The German argument over the 6,600 reparations that was told them in 1921, was that they had no money to pay it. They had also a lot of damage as the Allies, so they would go bankrupt, which they later did. They had no air force, submarines or tanks, the navy limited and the army only had 100,000 men, and this German argument was they had no means to defend themselves from attacks, which may come. The German’s anger was not good and Lloyd George thought that in later years this treaty would bring about another war. The French wanted the rhineland to go to them but the treaty settled on being demilitarised, the Germans opposed this idea as well, and I agree, the Germans could not defend themselves if attacked and innocent civilians would die when it could have been prevented. They lost lots of their Empire and all of their colonies in other parts of Europe but mostly civilians lived there and there were a vast number of British or French colonies there to fight them, if they rebelled. From the Germans point of view there was an act of disgrace. Germany was annoyed because they thought the Treaty was going to be mostly Wilson’s 14 points when it wasn’t they got very angry and the revenge built up, they were very angry with France and Britain. If the Treaty was less harsher it wouldn’t have dragged on with the payments and the arguments and Germany might not of had that much revenge stored away. All the countries could have learnt to live with each other and concentrate on the problems in their countries, like poverty.
However, from the reaction when Russia had a revolution and pulled out of the war, this might have not been the case. Germany were very harsh on Russia and they took away their land and made them pay. Maybe Germany, if they had won would have done a worse treaty and therefore should be punished. France did have a good point when they said that they should have most say in the treaty because the war was all fought on their land and they had the most casualties including innocent people. Frances’s argument against Lloyd George and Woodrow Wilson was “America is far away, protected by the ocean. Not even Napoleon himself could touch England. You are both sheltered – we are not.” Germany was dangerous and could start another war. If they were poor and had no back up from countries overseas’. What would be the point because France would be thriving again because of German’s money and they would have their land so Germany would get destroyed which would lower their morale even lower, which the German people the did not want. France still didn’t think the treaty was harsh enough, they wanted Germany to be split up and their army gone. Clemenceau thought that the treaty was a weak attempt at punishment and that Germany was getting off lightly. In another war before the First World War Germany had taken Alsace Lorraine, an important area, from France. This was reason even more to punish them. Clemenceau was angry with Wilson because he was making the treaty last longer by getting all the other 32 nations to have a vote on the terms of the treaty.
The German people were very angry and upset because they felt like they had been stabbed in the back by the allies. The blank cheque was a term that Germany most opposed and so was the clause 231. The country was full of panic, they had to sink their fleet, pay money, which they didn’t have and lose lots of countries. France did not believe Germany when they said they had no money to pay so Germany thought that the only way would be to print lots of money which was higher in value than it was before. This idea had one flaw, they printed too much and the money became worthless and prices were inflated. They went bankrupt within a few months. France by this time had had enough, so they invaded Germany, looking for money. Britain and America did not get involved, they refused. The Germans got even more angry with this but sill they couldn’t do anything about it.
Looking back on my research I still feel that the treaty of Versailles was very harsh. Even though I feel that France were in some ways right in their pursuit of justice. It built up revenge on Britain, France and the USA, which would be dangerous in a few years. If the treaty had been kinder to the German’s then there wouldn’t be so much anger built up over the years. This treaty could have been a main factor why the Second World War started, therefore I agree with the statement but I feel that Germany were treated fairly to some extent.
