Wilson believed the treaty of Versailles should punish Germany but not so harshly that it would someday recover and seek revenge. However Wilson’s main aims were portrayed> through his fourteen points. But perhaps his main goal for post war Europe was to strengthen democracy in Germany so the citizens would not let its leaders cause another war. France suffered enormous damage in WW1. When the war ended the general population of France wanted revenge on Germany.
The leaders of Britain, France and US agreed to bring peace to Europe and created a list of terms that ended WW1. These terms were known as the treaty of Versailles. The terms of the treaty mostly only applied to Germany and were really harsh on them. The treaty deprived 13% of Germany's land and demilitarized Germany's mainland, Rhineland. It also required Germany to pay 6,600 million Euros to countries that faced damages due to the war.
Because there were so many German-speaking people and “Self Determination”, the Sudetenland was thought to belong to a German leader. The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty that put an end to World War I between the allies and central powers. The policy of appeasement was one of the main reason World War II plunged. Appeasement is simply giving up land in order to avoid upcoming war. During World War II, there were many acts of aggression.
Although German signed the Treaty of Versailles, much to the disgrace of many Germans, admitting they were to blame it is undeniable that aggressive German foreign policy had a lot to do with the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914, but this neglects other factors that may have additionally added to the tensions leading up to the war. Many historians debate whether it was mainly Germany to blame or whether other dominant powers led them into a no-win situation. Source V, ‘Modern Germany’ by Volker Berghahn suggests that the Kaiser no longer saw foreign policy and civil war as separate issues and that they were now seen to entwine together. The mention of the 1913 Army bill that had aggravated many within the German society due to the growing distress over money and the status quo within the German political establishment, the argument over the tax burdens grew with every bill passed. These tensions started to disrupt their dual alliance with Austria-Hungary, even with a ‘Blank Cheque’ being given to them.
The British did not want to have war, but after hearing about the ultimatum that was sent to Belgium, Britain sent an ultimatum to Germany asking them to respect that Belgium was neutral. Germany refused, and on August 4th Britain declared war on Germany. In late August, Japan joined in on the war on the side of the allies. Turkey soon joined the war on the side of the Central Powers. By the end of 1914 the central powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and
If any of the triple alliance attacks either Russia or France, the other will send aid. Russia and France made this treaty because the triple alliance was too powerful to take them on individually. The whole thing went downhill when Russia not France began mobilizing their troops. When Russia began mobilizing, the Germans Callics of the Austro-Hungarian empire decided to declare war on both Russia and its ally France. Even after the Germans declared war, France did not wish to engage in war.
Georges Clemenceau wanted revenge. He wanted to be sure that Germany could never start another war again. Lloyd George personally agreed with Wilson but knew that the British public agreed with Clemenceau. He tried to find a compromise between Wilson and Clemenceau. Germany had been expecting a treaty based on Wilson's 14 points and were not happy with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
Yes, Hitler's aggressive foreign policy between 1933 and 1939 inevitably led to WWII. While other factors such as appeasement and the failure of the League of Nations might have encouraged Hitler to test the boundaries and to slowly bring about the start of the war, it was his foreign policy that was the root cause of the problem, as it triggered his motivation to expand German territory and thus angering Britain and France, both eventually declaring war on Germany. Hitler had stated in Mein Kampf, as early as, in 1924, that he wished to expand German territory, and his foreign policy was centered on that. Hitler also resented the Treaty of Versailles and he began to challenge its terms and slowly went about its destruction; this too contributed to the start of the war. The first step of Hitler’s foreign policy was to remove the limitations, which had been placed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles.
On the 6 July 1914 Germany had given Austria a “blank check”, which stated the support of Germany towards Austria. The “blank check” enraged the UK, which sent a telegram to Germany declaring that the UK would support France. The “blank check” was no accident, therefore, the tensions and ally system of WWI began before the war, meaning that war was yet to come. Although, Austria was crippled from past events solely wanted to destroy Serbia. Massie states that Austria believes it’s fractured and disintegrated state will be cured by annihilating the source of all of its problems, Serbia.
In the era of the World War I, for the deemed aggressor to take responsibility was not an unfair or preposterous idea. The “loser(s)” of a war had to admit full responsibility for their actions, and accept harsh reparations. Just a year ago, in 1918, Germany itself had imposed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk upon the new Bolshevik government of Russia. It is arguable that the Brest-Litovsk Treaty contained much harsher terms than those of the Treaty of Versailles; Russia was forced to give up Estonia, Riga, Lithuania, Livonia, and some of White Russia. The loss of these lands was particularly daunting for Russia since they were of great economic importance.