The Treaty Of Versailles The Treaty Of Versailles Is

The Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles is one of the key events in Modern history, as it was one of the causes of the Second World War. The sole purpose of the Conference was to prevent another war like the ‘Great War’ from occurring, but instead it was one of the causes of another global conflict. Who? There were three countries present at the conference that would decide Germany’s fate. They were all from the ‘allied powers’ and no ‘axis powers’ were present. The countries present were Great Britain, France and the United States of America. Each country had a representative; Britain’s was David Lloyd George, France’s was Georges Clemenceau and representing the U.S was Woodrow Wilson. Each representative had different views on what should be done but they all had to agree in the end. David Lloyd George had two views on what should happen to the Germans. His public view was that the Germans should be punished severely for their war crimes. However he also had a private view; he believed that the threat of communism from the east was a much bigger threat than from a defeated Germany. He believed that Germany were in the direct firing line if the communists tried to spread throughout Europe, so he wanted Germany to be able to halt the communists advance should it ever occur. Clemenceau of France had one simple belief; he thought that Germany should be completely flattened because of the atrocities they had committed and the damage and devastation they had done to his country. But, Woodrow Wilson (U.S) did not want Germany to be completely destroyed as there were many German Immigrants in the States. He also wanted to reduce America’s input into Europe and wanted it to work on its own devices. Therefore he wanted a peaceful ending that would not anger anyone. What? The whole point of the Treaty of Versailles was to try and stop this type of conflict from ever happening again. Also it was to decide what punishment Germany deserved after they had reduced a lot of Europe to rubble. There were a number of territorial losses, military restrictions, financial punishments and general terms. German Territorial Losses:

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Alsace Lorraine given to France Eupen & Malmedy given to Belgium Northern Schleswig given to Denmark Hultschin given to Czechoslovakia

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West Prussia, Posen and Upper Silesia given to Poland

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The Saar, Danzig and Memel were put under the control of The League Of Nations

Military Restrictions: •

No air force

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No Tanks

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No more than 100,000 Infantry

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No submarines

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Only 6 naval ships

Financial Punishments: The Germans had to pay a colossal amount of money for the financial penalties that were enforced; a massive £6600 million was what the allies wanted from the Germans. General: • •

The German’s had to accept full responsibility for the war and the damages it had caused. A League of Nations was set up to try and keep world peace.

When? The Treaty of Versailles occurred after the First World War had come to a close; it was eventually signed on June 28th 1919. This was after months of arguing between the three countries involved on what should happen to the German’s. Where? The Treaty was signed in Versailles Palace, near Paris. This venue was chosen simply because of its sheer size. The famous Hall of Mirrors could accommodate hundreds of people. Why? The conflict of World War I had completely and utterly destroyed Europe. The casualty count for each of the fighting countries was absolutely colossal and had never been seen before in the history of all conflicts:

Britain – 750,000 soldiers killed; 1,500,000 injured France – 1,400,000 soldiers killed; 2,500,000 wounded U.S.A – 116,000 soldiers killed German – 2,000,000 soldiers killed Therefore the Allied powers needed someone to blame for this unthinkable loss of life. They chose the defeated Germans. But it was not just the high casualty count that made the allies angry, the country of France and Belgium; where the battles were mainly fought, were completely devastated. The whole infrastructure of Ypres in Belgium was shattered and the whole area could not function properly. Another reason that the Allies were in no mood to be merciful towards the defeated nations, was the fact that Spanish flu had jus swept through Europe and had killed an estimated 25 million. The treaty was designed to try and stop another conflict of this scale from happening again, and to make the allied countries feel better about the war by punishing the Germans. In addition, at the end of the conflict the German army was allowed to march back into Germany with some dignity remaining, and German citizens did not have to suffer being bombed or shelled. Therefore at the outbreak of the Second World War, Britain made it a priority to carry out bombing raids on the German mainland.