Treaty of Versailles Igcse Notes

Another organisation which was also created, to prevent war, was the League of Nations. This consisted of a group of countries; the four most powerful countries that joined were Britain, France, Japan and Italy. Although the

The league of nations was created by the winners of WWI and was intended to prevent future world wars. The idea was created by the US president Woodrow Wilson. The League of Nations was supposed to be a council that included all the world nations to discuss topics and keep peace. This organization failed in stopping WWII. The League had multiple opportunities to stop the second world war, but failed miserably. The League of Nations had very limited authority on countries such as Japan, Italy, Germany and the USSR. “The main weapon of the League was to ask member countries to stop trading with aggressive countries”(Wheeler). The League of Nations was treated as a joke and could not enforce any of the rules that they set. The League had no authority because they had no army to threaten the aggressive countries. Additionally, countries such as Italy and Germany were not part of the League and therefore had no obligation to listen to them or make peace talks. If the League was set up in a better format and way to work it would not have failed and they could have been able to stop the second world

The treaty of the Versailles was an agreement between France, England and the United states. Its intentions were to prevent a second world war however, it was a total fail. An obvious reason for not being effective could be because not everyone was included in the conference such as Russia, and Central Powers. Instead, Prime minister George Clemenceau had thought he would speak for all of europe and wanted to be the strongest of europe. Clemenceau seeked revenge towards Germany, in fact he desired most dismantle the best of Germany 's military and their nationalist pride. As for the United States, Wilson implemented the fourteen points which focused on self determination of people. Only few of his points were included in the treaty but these points had been the reason for conflicts happening in europe. Participation from everyone is important and not allowing everyone 's input could lead to negative outcomes such as, The league of nations which most likely failed because the United States wasn’t allowed to participate.

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.

Almost all nations desired to completely destroy Germany and make them work almost like slaves (Doc 3). The other nations act as if they had no part or fault in the war when in reality they were part of it just as much as Germany. Great Britain, France, and Italy all wanted revenge and saw this as their opportunity to get it. The treaty caused restrictions to their military and also made Germany lose their territory and colonies. The fault was entirely placed on their shoulders and the weight only became greater with the treaty. Germany was also not the one to start the war but yet were accused of it

Document A discusses this by showing a map of what the geography of Germany had been after the Versailles Treaty terms, with Alsace and Lorraine, their main production of coal, now in possession of France. To put it another way, the process of Germany being stripped of some its land through the Versailles Treaty’s terms had provided an opportunity for the Germans to initiate war in order to regain their land and resources back, along with power. However, this is not the only instance of this, another document validates that the Versailles Treaty had helped cause WWII through its unjust terms. That document would be the famous book created by Adolf Hitler himself, “Mein Kampf”. In this segment of the book, it can be paraphrased that Hitler feels Germany is naive for believing that the Versailles Treaty will solve the conflicts between all of Europe, instead he recommends that Germany goes to war in order to destroy the unjust terms that oppress them because the restoration of Germany can only be achieved through blood. In other words, Hitler is saying that Germany needs to fight in order to rid themselves of the restrictions imposed by the Versailles Treaty because any peaceful means are flawed. Consequently, it can be inferred that because of the Versailles Treaty, it allowed Hitler to persuade Germany to fight to made the restrictions of the Versailles Treaty void all the more easy and because of this Germany becomes more of a threat thus making the nations ally and fight creating

What if you were forced to pay a neighbor millions of dollars and do anything they wanted you to do? When Germany lost World War I. The Treaty Of Versailles was established by, the United States, Great Britain, France, and other allied states to impose on Germany's territory military, and finances. The Treaty Of Versailles supported the cause of World War 2 by forcing Germany to pay unfair amounts of reparations (Document C).

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

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

Germany was responsible for a large portion of damage inflicted during WWI. This lead to the Versailles Treaty obligating Germany to pay reparations to repair the damage inflicted during the war. Articles 232 and 233 of the Versailles Treated required Germany to pay a $341 billion in a thirty-year period. At first, Germany felt angry and humiliated for having to pay these reparations, so they decided to pay an insignificant amount of money each time they made a payment. (Doc C) These reparation fees have upset Germany increased the rising tensions between Germany and the Allied

After March 31, 1920, the German Army would have to make size changes to its troops so it would “not exceed one hundred thousand men” (Document B). Germany was greatly affected by its strength and it became one of the weakest countries before Hitler went into control. The treaty succeeded because Germany could no longer fight back. Germany argues with the Treaty, but cannot argue. France developed more rapidly while Germany’s military was dwindling. France had everyone under control with their six million troops (Document B). France took over Germany at the start of the treaty. It was likely the money Germany was supplying for the damages went to the advancement and development of France’s military. During this time period, France had control over every country with the size of its military. This shows how the Versailles Treaty at first was succeeded and slowly started to lose its

After the war the French wanted to destroy the German economy. The French wanted control of the German coalmines. But Wilson would not agree. He was looking out for the Germans economically. Premier Clemenceau called Wilson pro-German which obviously hurted the President. (p.29) With this going on President Wilson was self-determine to do his best for the redrawing of Europe. Most leaders in France believed the way to weaken Germany without hurting it economically was to move Germans under rule of other nations. Most of these small states have never set up a stable government for themselves and adding large amount of Germans to their native lands could be dangerous. This is one way how Wilson and his delegates were violated.

According to Chris truman, “ David Lloyd George had two view on how Germany should be treated. If George showed any signs of weakness towards Germany he would have quickly been voted out of office. “ Hang the Kaiser” and “ make Germany pay” were two very common quotes in the time of the versailles treaty. George was concerned about communism rising in Russia and had thoughts that it might spread to western Europe. George felt that Germany was the only thing that could stop communism if it spread into Russia.

The Treaty of Versailles was a way to bring down Germany, according to France. France would be able to take back its territory due to Wilson’s fourteen points and also copied into document seven. France got back Alsace-Lorraine and was able to work its coal mines. In the aftermath of the war, France

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,