Clemenceau resented Wilson’s generous attitude towards Germany and Lloyd George’s desire to not treat Germany too harshly. He said “if they British are so anxious to appease Germany they should look overseas and make colonial, naval or commercial concessions”. These disagreements left the big three unsatisfied and ultimately left them with a weak mere shadow of a perhaps great treaty due to their own arrogance and. It contained many faults and weaknesses. The treaty of Versailles greatly humiliated Germany forcing it to accept soul responsibility for the war.
The Germans had come to the table hoping to hear Wilson saying, “the equality of nations upon which peace much be founded on if it is to last must be an equality of rights..” (German Peace Delegation, p. 76) Instead they were hit with several Billion reichmarks in reparations, a reduced military and many other limitations politically, economically, militarily and territory wise (The Versailles Treaty, 1918). Germany was to blame for the war, as were all of Europe. However the old adage, to the victor goes the spoils. With such documents as the Zimmerman Note, one can only speculate on the terms handed down by a victorious
A lot of Germans thought that the Treaty undermined Germany though it was initially set up with the intentions of becoming a peace agreement between Germany and its allies. In 1918 Germany became a republic and the Weimar constitution took force on the 11th of August 1919. The Weimar republic, which was a democratic, yet flawed system, wasn’t well liked by Germany because it had signed the Treaty of Versailles. Another reason why the Germans had a negative attitude was because when the Weimar was signed many people saw the leaders and socialist politicians as “stabbing Germany in the back.” (Geary 1993: 14) The Treaty became widely known as Diktat because the Germans found it so oppressing and it was so humiliating. The Treaty of Versailles did many things to Germany, but some of the most consequential points of all were that; Germany was forced to accept the blame for WWI, it had to pay £6,600 million in reparations, their army was reduced to just 100,000 men and a lot of their territory was given up to Great Britain and France.
The politicians, who signed the peace treaty on behalf of Germany, were named and shamed as ‘stabbing Germany in the back’. This notion was emphasised by opposing political parties who were egger to take any opportunity to make these politicians look bad to the people of Germany. Germany was a militaristic state which and the republic was not going to succeed with so many opposing forces such as ex-soldiers who were willing to fight any rivals. The treaty of Versailles caused a profound sense of injustice and resentment amongst the German people therefore this translated into hatred of democracy. The treaty was not the only reason for the failure of the Weimar Republic, issues such as the period time and the great depression contributed to this also.
However Germany’s weak economic and political position between 1919 and 1923 cannot purely be put down to the Treaty of Versailles. Other factors such as the nature of the Weimar constitution and the threat from the right and the left of the political spectrum also played a role in the inevitable collapse of the Weimar republic and rise of the Nazi party in 1933. Nevertheless I feel that the Treaty of Versailles was the main blow to the Weimar Republic’s legitimacy as well as the most significant cause of Germany’s hyperinflation during the 4 year period. The Treaty of Versailles was signed in November 1919 by officials from the Weimar government. These men went on to be known as the November criminals, a clear sign of the resentment the German people had for the men that had effectively gave in to the allies as they saw it.
What nded World War 1 was the Treaty of Versailles passed by the Allied Powers, many believe this to also be the starting point of World War 2. Through research I plan on showing how World War 2 is a continuation of world war 1 and not a separate war all together. World War 1 would end with the defeat of the Central Powers which included Germany, Austria-Hungary, and The Ottoman Empire by the hand of Allied Powers including Great Britain, France and Russia. As a result of losing the war the allied victors planned to punish Germany by placing a strict set of restrictions and rules against them; named the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty placed blame solely on Germany resulting in loss of the Rhineland, also Germany had to demilitarize and pay back billions to allies as part of war reparations[1].
It was often the cases of self interest that these two nations resorted too. In Manchuria, Britain and France were unwilling to send their armies nor fleets, in Abyssinia, they did not close the Suez Canal , which could have stopped Mussolini's invasion and they did not ban important war materials such as coal, oil and steel. The USSR was the only country powerful enough to send troops to force the aggressors into accepting the League's wishes, but they weren't in the League. Without the USA, the League was permanently weakened. Had the USA been in the league, Japan wouldn't have conquered Manchuria and Mussolini would have backed off Abyssinia.
The Americans believed that their taxes would pay for the League of Nations and sanctions would be imposed to prevent trading, also many Americans were originally for Europe and came to America to get. There was also a large number of Irish immigrants living within America who hated Britain and didn’t want anything to do them. But on the other hand there are few examples of how America intervened within world affairs, one being the Monroe Doctrine 1923 devised by John Adams, Secretary of State. This was the principle of excluding European influence on Americans and Americans would not interfere with existing European colonies. Another important example of America practicing isolationism is their refusal to react to the Japanese sinking on the American gunboat USS Panay.
As a result, discontent brewed within Germany herself. When Germany accepted the war guild clause, they expected the inevitable treaty to be based entirely on Wilson’s fourteen points. The points were reasonable in the eyes of Germany, however, many were not kept and the treaty turned out to be the exact thing Germany feared from the start. Land was given away, the German military demilitarized and huge amounts of money to be paid in reparations. The result of what was, at least for Germans, an extremely unfair treaty, was that Germany was faced with extreme economical difficulties.
He frequently did not have a firm grasp on how things would turn out. One of the greatest Commonwealth defeats, at Tobruk, was a direct result of his interference. He felt that he could partially control Soviet actions by personal diplomacy with Stalin. In short, I don't consider Churchill's reactions as evidence that Pearl Harbor could reasonably be expected to bring the U.S. into the war against Germany. Second, why would a successful Japanese attack be more useful to Roosevelt than an unsuccessful one?