The After math of WW1 - Essay Example

In regards to the effect on minorities of Europe after the First World War according to Spielvogel (2011) there are numerous negative consequences for these various groups. After the war a number of empires were broken up, in which various peoples that had cohabited in relative peace now were blaming each other for the economic woes brought on in the post war period. For example, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire there were a significant number of Czechs, Germans, Italians Hungarians, Poles, Serbs, and Slovenes (Amongst others) with this distribution of people there is no question that there would be a significant number of skirmishes between communities dominated by one group against their minorities.

As a result of this a number of bilateral minority treaties which corresponded with the League of Nations Mandates. Some examples were the Polish Minority Treaty, or in the Austrian context, the Treaty of St. Germain-en Laye (Australasian Legal Information Institute, 1999). However, it the negative effects on minorities in post WWI Europe would have been prominently felt in Germany (Especially once the nation began to be dominated by the National Socialists). Once the party came into power a number of sweeping laws came into effect that had sever consequences for minority groups.

Some examples would be the Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseased Offspring (Facing History Campus, 2011) which forced compulsory sterilization of people suffering from hereditary diseased and later children of mixed parentage. This only represents a fraction of the overall policies that negatively affected minorities during the post-war period. The next issue to be addressed is the penalties that were to be paid by the Germans according to the Treaty of Versailles. According to The Discovery Channel (2011) there were a number of monetary and political implications from the treaty.

For example there was significant loss of German territory. Germany was to cede the Alsace-Lorraine region to France, Northern Schleswig was ceded to Denmark, and West Prussia was given to Poland ultimately amounting to approximately 65 thousand square kilometers lost to foreign nations in Europe. There were also significant overseas territories such as Namibia, Cameroon and a number of island territories in Oceania that had to be given up. In terms of military implications from the treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to keep the size of its armed forces to fewer than 100,000 combatants, serious restrictions were placed on where the nation could build fortifications, air forces were completely forbidden and the navy was restricted to small ships.

Moreover, according to the Discovery Channel (2011) one additional consequence was that the Kaiser Wilhelm II was supposed to be tried as a war criminal, but owing to the fact that he had fled to the Netherlands (Who refused to extradite him) no trial ever took place. The final major consequence was the financial implications from the conflict meant that Germany was ordered to pay war reparations to the allied forces to help offset the costs that the allied nations had incurred as part of the war effort but Germany was also held responsible for the damages to civilian infrastructure as well.

Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, Germany had not paid off the entirety of their war reparations. However, according to ‘The Local’ (2010) the total cost was 132 billion Reichmarks which is approximately €