The Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was drawn up by the Allies (Britain, France

and the U.S) and in the end was designed to humiliate and weaken

Germany; it made demands far more than Germany’s resources and in some

cases even directly stole the rights to Germany’s resources. However

it definitely delayed the start of World War 2 even though it may have

partially been the cause. In this essay I shall demonstrate the main

arguments for both sides of the argument and show whether or not it is

fair.

The Germans would definitely say that the treaty was unfair, and they

have many facts to back up their cause. They would say that all the

terms of the Treaty were designed to weaken and humiliate them. If we

start with the “War Guilt Clause”, we can immediately see that the

Allies completely blamed Germany for the War, this was unfair as much

responsibility should have been placed on Germany’s Allies and even

Britain and France were partly responsible.

The German citizens (and especially the children who were later the

soldiers in World War II) were blamed and punished for the actions of

their leaders. This led to much anger and could have helped cause the

Second World War.

The German army was limited to 100,000 men; they had to destroy all

but six of their battleships and all their submarines. All their

aircraft were dismantled and conscription was forbidden. This

destruction of Germany’s military left them feeling weak and

vulnerable. This was another of the acts of deliberate humiliation

which made the Treaty of Versailles unfair.