The big three soon found out that they had another problem. There were plenty of countries trying to gain land nearby since the borders of the altered countries had not been set at that moment of time. Therefore, the treaty of Versailles had to be drawn up as soon as possible. Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria were losing land and other neighboring countries such as Italy, Yugoslavia, Romania and Czechoslovakia were all trying to gain as much land as they could. The big 3 dealt with this well as they introduced new states and frontline boundaries and by drawing up the treaty in a reasonable period of time.
The big three had promised different countries that they would be rewarded with land if they helped in the war. Some promised had been fulfilled, others created conflicts. Italy was rewarded with a small part of German land and a small region called Trieste, however, this was not enough to satisfy Italy. The Palestinians and Jews had both been promised to be rewarded with independent homeland but neither received any.
Economically, the big three had not done too badly as Northern France was mostly destroyed during the war so the French needed the reparations from Germany as soon as possible to rebuild the bridges, buildings, defenses, and roads destroyed during the war to pay America their war debts. The big three constantly were victims of the public pressure – different people had different views of how Germany should be treated. Therefore, a fair treaty was needed to be drawn up as soon as possible.
World trade had to continue as the infrastructure of France and Belgium was improving. The treaty had to be drawn out quickly to reduce social conflicts of in different regions.
On the other hand, the big three could have done better with different issues. They did not have to humiliate Germany as much as they did by making them stand up and sign the treaty and accepting the war guilt clause. This increased the chances of Germany wanting to seek revenge in the future. In addition, having 100,000 men is not enough to defend a big country such as Germany. I think that the big three were too strict on Germany…and the German resentment is one of the main reasons why the Second World War broke out. The Germans also complained about no ‘anschluss’ since they were witnessing other countries having self-determination.
By creating many new smaller countries and by having some countries lose land to others, the big three created ‘built-in’ future problems. Most of the new smaller countries did not have enough resources and proper means of transportation …therefore; many actions had to be made to get the new countries into shape. Some people who were living in one of the countries of the central powers (e.g. Hungary), had to live in another country speaking a totally different language and living a different life (e.g. Romania). This created minority grievances throughout many countries.
In conclusion, I think that the big three had done well in drawing up the treaty of Versailles, although they could have done better in certain areas…
