What! The 1883 Treaty of Versailles was forced on the French by the victorious Prussian Empire, and the burden was carried by the French, not the Prussians. Yes it did lead to tensions, but it was the French that wanted revenge. Yet in spite of that, it was the Germans that invaded France.
No, you forget the 1918 treaty.
Which was pretty much the German reason for World war 2, at least from the point of creating a national agreement, that Germany was treated bad by the winning nations.
The 1883 treaty of Versailles was actually still harmless, as it paid attention on the balance of power, which the later treaty ignored - but the concept of the balance of power also caused WW1, when a few nations tried to violate it.
First, the US gave billions of dollars in aid to Germany, most of which was used to buy food and supplies for reconstruction since Germany no longer had the capital or credit to inport supplies.
Yes, exactly 5 billions all together finally. And the allies got 2.4 billion USD every year from the western German government for their military presence and protection. You should not forget the Morgenthau plan. Most of the money of the German Marshal plan was actually needed for repairing the damage done by the Morgenthau plan.
1. If the US and the allies hadn't stopped them, the USSR would have annexed all of Germany.
2. If the US hadn't stationed troops in the FRG, then the USSR probably would have made a play to unite Germany under the GDR flag.
3. If the US hadn't greatly weakened the USSR through the cold war, then when GDR tried to break down the wall and unite the germany's, they would have been trampled by T-72s just like Czechoslovakia.
4. Thus, the US contributed GREATLY to the demise of the GDR.
1. And the USSR would have gained another advantage in the cold war. Which was also not acceptable for the US. Don't forget this situation. There was already an interest in a large German buffer zone between the warsaw pact and the western powers long before the NATO got founded and Germany made NATO member.
2. See 1, as it is not changing the situation. Also, don't forget the NATO defense plan, which was active as long as there had been no second strike ICBMs. It basically meant: For protecting UK and France, and for giving the USA time to react, Germany should be build into a large delaying force against the warsaw pact. Germany could never win against the whole warsaw pact alone, but it could pin the warsaw pact forces inside Germany and far away from NATO bases. When the war goes nuclear after a few weeks, Germany should be turned into a nuclear wasteland by tactical ballistic missiles, for the sake of destroying also the majority of the warsaw pact forces. The Russian ICBMs should be neutralized by the fact of the missile gap - Russia had far less ICBMs in the early 1960s as the USA.
3. The Prague Spring got crushed under the Breshnev doctrine, which was no longer active under Gorbachev. Also, a uprising in the GDR got crushed by the soviet troops already in 1953 without the USA coming to help them, for not risking a direct confrontation.
Where would the US troops have been in 1989, if the soviet union decided to interfere again? Without the large amount of diplomacy happening past the GDR government by German, US and Soviet Union officials, the situation would have possibly looked different. And I am not talking about what Ronny said in the years before but what George Bush did not say loud when he was president. Before the western German government started direct talks with the GDR, there had already been long consultations with the soviet union.
4. Don't overestimate it - just as much as I should also not underestimate it. Without the USA, western Germany would have been likely part of the GDR, and this Germany itself likely either a permanent trouble spot in the soviet union or a powerful ally of soviet russia. The GDR was already the primary external source of high technology for the USSR. Even if the GDR government did not support this demand in their shortsightedness.
But also, don't underestimate the role, western Germany had in Europe, NATO and the UN, especially as ally for the USA in the cold war.
