Assess the settlement of Versailles. What were it good points? Bad points? Was the peace too harsh?

Question

Could it have ensured peace in Europe? How might it have been improved?

Answer 1

First off, the treaty was NOT too harsh. The terms imposed by Germany and Austria upon Soviet Russia at Brest-Litovsk were far more costly and bitter, and when Germany had responded to informal peace questions from the western powers in 1916 the potential terms the Kaiser would accept included the subjugation of Belgium as a permanent client state and the German annexation of much of the French channel coast and even more of France's mineral wealth.

The only thing that was completely unfair about the treaty was the requirement that Germany accept the 'war guilt' and then pay for the entire cost of the war. This was not because Germany had started the war. This was because, in 1919, Germany was the only one of the Central Powers that had not fallen to pieces from internal revolution and thus was the only losing country that had any potential to actually be able to pay the huge costs of the war. And, though everyone seems to feel so sorry for the Germans because of how things turned out, if the German government had not been cheating on the terms of the treaty from the very beginning (sabotaging their currency, purposefully short-shipping materials to incite French reaction, etc) the German economy could have paid the debt in full with only marginal damage. However, it was not uncommon after losing a war for a defeated nation to be required to disarm for a number of years and pull down their fortresses until the payments are done.

The League of Nations, commonly laughed at today, was actually a good idea and while the major powers supported it the institution actually worked very well. In the 1920's, the League had successfully supervised the plebiscites (regional elections) that re-wrote the map of Eastern Europe. Many of the financial institutions of both the United Nations and the Private Sector today are actually direct descendants of the League. The League was successful for a while in safeguarding what we would today call Human Rights for ethnic minorities in many of the member nations. Until well into the 1930's, the League successfully maintained two open ports in northern and southern Europe (Danzig and Trieste) which allowed the new nations of Eastern Europe access to world markets and prosperity. It was not until the late 1930's, when England began to feel that the greatest threat to world peace was France (because of her security arrangements with Soviet Russia )rather than Germany, that the League became hopelessly divided and impotent.

In my opinion, the treaty was an honest attempt at a workable solution. Germany's main partner in the Central Powers, Austria, had exploded into four separate countries (three of which were considered to be 'liberated' from Habsburg slavery), while Turkey and Bulgaria were perpetually poor, so someone would have to pick up the check for the party. Because of the war guilt clause, however, extremists and apologists in Germany were able to use it as the carry-all scapegoat to excuse all of Germany's excesses in the post war period.

Answer 2

The settlement of Versailles was an utter failure. Armistice do not end wars the simply postpone them which is what this settlement did. The German/Austrian governments moved toward the armistice under the impression of the Wilson imitative brought forward by US President W. Wilson. This imitative is what brought the German/Austrian government to form the peace talks which led to the Versailles treaty. When the Bismark & the junkers without the Emperor Kasier Wilhelm II began talks they invalidated is throne which led to his adictation and exile to Holland, created a vacuum of power in Germany that had no choice but to accept the terms of the treaty since the power and authority that they had was extremely questionable.
Germans regreted the treaty from the start, they despised the break up of Germany and Austria, and the general populace had the belief of mistreatment from the Allied powers which became more acute under the effects of the great depression. The german mark became valueless, the French and British governments striped what revenue the german government could accumulate as repriations. The treaty of Versailles was the last nail in the coffin of WWI and the First of WWII.

Answer 3

Germany lost her colonies, much of her own land and was made totally responsible for the war and asked to pay huge war reparations. These reparations were Frances retaliations to their reparations Germany imposed on them in 1871. They actually paid little of the actual reparation. Their major problem was the Weirmar Republic. They actually recovered from the that and were doing quite well until the crash and depression of the 30's.