Why do people have different views about the Treaty of Versailles?
People have different views on the Treaty of Versailles as it had different impacts on different countries. The Germans felt that the Treaty of Versailles was unfair. They felt that they were being blamed for the war and they believed this was unfair. They believed the Treaty of Versailles was unfair for several reasons. Firstly they were blamed for the entire war. Secondly they lost so much land for example the Alsace-Lorraine went to France, in total the Germans lost 10% of European territory and population, the German also lost colonial territory in Africa and the pacific. The Germans lost a lot of land but they also felt it was unfair as their army was reduced to 100,000 men only and tanks were not allowed, an air force wasn’t allowed, they were restricted to 6 naval ships and no submarines. The west of Rhineland and 50kms east of the river Rhine became the demilitarised zone, where no military activity is permitted. Also Germany faced a big financial loss; coal from many Saar was a big loss, also Germany was not allowed to unite with Austria to form a super state on top of this Germany was forced to pay big financial reparations. The sum of the reparations was huge and came to 6,600 million of which a large amount of it went to France and Belgium to repair the damage done to the infrastructure during the war. Overall Germany had a negative view on the Treaty of Versailles as they felt it was unfair.
France had a different view on the Treaty of Versailles, they felt that Germany did not get severely punished and felt that the Treaty of Versailles was not harsh enough. The Germans had attacked France twice and caused the death of over 2 million French lives. They wanted revenge on the Germans and expected Germans to get a bigger comeuppance. Georges Clemenceau of France, he felt Germans should punished so hard, that they can never begin a War again. Clemenceau the French leader and the French public both believed this, the French leader had seen the North East corner of his country being destroyed, and had a strong belief that the Germans will never be capable of doing this again. Georges Clemenceau did not have to change what he believed, he spoke what he believed to the public and the public supported him and believed the same.
On the other hand Britain had a different view on the Treaty of Versailles. Britain’s leader David Lloyd George was extremely clever. The British public wanted revenge on the Germans, as the political leader of Britain, George required the support of the public, otherwise he would have been voted off. Therefore George told the public what they wanted to hear, for example “Make Germany pay” and “Hang the Kaiser” were phrases commonly said among the British after the war ended. The leader of Britain perceived himself differently to the public and told them what they wanted to hear, to remain in power, however George had other thoughts that he didn’t share publically. He believed that with the rise of communism in Russia it may spread to the Western Europe. He didn’t want Germany to turn to communism and he felt communism was a bigger worry to his country and the world than a defeated Germany which the British public wanted. Germany was the only country to stop the spread of communism if it went through to Russia. David Lloyd George believed that Germany should be punished to a certain extent but not fully, like the public of Britain wanted. He felt that Germany should be dealt with in a clever way, only partially punished because he still wanted Britain to trade with them.
How far would you agree that the world was a better place after World War 1? You should consider both sides of the question and refer to the end of the war, the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations in your answer?
I only partially agree with this statement that the world was a better place after World War 1. The reasons I agree that the world was a better place after the war ended was because countries like Turkey and Czechoslovakia gained independence and were free from other countries. Also in the short term there was a less likelihood of another outbreak of war as the Germans were limited due to the Treaty of Versailles as there army and machinery and other powerful things were limited to them. Also aims to keep the world in peace were introduced, agreements as well as treaties were introduced for example the League of Nations however this was only for the short term and it did not prevent the outbreak of world war two. The map of Europe was transformed as Hungary and Austria became separate nations. Countries like Germany and Russia lost control of these different nations.
