Some may argue that no one wanted war. Winston Churchill stated that the Great Powers slid over the brink into a war nobody wanted. (Doc I). Russia and France were forced into war because Germany declared war on Russia 1 August 1914 and war on France 3 August 1914. Therefore, it may be true that countries that did not want war were forced into it, however, “nobody” is inaccurate due to the fact that Germany wanted war.
The treaty of Versailles was a between Austria-Hungary and Germany being the central powers, British, France and the U.S being the Allied powers. The leaders of the countries that signed the treaty were George Clemenceau, prime minister of France, David Lloyd George, for Britain, and Woodrow Wilson, president of the U.S. All three political leaders wanted different things for the treaty and sometimes did not agree with each other. Georges Clemenceau’s main objective was to ensure France’s security so that they don’t get invaded again. He was determined to keep Germany down and wanted revenge against them. He wanted to punish Germany and weaken them for what they have caused to European countries and wanted them to pay for the reparations so that France can rebuild itself.
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
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.
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. However, they had no choice but to sign the document. People supported Hitler because he promised them what they wanted and needed to hear. The Weimar Republic appeared to have no idea how to solve the problems of the Depression.
Churchill believed that in order to guarantee the security of Czechoslovakia, Europe should have held Germany back and Britain and France should have worked together as an alliance. George F. Kennan, an American Secretary of State during the cold war also disagreed with the Munich Agreement. Kennan thought that Chamberlain and Daladier only agreed with Germany’s proposal only because they didn’t want to participate in war. Chamberlain and Daladier wanted to maintain the peace in Europe. (Document 6) As written in The Origins of the Second World War, by A.J.P.
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 Germans started having second thoughts about the war and urged their ally to negotiate with Russia. Russia realized that an agreement would hurt their position in the Balkans. This basically created a stand still and the countries involved could no longer back out, The Germans started their plan to gain European dominance on July 31st. The Germans sent ultimatums to St. Petersburg and Paris telling them that the Russians need to stop mobilizing their troops and demanded a pledge of neutrality from France. They did not receive a satisfactory reply and they declared war on Russia and France.
This allowed the far right to exploit the Germans hate of the treaty of Versailles and connect the treaty to democracy, so the people wouldn’t blame the loss of ww1 on the army but the democratic politician’s. This led to an increase in public support for a more authoritarian dictatorial system the strengthening the far-right. The other main reason the loss
The war between the two countries could not be contained to just them alone due to an alliance system that linked certain countries together by pledge to back each other in time of war. This caused a chain reaction forcing Russia, France, and Great Britain to go to war with Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. During this time the United States remained neutral because they believed it was a European matter and we wanted to continue trading with those nations at war. The United States became less neutral in the war and more supportive of the allies side following several events with Germany. German U-boats sank British passenger liners killing Americans.