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
The treaty was really harsh on the Germans. Germany had to accept all the blame for causing the start of WW1 when it wasn’t even Germany that started. The direct cause of WW1 was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb. The treaty also wanted Germany to pay huge amounts of cash to countries that faced damages due to the war. This is unfair because only Germany was required to pay for the reparations (about 6,600 million Euros).
Germany had been expecting a treaty based on Wilson's 14 points and were not happy with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. However, they had no choice but to sign the document. The main terms of the Treaty of Versailles were: 1. War Guilt Clause - Germany should accept the blame for starting World War One 2. Reparations - Germany had to pay £6,600 million for the damage caused by the war 3.
The loss of these lands was particularly daunting for Russia since they were of great economic importance. Thus, in comparison with the harsh terms of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, the Germans were in no position or right to complain about the consequences they had to face. The Treaty of Versailles was actually issued quite lenient punishments for the Germans when considering the damage wrought by the war. However, to charge Germany as being fully responsible for the Great War was also unfair and faulty. The assassination of the Archduke of Austria had prompted Austria-Hungary to retaliate by declaring war on Serbia, with the support of Germany.
“Hitler was totally to blame for World War II. Do you agree?” World War Two began in September 1939 when Britain and France declared war on Germany following Germany's invasion of Poland. Although the outbreak of war was triggered by Germany's invasion of Poland, the causes of the war were more complex. In 1919, Lloyd George of England, Orlando of Italy, Clemenceau of France and Woodrow Wilson from the US met to discuss how Germany was to be made to pay for the damage world war one had caused. Woodrow Wilson wanted a treaty based on his 14-point plan which he believed would bring peace to Europe.
Communism and capitalism was not really a big issue, the big issue was the Axis Powers. Conflicts started escalate when Germany was defeated. Germany was unified among the allies after the war but there were two distinct groups. Russia wanted control over Germany because they suffered the most out of anyone and they were the main reason the Nazis were defeated. They feared of a future German invasion.
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.
The fighting continued and the Germans were pushed back. In October 1918, Germany was willing to talk peace because of President Wilson’s declaration that there can be “peace without victory” (Schultz, 2012). The Allied countries wanted to punish Germany for the many atrocities it caused. They wanted to continue to fight. President Wilson threatened to remove the American soldiers from Europe if they did not agree to peace and sign the armistice.
He argued that reparations forced on Germany by the Allies after WW1 were far too severe and would cripple the German economy to such an extent and would lead to socio-political problems in the future which would not be in the interest of the Allies. He saw that the financial burden of reparations on Germany would not allow the development of a stable economy. Could WW2 have been averted if Keynes had been listened to at the Peace Conference at Versailles in 1918 where he strongly put this argument? 3. What was Keynes fundamental criticism of Neo-Classical Economics?