1. Germans were not aware of the situation in 1919.

• germans didnt understand how bad germanys military situation had been at the end of the war
• german goverment had simply agreed to ceasefore
• therofore germany should have been at the paris peace treaty 

2. War guilt and reparations

• felt at the least that blame should be shared
• because germany was forced to accept the blame for the war it also excepted to pay for all the damages caused by it

3. Disarmament

• germany is the army was a symbol of german pride
• none of the allies was disarmed to the extent that germany was disarmed

4. German territories

• when germany lost alot of territory it was a major blow to german pride and to its economy
• while germany was losing land the british and french were increasing their empires by taking control  of german and turkish territories

5. Fourteen Points and League

• to most of the germans the treatment of germany was not in keeping wilson fourtten points
• german speaking people were being divided by terms forbidding anscbluss with austria or hived off into new countries
• germany felt further insulted by not being invited to join the league of noation

 

6. Double Standards?

• many people felt that the germns were themselves operating a double standard
• their call for fairer treatment did no square with the harsh way they had treated russia in the treaty of brest litovsk
• versailles was much less harsh a treaty then brest litvosk
• there was also the fact that germanys economic problems although are real are partly self inflicted
• other states had to raised taxes to pay for the war