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The Versailles Treaty
treaty of versailles
the impacct of the treaty of versailles
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The Treaty of Versailles
In January of 1919, Woodrow Wilson of the United States, David LLoyd
George Great Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France, and Orlando of
Italy convened in Paris to Create a peace settlement that would put an
end to World War I -- a war which devastated numerous countries
throughout the world, and one that had threatened the chances of peace
ever existing in the future among the nations of Europe. Known as the
Treaty of Versailles, its goal was to restore a new nationalism
throughout the world by creating new states and forming new
boundaries. However, conflicts which resulted over dispute border
regions between Germany and Poland. Austria and Hungary, and Italy and
Yugoslavia, as well as the intense hatred towards the Allies and the
peace settlement itself, but the Germans clearly indicated that the
Treaty of Versailles had created more problems that it had solved and
laid the foundations for World War II.
Practically all of the nations involved in the war, fought on the
basis of selfish motives. Recognizing that most countries had
participated in order to acquire new territories. Woodrow Wilson, the
most idealistic of the Big Four that convened at the peace conference
in Paris, created a series of "Fourteen Points", which he believed
encompassed the main principles which would meet the needs of each
individual country. His main ideas included "open covenants of peace,
openly arrived at after which there shall be no private international
understandings of any kind."(2), as well as self-determination for
everyone because Wilson believed that "it is an imperative principle
of action...
... middle of paper ...
...ome involved in
a Second World War. However, some argue that perhaps if the provisions
of the treaty had been rigorously enforced, Europe would not have had
to deal with the many conflicts that it did, once World War I came to
an end. Because of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany suffered a
collapse of power and practically every Eastern European state was
left to deal with various minority groups that were destined to create
future problems. Said one architect after the war, "the old forms are
in ruins, the benumbed world is shaken up...We float in space and
cannot yet perceive the new order."(4) Truly, it was quite unfortunate
to all the nations involved, that a treaty which was meant to
reconcile major issues that had caused the war, subsequently resulted
in increasing problems which fueled the fire for the next war.
What started with an assassination of an Austrian prince unpopular in with royalty in Vienna and plotters in Belgrade ended in war. Four years of artillery, machine guns, and poison gas had ruined the countryside of Europe. Woodrow Wilson put the blame for dead millions at the feet of secret diplomacy, excessive armament, imperialism, and the lack of international cooperation. His plan for a lasting peace was presented to the world in the form of the Fourteen Points, some of which were present in the final plan for peace, the Treaty of Versailles, which faced internal opposition at home. It was the strength of this opposition, from self or fawning-historian labeled "progressives" to conservatives and isolationists, in conjunction with the intractability and incompetence of President Wilson that encouraged the Senate defeat of the Treaty of Versailles.
The United States had watched the fighting in Europe from a distance. One of the Allies, Russia, sustained great losses and signed a peace treaty with Germany. The treaty ended fighting on the Eastern Front. Germany began to focus on the Western Front and weakening Britain on France even more. The United States remained neutral even when Great Britain and France put pressure on it to join the Allies. Truman was re-elected in 1916 using the slogan “He Kept Us Out of War.” He did for a long time. When a German submarine torpedoed the Lusitania, more than a hundred United States citizens lost their lives. Germany apologized for the disaster and agreed to stop submarine attacks. In early 1917, they broke their promise and started sinking American cargo ships. On April 2, 1917, Wilson went to Congress and asked for war to be declared. War was declared and troops were sent to Europe. The policy of United States Isolation was over. War continued and ended on November 11, 1918 with the signing of an armistice. The Treaty of Versailles followed and was signed on June 28, 1919.
The Impact of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany The Treaty of Versailles was received very badly within Germany. The nation had been blamed entirely for the First World War and had been forced to pay compensation to the allies under the war guilt clause of the treaty of the. The war guilt clauses not only made the Germans accept responsibility for the war, but also cost them dearly. 10% of German lands were lost as a result, all of Germany's overseas colonies were taken away and shared between the allies and a massive 12.5% of the German population found itself living outside of the new German borders. The.
