The Treaty of Versailles was mainly intended as a punishment to cripple and humiliate Germany How far do you agree?

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‘The Treaty of Versailles was mainly intended as a punishment to cripple and humiliate Germany’    How far do you agree?

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties signed at the end of World War One. It ended the state of war between Germany and the three main powers Britain, France and America. These powers all had different intentions for the treaty and how punishing it was on Germany. France wanted to cripple and humiliate the country and Britain’s people wanted the same so Lloyd George had to follow these request but he still recognised the importance of Germany’s economy as they were Britain’s main trading partner America was the only power that were truly pushing for reform with Lloyd George’s 14 point plan however not many of his ideas were passed. The Treaty was incredibly harsh on Germany and it showed no sign of empathy, it was truly a treaty set t cripple and humiliate the country.

Article 231, the war guilt clause was definitely a way to humiliate the country. The Germans were outraged at being blamed for a war they did not start. It was well known that the war begun with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the people became angry with the Government for signing it. The German people, especially the soldiers also believed they had not lost the war which made the war guilt clause even harder to except with the thought that they still could have won. Germany not only in a bad state economically, had to except responsibility of all deaths, even their own. So while Britain and France were rebuilding their country and mourning their losses Germany were sinking further into degradation and not being able to mourn for their losses under the humiliation of knowing they killed them.

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Germany had always been striving for a bigger and more powerful country. In the years leading up to the war they had become strong with a Navy almost beating Britain’s respected and cherished fleet, a growing army and an empire they had always strived for. Britain’s main aim was to take this away and this was listened to. The navy Germany was proud of was reduced, their air force completely destroyed and their army reduced to a pitiful 100,000 men. There colonies were also taken away and given to other members of the Treaty. All these punishments were hugely humiliating ...

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