I've often wondered why the allies didn't break Germany up completely at Versailles.
It wasn't like other empires weren't being broken up, was it? The Ottoman Empire - gone. Austo-Hungarian Empire - gone. Russian Empire - goneish.
"Germany" had only been an empire for less than 50 years. For centuries Germany was a collection of smaller kingdoms, principalities, duchies and electorates. The lines were there to recreate some of those older states - Prussia, Bavaria, Hannover, Westphalia, Baden, Saxony and so on. Keep the governments separate and forbid them from re-uniting.
The reality is, although Germany was forced OTL to pay heavy reparations and limit it's armed forces, it was still left as a larger and economically and industrially more powerful nation than France. It was the diplomatic equivalent of tying Germany's hands behind it's back and hoping it will never be able to slip the rope.
It wasn't like other empires weren't being broken up, was it? The Ottoman Empire - gone. Austo-Hungarian Empire - gone. Russian Empire - goneish.
"Germany" had only been an empire for less than 50 years. For centuries Germany was a collection of smaller kingdoms, principalities, duchies and electorates. The lines were there to recreate some of those older states - Prussia, Bavaria, Hannover, Westphalia, Baden, Saxony and so on. Keep the governments separate and forbid them from re-uniting.
The reality is, although Germany was forced OTL to pay heavy reparations and limit it's armed forces, it was still left as a larger and economically and industrially more powerful nation than France. It was the diplomatic equivalent of tying Germany's hands behind it's back and hoping it will never be able to slip the rope.