Germany: The Aftermath Of World War I

The treaty of the Versailles was an agreement between France, England and the United states. Its intentions were to prevent a second world war however, it was a total fail. An obvious reason for not being effective could be because not everyone was included in the conference such as Russia, and Central Powers. Instead, Prime minister George Clemenceau had thought he would speak for all of europe and wanted to be the strongest of europe. Clemenceau seeked revenge towards Germany, in fact he desired most dismantle the best of Germany 's military and their nationalist pride. As for the United States, Wilson implemented the fourteen points which focused on self determination of people. Only few of his points were included in the treaty but these points had been the reason for conflicts happening in europe. Participation from everyone is important and not allowing everyone 's input could lead to negative outcomes such as, The league of nations which most likely failed because the United States wasn’t allowed to participate.

World War I was a period when countries faced economic, political, social, and cultural problems, which threatened the survival of democracy and freedom and needed a fast and effective resolution which was presented to the world by Woodrow Wilson called the Fourteen Points. The Fourteen Points offered the world a democratic resolute, that was effective, reliable and a basis for long lasting peace, unlike the Treaty of Versailles which was a non democratic approach to the problem since it contained a war-guilt clause which forced Germany to admit sole responsibility for starting World War I, although other European nations had been guilty of provoking diplomatic crises before the war, also the treaty excluded Russia which was a major

A second way in which it was a turning point was that Wilson set forth for a plan for “just and secure peace,” and not merely “a new balance of power.” His Fourteen Points outlined his vision for a safer and democratic world, whilst the proposal of an international organisation to serve as a forum against any future escalating conflicts emphasised this (The League of Nations). However, the European leaders ignored each of Wilson’s points one by one, forcing Germany to admit guilty to the war and pay endless amounts of reparations (The war guilt clause). The US Senate believed that any involvement in The League of Nations (part of the treaty) could place America at the forefront of oversea problems and therefore could not ratify it as it could be of no benefit to the country or its people. This fits in with her return to isolationist policy and the passing of the Neutrality Law in 1937. Therefore, The USA’s entry could merely be seen as a milestone as they entered the war as an associated power in order to avoid foreign

In January 1918, Wilson made a major speech to Congress in which he laid out "Fourteen Points" that he believed would, if made the basis of a postwar peace, prevent future wars. Trade restrictions and secret alliances would be abolished, armaments would be curtailed, colonies and the national states that made up the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires would be set on the road to independence, the German-occupied portions of France and Belgium would be evacuated, the revolutionary government of Russia would be welcomed into the community of nations, and a League of Nations would be created to maintain the peace. Believing that this revolutionary program required his personal support, Wilson decided that he would lead the American peace delegation to Paris, becoming the first President ever to go to Europe while in office. Despite Wilson's best efforts, however, the Treaty of Versailles, signed in June 1919, departed significantly

The many nations that were part of the Allied powers met in the Palace of Versailles in France to negotiate what would happen to the nations that were part of the Axis powers, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey. In the negotiations, President Wilson proposed and argued for his Fourteen Points. These points consisted of restrictions, land redistribution, and establishments that President Wilson believed would prevent war in the future. Among these points, he included the eradication of any and all economic obstructions and barriers as well as the establishment of a

The Fourteen Points was a speech that was given by Woodrow Wilson to be used as peace negotiations after World War I. Woodrow Wilson was president at the time and the speech was broadcast all over the world. There were fourteen points given in the speech, as the name implies. This was actually pretty unsuccessful because many of the countries wanted to punish Germany more so they only kept one point, the final one. This point established a league of nations.

World War I was raging and despite his desire and efforts to maintain America’s neutrality, German naval actions against American ships forced Wilson to ask Congress to declare war. In his capacity as Commander in Chief, Wilson chose General John Pershing to lead the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) that deployed to Europe to fight the Germans. At the conclusion of World War I, Wilson devised his infamous Fourteen Points, which included the formation of an international League of Nations, that he envisioned would be "a general association of nations...affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike”(Wilson) and would serve as a mechanism to prevent future conflicts. His Fourteen Points were meant to be a template for world peace and clearly demonstrated the influence and important role the president of the United States has over international relations. However, Congress rejected the Treaty of Versailles discouraging European involvement; an action that revealed the power struggle between the executive and legislative branches and demonstrated that while influencing and making important decisions, the president may not always have the power to enforce them. Due to Wilson’s involvement in foreign affairs the United States emerged as a major international power and presidents

The aftermath of World War I left a lasting impression on the 1920s because America entered the Great War later than the big European countries. This gave them an upper hand in their economic position since they did not spend as much money as France, Germany, and Britain did. This ignited their unprecedented affluence which had a domino effect in America’s society in terms of government’s relationship to business. Another effect of the First World War is the Red Scare and America’s prejudice and fear against the minorities shown through the immigration policies it established. These changes in the economy increased living standards, evidently seen through the consumer culture, progressive innovations, and increased consumption. This illusion of expanding prosperity came to an end with the stock market crash in 1929. This opened America’s eyes to their limits which make the 1920s a decade imperative for its legacy rippled throughout our history.