World War I was the most destructive and deadly war for its time the world has ever experienced. There was a great amount of effort put into insuring that it would not happen again. At the Paris Peace Conference the ground work was laid for a new safer, and more organized Europe. In doing so it was necessary to instruct new laws, and to reestablish boundaries of countries. This meant that the losers of the war, mostly Germany, would have to suffer the most. The resulting laws agreed on by all the attending countries were known as The Treaty of Versailles. The treaty of Versailles failed to ensure permanent global peace because Germany resented the terms of the treaty. Feeling as if the treaty were unfair, Germany became increasingly set on
World War One was a war of bloodshed and suffering that left Europe devastated after the war (History Learning Site, 2000). Woodrow Wilson, stated that The Great War was the war to end all wars (Sturgeon A., 2009). At the end of World War One, Woodrow Wilson came up with the Fourteen Points which was a peace plan to prevent all future wars (Sturgeon A., 2009). Unfortunately, not all of its recommendations were part of the final agreement known as the Treaty of Versailles (Bolotta A., Hawkes C., Jarman F., Keistad M., Watt J., 2000). The Allies wanted to take revenge on Germany by humiliating them for the cause of World War One (Sturgeon A., 2009). Without having any say, Germany was forced to sign the treaty and unwillingly signed it on June 28, 1919. This treaty led to the outbreak of World War Two because some land was taken away from Germany, they were forced to pay huge reparations for the damages and more importantly, had to take all the blame for World War One that angered many Germans (Pollata A., September).
Treaty of Versailles and Germans In the following essay, I will look at the terms of the Treaty of Versailles that was signed on June 28th1918, by Count Brockdorff (German Delegate) and why the people of Germany resented the treaty, which was made at the Paris Peace Conference, at the Palace of Versailles. Germany was not invited to the conference because the war was fresh in the minds of the' Big 3'' - Lloyd George (G.B.Involved in war throughout Wilson. - Most Powerful country) and Clemenceau (Most of the war fought in France. He was France P.M.)Britain and the U.S.A. were worried about the consequences of punishing Germany's too harshly.
The Treaty of Versailles was a violation of Wilson’s ideals. The Treaty is one of the most important agreements (or disagreements) that shaped 20th century Europe socially and physically. Woodrow Wilson on January 22, 1917 in an address to the United States Senate called for a peace without victors, but the Treaty signed by the participating nations was everything but that. The blame for the war was placed on Germany and justified the reparations that were outlined by the treaty for the war. The terms of the treaty were very harsh to the Germans and they took on great resentment. It was a fragile peace agreement that would be used as fuel to keep hostilities going 20 years later.
Imagine this: a child starts a fight on the playground in elementary school. After a nasty scuffle he is caught and brought into the principal’s office for punishment. Present in the office is the mother of a child whose arm was broken in the fight. She wants the child punished severely as restitution for hurting her son. Next is one of the children who stepped in to defend the victim. He wants the child punished, but not as harshly as the mother. And, of course, the principal. He stepped in at the end of the fight and broke it up. His only goal at this point is to make sure another fight does not occur. Welcome to the situation at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 at the close of World War I. Germany had started a major war, and it was up to the leaders of France, the mother country whose children were hurt the worst in the war; Britain, a major player in the fighting; and America, the authoritative party that stepped in at the close of the war to end it, to determine what punishment to inflict upon the aggressor. The result of these differing views is the Treaty of Versailles. But the results of the Treaty of Versailles were less than successful at promoting peace, to say the least. The effects of the treaty on Germany coupled with the American policy of isolationism at the time resulted in the rise of a terrible dictator and the beginning of a war even worse than the first. The United States’ approach to the Treaty of Versailles was shortsighted.
All of these factors integrated up to the commencement of World War II and they were all caused by the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles was the major cause of World War II. The stipulations of the Treaty of Versailles were categorically aimed at making Germany as impotent as possible. Certain components of the treaty took away German territory and distributed it to other countries or the territory was habituated to compose incipient countries. Areas like the Saar Basin and Upper Silesia, which were paramount to the German economy, were given to France and Poland, respectively.3 Poland supplementally received Danzig.4 Other territories that were ceded included Alsace-Lorraine to France, Eupen-Malmedy to Belgium, North Schleswig to Denmark, and West Prussia, which became ken as the Polish Corridor, to Poland.5 All of Germany’s overseas 1 colonies were ceded to the Allies as well.6 The Treaty of Versailles withal engendered the more diminutive nation of Austria in lieu of what had been Austria-Hungary afore the war and the incipient nation of Czechoslovakia from German land.7 The Treaty of Versailles emasculated Germany’s denotes of conveyance. It put Germany’s river system under foreign control.8 Along with Poland getting the area of Danzig, the Treaty of Versailles gave it control of the railroads and free utilization of the port there.9 The Treaty of Versailles supplementally injuctively authorized that all of the ships in Germany’s mercantile marine were to be given to the Allies and injuctively authorized that Germany must build ships for the Allies in the years to come. In additament the treaty put restrictions on Germany’s military. Germany was sanctioned an army of one hundred thousand and a navy of fifteen th...
