It is commonly accepted that Germany were eager for a war, however in 1914 they were only responding to events in Sarajevo by agreeing to back Austria, as opposed to starting a war with no origin. The Germans also felt cheated by this treaty, because virtually none of Wilson’s ‘Fourteen Points’ had been included in it. On the 5th November 1918, Germany had accepted the Fourteen Points as the basis for peace and an armistice, however when the Treaty of Versailles was signed, the Fourteen Points had been largely forgotten. This shows Clemenceau’s’ and Frances’ determination to crush Germany as they were largely forced to accept charges that they knew would greatly weaken and inhibit them in the future as they tried to rebuild. Germany understood that they would have to ‘reduce weapon numbers’, however they did not expect to
This was especially the case for Germany as she was to reap the blame for the First World War. The peace treaties took place soon after the final bloodbath of WW1, emotions would have been raging which would have tainted some of the decisions made, and soldiers would have retired back to their homes and would have been reluctant to want to be involved in border shifting and disputes. The Allied countries wanted Germany to concur to a harsh settlement but the United States brought diplomacy into the situation. The treaties were not just and reasonable but without the United States, Germany would have been handed a much harsher punishment. The injustice of the settlement unintentionally gave birth to long term problems, including key events for the lead up to the Second World War.
Also, if Germany were still allowed a full army force the Germans could restart another war or attack a country, which is what they want to prevent. The Germans were forbidden to unite with Austria for the same reason as before, about preventing more war. Overall, I think that the ‘War Guilt Clause’ was unfair and having to pay the whole reparations, but I feel that the other parts of the treaty preventing them from communicating with Austria and limiting their army
The treaty would have been far more reasonable had the reparations been made smaller. To sum up, this term was very immoral and angered the people of Germany. The next term was Germany’s acceptance of war guilt. Germany was forced to admit full responsibility for World War One,
Was the Treaty of Versailles unfair on Germany? The Treaty of Versailles was essentially meant to be a peace treaty for all countries included in the first World War, but ended up causing huge amounts of conflict amongst Germany and the Allies as both saw the Treaty as completely different to each other, the Allies believing that Germany was treated fairly, whereas Germany thought she was treated unfairly and her punishments were unjust. The Germans certainly thought they had been treated unfairly because of several crucial reasons. Due to President Wilson’s fourteen points for a Just Peace, Germany assumed all these rules would to apply to herself as well as the other countries associated with the war. They expected to have open discussions with everyone involved to produce a treaty and that there would not be any secret treaties.
By signing the Treaty of Versailles, Germany has been implicated to accept the full responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies. The treaty was unfair because the causes of WWI were complex and Germany was not the only one at fault. There were more than one cause for the war, thus the Treaty of Versailles was unfair. Germany’s ability to pay reparations was not taken into account. Large reparation amounts
The Treaty of Versailles Was an Unfair Settlement I believe that the Treaty of Versailles was an unfair settlement. The Treaty of Versailles was not a treaty, but instead a surrender document that the defeated Germans had to sign or face the risk of invasion. I believe the Treaty of Versailles was a series of penalties and punishments imposed on Germany. Rather than seeking ways to prevent future wars, the victorious allies decided instead to weaken the Germans by hurting their national pride. Both the Allies and Germany wanted to expand their territory.
Thus, we strongly agree with the assertion. On an intra- and internal level, the politicians and citizenry in some countries had differing viewpoints. For one, in Britain, the general opinion of the British public was to enforce a harsh and strict treaty to avenge their anger caused by all the trials and tribulations of the war. Whence, it was of the British public desire to see Germany suffer and pay heavy reparations for the perceived damage they caused through the war that was extremely emotionally taxing on the people of Britain. Naturally, the people demanded the Germans to disarm and to lose her colonies and industries such as the “Saar” that was rich in coal.
The feeling swept especially throughout Britain that the Treaty of Versailles had been too harsh, and Germany should be able to make some amendments to its more extreme elements. The British were not willing to go to war, nor prepared. However Appeasement regardless of the reason failed as it only encouraged Hitler. The result of the appeasement policy was that Britain and France did nothing more than diplomatically protest when Hitler violated the peace treaty. Hitler then announced to the world he was following a policy of re armnent in March 1935 by largely increased military manpower though conscription and announcing the creation of the Luftwaffe of 2500 planes.
The pact was the final cause of war as Hitler could now invade Poland without any interference from Stalin. Britain and France had declared war on Germany as they guaranteed Poland’s independence. However, the policy of appeasement in the 1930’s also played a big role in causing the Second World War. Appeasement had led Hitler to believe that Britain and France were weak. Britain and France gave Germany the Rhineland, the Sudetenland and they were allowed to have an Anschluss with Austria.