The French proposed the hardest terms of compromises, which wanted the destruction or the weakening of German power. The Treaty of Versailles was put together at the Paris peace Conference, with the “Big Four”, or Britain, the United States, France, and Italy, being the main signatories of the treaty and were responsible for Germany’s fate after World War I. Germany, however was not even invited to the conference and just had to agree to their terms. Its terms includes Germany accepting sole responsibility for causing the war, under Article 231 or the “War Guilt Clause” . They had to pay for all the war damage, it limited their army to 100,000 troops, it denied them submarines or an air force and was limited to only six large ships , they
The Treaty of Versailles & WWII DBQ The Treaty of Versailles had the most direct impact on the general German acceptance of the Nazi Party, which in turn caused World War II to break out. While it was not the sole cause, if such harsh terms had not been imposed upon an already struggling post-war country, a war of the scale that the Second World War was might not have happened at all. David Lloyd George and Georges Clemenceau both wanted to ensure a strong Germany would never return, and given the great losses from both sides this is understandable, however giving such a nationalistic country with barely a military to protect themselves will only produce one thing: rebellion. While the Treaty of Versailles ended World War One, since it took land, restricted military, needed large reparations, and demanded an admittance of guilt from Germany, it set the stage for a bigger war and was one of the
World War I ended with the Treaty of Versailles, a treaty that was largely negotiated by the Allied Powers - primarily Britain, France, and Russia - and whose purpose seemed to be the punishment of Germany, who had been part of the Central Powers. Germany was widely blamed for causing so much destruction measured both in lives and monetary value during the war, and once they lost, the victors imposed harsh sanctions and restrictions on German trade and military. Germany was unfairly used as a scapegoat at the end of the war, and did not deserve the restrictions and blame put on them. Such restrictions were morally and ethically unfair, and left Germany no room to rebuild their economy after a war that left them in shambles. During his
Even though it wasn’t their fault that the war started, the Big Four countries made them sign something that claimed it was their fault and they admitted it. In Document C, it says that Germany was forced to undertake the responsibility for all the damage that was done to the Allies. This made Germany very mad because they also had loses and they didn’t start the war in the first place. In Document D, it states that Germany had to take full blame and accept the consequences, also, that Germans saw the Treaty of Versailles as an evil thing and that it needed to be destroyed, this starting the Nazi party and for Hitler to rise in his power for all the countries to look at Germany as something else, more powerful, and for the countries to fear
World War 1, fought from 1914 to 1918, ended with Germany on the losing side, and Britain, France, the U.S., and Russia on the winning side. Many countries were unhappy due to the fact they had lost so much money and resources from the war, and vowed never to go through the terribleness of a world war again. Little did they know around 20 years later the second world war would begin. So France, England, and the U.S. Presidents met in Versailles, France to figure out how to gain peace. France was angry they had suffered so much from the war, and proposed Germany pay big sums of gold, land, resources, and reduce their military. This was agreed upon, and became known as the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was a factor that helped cause WW2 due to crestfallen Germany’s loss of money, land and military.
The Treaty of Versailles was a major event in the 1920’s that was largely responsible for the events to follow, including the rise of Hitler and World War 2. Woodrow Wilson came up with a fourteen point plan of how to end the war with fairness and lasting peace. Germany was willing to accept the consequences because they trusted the treaty would be based off of Wilsons’ plan. Unfortunately for Germany and her allies, there were meetings with the four main allie leaders at Versailles to determine the final terms of the treaty without them. These men were determined to punish Germany, excluding Wilson, and hold them completely responsible for World War One. The consequences for Germany were unreasonable and unfair because Germany was not able
1. According to the authors of Germany’s complaint. The various provisions of the treaty hurt Germany’s economy by forcing Germany to accept full responsibility for the damages caused not only by the Germans but also by everyone associated with them and the damage that was caused. As stated in the article, Comments of the German Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 President Wilson recognized in his speech of 1916 “no single fact caused the war, but that in the last analysis the whole European system is in a deeper sense responsible for the war, with its combination of alliances and understandings, a complicated texture of intrigues
Germany was blamed as the cause of the war and had most of her privileges revoked in terms of military force. The treaty was supposed to prevent another outbreak of war and resolve any other conflicts in Europe at the time. Woodrow Wilson was originally against this plan, believing Germany should only gain a smaller consequence and keeping the idea of “open arms” (similar to Lincoln’s plan vs the Presidential plan) but later agreed as the rest of Europe believed it was Germany who deserved to be heavily penalized. This agreement allowed for a short period of peace, until Germany declared that it was unfair for her and her subjects to have to abide by such specific
