were in a much worse position after the Germans continued their offensive operations.
Humiliating the defeated and thus preventing true reconciliation (because it is impossible to reconcile if the defeated harbor resentment and feelings of revenge) is a terrible way to build lasting peace. Very bad.
Turns out how peace was actually made was the treaty with the harshest terms of any of the four
Peace must come at a cost sometimes.