Last Horrible Triumph Analysis

President Woodrow Wilson had secured the political clout to establish foreign policy after World War I. However, the Europeans, especially the two major powers in Europe, England and France had the right to be circumspect of several aspects of Wilson’s plan. The German Delegation utilized President Wilson’s analogy that, “no single fact caused the war, but that in last analysis the whole European system is in a deeper sense responsible for the war…” (Comments of the German Delegation, 1919). European leaders could have taken offense to Wilson’s plan. President Wilson’s represented a nation that was protected by thousands of miles of oceans, and during the war the United States suffered no loss of infrastructure and economically their markets made money during the war. However, that was not the case for the European political leaders. They truly had an ax to grind against Germany. France with closer proximity to Germany than England elected to be protective and leery of Germany’s intentions after the war. Germany on the other hand was distraught over the terms laid before them by the Europeans at the Paris Peace Conference. The Germans believed they were being singled out, and that through the attrition of their sovereign territory they were losing vast economic resources and their ability to establish self-determination and self-preservation.

How Did the Versailles Treaty Help Cause World War II? The Great War, or World War I, was a war that took the lives of 10 million soldiers, seven million civilians, and wounded more than 10 million men, finally came to an end on November 11, 1918. After the war, a conference was held at the Versailles Palace, just outside of Paris, to hammer out a treaty. The Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau, of France, David Lloyd George of England, and the president, Woodrow Wilson, of the United States, were the victorious allied nations that came together and created the Versailles Treaty, where Germany was given no voice and Russia was not represented because they were pulled out of the war in 1917.

The last term that was placed on Germany during the treaty of Versailles was that Germany had to accept full responsibility for starting WWI (Doc D). Most of the German people thought this was outrageous because it demeaned their self worth. In turn this helped Hitler rise in power, because he restored a sense of self respect. Helping the world look at Germany as a better

With the Treaty of Versailles Germany owed 367 billion over the next 30 years for damage and civilian population. Germany was humiliated and angry, they paid very little in the 1920’s showing resentment of the payments. In 1933 when Hitler comes to power and stops all reparations (Doc c). Hitlers immediate response is to stop all payments breaking the Treaty of Versailles. His immediate response shows how he resented to payments and the other countries control they have over Germany and the humiliation.

Though his ideas of peace without victory are considerably useful in a world like this, France, Britain, and the other victorious countries may want that punishment on Germany for all the losses, grieves, and damages caused. Allegedly, Wilson's principles would be rejected because they are impractical and too perfect for a world like

Between the years 1919-1939, the Treaty of Versailles affected Germany in many ways such as economically, politically, loss of German territories, and caused Germany’s armed forces to struggle. The Treaty of Versailles was when Germany and The Allies signed a peace treaty, ending WW1. The treaty stripped Germany 25,000 square miles of land and over 7 million people. The treaty also caused Germany to go into a great depression.

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

After the war, all the countries signed a treaty called Treaty of Versailles which was a peace treaty between the countries in war. When Treaty of Versailles was signed Germany was asked to pay for all the reparations it costs for other countries. In article 232 in Treaty of Versailles it says “Germany has to compensate for their damage to the people. By land, sea, air…” (Treaty of Versailles). Germany lost all of it’s economy in paying off.

The Treaty of Versailles blamed Germany for the losses France experienced in World War I. The treaty required Germany to pay for these losses. Germany was required to pay France 132 billion marks in reparations. This fine was excessive in order to show that Germany was weak and to further weaken the German government. This caused inflation. The German government inflated the amount of money so much that it became so worthless that people used

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

An economic failure in the result to the treaty was hyperinflation. It occurred due to the given amount of reparation payments, which were up in the multiple millions. The war had left the German economy disastrous already, and inflation was rising quickly. The banks started to print more bank notes to solve the problem. The harsh effect, however, was that the money became worthless, as less goods were there to be sold, and so heavy inflation followed. Germany could only pay its first reparation with its industrial products (a prime source for employment, and exports, thus the stability of the economy.) so when Germany declared they couldn't pay the second instalment, the French invaded the Ruhr, the main source of industrial activity for Germany. The government's response was to encourage strikes; this only led two to things; less German produce, with workers still needing to be paid. In attempt to correct this, government printed even more bank notes. Heavy inflation soared to hyperinflation. The middle class saw their savings being brought to no value, right through to the workers not being able to buy a loaf of bread. This shows a chain of failures from the republic- it contributed to the commencement of hyperinflation, and therefore the invasion of the Ruhr- loss of industrial economy. Generally,

Their military was downsized to the maximum of 100,000. All weapons that remained from World War I were to be scrapped in efforts of disarming Germany. Submarines and aircraft were banned completely in Germany and only 36 ships were allowed to serve as the German Navy (Goldstien, Dillion, p.124,1988). Under the conditions of the treaty, Germany was also responsible for an estimate of 6.6 million dollars-worth of war reparations (Goldstien, Dillion, p.130,1988). In result of the high war reparations, Germany suffered great economic depression. Due to depression, the high rates of unemployment and severe inflation caused the people of Germany to become resentful toward the Treaty of Versailles deeming it’s terms too harsh. During these times of economic difficulty and doubt all throughout Europe, people were hopeful for leaders that were capable of reversing the severity of the current conditions.

At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the Allied victors had to decide the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers. The questions, which had been challenging the peacemakers, were the position of Germany in the current international system, whether it had to pay both in land and in reparations, and how could security could be provided without hindering the post-war stability. Another question, which soon was arisen, was how the French interests for security and diminishing

The treaty humiliated the Germans. The war-guilt clause forced Germany to accept sole responsibility for World War I. And although the German military had played a major role in igniting the war, other countries in Europe had been guilty of provoking political crises before the war too.

With their land loss and population decrease Germany was only able to pay 2.5% of their annual GDP for reparations(HANTKE, MAX). They were expected to pay 230 million gold marks which they could only offer 30 million gold marks (20th-century international relations). With most of their population missing and with less land they can produce less than they could before the war while they have to make more than before because of the war guilt clause of Article 231. That's why the the treaty is significant to the economic collapse of Germany and why some historians would believe that this was the root cause