Was the Treaty of Versailles unfair to Germany?

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Natalie Barnicott 10 A

Was the Treaty of Versailles unfair to Germany?

 I personal think that the Treaty of Versailles was unfair to Germany in a variety of different ranges these include, the War Guilt Clause, Reparations, Disarmament, Territory losses and the fact that they had no say in the peace settlement.

 Germany were treated like children in the Treaty of Versailles they had no say to what the settlement was, they were just told to sign it (this was known as the dictated peace or in German Diktat). The Germans were not given the chance to decide their own future. This was against Woodrow Wilson idea that every country should have the right of Self Determination. The Germans were very upset about this because it was only the Winning sides that had the right of Self Determination. If the Germans had more rights and could put ideas forward then, then maybe there would not have been as many problems later. I think this is very unfair to Germany because the winning sides were making Self Determination a big thing for the other winning sides but when it came to the losing sides this was not applied Germany should have been allowed the same rights as the winning sides but there choices should have just been monitored by the winning sides.

 One of the main things that Germany was angry about in the peace settlement was the fact that they had to sign the War Guilt Clause saying that they agreed that they were totally to blame for the start of the war, which justified the losing countries putting great amounts of reparations on Germany and it's allies. The Germans totally disagreed with this Clause because they said that they were not the only country to blame, many other countries also helped in the start of the war and they should also take some of the blame, but what angered the Germans most was the fact that the War Guilt Clause justified the Germans have ridiculous amounts of reparations that would cripple the German empire and the country.

 These reparations finally amounted to a grand total of £6.6 Billion. This was an amount that would flatten the German economy and the chances are it would never be pay out in full and if it was then it would take approximately 70 years so it would not just be the people who were involved in the war but their children and their children's children. People believed that the Germans should have to pay reparations but the amount that was asked of them was just ridiculous. The German people were strongly against these reparations not just because of the extreme price but because it was based on the War Guilt Clause which Germany was strongly against because of their belief that they were not the only guilty party. I think that the War Guilt Clause and Reparations were totally unfair to Germany. I believe that they should have had to pay some reparations but the amount that they were expected to pay was a ridiculous amount. It would cripple their economy and it would be generations after the war that would end up paying it which could end up causing big quarrels between Germany and other European countries and could lead to another war. The Germans should not have been made to sign the War Guilt Clause because they were not the only country that was to blame many other countries were also to blame, this also could lead to problems in the future.

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 In the Treaty of Versailles the Germans were only given 6 battleships and a 100,000men for their army, they were not allowed any navy or airforce. The amount that they were allocated for their army was barely enough to defend their country inside against revolutions let alone if another country decided to attack them. This allocation made the Germans very angry because they were very proud of their army and it meant a lot to them, there was a lot of arguments within Germany as to whether they should agree to it but the Germans had their arms twisted and ...

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