nd France. One such incident was in the transfer of German territory to Poland. The allies had determined that the territory of Allenstein, in the eastern part of Germany should be given to Poland. The German delegation sent a counter-proposal stating that Allenstein had a large German population, and the Polish population was miniscule. When a vote was actually held there, 97.9% of the population voted to be part of Germany, with the remaining 2.1% wanting to join with Poland. (9)Although Allenstein was eventually granted to Germany, the main problem is obvious. The Allies postponed other votes in Upper Silesia, most likely to prevent a similar setback from occurring. Germany had a significantly greater population than Poland in almost every territory taken away from them, and the allies probably knew this. What greater way of creating animosity is there than taking masses of people from their country? The Allies were very ignorant in this case, ignoring the fact that they were brewing hatred all throughout Germany by taking territories that were almost 100% German away from Germany. Britain and France had now completed one of the most devastating peace treaties in history. Mistakes had been made that would increase German aggression, and would drive Germany to desperate options. The economic impacts and the territorial changes worked together to do this. Germany had no way to pay the reparations, without having their territories and colonies. If Germany refused to pay the reparations, even more territory would be occupied. This gave Germany reason to rearm and aggressively retake their territories such as the Saar Basin and the Rhineland. In addition, the political situation in Germany easily allowed the rise of radical ideas. With the inflation, the Weimar Republic, which was governing Germany in the early 20s, collapsed and socialist revolts and strikes in cities like Kiel caused total political upheaval. In addition, the hatred of ...
