Course title : IR (1648-1945)

BS IR 3rd semester (eve)

Submitted to: Sir Sajid Iqbal

By : Amjad Ali
Roll no: IR 212190
5-April-2022
Topic:

Treaty of Versailles & its Implications

Abstract
The Treaty of Versailles was the most important of the peace treaties that
brought World War I to an end. The Treaty ended the state of war between
Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919 in the palace of
Versailles, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, which led to the war. This Treaty was a peace treaty formed by the
victors of the World War I, the Allies. The terms of the treaty were
unacceptably harsh for the Germans. The American President, Woodrow
Wilson presented a peace plan, the Fourteen Points, in order to prevent further
war and it avoided revenge on the losing side. But the victors wanted
vengeance. Eventually, the Germans would lose all their territories, limit their
military to 100,000 soldiers, remove military from the Rhineland area, which
was on the border with France and had to pay the cost equivalent to $35 billion
Canadian to compensate for the victors' financial losses. Worst of all, the
Germans had to take the blame for the rise of the Great War. Initially, Germany
refused to sign the Treaty. But, the Allies posed a threat to declare war on
Germany if otherwise. Thus, they had no choice but to sign the treaty. This
treaty wasn't fair on any grounds of justice and it was seen as a prejudiced
revenge casted upon the Germans.
First of all, the Germans had to join the war alongside Austria to keep up with
the terms of their allegiance just as the French and the English supported their
ally, the Russians. The Germans weren't at utter fault for the rise of the war. The
Germans proceeded their believed duty, so did the Allies. They were
responsible for the war as much as the French and the British were. Moving on
to financial losses, the Germans lost millions of their soldiers as well, whom the
allies killed. They had lost military and wealth that were crushed in the war.
Thus, it's it was inconsiderate and inappropriate to pose such a treaty to the
German.
Secondly, the Treaty of Versailles crippled the economy of Germany. The
innocent people starved and paid the price for the conflict between Austria and
Serbia that led to this war. As Germany's colonies, territories and military were
snatched away, their source of income disappeared. The people of Germany had
no money and Germany was turning into dust. The Allies wanted to destroy
Germany so that they won’t pose future threats.

The destruction of Germany angered the Germans. It severely hurt the Germans'
pride. The conditions and terms were inexplicably harsh, that they had nothing
to lose. They needed the fire, the power, a leader, to lead them to their
successful future. That is where the Fuhrer of Germany, Adolf Hitler came to
the rescue. He was an intelligent man who came up with tactics with his men to
declare war on the Allies. He was ready to take over the world. Hitler planned a
new strategy, called the Blitzkreig, which meant lightning war, to kick-start the
new war, the
World war 2, that was going to be one of the most blood thirsty and deadliest
wars in history.
In short conclusion, the Treaty of Versailles was an absolute disastrous and
biased treaty. Not only was it extremely demanding and crippled the Germans
but it created a stepping stone, a rage so powerful that cause up the next global
war, the World War 2.

The Big Three at Westphalia

The treaty were lead mainly by the “Big Three”: U.S. President, Woodrow
Wilson, French Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau, and British Prime
Minister, David Lloyd George. Although all the representatives for the many
countries that traveled to Paris had intentions of coming to a peaceful agreement
to end the first world war, all came with their own agendas. Many of them were
very unwilling to negotiate on the conditions of the treaty. The U.S. wanted a
way to make sure that a war such as the first world war would never happen
again. This is where Woodrow Wilson’s idea for the League of Nations came
about. France wanted nothing less than to see Germany brought to its knees to
prevent her from ever becoming a threat again. Lloyd George of Britain, being a
politician needed the support of the British people, therefor he needed to give
them what it was that they wanted: to make Germany pay for the war. Secretly,
though, he was also aware of the spread of communism and, with Germany
being the barrier to keep it from spreading into western Europe, saw the need to
keep Germany in a well enough state that she wouldn’t see the need to turn to
communism. All of these individual agendas would cause the meetings to go on
for months and ultimately end in shortcomings for almost every country
involved. However, when the treaty was finalized and ready for signatures, no
country suffered more of a loss than Germany had. With 15 parts and 440
articles the Treaty of Versailles took away much from the Germans including
territory and colonies, military, economic stability, and even the country’s pride
and dignity. Ultimately, the treaty that was being drawn up to create and
maintain peace and prevent another world war, was exactly what caused the
flame for the second world war.

Loss of Territory and Colonies

To satisfy the “Big Three”, mainly France and Britain, a large amount of
Germany’s land was taken and given mostly to countries that were with the
Allied Powers (The United States, Britain, and France). The territory of Alsace-
Lorraine was given back to France after having been taken 40 years prior.
Eupen and Malmedy was given to Belgium. Northern Schleswig was given to
Denmark. Hultschin was given to Czechoslovakia. And West Prussia, Posen
and Upper Silesia was given to Poland. Germany also had to return land that
was taken from Russia that was then used to make up several new countries and
part of Poland. 2 The loss of so much land put many people in countries that
they had no say in becoming citizens of. This infuriated and confused many
people who had considered themselves to be German citizens who were now
forced to live in another country simply because of the seizure of land from
Germany. Along with the loss of territory, all of Germany’s overseas colonies
were taken by the League of Nations, which is what Woodrow Wilson had
brought to the treaty.

Demilitarization
Germany was almost completely unarmed by the treaty. The country was
required to diminish its army of about 4 and a half million3 at the start of the
war in 1914 to only 100,000. They were given limitations on the weaponry they
were allowed. Tanks were out of question as well as other important branches
of military such as an air force and a very small naval force.2 The zone of
Rhineland was completely demilitarized except for the west bank of Rhine
occupied by an army placed there by the Allies for the next 15 years. This
obviously posed a large threat to German national security. Had they been
attacked anytime shortly after the signing of the treaty, they would have surely
fallen with little to no fight. This was a constant fear that loomed above the
heads of German officials as well as German citizens. Without a military force,
they were left in fear of the worst which ultimately lead to the resentment of
those who imposed the demilitarization.

Compensation
The entire blame for the war on Germany, therefor the entire cost of the war for
all countries, caused Germany to become entirely broke. The amount that was
set for her to repay was not initially set in the treaty. It was stated that Germany
must pay reparations for the damages caused to the infrastructure of France and
Belgium. Germany was told to write a blank check which would later be filled
out for £6,600 million.2 This was a debt that was impossible for Germany to
pay. Although some of the debt was paid with liquid assets such as gold, a lot of
it had to be newly printed money, which skyrocketed inflation and left Germany
crippled. Later, Adolf Hitler would claim that the sum was an attempt to crush
the German spirit and the German economy.4 He’d use this to fuel the anger of
the German people and later refuse to pay any more, thus leading to the second
world war.