... the war when they were so close to victory. All of these problems provided the basis for some of the other problems which the faced the new republic. Austen The Allies drew up the treaty based on the 'war guilt' clause, article 231, which stated that Germany was responsible for the outbreak of war. This meant the Allies could impose reparations, reduce Germany's armed forces and take resourceful territory, calling it a punishment because they could not afford to go back to war. Germany's coalition government did consider restarting the war instead of accepting the terms but Germany was too weak. The treaty only allowed Germany to have an army of 100,000 men and there were on average seven applicants for each place. The short term impact of the army reductions were disastrous, however in the long term this aspect back fired on the Allies as such a small army meant they ...

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