According to the treaty, Germany was declared guilty of having provoked the war. Secondly, Alsace-Lorraine阿爾薩斯∙洛林 was returned to France. Besides, the province of Posen坡森 and part of East Prussia were given to Poland to form a corridor to the Baltic Sea. Danzig旦澤 became an international city under the League of Nations and Schleswig什列斯威格 was returned to Denmark. Estonia愛沙尼亞, Lithuania立陶宛 and Latvia拉脫維亞 which had been handed over by Russia to Germany by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk布列斯特∙利托維克斯 (1918) were to be independent. Moreover, the Saar薩爾 Basin, which was the great German coal region, was put under the control of the League of Nations for 15 years and its status would be decided by a plebiscite, and all German colonies were divided among the League members as mandates.
In addition, Germany was almost totally disarmed, with only an army of 100,000 men and a navy of 6 small battleships, no submarines and no airplanes. As a result, there would be a long-term effect because there must be no replacement of the existing army. Furthermore, Germany was forbidden to unite with Austria, and the League of Nations was set up; its aims and organization was set in the League Covenant契章.
To criticize the Versailles Treaty, it had both its merits and demerits. First of all, it helped the spread of nationalism and liberalism. Because of the principle of national self-determination, many new states were created. Besides, most new states and defeated countries became liberal republics. Moreover, the League of Nations created many humanitarian organs, e.g. Red Cross, World Health Organization and International Labour Organization. On the other side, it had its demerits. Firstly, the new states were too weak and unable to solve post-war problems and easy to be invaded by aggressors, e.g. Sudetenland蘇台區 by Hitler in 1939. Secondly, because of no invitation of the defeated countries and Russia to the Conference, it made them discontented and worsened the relationship between the western Powers and them. For example, Stalin of Russia never recognized the loss of the three Baltic States in the Versailles Treaty. Hitler in 1935-36 even ordered conscription, occupation of the Rhine, built up air forces, in 1938 annexed Austria, in 1939 annexed the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia and invaded Poland, which were all deliberate violations of the Versailles Treaty. Moreover, it also had effects upon the subsequent development of Italy and Japan. As for Italy, she was greatly discontented owing to her great losses in the war but inadequate territorial compensation. So the Italians supported Mussolini who emphasized a strong foreign policy. On the other hand, Japan’s occupation of Shandong山東 was recognized by the powers. This encouraged her aggression in China in the future. Meanwhile, the Chinese people were greatly disappointed with the unfair treatment and started the May Fourth Movement on May 4th, 1919.
One of the greatest mistakes made by the treaty was the harsh punishments on Germany. She alone had to accept the war-guilt clause and should be fully responsible for the outbreak of the war. Already Germany was weakened and humiliated by ceding land, abandoning colonies and accepting disarmament. The more serious blow was the large indemnity of £6.6 billion imposed by the power upon her. In short, the Versailles Treaty brought about great destruction upon Germany and it lowered her international status. Naturally, the Germany people felt discontented. Moreover, the Weimar威瑪 republican government was very unpopular and was considered to be weak as it accepted the Versailles Treaty. Also the huge indemnity further caused economic hardship to Germany. All these laid down the favourable ground for the rise of Hitler. So Hitler could manipulate the discontent of the people to come to power. He refused to observe the Versailles Treaty and later started World War II. G.M.Trevelyan says, “The rise of the Nazi regime and the unlimited rearmament of Germany have been the direct consequences of the insults and injures heaped for the conquered at Versailles in 1919”. On the other side, even the American people were discontented with the harsh treatment of Germany and showed opposition to the League of Nations. After that, the American Congress did not approve of the Paris Peace Settlement and even vetoed the motion of joining the League of Nations. This absence of the US made the Versailles Treaty liable to be violated, as France and Britain were declining. No superpower was able to contain Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. So, it is true to say that the Versailles Treaty sowed the seed of World War II. Lastly, it did not arrange methods to deal with the problem of economic recovery of Europe. The Powers only made the defeated countries pay indemnities. Thus, these countries were facing economic hardship in the 1920s and the whole of Europe was economically weak and unstable. After that, they could hardly survive the challenges of the Great Depression in the 1930s. Only the Soviet Union was not affected by the Great Depression.
All in all, the Versailles Treaty solved some problems brought about by the First World War but actually it created more problems which partly led to the outbreak of the Second World War. So, on the side on some victorious countries that had got national interests, they would think that the Versailles Treaty was a fair treatment. On the other hand, the defeated countries and Russia were dissatisfied with this treatment. Besides, even some victorious countries like China, the USA and Italy felt discontented with this treatment although this treaty was directly or indirectly related to them.