At the conclusion of the devastating first World War, European nations had no interest in fighting another war; however, lingering feelings of animosity and aspirations for revenge on Germany would result in one of the deadliest wars in history. On January 18, 1919, delegates from thirty-two countries met in the Palace of Versailles, France to negotiate peace and determine the fate of Germany. After a year of heated debates, a series of severe sanctions were agreed upon. Germany lost all of its colonies as well as large amounts of valuable land that would be used to create new nations. War materials were forbidden and highly restrictive rules were imposed upon the military. The most humiliating article of the treaty, known as the War Guilt Clause, blamed Germany for the war and forced the Germans to pay an overwhelming sum of $35 billion for damage caused by the war. Though the Allies wanted to weaken Germany so that it could never wage war again, many world leaders feared that an overly punitive treaty could provoke feelings of revenge in Germany and consequently plunge Europe into yet another bloody war. (Beck 425-426) While German outrage was expected, the horrors that resulted from the signing of the treaty had consequences that left a legacy on the world. Though the Treaty of Versailles aimed to create a lasting peace after World War I, in Germany it led to the lack of faith in the government, an economic crisis, and the loss of considerable amounts of land, which in effect directly led to the rise of the fascist Nazi Party.
The Treaty of Versailles was a treaty created at the end of World War I, in hopes of establishing peace among nations. Although it sought after harmony, the United States’ Senate refused to ratify the treaty due to the distasteful idea of the United States’ involvement in the League of Nations, and Woodrow Wilson’s unwillingness to compromise with Henry Cabot Lodge’s revisions of The Treaty of Versailles.
The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, marks the day that WWI descended into armistice. However, the involved countries reached an agreement as to the events following the war on the 28th of June, 1919. The famous Treaty of Versailles was known for its role in ending war. But it was not known for being a double-edged sword, as the ending of war came with the consequence of causing future war. The Treaty consisted of uncontested biases due to Germany's unconditional surrender. The Allies held a gun to Germany's head, with their trigger finger tense. Each article of the Versailles Treaty only made Germany more restless, until 1933 when Hitler produced his own gun and pointed it at the Allies. The Treaty had a series of unproportional effects upon Germany and its people. It caused a rift between the two sides because of the alliances that it formed, brewing tension. The punishments enforced upon Germany were unrealistically huge and it increased the wish among the Germans for the nullification of the Treaty. Finally, the accumulated hatred amongst the people gave birth to potential for a revolution. The Treaty of Versailles is, therefore, an indirect cause to World War II, because of the alliances it caused, the punishments it enforced, and the hatred it developed.
World War Two was the most devastating conflict in the history of humanity. It crippled many nations and caused millions of people to die. One of the major causes of this disastrous war was the Treaty of Versailles which ended the First World War. This treaty was destructive towards the Germans. Germany had to pay large amounts of reparations to the Allied nations at the end of World War One resulting in a Great Depression in Germany. Additionally, the Treaty of Versailles’ war guilt clause forced Germans to admit full responsibility for starting the war. Furthermore, to gain the support of the German populace, Adolf Hitler adopted an effective propaganda campaign. Adolf Hitler employed a successful propaganda campaign to gain the support of the German people combined with the Treaty of Versailles harsh economic and political sanctions ignited World War Two.
Ellicia Chiu Mrs. Daly World History: Period 3 4/27/15 How Did the Versailles Treaty Help Cause World War II? The first World War is recorded as one of the “deadliest conflicts in human history”. With over 16 million dead, it was one of the first wars with a high amount of casualties. However, the one that tops the list with around 60 million deaths was World War II.
The Justification of the Treaty of Versailles At the beginning of this week, after months of negotiation between the ‘Big Three’, two German representatives arrived in France to sign the treaty sign the Treaty of Versailles, stating that Germany is blame for the Great War. The question is why have the Germans given in and signed the treaty and can the treaty be justified? The Germans were in an impossible position and had to sign the treaty. They basically had no choice as they were incapable of restarting the war again.