Versailles Treaty Dbq

Precisely, as stated by Irreconcilable William Borah in a speech to the Senate in 1918, the League of Nations in particular stands no chance at imposition, and certainly does not stand on its own, for it clearly, contradictorily advocates for the very measures that it seemingly goes against: “The first proposition connected with the proposed league is that of a tribunal to settle the matters of controversy which may arise between the different nations. Will anyone advocate that those matters which are of vital importance to our people shall be submitted to a tribunal created other than by our own people and give it an international army subject to its direction and control to enforce its decrees? I doubt if anyone will advocate that … if you do not do so, Mr. President, what will your league amount to? … In its last analysis the proposition is force to destroy force, conflict to prevent conflict, militarism to destroy militarism, war to prevent war. In its last analysis it must be that if it has any sanction behind its judgment at all.

Those circumstances were caused by Germany using valuable land, having extreme restrictions against their military, being forced to pay reparations, and forcing them to admit they were totally to blame. The Treaty of Versailles took important land from Germany. This land contained important for industry and coastal land important for trade and shipping. This was done to weaken Germany's economy. The map in document A shows territory lost by Germany following WWI.

The creation of the Treaty of Versailles began bad. All of the countries that fought in the war were not included in the process of creating the treaty. One of the main missing parties was Germany. Document 5 showed that Germany had no say

Negotiations, if done correctly, create peace among the sides. The Versailles Treaty was a sad excuse for a negotiation which resulted in even more conflict than ever before. Between the years of 1914 and 1918, powers such as Germany and Austria-Hungary engaged in war against France, England, Russia, and the United States (Hook). This resulted in the fatality of 17 million military officials and civilians throughout the warfare (Hook). Once the bloodshed concluded, leaders of the world met and planned to create a treaty to end all wars.

The article from Hitler states that “the restoration of the frontiers of 1914 could be achieved only by blood... No nation can remove this hand from its throat except by the sword.” Germany lost many thing due to the Treaty, leading them to look up to Hitler for power and leadership. Hitler believes that war is the only way to regain their losses.

It was supposed to consolidate peace after WW1 but instead did the complete opposite. Full participation and agreement of all nations, including Germany, was not achieved, resulting in WW1 being solely blamed on Germany. This caused Germany to detest the guilt the treaty placed on them, ensuring the second total war (The origins of World War II 1929–39, 2017). Post-treaty, Germany’s anger grew rapidly as they watched the detrimental effects destroy their country to the fullest extent. Authoritative historians corroborate that Germany, stripped of their assets, land, military, and dignity, were forced to stumble in the dark and trying to regain control of itself, and when it finally did it was only to ignite WW2 (History Channel, n.d.)

The League of Nations was set up in attempt to ensure a revived conflict would not arise. Wilson felt by putting this point into place we can avoid going into war with other nations. Unfortunately, Wilson’s plan failed due to the German Army who built their efforts on the European Western Front. However, within a few months the German Army began peace talks based on his Fourteen Points of

Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles it is stated “The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected.¨ (Document D). The Allied powers blamed Germany and its allies for the start of WW1, the German people however felt this was humiliating, leaving them with anger towards the Allied powers. Laurence V. Moyer stated “The Allies continued... To regard the [Versailles] Treaty as an international contract… most Germans saw it as an atrocious injustice, an evil thing which must be destroyed.¨ (Document D). The German people thought of the Treaty as a document used to humiliate them by the Allies, and thus wanted to destroy it, even though the Allies thought of it as an international document.

“The second World War took place not so much because no one won the first, but because the Versailles Treaty did not acknowledge this truth”, (Paul Johnson). On July 28th, 1914 a life changing event occurred, World War 1(WW1). There have been many reasonable explanations for the cause of WW1. That really doesn’t matters except for the fact that many countries were fighting each other over the span of 4 years. There were two sides to the war.

Because of that point, American senators were iffy about ratifying the treaty. They saw the League of Nations as a trap. Basically America would be pulled into all kinds of wars even if they were not the ones directly attacked. If America had decided to ratify it, all of the Americans would be at risk because who is to say a nation not in the

The Treaty of Versailles: Viewing Germany as the enemy of conflict, European Allied forces decided to bring forth a treaty to the recently defeated Germany of WW1. The Treaty was presented to the German leaders to sign on May 7, 1919 which stated that Germany was to surrender Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Poland. One of the most embarrassing articles of the treaty was article 231, known as ‘The War Guilt Clause’ which forced Germany to admit full responsibility to the outbreak of WW1. The effect of this article was that Germany was liable for damages to material with Georges Clemenceau insisting on compensation repayments. Clemenceau and the French;

The Treaty of Versailles might have been created with the good intentions of making peace between the nations once more, but did not completely accomplish that goal. The Treaty of Versailles allowed all of the nations involved in the war to have Germany

However, Wilson was able to achieve one point that he saw as one of the most important of his points: The League of Nations, a collective group of nations working to solve problems peacefully. This was Wilson’s top priority. While this was perhaps one of Wilson’s greatest achievements in the treaty, it also played

Woodrow Wilson, through his tenure as President of Princeton University, as Governor of New Jersey, and then in his two presidential terms, demonstrated strong broad based leadership. Although political ineptness and a lack of charisma sometimes marked his career, Wilson generally, compensated with a pervading morality and intellect. So it was with his greatest achievement, the Fourteen Points—and most especially—the League of Nations to which he committed his life after 1918-1919. Yet, in an era in which the Congress fiercely guarded its war powers, the Senate, was under thee powerful Republican influence. The failure of the US in joining the League is attributable to the power of both the liberal and conservative opposition.

The First World War ended on November 11th, 1918 when the German government signed an armistice treaty with the Allied powers, leaving 9 million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded. This has lead World War I to be commonly known as the “war to end all wars”. There several key reasons as to why the Central Powers lost the war. Generally, it was a mixture of the Central Powers weakness and the Allied power’s strength. However, more specifically, the Central Powers had weak and unreliable Allies such as Austro - Hungary and the Ottoman Empire which both collapsed, leaving Germany isolated.