Post-Treaty Possible Fallouts

In signing the Treaty of Versailles, Germany agreed to lowering its army to 100,00 men, reducing its navy, eliminating its air force, losing land, and the agreement to a War Guilt Clause, which stated that the entire Great War was completely their fault, and that they have to pay for all the damage.

The fact that Germany had to do all of this obviously hurt Germany, but also hurt the entire continent of Europe. Germany could not pay for the amount of money they owned, so the government would simply print more money. This caused the money to lose value, which was at times even worse than owing so much money.

Lastly, the treaty, and specifically the War Guilt Clause, would cause tension between Germany and other nations. The peace treaty did exactly the opposite of what President Wilson held as his principles. It enraged Germany, and, although a second war was unlikely, it did nothing to ease the hatred Germany felt for the other Europeans. Imagine having a whole world war that involved casualties from over 10 different countries, all blamed on you. That was Germany's position, and this caused even more cultural differences and distaste between Germany and the other countries of Europe.

Treaty of Versailles

The treaty of Versailles is the perfect example of a compromise. Like any major compromise in history, everyone loses. The biggest loser was Germany, whose economy and army was practically destroyed. Of course, because the allied nations were the creators of this treaty, the advantage was in their favor. However, the main objective was to promote peace around the world. There wasn't necessarily peace throughout the world, but from an official, legal standpoint, the war was over. There was a slight backfire with the Treaty, that lead to some countries, particularly Germany, creating grudges against others. The effects of this were shown in later years, and were definitely partially responsible for WWII.

The Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles crippled Germany's economy as well as the German population's morale. The treaty demanded large payments from Germany as well as demanded that Germany dispose of their planes and submarines, and reduce the size of their army to 100,000. these demands were seen as ways of keeping Germany down by its citizens and did nothing to promote peace in Europe. The Treaty of Versailles actually gave Germany more incentive to wage a second war. Overall, the harshness of the treaty failed to keep germany suppressed, however it did promote tension in Europe.

Treaty of Versailles

The treaty of Versailles was very onesided. Germany got terrible terms in the treaty, as they had to pay billions of dollars. They also had to shut down their army making them vulnerable to future attacks. The treaty of versailles hurt Germany the eventual instigator of future world problems. In the treaty of Versailles, Germany was said to be the cause of the great war. This is just another example of how the winners get to rewrite history in their favor or against their opponent.

Treaty of Versailles

The treaty of Versailles really hit Germany hard in that it hurt the economy of Germany and it really reversed what Nationalism had done to them, Nationalism helped boost up Germany so that it would fight in big battled, in this way now all the German people are suffering so the happiness of the country was severely crippled.Germany also lost many needed resources that made them have a dependency on having money to spend on essentials like food, water, and shelter. France, Britain really hit Germany to hard because when they did they ended up doing inflation and deficiency. What happened there really was what the cause of World War II this is what caused Germany to rise up again this time under Adolf Hitler and start another World War.

Treaty of Versailles

While the treaty of Versailles aimed at peace, and probably achieved that for a certain amount of time, it also set Europe up for number of later problems. Germany had far less fortifications and physical potential to do harm, but the "treaties" seemed very unfair to Germany, creating political tension even in times of "peace." Even reducing the supplies and size of Germany is not a guarantee to make it less dangerous, as Germany proved before the start of The Great War that a country can amass arms very quickly.
The political tension created in the Balkans was possibly as great as that created with Germany. Forcing separate ethnicities to work together under one nation was just asking for conflict. Early clashes between different cultures would start out small, on the person-to person scale, but as the country itself gets involved, this forces the leadershi to side with either one culture or the other, leading to conflict between people and government and even between separate nations as each begins to form their own identities and biases. New countries are typically unstable, and creating so many at once was just asking ofr consequences.

The Futile Search for Stability

The harshness of the Treaty of Versailles towards Germany devastated Germany's economy and lowered the general morale of its population. To try to improve its economy and resist France's occupation of the Ruhr valley, Germany started to print mass amounts of money, only leading Germany to severe inflation. The Treaty may have excessively punished Germany by requesting immense amounts of reparation payments, perhaps provoking the Second World War. Germany's people experienced the consequences of their failing economy. This circumstance would eventually require a savior and a scapegoat - perhaps Hitler and Jews, respectively.

World War I Peace Settlement

On the allied side a major, formal agreement was made between the three powers: Great Britain, France and the United States. If these three countries weren't already considered world powers, their status was now made official. The forming of the League of Nations also solidified the three countries' allegiance to each other. Great Britain and the United States, through their pledge of protection in case of a future German attack, let the world know that three of the world's most powerful countries were united.

The War Guilt Clause paved the way for a charismatic leader to take advantage of national anger and lead Germany back into its previous world-power status. By levying such a heavy penalty on Germany the allies pushed the Germans a little too far. The heavy reparations money the Germans had to pay, the reduction of all things military and the reduction of German territory was necessary, but it still led a hunger to recover the country's past glory and more.

And let's not forget to give a hand to nationalism. Nationalism was the big winner of World War I as the map of Eastern Europe was redrawn and many new countries emerged. Big empires like the Russian and German empires were reduced and the Austria-Hungary empire disappeared into independent countries. However the difficulty of dividing up all the diverse ethnicities in Europe would lead to conflict later. People of different ethnicities just didn't get along and when there were minorities there were problems.

