THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES

The Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to enlighten and explore the treaty of Versailles. The paper explores diverse dimensions surrounding the treaty; in addition, the study explores the significance of the treaty along with the reason of its occurrence. The treaty of Versailles contains significant importance in history; because, this treaty was the core reason due to which the World War I ended. The treaty reorganized European boundaries according to the goals of the victorious Allies; in addition, the formation of the League of Nations originated. The treaty also included a clause by which Germany acknowledged responsibility for the war. Germany also had to accept the practical elimination of its military, as well as colonial, European, territorial, and population losses and economic reparations.

As the French premier, Georges Clemenceau, complained during the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 "it is much easier to make war than peace." That turned out to be the case as the victors of World War I; especially, the Great Britain, U.S, Italy and France attempted to formulate distinct terms of the peace. The dominant powers took the vital decisions, and some 20 other nations in attendance had minute input. Germany did not have authority to participate in the discussions, which was a fundamental difference from the 1815 Congress of Vienna, at which defeated France had authority as a prominent role in the peace settlement. That was not to be the case. The league forced Germany to accept the peace treaty, and even moderate German opinion was so outraged that the treaty was a dictated one.

The Core Reason behind Treaty Formation

On May 7, 1919, the publication of the peace treaty shocked Germans like a thunderbolt. They had surrendered believing that the peace would be based on the Fourteen Points of the American president, Woodrow Wilson, only to receive a demand that rejected the spirit of Wilson's promises. The treaty required the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to France, a few towns to Belgium, most of Posen and West Prussia, and all of the former colonial possessions. Furthermore, both the Saarland in the west and Upper Silesia (an important industrial center) to the east would be at least temporarily detached from Germany and their futures to be supervised by the League of Nations (Sforza, 1928).

The most northern German city, Memel, awarded to the republic of Lithuania. The plebiscitary process did rightfully return the northwestern area of Schleswig to Denmark. The left bank of the Rhine dwelled by Allied troops and not evacuated for 15 years. While many of the territorial losses of Germany could be justified in nation-building (especially Poland and Czechoslovakia) in Eastern-Europe, many Germans living in the lost areas lost their right to self-determination, which President Wilson had so loudly promised (Sforza, 1928). In this era, German city of Danzig in East Prussia was a "free city." That is not to say a fairer way could have been found to establish the additional states and realize the rights of other nationalities ...