To What Extent was the Treaty of Versailles a fair treaty that could keep the world in peace after WWI?

Some territorial changes were also made. Germany was forced to disclaim large area of its territory. They included Alsace-Lorraine which had been seized from France after the Franco-Prussian War in 1871; The Saarland was put under the administration of the League of Nations for 15 years, the coal extracted there was to go to France. All territories received by Germany from Russia under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk were to be returned. Germany was also forced to give up its colonies; those in Asia including Shandong were given to Japan, Australia and New Zealand and those in Africa including Cameroons, Togoland and Tanganyika were handed over to Britain, France, Belgium and South Africa.

At the time of the signing, many thought that the Treaty did nothing to pacify or permanently weakened the Germans. Because of this, the treaty of Versailles was widely expected to lead to future conflicts. French field marshal Ferdinand Foch claimed ‘This is not peace. It is an armistice for twenty years.’ Sure enough, just slightly over 20 years after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles WWII started and became the most widespread war in human history.

Throughout Germany, the majority found that the treaty was too harsh against Germany and Germany did indeed refuse to sign it at the beginning and claiming the war guilt cause ‘a violation of honor’. On the other hand, Germany had no other options and finally signed the treaty under a new government.

3. Evaluation of sources

The 20th Century World Causes, Practices and Effects of Wars written by Kelly Rodgers and Jo Thomas provides a detailed comprehensive account of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles which was signed at the end of the WWI. The main purpose of this book is to link the terms of the Treaty to all the events in WWI since the source also covers the events from the cause of the war to the end of the war. This book is also used as a teaching material and is rather unbiased since it covers the both school of thoughts of the historians views on the Treaty. The book’s value includes that it covers many of the events happening during WWI, in-deep look of the Treaty itself as well as the view of different historians. It provides knowledge from different people and historian’s view to avoid any biased information. This book helped me a lot for the analysis. However, the book might be limited by the fact that the book includes mostly secondary sources and not many primary sources like speeches and articles produced during the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

4. Analysis

At the time the Treaty of Versailles was signed, there was already strong criticism, not just from the Germans but also from among the Allies. The ‘war guilt clause’ really outraged the German population since a war cannot be started by a nation. It was caused by various of factors but still the Germans were to blame. The allies did not attempt to ease the tension between the nations, but trying to benefit from the Treaty by making Germany paying the lost. Some historians do believe that the Treaty ignores the economics solidarity of Europe and by aiming at the destruction of the economic life of Germany it threatens the health and prosperity of the Allies themselves. Not only could Germany not pay the huge reparations bill but by taking away Germany’s coal and iron resources, it also meant that the recovery of Germany’s economy was impossible.

 The Germans were also insulted when their army was forced to be reduced to 100,000 men since they really admired and respected their troops. For a country with this huge population 100,000 army was really too tiny. The Germans under such a failing economy could not even keep an army to protect themselves. They felt extremely humiliated and violated.

Another very important decision of the treaty was that Germany was not allowed to join the newly formed League of Nations. The peacemakers did not invite Germany, one of the most important countries into the new League aiming at keeping peace. It now meant that Germany saw herself as the outsider of Europe. The feeling of the population was disappointed and the League did a really wrong decision of letting one of the most pierce nations out of the League.

The Treaty of Versailles made Germany look like the looser of Europe. It left her all alone suffering on herself without any help or plans of cooperating together to bring back Europe’s economy or maintaining peace. The treaty was seem mostly by the historians as a main reason for the rise of Adolf Hitler and the outbreak of the WWII. The treaty outraged the Germans instead of trying to maintain peace within Europe. To some extent it d not help to promote peace but was one of the major factor leading to the greatest war in mankind history – WWII.

5. Conclusion

The Treaty of Versailles was a very controversial treaty signed at the end of WWI. Some believed that it was a treaty harsh enough to contain the Germans while some believed that the harsh terms in the treaty would only create more tensions in the future. From this investigation it seems that the Treaty of Versailles was a main factor leading to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the outbreak of WWII. It totally destroyed the German’s hopes and motivated Hitler to bring together the population to rebuild their country. The Treaty of Versailles failed to end a war but was an unfair treaty that enraged the Germans. It was unquestionably an unfair treaty that failed to do what everyone in Europe wanted.

6. Bibliography

• "World War I - Treaty of Versailles." YouTube. YouTube, 15 July 2010. Web. 06 Nov. 2012. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKzZ1OwPXgk>.
• General Hubert Gough, 11th November, 1920, speech at a Union of Democtratic Control
• Kelly Rogers, Jo Thomas, 20th Century World Causes, Practices and Effects of Wars, (Peason, 2010), 75-77
• Mrjportman. "Treaty of Versailles." YouTube. YouTube, 05 May 2009. Web. 08 Nov. 2012. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbok5tQICes>.
• Wright, Chris. "Treaty of Versailles Etc Fast Facts!" YouTube. YouTube, 06 Feb. 2008. Web. 08 Nov. 2012. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP3VhTRsoBE>.