Treaty of Versailles

To what extent was the Treaty of Versailles a fair treaty?
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace settlement signed after World War One ended in 1918 and occurring in the shadow of the Russian Revolution and other events in Russia. In ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied countries. World War One was one of the most destructive wars in modern history. Approximately ten million soldiers died in the war. The enormous losses on each sides of the conflict resulted in part from the introduction of new weapons, such as submarines, tanks and fighter planes. As Henig (1995) states that a policy of attrition, especially on the western Front, cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, although, the armistice signed on 11 November 1918, ended the actual fighting, it took six months of negotiations at Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. This treaty is the Treaty of Versailles.

The Treaty of Versailles signed was expected to bring lasting peace around the world. However, 20 years later, larger war broke out – World War Two. On the one hand, many observers, politicians and historians have tend to blame the rise of Nazis for World War II. Because some of provisions in the Treaty of Versailles are too harsh for defeated nations, they believed that the Treaty of Versailles was not a fair treaty; the result was Hitler used German nationalism. On the other hand, the other observers, politicians and historians considered that the Treaty of Versailles was fair for defeated nations, because they waged war, resulting in the loss of a large number of lives, capital, shelter and food supplies and that Germany should be held responsible for their actions. Thereby, the Treaty of Versailles became one of the most controversial international agreements. In this essay, it will decide whether the Treaty of Versailles is a fair treaty or not by comparing different sides arguments. Finally, to what extend was the Treaty of Versailles a fair treaty.

The Treaty of Versailles is a fair treaty
"To the victor go the spoils" is a quote once said by Alexander the Great. With the Allies power Sanctions defeated, the entitled to over more compensation. First of all, no matter what, Germany launched World War I and it should be responsible for the conduct of War. As Aberle (http://www.internationalschooltoulouse.net/igcsehistory/term1/paris1919/laura_treaty_fair.htm, no date) states that the whole war is the error of German abides starting with attacking Serbia. No official agencies kept careful accounting of civilian losses during the war, but scholars suggest that as many as thirteen million non-combatants died as a direct or indirect result of the war. The conflict uprooted or displaced millions of people from their homes in Europe and Asia. Property and industry losses were catastrophic, especially in France, Belgium, Poland, and Serbia, where fighting had been heaviest. In any case, Germany should be held accountable for their war crimes. Alongside these statistics, was the fact that vast areas of north-eastern Europe had been reduced to rubble. Flanders in Belgium had been all but destroyed with the ancient city of Ypres being devastated. The homes of 750,000 French people were destroyed and the infrastructure of this region had also been severely damaged. Roads, coal mines, telegraph poles had all been destroyed and such a loss greatly hindered the area's ability to function normally. The victors from World War One were in no mood to be charitable to the defeated nations and Germany in particular was held responsible for the war and its consequences. During mid-1918, Europe was hit by Spanish flu and an estimated 25 million people died. This added to the feeling of bitterness that ran through Europe and this anger was primarily directed at Germany. This war is blowing residues of human civilisation. Therefore, the Treaty of Versailles was a fair treaty to Germany.

Second, the Treaty of Versailles is a fair treaty for the allies in general as World War One was initiated by the German forcing the allies to take actions when neared stance nations(such as: Belgium) were attacked. However, other belligerent nations lost people and property to against German aggression. As MacMilan (1995) considered that in 1918 the big three had Germany in the palm of their hands, and then decided to make Germany a lesser threat by cutting its army down to 100,000 men, making them pay 6,600 million pounds in compensation. They then decided to weaken their economy and military. The purposes of the provisions were to compensate for the loss of other nations were involved in the war and the containment of Germany once again to wage war. Therefore, from other states which were involved in World War I, the Treaty of Versailles was a fair treaty.

Third, the Treaty of Versailles attempted to set up League of Nations which was on the forefront to setting world peace. From this point, the Treaty of Versailles still expected set a maintenance peace of world wide. Therefore, it is a fair treaty for belligerent state. And the foremost being the cause of the war and while the assassination of Franz Ferdinand is looked upon as being the cause there are many more significant factors. One of these factors was the arms race and to address this military was restricted which is sensible to ensure Europe's security. Germany was the main aggressor in the war though Germany had already had a full plan for invasion of Belgium (a neutral nation) in 1906, eight years before the war. Germany did not attempt to avoid this conflict but was pushing for it and was just waiting for that one excuse to conquer Europe.
The Treaty of Versailles is an unfair treaty
Some of terms of the Treaty of Versailles were harsh to Germany, for example, Germany lost 13% of its territory under the treaty, cutting its army down to 100,000 soldiers, making them pay 6,600 million pounds in compensation, and another aspect of the treaty was taking away Germany's colonies. These Provisions stimulate the national sentiment of the German nation xenophobically and lead to Hitler’s upcoming. A number of observers, politicians and historians considered the Treaty of Versailles to be unfair at the time. Here are several perspectives to support their argument.