Lastly, Great Britain and France couldn't resist keeping their hands out of the cookie jar and controlled Middle Eastern countries that used to be the Ottoman Empire. Despite US President Woodrow Wilson's talks about democratic nations there was still a lot of European influence in the Arab world after World War I.

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles consisted of many agreements made between the Allies who won the great war and the losers, ie. Germany, Austria Hungary, etc. Anyway, the treaties put forth two main ideas, complete peace agreements and completely redrawing the map. The idea of complete peace, supported by President Woodrow Wilson, consisted of the creation of the League of Nations. The league of Nations was an organization that was in charge of keeping international peace in check. It was believed that this League could make all the troubles between countries go away. As we can see from the fact that another world war happened just a mere 30(ish) years later, this league worked really well. The second of the two main points of the Treaty was the idea that the Allies got to redraw the map of Eastern Europe. By doing this, the Allies made sure that all of the former powers were split into smaller countries, and all of the people that supported them got their own new country. This caused the problem of minorities, as outlined in our reading, because different types of people were so spread out after the war. This was a problem because each of the new countries supported a different ethnic or cultural group, making the people who had moved during the war minorities.

And just to add, life in Germany was pretty awful after the war. They had to pay for everything. That's what you get for starting a war, Germany, no more money in the state for a really long time. Hello, internal problems. Here's a hint: don't start another war...

Treaty of Versailles

Explore potential ramifications of the armistice and Treaty. What will the world look like after 1919? Is there any potential fallout post-Treaty?

The Treaty of Versailles wrecked Germany’s economy and made them lose more resources and land then they could have ever dreamed of. The treaty punished Germany and its allies to the extent of a depression and extreme poverty. After the war was over, the French, British, and other allies should not have brought upon the unfair treaty to punish Germany to the degree of them suffering immense inflation and deficiency. The treaty and the War Guilt Clause only planted the seeds for the next war because after Germany’s depression, they looked for someone to help lead and take over to magically fix everything. The cost is another major conflict with the rest of the world, a.k.a. World War II and Hitler.

Treaty of Versailles

After the end of the Great War, the Allied nations were determined to spread peace through the nations and instate a league of nation to ensure that a war of this magnitude would never happen again. The treaties, particularly the Treaty of Versailles, really served to strip any potential threat away from the losing nations. Germany's army was all but destroyed, and much land was demilitarized. Territory was rearranged, and many countries fell under the power of European nations. Although this may ensure peace, what the Allied nations really agreed on could be looked at as another form of oppression. There were so many terms that these countries were forced to acquiesce to that it seems as though the nations are really being picked apart. From previous historical examples, this sense of submission to a dominant power and yearning for complete freedom has led to a growth of nationalism, nationalism against that which controls them. If this kind of nationalism surges within the population of any nation, and people harbor hostility, the nation can become very volatile. After a period of total war, Germany would have to take many pains to revitalize itself on top of the aftereffects of the treaty. Inevitably, these people will grow angry at their current way of life. From these effectively conquered nations, there may arise revolts towards the higher powers that appear to be manipulating them.

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.

What Now?

World War One officially ended with the Paris Peace Settlement and the Treaty of Versailles. The purpose of these treaties, as decided by the leaders and representatives of Britan, Italy, France and the United States, were to enforce peace and make the loosing countires pay for the damage inflicted upon the allied countries. The treaty with Germany was especially restricting, holding them responsible for the start of the war and forcing them to greatly reduce their military. One last effect of the Treaty of Versailles was to redistribute much of the land in Europe, diminishing Germany's territory and creating new nation-states from where Austria-Hungary and parts of Russia once stood.

Although the intentions of the allied forces were not to cause problems, dividing up countries and creating new ones almost never works as smoothly as expected. Newly defeated and dissected countries are not happy ones, and many of the citizens might become dissatisfied. The governments themselves will also be very weak and more likely to be manipulated by the bigger, stronger countries of Europe. With weak militaries and nationalism these countries are suseptable to attacks by other countries and revolts withing themselves. The mingled ethnicities may also cause some problems between the people, such as small fights and overall prejudice.

Reaching A Compromise

Although the Treaty of Versailles was meant to create a pervasive peace in Europe following the world war, it merely set up the building blocks of later conflicts. I agree with Robby that the terms impressed upon the Germans were somewhat oppressive. Forcing the Germans to reduce the army to 100,000 men and lessen their equipment for the air and the sea left them with no military power whatsoever. Should a fellow nation choose to attack, Germany would be utterly incapable of retaliating. Had the treaty followed Wilson's suggestion that all see to a "reduction of national armaments," it would have been fairer because all nations would be equally disadvantaged. That France, England, and the United States entered into another defensive alliance seems to me counterproductive - a similar alliance system was what created the war in the first place. Another important element was the redistribution of land, which, in any case, would have caused tension. Following a war there is the inevitable antipathy due both to a desire for revenge and upset over lost territory. The Ottoman empire felt this more than any other - having lost, lands that had only just won independence from the Turks were "mandated" to the victorious Europeans. This is further evidence of the inequity of the Treaty of Versailles; it was biased strongly towards the Europeans with little thought to the efforts or changes within the losing countries. This would likely create conflict between acquired nations (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Palestine) and the European countries upon whom they were bestowed (England and France). Despite new rivalries, it was unlikely that any nation enter into a new conflict directly following 1919 since so many had died.