Was The Treaty Of Versailles Just?

        The treaty of Versailles was published and this is what it consisted of:

1. League of nations to be set up, this is one of Wilson’s points and was a covenant written into the treaty. Clemenceau decided Germany would be excluded. This would be great for Wilson Because it would mean America could near enough be in charge of the world, Clemenceau would be happy because Germany were excluded and Lloyd George would not really care.
2. Germany lost territory:

1. Alsace-Lorraine returned to France was agreed on by all. Clemenceau would be happy because Germany had been taking it off France for years and France had finally got it back. But Wilson and Lloyd George would be annoyed because it would give Germany another reason to feel bitter and want revenge
2. Polish Corridor as a free city under the league was one of Clemenceau’s points
3. All her colonies given over was one of Lloyd George’s points

3. Germany blamed for starting war was agreed on by all (War guilt Clause)

50955900. Germany to pay reparation for civilian damage was agreed on by all, but Clemenceau would have wanted maximum reparations. Lloyd George and Wilson would be glad with this because it was still a lot of money but not too much so Germany would not feel as bitter.
50955901. Military limitations

1. army to be long service and limited to 100,000 men was agreed on by all
2. Navy to be limited and no submarines was one of Lloyd George’s points

50972536. No air force was agreed on by all
50972537. The Rhineland buffer state which was to be permanently demilitarised and occupied by allies for 15 years and was agreed on by all but Clemenceau was not happy because after fifteen years Germany would be allowed in there anyway. But the other two wouldn’t really mind because they got to have joint control over it and Germany wouldn’t be able to invade France

6. No Anschluss with Austria was agreed on by all                                

The Germans did not feel that the treaty was just, they thought that they were unfairly punished. They did not feel that they had started the war and did not think that they had lost either. They did not think that they had lost because they were still in a dangerous position, they only signed a cease-fire because they wanted to negotiate peace. Germany were horrified with disarmament because now they were defenceless from any attack and felt that before signing the treaty they were in a position to still fight. Their army that had now been reduced to 100,000 men was one of their great prides but now it is gone. The loss of territory was a blow to both their economy and pride but what else was annoying was that while their territories were being taken away the British were increasing the Empires. Germany were further insulted as they had not been asked to join the league of nations. They did not feel they solely started the war so why should they pay for all the damage and the people had little food therefore would not be able to eat. The Germans did not feel that Wilson’s 14 points had been used,  for instance German speaking people were being taken to other countries to be ruled by non-Germans. The Germans had to agree to the treaty because otherwise their army would have fought to death and then the Germans would have been forced to sign anyway, so by offering to sign it before they had fought saved a lot of peoples lives. Germany, at the end of the war were in a bad way, they felt they had no future and could never recover.

France’s opinion  was that the treaty was unjust, they felt that Germany had been let off lightly.  The French public felt cheated as Lloyd George (Britain) and Wilson       (USA) because they had not treated Germany harshly enough.  The main two reasons for their concerns was that Germany initiated the war, therefore should be responsible for paying for all the damage done, they would have only paid for civilian damage.  Also they were annoyed because Clemenceau failed to get the buffer state permanently under the control of France. Instead he accepted the treaty of Guarantee: if France was attacked they would promise to intervene. So the allies had joint custody of the buffer-state for 15 years when it would be under no-ones control again.  They were also annoyed that no figure was fixed in the reparations and Clemenceau had failed to get the war time alliance as they did not accept the guarantee and France had less population than Germany and were less industrialised so they had a great fear that Germany would recover and France have a grim future.

Britain believed that the treaty was just, they were satisfied that the treaty was fair to all the countries involved and welcomed Lloyd George home.  Britain did not feel threatened by Germany the way that France did and they also got some of Germany’s colonies.  Former German Colonies became mandates that meant that they were controlled by the league of nations so France and Britain controlled them.  Many Britons felt sorry for Germany so they favoured Lloyd George because he hoped to reconcile Britain and Germany in the future.

 Americans mostly had the opinion that the treaty was unjust but didn’t really care, and the Americans lost all interest in European matters. They wanted to go back to where they were in 1917, this was known as isolationism. Wilson did not believe in isolationism and thought it essential America became involved in European matters. Wilson thought the treaty was unjust, but still thought Germany should be punished, just not as harshly as it said and he thought he could easily put the treaty right after a few years. The treaty of Versailles and Guarantee were both rejected by the senate

Conclusion

In conclusion and answer to the question: Was the treaty of Versailles just, depends on the nationality. Germany thought that it was unjust for many reasons. In priority order they are: The War Guilt Clause, Leading to them having to pay reparations, this is the most important because it would surely kill many of the Germans, ruin the business and spoil Germanys chances of recovering.

The fact they didn’t believe they had started the war in the first place and they were in a good position, this though is not more important than the above because even though they were in a position to fight they could not possibly of won.

Disarmament was the next because it meant Germany never had the chance to defend themselves and their army was one of their main strong points and it was their pride.

The next to were really just a blow in their pride, being left out of the league of nations and their loss of territory the latter being more important towards their strong belief the treaty was unjust.

So generally Germany thought the treaty was unjust and would affect their country permanently, never allowing them to recover and probably starving most of their people.  

France however believed the opposite of Germany, they believed that Germany had been treated lightly so they also thought the treaty was unjust, the main reasons for this is that: they had only to pay reparations for civilian damage, not everything used or ruined in the war as France had wanted.  France also feared that Germany would recover because they had twenty million population advantages over France and France was less industrialised.  

The second main dislike France had about the treaty was because Clemenceau had failed to achieve three things that France wanted: a continued wartime alliance with Britain and America, the Rhineland buffer state under French control and military costs under French control, also no total figure was fixed.  France therefore generally feared what their future would be like if Germany recovered and due to Clemenceau had no grounds to withstand a German attack in the future.

The general American opinion about the treaty was that they didn’t really care, but if forced would probably say it was unjust. Wilson thought it was unjust because it treated Germany too harshly, even though he still wanted them to be punished.  Wilson had put his faith in the league of Nations to improve Germany’s position in the future but America had decided not to join the league because of isolationism.  So generally America were to involved in trying to get themselves back to the position they were in, in 1917 to worry about European problems and any treaties connected with them.  

In my opinion the treaty was just.  It dealt with Germany reasonably harshly and gave France a good chance to withstand any German attacks in the near future related to the bitterness from the war, yet gave Germany a chance to recover because of the reductions in the estimated sum of the reparations and satisfied Britain, as they got some of Germany’s colonies.