The Treaty of Versailles and World War II

Following the end of the First World War in 1918, the treaty of Versailles was drawn up with a goal to obtain lasting peace in Europe. “The Big Three,” British Prime minister, Lloyd George, French Prime Minister, George Clemenceau, and American president, Woodrow Wilson met to finalize the agreement. Without input from the Central powers, the treaty largely villainized Germany and Austria Hungary for the war's devastation. The Treaty of Versailles, a flawed document, failed to diminish Germany’s resurgence and yielded a resentful nation. (Treaty of Versailles -- an Overview). The agreement stripped Germany of its colonies, devastated its economy, disarmed its military, as well as charged the nation with full blame for the conflict. (For further consideration).

What responsibility did each of the “Big Three” have for the failure of the Versailles Treaty to bring peace to Europe? Be sure to discuss what each wanted to accomplish.

In 1914, Germany and Austria-Hungary allied against France, Britain, USA and Italy in World War 1. The war resulted in resentment towards the Germans. Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States, established a treaty that would bring everlasting peace. For the Germans however, the treaty served as a punishment, as they were required to accept the responsibility for causing all of the damage. Germany was angered by the treaty as they would have to pay for reparations and take responsibility for everything. Territorial losses, militarism, economic reparations and blame were all causes of World War II.

WWI and the Versailles Treaty had only a marginal (limited) relationship to the world Depression of the 1930s

One of the most important documents ever, The Treaty of Versailles was proposed to be a peace settlement between the victorious Allies and the defeated Germans at the outcome of World War I. The document was a major disaster and did not serve any of the purposes it was drawn for. The harsh provisions of the treaty along with its unfair orders to Germany led to the worlds most horrific leader come to power and also set the platform for another war. The treaty became a worldwide example of history how greed and injustice can lead to disasters no one thought possible.

The Treaty of Versailles was created to bring peace between nations after WWI. This investigation will answer the following question: To what extent did the Treaty of Versailles bring peace? In this investigation, the extent of the Versailles Treaty’s success will be evaluated by examining the period of its development, 1918, to the rise of Hitler, 1933. Several sources were used in this investigation including a number of books that look at the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and the reactions those terms triggered. Many sources, both primary and secondary, also examine how those reactions resulted in a failure in the attempt of brining permanent peace.

There were four main leaders during the Versailles Conference and they were: Woodrow Wilson, George Clemenceau, David Lloyd George, and Vittorio Orlando. Each of them had major goals that would benefit them since the war was on their land. Vittorio Orlando, the Prime Minister of Italy, worked to get the extra land for Italy. Originally, they would not have been able to do this since Italy was originally an ally of Germany, but they switched over to the Allied Powers in 1915 and declared war on Germany. Italy was promised land as a reward for helping out and switching over to the Allied Powers. David Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, asked for justice and not for revenge. He wanted Germany to pay for the damages done to Britain’s military, Germany’s colonies, and for Gremany to be stipped of its navy. He also helped Wilson and Clemenceau compromise. George Clemenceau, the Prime Minister of France, wanted both revenge and to punish the Germans. He wanted Germany to pay for the damage done during the war and to weaken Germany so that they could never invade France again. He also wanted Germany to give up Rhineland, Alsace-Lorraine, and the Saar. Lastly, he wanted Germany to be totally and permanently disarmed so that it could not attack other nations. Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States of America, just wanted to end the war by making a fair peace treaty. He devised the

After Germany’s defeat in Stalingrad, German soldiers retreated to Berlin where Allied soldiers from the West met them. Germany finally surrendered on November 11, 1918 and an armistice was declared. In 1919, the Big Four, which included Woodrow Wilson of the United States, David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France, and Vittorio Orlando of Italy, who is often excluded, met in France for the Paris Peace Conference to discuss a post-war treaty.[10] Although Russia had been a member of the Allied Nations during the Great War, they were excluded from the conference due to the Soviet Revolution, which scared the strong anti-communist US.Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points took center stage at the conference.[5] They outlined a peace that accomplished the United States’ goal of “making the world safe for democracy”.[15] Acceptance of this document as part of the Treaty of Versailles, which would officially end World War One, would prevent secret alliances between

