“The Treaty of Versailles Pleased No-one” How far do you
agree with this statement?
The Treaty of Versailles satisfied no-one totally and many of the terms were
quite unfair towards Germany. The treaty was both unfair and cruel and the Big
Three (Britain, France and USA) knew this. France was the most pleased with the
treaty as since they suffered the greatest casualties and damage they sought
revenge and received in the harshness of the treaty. Britain was moderately
pleased with the treaty as they wished for Germany to be justly punished but not
too harshly; their requirements were partly fulfilled. The USA on the other hand
was not very pleased as President Wilson believed that the treaty was much to
vindictive towards Germany. The treaty was unfair due to Germany's losses, the
breaking of promises and the injustice of the eastern front.
During the six months between the cease fire and the final signing of the Treaty
of Versailles, millions of German men women and children died. An Allied
Blockade remained in force on the border of Germany, preventing food from
reaching a starving population. The Allies held the blockade strong until Germany
would submit to the unfair terms of the Treaty. Germany never wanted to sign
this suicidal contract and the representatives of Germany had no input into the
Treaty and did not even know the exact terms of it until presented to them with
their population dying out. If Germany did not accept, the Allies would have
invaded and, in fact, had started gathering forces before the terms were finally
signed at the last minute. The bottom line is, though, that Germany had no
choice and was forced into signing, what was in effect, its own death sentence.
In addition, the countries involved in creating the treaty – France, Britain, and
USA – were not as satisfied as they wanted to be. On the great continuum of
cruelty, American President Woodrow Wilson took up the pacifism argument
and thought that the treaty was much too cruel. According to Wilson, this
treaty offered the hopes for a fresh new solution to the old ways of war and he
believed that this treaty could end all wars. Wilson’s beliefs were self- evident
in his Fourteen Points, which included peace without victors or losers and selfdetermination of people.
Georges Clemenceau believed that Germany should get the worst punishment
possible. France had suffered the most during the war in terms of casualties and
territory. “There are old wrongs to be righted,” Clemenceau commented. There
were ancient hates, fears, the memory of the millions butchered on the fronts,
the landscape scarred and the demands of revenge against a surrendering
Germany. “Woodrow Wilson thinks he is Jesus,” Clemenceau remarked, shortly
after the Fourteen Points were published. There were arguments within the Big
3 with Clemenceau exclaiming how Wilson knew nothing about European
politics. One treaty, of course, cannot satisfy both these left and right wing
extremist views
In the middle of this continuum lied David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of
England. He believed that Germany should be punished justly but not too
harshly. He wanted justice, but he did not want revenge. He said that the
treaty must not be harsh, that would just cause another war in a few years
time. He tried to get a halfway point, a compromise between Wilson and
Clemenceau.
The terms of the Treaty of Versailles demanded German to accept a war guilt
clause under article 231. This allowed the Big 3 to strip Germany of her land,
including the mightily influential Alsace-Lorraine. Germany’s army and navy were
also significantly reduced so that justice would be done. Already in a great
economic crisis, Germany faced a £6.6 billion reparation fee with absolutely no
means or hope of repaying it. When presented with the treaty, Germany reacted
as one would expect; not only were they devastated but also tried to convince
the Big 3. All of this, however, was pointless and the terms stood. The peace
treaty proved to be a shadow of each countries view. Clemenceau was not reelected as Prime Minister of France; Lloyd George knew that another war was
going to arise. And knowing his views were never incorporated, Wilson returned
back to America, incredibly denying the reality of what his dreams had now
become.
There are few arguments to contradict the title statement as we are blessed with
the feature of hindsight and know what the consequences of the treaty were.
However, the main argument is that Germany did start the war and deserved
everything they got. The Big 3 could not risk another war breaking out so they
took away the German forces (although this plan backfired). It was only right
that Germany pay reparations for the damage caused and the lives lost, and this
pleased the Big 3, France especially. Various territories were given back to
previous owners and these people were happy that justice had been done and
revenge had been taken.
To conclude, it is my personal belief that the Treaty of Versailles was unfair and
cruel towards a country that was forced to take total blame for starting the war.
Many people in Germany died in vain because of the Kaiser’s greed and power
hungry mindset. The majority of the population had done nothing wrong and did
not deserve to be tortured whilst Germany did not want to sign the treaty.
Having said that, the treaty could have been much worse and may have ended
with an Allie invasion into Germany. More views of all leaders of the Big 3 should
have been counted and therefore the treaty may have pleased them a little
more.
However, it turned out that all leaders were unhappy with the treaty for
different reasons and it was definitely unfair towards Germany. In terms of the
first statement, I agree that the treaty did more bad than good and although it
may have pleased some people, the majority of the populations were mourning
over a lost opportunity to end all wars for good. And Lloyd George, Clemenceau,
and Wilson knew that the Treaty of Versailles had not filled their criteria.