The Argument Against The Treaty Of Versailles

Though the treaty of versailles created peace and harmony in many nations after the first world war it left Germany to be humiliated and dishonored and to be worthless as a result Germany revolted, plunging the world into a second world war.

The Treaty of Versailles provoked WWII by demanding the obliteration of Germany’s army, huge sums of reparations, and total mortification of Germany. All of these factors drove Germany to get their own revenge, and show the world they were not

Even though World War I ended, twenty years later, another war starts and it is far worse than World War I. When the treaty of Versailles is Germany becomes bitter and will lead to future conflict. World War I ended November 11, 1918. Woodrow Wilson wanted to create the League of Nations “To settle future disputes and avoid war” but it did not stop the second war to start. How did the Treaty of Versailles help provoke World War II? The Treaty caused World War II by humiliating Germany by taking its land and making them lose resource, making them pay them back for reparations, letting them keep only 100,000 men in the army and loss of major territory.

The Treaty of Versailles formed after World War I forced Germany to pay great amounts in reparation payments, which was severely damaging to their economy and to their collective national ego. In addition, they were forced to greatly weaken their army by demobilizing, abolishing universal compulsory military service, and by having their army be comprised by no more than seven divisions of infantry and three divisions of cavalry. Furthermore, the country was also forced to return lands which they had viewed as 'Germanic' and had laid claim to, as well as overseas colonies, back to various other countries.

One of the terms that Germany had to meet was A large debt in gold for reparations to the other countries, Which was 132 billion gold marks (Doc C). Although they had to pay off reparations to other counties they did not have to rebuild bridges, roads, schools, and business as did their other allies. Germany had to suspend payments due to the Great Depression in 1931 also

World War I was one of the most brutal and bloodiest war ever fought in the early twentieth century. The war left ten million soldiers dead, seven million civilians dead, and another ten million people to be wounded (Background Essay). It was the Triple Alliance, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey, against the Triple Entente, France, Britain, Russia, and Italy (Background Essay). The war ended with the Paris Peace Conference where world leaders meet up to discuss about a creation of a treaty to settle the peace terms. President Woodrow Wilson of the U.S. simply wanted to create a League of Nations to settle future conflicts and to avoid war (Background Essay). However, Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau of France and Prime Minister David Lloyd George of England wanted even more; revenge and humiliation on Germany. They are forcing Germany to pay hundreds of billions of dollars for

The Treaty of Versailles said that the “war [was] imposed upon [the Allies] by the aggression of Germany and her allies,” (Doc D), which left no room for question on who the world blamed for the war. War is a very violent, vicious, maleficent thing, taking the lives of millions of people and injuring millions more; being told that they were in fault of all of this, Germans were not only bitter but they felt humiliated (Doc D). All of this guilt was burdened on the population of Germany, and they were robbed of yet another part of their beings: their sense of worth. Living day to day in a society in which they were drowned by the debt of their country to the countries they had been engaged in war with only reminded them daily of what they were in blame for. The people would undoubtedly hunger for a change, thirst for revenge, and live in the hope that they could be made into the great nation they had once been. Soon, Germany would be overtaken by enthusiastic feelings of a “restored sense of pride” brought by Hitler (Doc D). Under his guiding hands, Germany would be molded out of defeat into a country ravenous in the pursuit of rebuilding themselves into something significant to the

The Versailles Treaty was when the Big Four countries met together to see what could be done to help end the war and for it not to happen again. These Big Four countries were the ones that controlled the negotiations and made the decisions, people could make suggestions, but it was up to those countries. These Big Four countries were Britain, France, Italy, and the United States. These states were trying to get their wishes to come reality, and hopefully not starting another war. This leading to Germany becoming very weak and without a way to fight for a very long time, which was about 20 years. The Treaty of Versailles was actually a very big contribution for starting World War II.

