that Security Precedes Disarmament. (28) Unfortunately, the Allies failure to disarm gave the Germans a moral case to rearm themselves. (29) This ideology worked particularly well in Hitlers hands, as he reconstructed the German war machine in the 1930s. Clemenceau cites concrete facts indicating the lack of Allied control and enforcement of the treaty in Germany even before Hitler rose to power. He cites in a table the requirements for disarmament in the treaty, then shows what Germany actually produced:Rifles: 84000Heavy machine guns: 792Carbines: 18000Light machine guns: 1134Total: 102000Total: 1926Medium trench mortars: 83Field artillery:Light trench mortar: 189 7.7 cm guns: 204Total: 252 10.5 cm Howitzers: 84Total: 288Clemenceau claims that in between 1925-1930 Germany produced:300000 rifles 20000 machine guns 19000 trench mortars 2000 artillery guns(30)The above figures indicate a complete lack of Allied supervision over German production. This lack of supervision combined with the depression and the harsh reparations of the treaty opened the door for a revolution ending in dictatorship under Adolf Hitler in Germany.Public reaction in Germany to the treaty was to say the least unfavorable. In addition to the devastation of World War I, the reparations imposed on Germany precipitated a deep depression before 1924. Only after the Weimar Republic busted into national bankruptcy and the mark ceased to exist as a practical means of payment did the Allied countries base reparations on Germanys ability to pay them. (31) Because of the reparations, many Germans, in particular the industrialists who lost wealth and power with the Saar and Rhineland occupation by the French, proved to be hostile to the republic, maintaining that it had betrayed the German people by accepting the treaty. (32)...