After WW1, Germany had nothing left. They signed the Treaty of Versaille causing them to lose everything. Germany was forbidden to have submarines or an air force. They were only allowed a navy of six battleships, and an army of just 100,000 men. They had to give up land and pay a huge amount of lump sum causing them to go into debt. Their economy was ruined and Hitler took this to his advantage. Germans were hurt and ashamed by the first major defeat to their nation in over a century and were looking for answers. Hitler was an extraordinary speaker and had the ability to convince the Germans. He convinced them that he could take them out of their misery. Hitler, who did "heroic" things in the war and who claims to have the answers. He talks of German pride and honor. He

In the fourteen points, Wilson arranged out the concept of getting nations not try and attempt to take benefit of different nations that was terribly realistic. However, the Treaty of Versailles was extremely meant to penalize Germany in an exceedingly heap of the way. As an example, it took a great deal of land manner from Germany even supposing the folks living on those bits of land were German. One of the main distinction is that the fourteen points were idealistic and conciliatory whereas the treaty of Versailles tried to penalize Germany ruthlessly. I suppose that one different factor to point out is that the treaty of Versailles failed to do away with colonies the manner Wilson would have found more suitable.

The early twentieth century was a chaotic and violent period that left Europe on the brink of total collapse. The aftermath of “the war to end all wars” was devastating. With seventeen million people dead, and twenty million wounded, World War I was one of the deadliest conflicts in human history. European leaders gathered at the Conference of Versailles in an attempt to broker a Treaty that would end the war, and help rebalance Europe. Yet, the Treaty was doomed to failure, as French representative George Clemence, and British representative Lloyd George looked to politically destroy Germany. Despite the fact that Austria-Hungary played a larger part in the war, these leaders held Germany almost entirely responsible, and used the conference as a backdrop to try to humiliate and destabilize Germany. Only President Woodrow Wilson, of the United States, sought to broker an agreement that was both fair and reasonable to the Germans, who began to see Wilson as their only hope against the vengeful French and British representatives. Unfortunately, Wilson could not garner peace, and his failure ultimately contributed to causing World War II. His inability to create a fair and reasonable Treaty cultivated German anger and resentment towards the rest of the world, and left them financially and emotionally vulnerable to the malicious dictator, Adolf Hitler.

President Wilson had “agree(d) that Germany needed to be punished for starting the war, but he wanted the punishment to be fair.” (Treaty of Versailles Background Reading, Line 30). This quote shows a treaty that is fair and just will gain peace. However, the treaty was created by the Allies which involved France, and France placed many unjust punishments on Germany. Therefore, President Wilson wanted a secure peace based on the Fourteen Points so the treaty would not cause Germany to start another war or attack.

In the early months of 1918, the dynamics of The Great War ravaging Europe changed dramatically. On March 3rd, Germany and the Russian Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, officially ending Russia’s involvement in the war and freeing Germany’s forces previously occupied on the Eastern Front . That same month, Germany launched an extensive attack in France along the Somme River, knocking a devastating blow to the Allies. By the summer of 1918, the United States had escalated it’s involvement in the war, sending over mass amounts of troops and coordinating with European powers to essentially back the German offensive into a position of little advancement. As Germany recognized its failing position in the war, the officials in the German High Command began quietly pursuing negotiations of peace and cease fire, not from their European counterparts, but from American President Woodrow Wilson . Germany was hoping to benefit from President Wilson’s ideals of peace and justice for all, ideals he had laid out publicly that year in a January speech outlining his “blueprint for a new democratic world order.” These Fourteen Points became the cornerstone of Wilson’s contribution to the peace negotiations following the armistice that ended the war in November of 1918. Focusing on the belief that an established system of democracy, communication and peace would prevent further atrocities like World War I, the Fourteen Points centered on equal representation and opportunity

It is known fact that on September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler led Germany to invade Poland so starting the Second World War. It is also accepted knowledge that he committed suicide at the end of April, 1945 ending the European conflict. Some say that his defeat was imminent while others say that the Nazi’s could have very easily won. Through years of book reading and History channel documentary viewing, I have come up with the conclusion to side with the latter group of people. While there are many points and events that if changed could have made an impact on the war, I will focus on the Germans lack of jet aircraft in the late war period as well as the absence of heavy four engine bombers at the

Several years before World War I, countries worked to build better armies and they started to look for new weapons to fight and protect their nations. One of the first, and main countries, to start building a stronger military were Germany and Great Britain. Since the Industrial Revolution they were able to start making weapons faster and cheaper. Also, the growing of nationalism and rivalry between colonies pushed this further. New idea of militarism, ideas from a growing their economy, and politics are what pushed these nations in their Revolution. The military gained more power of the civilian government and built more railways and increased capacity.