Leah Griffin 3/6/15 HIST 121 Document Analysis Paper World War I played a key role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. After the devastating war, Germany was viewed as the main instigator and the European Allied Powers decided to impose strict treaty obligations upon Germany. This treaty, also known as the Treaty of Versailles, was signed by Germany and went into effect in June 1919 (“Treaty of Versailles, 1919” 1). The treaty forced Germany to give up the land it seized from multiple countries during the war and also forced Germany to recognize the independence of several others (“The Treaty of Versailles – 1919” 37-43). The treaty also forced Germany to agree to many other humiliating terms that did not rest easy with the German public

One of those restrictions that provoked the Germans was on there military. Germany’s army had been reduced substantially, which created a major impact on the Germans, “Germany was not allowed to have submarines or an air force. It could have an army of only 100,000 men and a navy of only 6 ships, and it was not allowed to place any troops in the Rhineland” (Doc B). Germany, at one point being the most feared military in the world with around 3,000,000 soldiers,was left with nothing. At this point in time, Germany had felt weak compared to its surrounding countries. On top of Germany’s army being decreased, according to History.edu, “it was Forbidden to use tank or heavy artillery.” This especially was important because the two items is what helped made Germany so powerful. Now that the Germans are filled with anger, Adolf Hitler tops it off with his speech about the Treaty of Versailles, “...Today they are the foes of the Republic...because this Republic was founded at the moment when Germany was humiliated, because it so discredited the new flag that men's eyes must turn regretfully toward the old flag… So long as this Treaty stands there can be no resurrection of the German people; no social reform of any kind is possible! The Treaty was made in order to bring 20 million Germans to their deaths and to ruin the German nation. But those

A third factor linking the Treaty of Versailles and the start of World War II was paying for reparations. Germany had to pay an enormous amount of money after the war as “compensation for all damage done” (Doc C). Told to pay what was worth 367 billion US dollars in 2010, the Germans were angry and humiliated. They payed very little, even after the amount was reduced. Once Hitler came to power all reparation payments stopped, and Germany only paid 2 billion marks in total (Doc C). The Germans were angry that they had to pay such reparations, and in economic trouble after paying so

“The Allies continued to regard the treaty as an international contract” (Doc D) Laurence V. Moyer, Victory Must be Ours: Germany in the Great War 1914-1915, 1995 since Germany accepted the fact that the war was caused because of Germany’s aggression and her allies, and caused all the loss and damage to the allies. After continuous years of the treaty, Germans saw the Versailles treaty as an “evil thing which must be destroyed,” and as an act of humiliation because they were made to be seen as a disgrace and cast off from other nations. When Adolf Hitler came to power, Germans admired him because he made them feel a sense of pride, reawakened a sense of self-respect and forced the world to look at Germany from a new perspective. (Doc D) Leading to a huge impact on why it helped cause World War II since Germany now saw how betrayed they were by the treaty, and felt the need to put their trust on a new leader such as Hitler, who could restore Germany into a powerful nation again, in their

The treaty of Versailles forced Germany to give up most of its land and population, limit its army

In December of 1918, The Allies of Europe met in Versailles to Sign possibly one of the most changing documents in history. The document they signed nearly turned Europe upside down, broke down and put up many new social barriers, and definitely made history. The Document that the allied forces all gathered to sign was known as the Treaty of Versailles. Initially, the treaty intended to keep peace between the nations, however, forcing Germany to sign the treaty ended up as one of the worst decisions anybody could have made. The forced signing created tensions between Germany and other countries, let Germany rise back up to Power, Created an optimal situation for Germany to wage war, and ultimately caused World War II, resulting in one of

The German’s did not react well to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Most notably, they were upset about the War Guilt Clause, which morally blamed them for the entirety of the war. In addition, their Navy began dismantling and only allowed to retain 36 total ships with no more than 1500 officers. The German Army would be limited to an all-volunteer force of no more than 100,000 and banned from tanks, aircraft, and artillery. They began payments of reparations, which severely disrupted their economy. From 1919-1923 the Germans endured a period of instability and hyperinflation.