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The Impacts And Impact Of The Treaty Of Versailles

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The treaty of Versailles was an agreement drafted after the Paris peace conference of 1919. At this conference the Allied Powers - consisting of Britain, Italy, France, Japan and the United States, as well as many small nations - met to discuss the future of the Central Powers -Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey - after the First World War, as well as a way to achieve peace. As a result of this conference a number of settlements were drafted, including the Treaty of Versailles. At the time that the treaty was written it was popularly considered unjust. In fact the German population considered this not to be a treaty but a “diktat” or dictated peace. However, many post modernist historians would agree that the treaty was not nearly half as …show more content…

There had been an agreed upon figure for reparations to be paid at the time that the treaty had been written, and thusly Germany had to write blank cheques to the allies until a figure could be decided upon. These reparations not only included payment in gold but also in goods such as coal, cattle and chemicals.This term was not well thought out as to the impacts it could have throughout the world. This part of the treaty was ill-conceived due to the fact that Germany was almost completely unable to earn income. She was not permitted to trade with other countries and therefore could not sell goods to others to earn foreign dollars. Germany was not allowed to combine with Austria to help her economy to not fall. Germany’s industrial lands which earned a large portion of her income had also been taken away so there was no way for her to earn money. By being unable to earn income Germany could enter a state of inflation. Should Germany’s economy crash so would the rest of the world because Britain would be unable to sell goods to Germany and therefore could not buy goods from France. This ripple would not only continue though Europe but eventually reach …show more content…

As well as the high sums of reparations were expected to be paid yet all Germany’s ways of earning income were taken away and she could not trade with other countries in an attempt to earn foreign exchange nor could she combine with Austria to keep her economy from crashing. While it may have been argued that this is just the way that wars end, for the time it was a harsh punishment for

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