How would you have dealt with Germany post WW1?

Quite frankly ToV was going to cause ww2 regardless of what happened.

While Britain wanted retributions, the actual plan from the British Prime Minister at the time was to make Germany into Europe's balwark against Russia; it was only when re-election fears, America pulling out, and France going like a mad dog, that they gave up on that plan.

Also France was basically the only power wanting the ToV, Belgium wanted its peace but largely only wanted help rebuilding and reasonable reperations; Britain wanted colonies and minor reparations (for the promised veterans fund that magically never came about); America just wanted to make money and call in debts; Serbia being the bastards they were took a whole load of territory that wasn't theirs to claim populated by people that by far prefered the Austrians and Hungarians to the Serbs (like the Bosnians, Croat's, Montanegrans, Albanians, Slovenians etc - you know the guys that suprisingly prefered working with the Nazi's than living under the Serbs, and later fought the Balkan wars) or better yet wanted independence; and the White Russians who were to busy losing a civil war.


The best case scenario is to wait until 1923 and fund a Kaiser revolt (anyone but Wilhelm III) and allow them to declare all treaties, laws (and particularly) economic decisions signed by the Weimar Republic as illegitimate. By this point the Peace in Out Time mantra had already settled in, the Germans had suffered for a good bit of time, and none of the territorial losses had been internationally recognised yet (it was more occupation of these territories until 1923/24 when the WR sold off german land in exchange for reduced payments for those years).

So if your British PM/King, let ToV go as OTL then let the Kaiserreich return as a revolt in 1923, and leave the French (Who were in no situation to march into occupy germany, let alone properly invade it) to get kicked out of Germany by the new Kaiser and his/her veteran militia [the reason all the uprisings failed in 1923 was because there was no proper leadership for any faction, save the idiots in the Reichstag). This explodes the powerkeg early, so all of germanys building frustration can be released; France has to sue for peace or better yet withdraw as it can't even afford its army at that point to do anything, not to mention the public were getting very uppity about any mention of more war.

Even without reperations, Germany is in no state for relaunching the Great War, instead having to rebuild and look after a still starving and freezing populace (because of course the French decided to claim most of Germany's coal reserves as reperations during the middle of winter [the direct cause of the crisis]); and even then without recognising of the territory loss, the new government could on more equal grounding have a better bargaining hand when dealing with Poland (possibly promise alliance against Communism, in exchange for shared control of the Polish Corridor, or better yet, German assistance in the swapping of Lithuania for Danzig).

The threat of the Kaiser's return though would potentially be an even larger Germany in the end, as the Kaiser allows Austria and Hungary to join Germany as autonomous, homogenous vassal kingdoms (pre 1918 German form of Unity), with either the Hapsburgs beign forced to kiss ring, or Horthy founding a new dynasty. With a similar arrangement given to other former members of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (like the very unhappy Non Serbian Slavs).
 
- Elzas-Lotharingen/Alsace Lorraine to France
- Austria to Germany (optional in a referendum)
- German Army reduced to 150-200k men for 50 years
- German Navy reduced to 15% of the Royal Navy
- Germany loses all colonies
- Germany pays whatever damage it did in the West but has to pay smaller sum over a longer time
- Poland gains the Corridor and Posen
- Production of Coal and Steel controled by Britain, France, Italy, Belgium and USA
- Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium
 
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