The Treaty Of Versailles

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The Treaty Of Versailles

On June 28th, 1919, Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of

Versailles in the hall of mirrors, within the palace of Versailles,

practically against her will. The Treaty, having been made up by the

Triple Entente leaders Lloyd George and George Clemenceau, and Woodrow

Wilson of the USA, was unfair to Germany, but she had no choice.

Germany's options were to sign the treaty within 48 hours or be

invaded, but years of war had taken a toll on Germany and it could not

afford to defend itself. It was Germany who called for an armistice on

the day we know as Rememberance day and yet it was Germany who took

all of the blame for the first world war, and would end up starting

the second one. It is my belief that the three major powers behind the

Treaty of Versailles, were unjust in the terms of the treaty.

Many people were concerned about the harshness of the treaty and were

worried that the Germans would become bitter and fall into a deep

depression, and it was not far from the truth. One of the most

infuriating things about the whole situation, was that Germany was not

invited to the conferences and therefore was only able to sit and wait

until an agreement was presented to them. When the first draft of the

treaty was given to the Germans, they had three weeks to look over the

proposal and come up with their objections. Even then, very few of

their complaints were acknowledged, apart from some very slight

territorial readjustments. The treaty left a bitter taste in Germany's

mouth that would help ignite the anger and bitterness that was needed

to rise up again.

First of all, there were the political effects ...

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... and hardly any equipment to speak of, and there was

nothing that they could do about it. With no say in the amount of

reparations, the impossible amount of 6,600 million pounds was to be

paid by the Germans for the damages as a result of the war. The

depression that followed was probably the reason Hitler was able to

get people to believe in him and follow him. Politically, Germany was

as weak as she ever had been, making it easy for extreme groups to

come into power. The Treaty of Versailles would inevitably fuel the

anger needed for Germany to rise up and take back their dignity,

eventually causing WW2. I do believe whole-heartedly that the Treaty

of Versailles was cruel to the German people, whose government was the

one to blame for the war, and that the " Big Three" could have been

more lenient in their decisions.

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