D) Germans were angry about their harsh punishment. Even though Germany did not start the war (it was Austria-Hungary who first made a move by attacking Serbia after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand), Germany was severely punished for the event of the war. Germany was the last of the Central Powers to surrender and after signing the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, Germany was given full responsibility for the destruction of the war and was forced to pay the equivalent of US $442 billion for the war, as well as disarm its military and secede its territories. Germany then went into a major economic depression, and the harsh conditions gave a rise to Fascism and figures like Adolf Hitler who saw Germany as being robbed and needed to rise once again.