Treaty Of Versailles Research Paper

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The Treaty of Versailles was one of the many treaties that was constructed after the First World War and it was intended to end the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. However, it is widely believed that the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh on Germany to a great extent. The brutal terms of the Treaty negatively impacted Germany’s society, economy and military and aims from the leaders of the major Allied powers greatly influenced the settlement’s harsh terms. These aspects ultimately prove that in the configuration of the Treaty of Versailles after The Great War, the terms were too harsh on Germany. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles for Germany included claiming responsibility for the war, a reduction of territory, significant…show more content…
Slavicek (2010, p.19), author of The Treaty of Versailles believes that the ‘War Guilt Clause’, was used by the composers to morally justify the collection of reparations. However, it is highly likely that the clause was used to also justify all terms in the Treaty that were detrimental to Germany. In the terms of the Treaty, Germany was settled to lose territory globally. Bunce et al. (2009, p.38) stated that German territory was lost in places such as Alsace, Lorraine, Eupen, New Guinea and more. Furthermore, Germany endured significant military disarmament. Ken Webb (2012, p.200), author, history teacher, lecturer and 2012 winner of the National Excellence in Teaching award, and Bunce et al. (2009, p.38) add that the German army was reduced to only 100 000 men, the navy reduced to 15 000 men, and tanks, war planes or submarines were forbidden. This was a major loss for Germany as during the war she had an extremely powerful military. Reparations was the money demanded to…show more content…
According to Beckett (2007, p.553), author of The Great War, there were three or four major decision makers in the creation of the Treaty. McAndrew et al. (2005, p.220), Carradice (2014, p.91) and many others support this fact. These sources continue by indicating that these decision-makers were leaders of France (Georges Clemenceau), America (Woodrow Wilson), Britain (David Lloyd George) and arguably Italy (Vittorio Emanuele Orlando) and they were known as ‘The Big Three/Four’. Italy’s involvement in the Treaty was debatable and in reference to Bunce (2009, p.36), Orlando left the conference after the Italian claims to the Hungarian port of Fiume was given to Yugoslavia and not Italy. It can be drawn from this that Italy had only attended the conference for personal gain and not for the final peace. In contrast to Italy’s aims of new territorial gain, America had aims for long-lasting peace. Chris Trueman (The History Learning Site), specialist in history, politics, and a teacher for 32 years, and Dailey et al. (2012, p.14), briefly write about Wilson’s Fourteen Point Speech which lay out a plan of peace by ending secret treaties, accepting free trade, working towards world-wide disarmament and forming the League of Nations. Bunce (2009, p.38) says “The

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