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To what extent was the treaty of Versailles unfair

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Introduction

To what extent was the treaty of Versailles unfair? The Treaty of Versailles was created by Britain, France and the USA after WW1. It was intended to both punish the German nation, and prevent it from becoming a major European economic force and restrict military development. The measures imposed against Germany were �6.6billion in reparations, land which had rich sources of income, military restrictions, receiving the full blame for the war, and the taking away of Germany's colonies. In addition to all of this when the League of Nations formed Germany was not invited to join. As part of the conditions of the Treaty, Germany was forced into paying �6.6billion. This was to repay France for the billion pounds structural damage and the million fatalities caused. This fine was extremely punitive as Britain owed the USA $1billion, so part of the money was used to pay off Britain's debt. ...read more.

Middle

It was not just in Europe that German suffered territorial losses. All of Germany's overseas colonies were annexed by the Allies, either to become colonies or areas that were managed until independence could be maintained alone. In total, Germany lost over one millions square miles of land (28,000 of which had previously formed part of European Germany) and 6 million subjects. I think that some of this is fair as some of the land the majority of people were from a nationality other than German, but it is unfair how they were expected to pay this huge bill when they had had rich sources of income taken away in their land. The third part of the condition was the restrictions made to Germanys military. They were only allowed 100,000 men, 6 battleships and were banned from an Air Force and having submarines. ...read more.

Conclusion

The effect the blame had on Germany was that the whole of Germany's population suffered a stigma. To conclude, whilst it may be seen as correct that Germany was made to repay the countries affected by the first world war, the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles was extremely punitive, and instead of helping to reconcile Germany with its enemies, so much damage was caused to Germany, its economy, and its people, that without hindsight it was probably only a matter of time before someone rebelled against the decision of Britain, France and the USA. Germany was forced to accept these conditions as opposed to agreeing to them. This shows it was a very one sided deal. Germany were also not invited to join the League of Nations, so they were outcast and very isolated from the rest of Europe. And history shows what happened next... Stacey Heywood ...read more.

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