Ultimately, all the nations associated with this peace treated came to the conference with different aims. Each country had suffered differently in the war; therefor, their desires were dictated by the extent of their suffering. Ultimately, the Treaty of Versailles was created to make Germany obligated to pay for the damage they caused in the war, give up their colonies and its armed forces. The treaty also abolished Germany’s air forces and practically redrew the map of Europe. This peace treaty was biased against Germany and caused anger and humiliation throughout their
“The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.” However this statement was not the end of Germany’s humiliating troubles and as a matter of fact, things were going to get much worse. The war guilt clause had been fundamental basis on which Germany was required to pay 6.6million euros in addition to supplying raw materials to the Allies free of charge.3 However, Winston of U.S.A did not want Germany to be punished to the point of destitute where the nation will crumble and be worthless which lead to the real dilemma posed at Versailles which was “How much, at her utmost capacity, can Germany pay?”4. It was decided by U.S.A, Britain and France, who all held differing views upon the matter of placing Reparations on Germany. France wanted to cripple Germany as much as possible due to their geographic annihilation during the
The Treaty of Versailles was penned during the Paris Peace Conference, mainly to decide upon Germany’s consequences for beginning World War One. When Germany signed the treaty, it lost a tenth of its land to surrounding countries. Not only did they lose part of their country, but they also lost their overseas territories, including Chinese ports, Pacific Islands, and African colonies. One of the actual causes of the war was that Germany wanted ‘a place in the sun’, and requested
In Eyewitnesstohistory.com, Signing the Treaty of Versaille the author briefly explains both sides of the story during the Paris Peace Conference from how cruel and unfair it was to the Germans while showcasing the naivety and ignorant belief of the Allied forces as they have complete faith in the true ending of the war. President Woodrow Wilson presented multiple options such as the Fourteen Points and the League of Nations. However, many disagreed with Wilson’s ideals and this and many other disputes led to anger during the creation of the treaty. Despite this, “The Big Four” came up with the German’s punishment which was stripping a large collection of the German army and the pre-war territory while being forced to pay war reparations. In
Treaty of Versailles: The treaty of Versailles was imposed on Germany on June 28 1919 by the Allies. France, Great Britain, the United States and the other allies demanded that Germany dismantled their military, only allowing a token army and navy and forbidding them an Air Force. Germany had to give up some of its lands to reconstitute Poland, and accept military occupation in its remaining territories. The treaty also contained a “Guilt Clause” required that Germany accept responsibility and promise to pay reparations to compensate the victors for their losses, but no amount or period of time was set for this clause.
The Treaty of Versailles ended the First World War between Germany and the allied powers. Because Germany had lost the war, the treaty was very harsh and unforgiving against Germany. Germany was forced to “accept the responsibility” of starting the war and had to pay the allies a whopping 6,600 million pounds, which at the time was a staggering amount of money.
France was very resentful when coming up with this peace treaty. The top three major component parts of the treaty were its attack on German military, territory, and the economy. The Germans were forced to downsize their military to one-hundred thousand men, to turn over all their submarines, and get rid of their air force completely. The second component forced Germany to lose West Prussia to Poland, causing Germany to now be divided in two. The treaty also took away Alsace and Lauren, two territories that were the very heart of German industrialization. Most of their coal came from this land. The third and the most obscene, was the so-called War Guilt Clause. This declared that Germany was to blame for starting the war and ordered Germany to pay reparations for the damage to the governments and their people because of the war. These reparations racked up to be thirty-five billion dollars. Thirty-five billion dollars was an enormous amount of money back then to anyone, let alone a country who has been just at war itself. Germany was already in its own debt because of this war and now on top of that, they now had to worry about paying for the other countries debt. This treaty put a lot of pressure on Germany. After Germany’s first payment of two and a half billion marks both Germany and France realized that Germany just could not pay the reparations on time. Germany was facing financial problems making it
Germany was given 3 weeks to accept the terms. If it was not accepted, continuation of the war would be inevitable. The Treaty of Versailles is widely known for its essentials to end the war, but it inflicted harsh terms on the Germans as well. Germany was forced to give up 13.5% of its 1914 territory (including land taken from Russia in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and a lot of vital industrial territory), its army was limited to 100,000 men, German use of heavy artillery, gas, tanks, and aircraft was banned, Germany 's navy was restricted to shipping under 10,000 tons, Germans weren 't allowed to use submarines, and Germany was forced to pay $55 billion in reparations. The $55 billion the Germans needed to pay was one of the harshest term of the treaty. After the Germans gave up this money, unemployment struck and Germany slowly collapsed as a whole, and the German people accepted Hitler’s rise to power under the motto that he was going to help Germany become a power and avoid war (he obviously didn’t). This treaty received mixed reactions.