Firstly, Germany suffered a terrible economic disaster in 1923-24 that was in partially fueled by their own reparations, but Germany still need to compensate the huge indomnity. This makes the life of the German state tax revenue and the German people for more difficult to upkeep. In order to relieve the Great Depression, Hitler’s government vigorously developed the military, in order to massive a lot of workers unemployed brought pressure to the society and country. However, it also foreshadowed the future of World War II. One the other hand, Boemeke et al. (1998) demonstrates that on the other hand, the large amount of the compensation terms of increased burden for the German people. The victors took into account only their own interests, without considering the feelings of the German general public. From this view, The Treaty of Versailles was an unfair treaty for Germany.

Secondly, the Treaty of Versailles did not provide a stable basis of world peace. For example, besides the points mentioned above, Germany had also lost more than 2 million men in the war and was also suffering from poverty, etc., as their economy had been severely crippled, if not destroyed, by the war. Forced to give up all their colonies, disarmament and extreme reparations had only increased the impact on Germany and her citizens. To a certain extent all the actions took proved harsh to Germany. The colonies were a source of national pride for most German citizens. Besides, Germany saw the Treaty of Versailles as merely another excuse by the victors to annex her overseas territory - they were originally for the newly set up League of Nations to rule but were given to the Allied nations to govern due to the League's lack of resources. All these had only intensified Germany's motivation for future revenge.

Thirdly, in the Treaty of Versailles have a provision is German colony carved up by Britain, France and Japan. As Zhang(2007) argued that this provision reveal the nature of the Treaty of Versailles that is Imperialist victors re-divide the world, create a new European order; adjust the system of relations in Europe. German reparations and post-war European security issues in the Paris peace conference failed to resolve the problem. The formation of this system constitutes a new grid of imperialism, post-war international relations. Many became convinced that Germany hadn't really lost the war, the Hitler and Nazi party used German people’s nationalism and unsatisfied with the Treaty of Versailles, they became become the ruling party. As the German Nazi Party the party constitution (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/naziregime.html, no date) wrote:“Point 2. We demand equality of rights for the German people in respect to the other nations; abrogation of the peace treaties of Versailles and Saint Germain.” The Treaty of Versailles was an unfair treaty for Germany and also planted the seeds for World War II.

Conclusion
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace settlement signed after World War One ended in 1918, the armistice signed on 11 November 1918, ended the actual fighting, it took six months of negotiations at Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. On the one hand, many observers, politicians and historians argued that the Treaty of Versailles is a fair treaty. Here are three main reasons. Firstly, no matter what, Germany launched World War I. As a defeated, Germany should be responsible for the conduct of War. Secondly, the Treaty of Versailles was fair for defeated nations, because they waged war, resulting in the loss of a large number of lives, capital, shelter and food supplies and that Germany should be held responsible for their actions. Thirdly, many were the main aggressor in the war though Germany had already had a full plan for invasion of Belgium (a neutral nation) in 1906, eight years before the war. Germany did not attempt to avoid this conflict but was pushing for it and was just waiting for that one excuse to conquer Europe. On the other hand, the other observers, politicians and historians considered that the Treaty of Versailles is an unfair treaty. The main reasons have three. First, Germany suffered a terrible economic disaster in 1923-24 that was in partially fueled by their own reparations, but Germany still need to compensate the huge indemnity. This makes the life of the German state tax revenue and the German people for more difficult to upkeep. Second, the Treaty of Versailles too harsh for Germany, all what lead to intensified Germany's motivation for future revenge. Third, the Treaty of Versailles have a provision is German colony carved up by Britain, France and Japan. This provision reveal the nature of the Treaty of Versailles that is Imperialist victors re-divide the world, create a new European order; adjust the system of relations in Europe.

To sum up, comparing both sides, this essay tend to argued that the Treaty of Versailles is an unfair treaty. As a result of Germany suffered a terrible economic disaster in 1923-24 that was in partially fueled by their own reparations, but Germany still need to compensate the huge indemnity. This makes the life of the German state tax revenue and the German people for more difficult to upkeep, some of provisions in the Treaty of Versailles are too harsh for defeated nations, they believed that the Treaty of Versailles was not a fair treaty; the result was Hitler used German nationalism. Big three just thought about interest for victors, not real for peace. All of that lead to 20 years later, larger war broke out – World War Two.

Bibliography:

Boemeke, Manfred F., Gerald D. Feldman, and Elisabeth Gläser, editors. The Treaty of Versailles: A Reassessment After 75 Years. Washington, DC: German Historical Institute, 1998.

Henig, Ruth B. Versailles and After, 1919-1933. London: Routledge, 1995.

MacMillan, Margaret. Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World. New York: Random House, 2002.

Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919) with Austria; Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine with Bulgaria; Treaty of Trianon with Hungary; Treaty of Sèvres with the Ottoman Empire; Davis, Robert T., ed. (2010). U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security: Chronology and Index for the 20th Century. 1. Santa Barbara, California: Praeger Security International. p. 49

Zhang, Jianhua. World Modern History, Beijing, 2008

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