The Treaty of Versailles - was it unfair to Germany?
Charlie Hanson The treaty of Versailles I agree that the treaty of Versailles was unfair to Germany. The complete blame should not have been passed on to Germany and they should not have been forced to pay reparations when their economic situation was critical. The Germans were very angry about the armistice being signed so they were outrageously angry when the Treaty of Versailles was signed. They considered the Treaty to be much too harsh and unfair and they did not even believe that they should have lost in the first place. Germany, however, was not greatly angered with having to sign the Treaty of Versailles because they had expected it to be based on Woodrow’s fourteen-point plan. In which Woodrow proposed that there might be a United Nations where problems within the countries could be sorted without resorting to war. In the fourteen points it said nothing about punishing Germany for starting the war or loosing it. Whereas Britain and France were only interested in punishing Germany for
supposedly starting the war. Germany would have been happy about the Treaty being based on the fourteen-point plan and sort of expected it, so when it came to when Germany was given the Treaty they were very angry. Because they had expected and hoped the Treaty to be based on the fourteen-point plan so much it was even more of a let down when it was not, because they had built up their hopes only to be let down. A peace conference was called in Paris in January 1919, in order to write the Treaty of Versailles. Britain, represented by ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
supposedly starting the war. Germany would have been happy about the Treaty being based on the fourteen-point plan and sort of expected it, so when it came to when Germany was given the Treaty they were very angry. Because they had expected and hoped the Treaty to be based on the fourteen-point plan so much it was even more of a let down when it was not, because they had built up their hopes only to be let down. A peace conference was called in Paris in January 1919, in order to write the Treaty of Versailles. Britain, represented by Prime Minister Lloyd George, France, represented by Prime Minister Clemenceau, and America, represented by President Woodrow Wilson, all attended the conference. Germany however had not been invited and was not told about the conference. Germany had not been invited to the conference because England and France wanted to blame someone for the war, i.e. Germany. So if Germany were not there they could not defend themselves against the British and the French, it would have only complicated matter further if they had been there. They did not know anything about the peace conference so did not know anything that had been said at the conference so still did not know that the Treaty was not to be based on the fourteen-point plan. The Treaty of Versailles punished Germany very harshly in a number of ways and areas. One of these ways was militarily. Germany’s army was cut drastically to even less then it was before the war. For example the army was cut to only 100,000 and Germany could not own any armoured vehicles, submarines or any aircraft. This had a greater affect on Germany then it would seem at first glance. At first there is the job losses. During the First World War, Germany had about 2.2 million troops and to go from this to 100,000 troops had very serious affects. There was a much greater number of unemployed as there was not enough employment for them all, so these ex-troops had to be paid benefit. This money had to be raised by increasing the taxes. People no longer were given the chance to serve their country, as they had been able to before. Germany had been greatly weakened so in the occasion of war Germany would not be able to defend herself. Germany had been punished territorially also. For example land such as Alsace Lorraine which Germany had taken from France was to be given back to France, the Saar coal fields was given back to Russia, and Germany lost all of its colonies and territories, and were given to Britain and France. This was to cause great disruption in Germany. Financially Germany was greatly affected. Because land was lost, the population went down, so there were fewer taxpayers giving the government money. Coalfields and iron mines were lost which were great parts of German industry so there were less jobs and employees to employ people. Germany had less coal and iron, which she could use. Trade, upon which Germany had formerly relied on, had been dissolved. Families were split up and those who had formerly considered themselves Germans were now classified as French or Polish. Germany was literally slaughtered by the Treaty of Versailles financially. They were being billed the enormous figure of $6.6 billion, had they had to pay this figure, and it had not been changed under the Young Plan in 1929, they would not have stopped paying until 1984. Because Germany had recently been fighting in the war the country was in ruins. Buildings were in need of restoration and towns had to be rebuilt. All this required money, which Germany did not have very much of because it was all going into paying the reparations. Also the ex- army members needed benefit but they were being given any money because there was not any. One of the worst conditions of the Treaty of Versailles was the ‘war guilt’ clause. Germany had to take sole responsibility for starting the war and take all of the blame for the war. This may have been the most unfair because Germany had not fully started the war by themselves. Many Germans felt very bitter about this condition and it had a lot to do with the starting of World War Two. Not only did the Germans feel that they had not started the war, but they did not even feel that they had lost the war. They thought that they had only agreed to a cease-fire, and had not lost the war. Therefore they should not had been treated so harshly or been treated as a loosing state.
