1. The Versailles settlement quickly gained a reputation as ‘a Carthaginian peace’. What was meant by this, and was it a fair and accurate assessment.
The Versailles Peace Treaty was signed in June 1919 after the First World War by the victorious Allies and defeated Germany and was intended to punish Germany for what was seen as her war guilt and to prevent her from becoming powerful enough again to disturb European peace. It was called a Carthaginian peace in the first instance by Jan Smuts (a member of the British Delegation at the Peace Conference in Paris) in a letter to Lloyd George dated 16th March 1919[1] and in 1920 by John Maynard Keynes (also a member of the British Delegation) in his book The Economic Consequences of
…show more content…
Keynes, a liberal economist, who had been present at the peace conference in Paris thought Wilson’s principles were ‘wrongly conceived ....... and too little regard had been given to the economic realities’[5] but he looked on them more favourably than the eventual conditions in the Treaty of Versailles. Alan Sharp suggests that Keynes was torn between ‘fascination at the speed with which Lloyd George could absorb both atmosphere and complex briefs and disgust at his lack of fixed principles.[6] The British delegation containing on the one hand Jan Smuts, who took a more liberal stance on the Treaty and Billy Hughes, the Australian Prime-minister, who became the ‘most vocal exponent of a Carthaginian peace among the British delegation in Paris’[7] shows the divisions amongst the British delegation and possibly reflects the indecision in Lloyd George’s mind. He felt Germany needed to be left with enough room to recover and take her place in Europe but was anxious in the aftermath of the carnage of war that Germany should be seen to be punished. Italy’s Prime Minister, Vittorio Orlando, was not vociferous at the Conference but was asking for Fiume to be assigned to Italy but it had already been assigned to Yugoslavia. Wilson resisted Orlando’s request and he and the Italian delegation eventually gave up and removed
The treaty of Versailles was a treaty signed at the end of World War I by Germany and the Allies. United States, Great Britain, France, and Italy negotiated the treaty at the peace conference held in Versailles beginning January 18, 1919. The treaty reduced Germany’s armed forces to very low levels and prohibited Germany from possessing certain kinds of weapons, it also established Germany’s liability for reparations. The treaty was supposed to ensure peace and help Europe recover from the war. In my opinion the treaty did not help with any of those two subjects.
John May hand Keynes said “This treaty threatens the health and prosperity of the Allies themselves. By making impossible demands it leaves Europe unsettled than it found it”.
In the aftermath of World War I, during the years 1917-1921, President Wilson advocated the Treaty of Versailles, which called for the principle of self-determination, the formation of a League of Nations, and general amnesty towards Germany, as the solution for peace. However, his unwillingness to compromise led to widespread disagreement. The opposition forces in the U.S. senate consisted of the reservationists, who were willing to ratify the Treaty of Versailles with amendments, and the irreconcilables, who refused to join the League of Nations under any circumstances. If President Wilson was only willing to modify the language of the treaty, ratification may have occurred.
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.
The Treaty of Versailles was a formal peace treaty between the Word War I Allies and Germany. The leaders of Britain, France, Italy and the United States met in Paris in early 1919 to draft the treaty. President Woodrow Wilson presented his Fourteen Points, a series of measures intended to ensure future peace. The points included the formation of an international organization known as the League of Nation, which was adopted in the treaty. Representatives of each country signed the treaty in June 1919.
In his “World League” speech, Wilson describes the “Entente Powers” and the details of their peace settlement. However, by the time Wilson had made his 14 Points Speech, the “progress at Brest-Litovsk” had begun – the Russians were participating in the first true negotiations. However, Wilson takes a condemning tone in his 14 Points speech, where he describes the terms of settlement as proposing “no concessions at all”. These proceedings
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace settlement between Germany and the Allied Powers that officially ended World War I. However, the conditions in the treaty were so harsh on Germany that many believe the Treaty of Versailles was one of the main causes for the eventual rise of Nazis in Germany and the eruption of World War II. Part of the treaty commonly known as the "War Guilt Clause" forced the German nation to accept complete
The Republicans resisted the Treaty because they believed that if it were to be ratified, Wilson’s prestige would soar and he might even be re-elected for a third time (Bailey, 184). Thus, the Republican Party was against the Treaty of Versailles in its original form out of fear. Wilson fully believed that the Treaty was going to bring world peace, and regardless of this belief, the Republican Party voted against it because of who came up with it. Wilson fought greatly for it and said that if the Treaty failed that he would gather all the soldiers who fought in World War One and tell them “I told you before you went across the seas that this was a war against wars and I did my best to fulfill the promise, but I am obliged to come to you in mortifications and shame and say I have not been able to fulfill the promise,” (Wilson). Wilson was willing to take blame for the hypothetical failure of the Treaty of Versailles and the Republicans still voted against it because they did not want Wilson’s popularity to go up. Wilson believed so strongly in Article Ten that he believed that the League of Nations would justify the United States’ honor and bring peace to the world (Wilson). The belief that the Republican Party did not ratify the Treaty because they did not want to risk another Wilson presidency is absurd. This idea perpetuates the idea that if one person, in a position of power, strongly believes in something, then it must good. One can apply this idea to how strongly Wilson believed in the Treaty of Versailles, yet it was not enough to convince the Senate that the League of Nations’ Collective Security Covenant was a good idea. It was not the Republican Party’s fear of a third term of Wilson that caused the death of the Treaty, but Wilson himself. The belief that if
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.
President Wilson was seen as an the only idealistic person from the influential people in the conference. As a matter of fact the Treaty of Versailles is seen from historians’ point of views as one of the main reasons that lead to World War Two. The questions that remains a mystery is where is the peace that President Wilson wanted and promised for
World War 1, fought from 1914 to 1918, ended with Germany on the losing side, and Britain, France, the U.S., and Russia on the winning side. Many countries were unhappy due to the fact they had lost so much money and resources from the war, and vowed never to go through the terribleness of a world war again. Little did they know around 20 years later the second world war would begin. So France, England, and the U.S. Presidents met in Versailles, France to figure out how to gain peace. France was angry they had suffered so much from the war, and proposed Germany pay big sums of gold, land, resources, and reduce their military. This was agreed upon, and became known as the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was a factor that helped cause WW2 due to crestfallen Germany’s loss of money, land and military.
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
Georges Clemenceau says “ Germany should be brought to its knees so she can never start war again.” The is his only view according to Chris Truman. Woodrow Wilson had been shocked by the devastation from the Great War. Wilson wanted to leave Europe to its on and to concentrate on U.S. instead of worrying about everyone else. He wanted to keep all input in and out of Russia to a minimum.
Assess the impact of Woodrow Wilson’s fourteen points on the Paris Peace Settlement and determine whether Wilson was successful in his goals.
The Treaty of Versailles was the first treaty signed after the end of the First World War and it was a peace settlement between the main combatants in that war.