The peace treaty did not satisfy France as it was not harsh enough in the eyes of France. After suffered badly from WWI with umpteen casualties, France was determined to cripple Germany completely as a form of revenge as well as an assurance against future German revival. Some provisions of the treaty did meet French demands, such as the return of Alsace-Lorraine from Germany; the German disarmament which set a maximum strength of 100000 soldiers together with the dissolution of the air force and the reduction of navy to 6 batttleships; and a whopping reparation of 132 billion gold marks to be paid over 42 years. These clauses would severely weaken Germany economically and militarily which certainly catered to French aim. However, French felt these punishments were not harsh enough to eliminate the chance of future German revival.
The Treaty of Versailles was a compromise, and it completely satisfied nobody. Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France, did not get everything he wanted out of the Treaty. He was satisfied with clause 231 (which blamed Germany for the war), the disarmament clauses of the Treaty (reducing the army to 100,000, only 6 battleships, no air force or submarines), getting back Alsace-Lorraine, and being given German colonies as mandates on behalf of the League of Nations. But even this did not go far enough. Clemenceau had wanted Germany weakened to the point where it would never be a danger to France ever again.
This essay explores some of the greatest decision making mistakes of World War 2. It does not discuss miraculous alternative history events such as "what if Hitler had a heart attack", only reasonable and realistic alternative decisions which were not made, with or without proper discussion by decision makers, which could dramatically change the course of the war. Some of these alternatives could end the war significantly sooner, with less bloodshed in both sides. Too few submarines - Germany The German Navy's main task at war was to cut Britain's maritime life line by a maritime blockade. Since Britain is an island, without fuel, metals, other materials, all imported by merchant ships, its military production will stop, its Air Force, Navy, and mobile ground forces will be immobilized, and it will no longer be able to defend against a devastating air bombardment campaign that will reduce its war effort to futile suffering of single-sided mass destruction, and it will have to surrender.
They put restrictions on the German military, to make Germany weak and a second-rate power. Germany had huge financial losses, which brought the rise of the ultra-nationalist Nazis. They had to take acceptance of responsibility for the damage in the war even though they weren’t the only ones in the war. Germany had absolutely no say in the requirements and matters of the treaty. The Treaty of Versailles would prove to be one of the most disastrous mistakes in history.
! After the First World War, unlike some other nations that were prepared to fight another major war, Britain had an aftermath of the war. Britain was struggling with economy as they met the economic depression; they were still on the stage of recovering. Also as the Americans were insisting on maintaining their isolationism, which they were willing to be isolated from the European countries’ conflicts, this eliminated any other possibilities and chance for the British to earn loans. Moreover, as Britain was one of the major power of the WWI, the effects on both of their men and arms were not recovered from the WWI.
He believed the only way Russia could gain from the war was if it lasted for a long time and France, Britain and Germany exhausted themselves. Thirdly, he was unhappy with Britain not only for the policy of Appeasement but also for their slowness to negotiate. For these reasons he did not trust Britain. The Pact stated that Germany and Russia would not fight each other, rather they would work together and split what they gained between them.
Germany suffered 5 main territorial losses, which were: • Posen, the Polish corridor and Upper Silesia => Poland • Memel => Lithuania • Northern Schleswig => Denmark • Alsace-Lorraine => France • The Saar => League of nations (however it was returned to them after 15 years as the inhabitants decided to become German) Germany lost most of her empire at the end of World War One as well as part of her actual country. Germany’s army was reduced to 100 000 men and this meant they were not able to attack another country. However they got round this problem by training many young men on how to be in the army (for example how to use a gun) but didn’t actually call them up so they weren’t officially in the army. This meant that if they were able to enlarge their army again, they would have trained men ready to fight. Germany had to pay the total cost of the war which is estimated to be around £6.6 billion, this lead to the period of time which historians call the depression and this is when the mark got devalued.
This was due to the Germans blockading British trading ships and preventing imports from getting to Britain. Reducing the intake of bread was 'helping the fleet' as it made sure that the navy didn’t have to make as many dangerous journeys in order to bring resources to the country. The poster is neither an obscure nor circumstantial way of trying to persuade British individuals to get involved in the war effort. The poster is useful for teaching the huge affect that Germany (returning to their tactic of unrestricted U-boat attacks, on the 1st of February in 1917) had on the people of Britain and its economy. Germany went back to unrestricted U-boat attacks in a desperate attempt to win the war, after the blockade of Germany.
The peace settlements left a layer of bitterness specially in Germany. Germans felt that Treaty of Versailles was unjust in holding Germany alone responsible for the war because even if Germany played a vital role in causing the war, the other nations also participated in it and therefore, made a minor war into a total war. In addition, the military terms of the Treaty (army of 100,000, only 6 battleships, no submarines or aeroplanes) is another part that disappointed Germans a lot. For Germans, not to be able to send troops even to places inside Germany was a national insult.The Germans were not invited to negotiate the treaty even. The Versailles Treaty required Germany to pay stiff reparations.
In 1919 Germany was handed a diktat by the ‘Big Four’, a treaty that they had no option but to sign. Germany originally signed the Treaty of Versailles with the belief that it would be based around President Wilson’s fourteen points, however it soon became clear to them that this was not in fact the case. Germany felt that the Treaty had cheated them and there was much outrage across Germany. The principle complaint Germany had was that they felt the War Guilt Clause, referring to article 231 of the Treaty, was totally unjust. Germany was forced to take all the blame for damages received by the allies.