Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a violation of Wilson's ideals. The Treaty is one of the most important agreements (or disagreements) that shaped 20th century Europe socially and physically. Woodrow Wilson on January 22, 1917 in an address to the United States Senate called for a peace without victors, but the Treaty signed by the participating nations was everything but that. The blame for the war was placed on Germany and justified the reparations that were outlined by the treaty for the war. The terms of the treaty were very harsh to the Germans and they took on great resentment. It was a fragile peace agreement that would be used as fuel to keep hostilities going 20 years later.When the details of the treaty were published in June 1919 most Germans were horrified. Germany had not been allowed to the Peace Conference and was told to accept the terms or else. Most Germans however, had believed that the Treaty would be lenient because of Wilson's Fourteen Points. Many people in other lands thought that the treaty was a way of making legal the punishment on the Germans and this was in violation of Wilsonian idealism. The peacemakers should have been able to set aside hatred that was built up from the past in order to
come up with a more proper and fair settlement. Instead of doing this, they placed the blame on the Germans by forcing them to pay for reparations they couldn't afford, insulting them with the accusation of guilt from the war and taking away their territory. The treaty would only intensify the hatred felt by all the parties involved in the treaty and heighten German nationalism. This was a poor beginning for democracy in Germany and for Wilson's New World. The treaty broke up empires and changed boundaries. The Germans lost territory and other countries tried to weaken Germany's military potential and strengthen their own to compensate for the destruction of their lands caused by the Germans. The Germans were unanimously against the Treaty of Versailles. They viewed the terms of the treaty as humiliating and merciless, designed to keep Germany militarily and economically weak. To the Germans, the Treaty of Versailles was not the beginning of the New World that Wilson had promised, but a horrible crime. The conclusions of the war included the following; Germany was forced to reduce its army to 100,000 men, reduce the navy to 6 warships and was not allowed to have any submarines, destroy all of its air force, give land to Belgium, France, Denmark and Poland, hand over all of its colonies, agree to pay reparations to the Allies for all of the damage caused by the war, put no soldiers or military equipment within 30 miles of the east bank of the Rhine, and accept all of the blame for the war (War Guilt Clause.) Italy was given the two small areas of Istria and the South Tirol. The Adriatic coast was made part of a new country called Yugoslavia, which included Serbia and Bosnia. Other new countries were created; Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland were formed from land lost by Russia. Czechoslovakia and Hungary were formed out of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Allies al
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1277
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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