Treaty of versailles???

Question

What were the flaws of the Versailles peace as compared to that established after the fall of Napoleon at the Congress of Vienna?

Answer 1

The Congress of Vienna, while it pretty much stomped over all the minor players, did one thing right: it maintained a balance of strong powers in Europe, and did not let France's internal affairs collapse into a vacuum. Additionally, many of the territorial changes caused by or confirmed by the Congress of Vienna did not cross cultural boundaries or set cultures that already despised each other into the same boundaries. Where people of a different culture were handed over to other nations, it was usually a case of changing one despised master for another (i.e. Poland).

The Treaty of Versailles instead rewrote national boundaries without regard to the cultures that lived within said boundaries, creating a host of small, instable nations with differing cultures inside them (Eastern Europe). Additionally, Germany was left with crippling reparations that crushed its already damaged economy, causing the government to weaken and finally collapse into the hands of the Nazi party.