Was The Treaty Of Versailles Justified?

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Page  of                 Phil Cox-U4KJM

Was The Treaty Of Versailles Justified?

        The Treaty Of Versailles was an agreement between 32 nations deciding the fate of Germany. It was needed badly as war torn Europe was in turmoil. France had been devastated by the effects of war and sought to cripple Germany. The British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, realised the severe implications that this could have and so wanted a more lenient peace treaty. The American public had little interest in Post War Europe but their President, Woodrow Wilson, wanted a Germany that would make a good neighbour in Europe, hence his fourteen points.

        To reach a compromise a meeting was needed at the small palace of Versailles, not far from the French capital, Paris. Here the leaders of ‘The Big Four’, Orlando, Clemenceau, Wilson and George, representing Italy, France, Britain and America respectively, tried to find a lasting peace for Europe. This meeting was intended to bring stability ad peace into a crippled Europe.

        

The date set was June 28th, 1919 and the members of 32 nations met up, in a council of 10, to agree on terms of peace for Germany, however none of the defeated nations were present at this meeting including Russia whose Government was not acknowledged by the Allies. The treaty was to last for 12 months and was to be a long and arduous task, even impeding Wilson’s health, but what was the outcome and was the treaty justified?

The Treaty of Versailles had two main issues on which it focused: Germany's post war territory and also the amount of reparations Germany must pay. In the East, Germany was literally split into two parts. The Allies decided that the nation of Poland should be given access to the sea, so they formed the "Polish Corridor." Poland gained a lot of territory from Germany, including a port on the Baltic, Danzig (Gdansk in Polish.) This isolated the region of Germany known as Eastern Prussia, which includes the city of Königsberg.

In the Western part of Germany, more changes were made. France gained the much sought after region of Alsace-Lorraine. The northern part of Schleswig was given to Denmark, an area that had been contested since the time of Bismarck. Belgium also gained the provinces of Eupen and Malmedy. The Rhineland was to be occupied heavily by allied forces, giving them control of such major cities as Cologne, Bonn and, Frankfurt, and putting troops at the gates of Dortmund and Stuttgart. Most importantly, the Saarland was placed under international rule, and control of its valuable Ruhr coalfields were given to France. In Article 50, Point 34 of the treaty it was determined that after 15 years, the Saarland would be allowed to hold a plebiscite to select,

  • Maintenance of the regime established by the present Treaty,
  • Union with France,
  • Union with Germany. Germany's borders had been diminished and the country was now split in half by the Treaty of Versailles.

Germany was also punished in regard to its colonial and imperial power. During the war, Germany had control of many small islands and archipelagos in the South Pacific. The Treaty of Versailles gave these islands to Britain and Japan. In Africa, France gained the Cameroon from Germany and Britain was given German East Africa and German West Africa. All German assets in other colonies were to be immediately dissolved into the current government of those colonies. Finally, Germany’s military was to be greatly reduced in size. The Treaty mandated that Germany's standing army could be no larger than 100,000 men. In addition, their Navy was reduced, and according to Article 198, “The armed forces of Germany must not include any military or naval air forces.” Germany's army was, in effect, useless, and without an air force, the Allies hoped that Germany would be unable ever to wage war.

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The Treaty of Versailles also charged Germany with the task of paying heavy reparations. The treaty set up a reparations committee that would meet sometime in 1921 to determine reparations for Germany to pay. Until then, Germany would pay $5,000,000,000 due May 1, 1921.

The economic strain put on Germany was probably the single most important factor in increasing hostility of the Germans towards Britain and France. The Germans by 1921 had paid off almost half of the $5,000,000,000 charged by Versailles. Then the reparations committee finally met and determined that Germany should pay another $25,000,000,000, plus other costs, ...

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The author has a hugely impressive range of accurate knowledge and expresses his ideas well. There is perhaps too much background information and one side of the argument is more well developed than the other, but all important points are addressed with excellent use of evidence and confident analysis. 5 out of 5 stars.