What better way to follow-up “the war to end all wars” then with what would become the deadliest war in history, thus far? Whether or not war, in general, is inevitable is a solid question but whether World War II could have been stopped takes the cake. The Treaty of Versailles was signed at the close of the first world war and dictated the terms of Germany 's punishment. It reclaimed land for Poland, France, and Austria as well as restricted Germany 's military to 100,000 men, six battleships and no air force among other articles. Between these restrictions and Hitler’s racial ideology gaining a following, did the world really expect Germany to stay silent forever?

Which countries should become immediate members of the league of nations or at some point thereafter?

Lloyd George was the Prime Minister of Britain and more of a subtle approach to the treaty, but still believed Germany should pay for what they did. He knew the treaty couldn’t be too harsh; otherwise, Germany would try to get there revenge, and he also water to keep Germany as a trading partner, so he didn’t want Germany’s economy too weak to trade and was afraid that communism to spread to Germany.

Following the Treaty of Versailles at the completion of World War 1, Germany fell into a state of ceaseless economic and moral decline, and its people became increasingly dissatisfied with the nation’s conditions. Many historians agree that Germany’s circumstances were caused due to the extensive reparations it had to pay, however, at this stage, Adolf Hitler’s ideologies of racial superiority and his anti-Semitic views falsely led him to accuse the Jews of Germany’s problems. Using the race as practical scapegoats, Hitler began dictating ideologies of German nationalism and anti-Semitism through speeches - delivered to the like-minded individuals of the German Workers Party (later, the Nazi Party) - and later through his

¨Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.” These wise words were once spoken by the great leader Ronald Reagan. Once thinking through the quote, it is seen that without having conflict, it does not mean that there is peace, but peace occurs when you can handle conflicts with restfulness. The commencement of WWI started an event that would change many countries. The Treaty of Versailles was created with the intent to have a continuous peace. It essentially blamed Germany for the cause of World War I, which angered Germany, for they did not believe they caused the War. No one finds joy in being at the hand of a punishment. The average human makes over 700,000 choices in their lifetimes, one of them is bound to be a bad one. The Treaty of Versailles did lead to World War I because Germany was resentful due to being blamed, Germany's economy and country was left in ruins, and Germany had to pay several repercussions.

Following the Treaty of Versailles at the completion of World War 1, Germany fell into a state of ceaseless economic and moral decline, and its people became increasingly dissatisfied with the nation’s conditions. Many historians agree that Germany’s circumstances were caused due to the extensive reparations it had to pay, however, at this stage, Adolf Hitler’s ideologies of racial superiority and his anti-Semitic views falsely led him to accuse the Jews of Germany’s problems. Using the race as practical scapegoats, Hitler began dictating ideologies of German nationalism and anti-Semitism through speeches - delivered to the like-minded individuals of the German Workers Party (later, the Nazi Party) - and later through his autobiographical manifesto, Mein Kampf. Then, upon assuming leadership of the nation in 1933, he and Nazi followers systematically introduced an array of anti-Semitic policies, and in 1941 - following the onset of the Second world war - Europe saw the culmination of the Nazi’s ‘final solution’ to the Jewish problem, in which over two thirds of the European population of Jews were wiped out- a mass genocide, referred to collectively as the Holocaust.

The Paris Peace Conference took place in January 1919 at Versailles near Paris. The purpose of the gathering was to build up peace after World War I. In spite of the fact that about thirty countries took part, the agents of the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and Italy wound up noticeably known as the "Enormous Four." The "Huge Four" commanded the procedures that prompted the detailing of the Treaty of Versailles, a settlement that finished World War I. The Treaty of Versailles explained the bargains came to at the meeting.