Treaty of Versailles, etc.

There was no such thing as a perfect treaty. It was impossible. There were too many different people. The Treaty of Versailles was the winning nations' best attempt to make everybody happy. It was a compromise. Even while creating the Treaty there was bound to be disagreement. Woodrow Wilson, U.S. president at the time, wished to "organize the friendship of the world," and justice. Lloyd George, representative of England, and Georges Clemanceau, representative of France both wanted revenge. George wanted the Germans to pay, and Clemanceau wanted protection again any German attacks. In the end, thanks to Wilson, the League of Nations was formed, who's goal was to keep peace in the world. Germany had to pay for the damages because they "started" the war. England and the United States promised that they would come help France in case Germany attacked. Also, Germany had to size down it's army. They were to have no air force, only a 100,000 men army, and a reduced navy. The German's were clearly not very happy. Many losing countries' war veterans later supported Mussolini and Hitler out of bitterness and conquest to power. The other losing nations mostly lost territory. Also, the Ottoman empire and Austria-Hungary were broken up into smaller nations. The breakdown of people was so diverse, there was no way of splitting up the nations into perfect straight lines. Many people were upset because they were part of a minority in their state. France and England were put in control of smaller nations.

After 1919, the world was no longer in a war, but was not at peace. The Germans were full of bitterness because they lost the war, and because of the harsh treaty. There were still conflicts in smaller countries about who's land belonged to which ethnic group. There were always minorities. On the surface, everything seemed at peace, but internally, all these little things were building up. It was all these problems that possibly contributed to WWII.