Treaty Of Versailles Dbq Essay

Max Goodman
Dr. Hagler
B Block
1/26/2023

The Treaty of Versailles was signed between the Allied powers of England, France, and the U.S. and the leading Central power, Germany, in 1919, officially ending World War 1. The Treaty of Versailles guaranteed that there would be a second World War because it placed the blame and cost of WW1 entirely on Germany, forcing them to pay extensive reparations, weaken its army, and give away lots of its territory. This resulted in vast economic destabilization, a weak government, and a weak military, all of which combined with the war guilt clause bred resentment for the allied powers throughout Germany. This caused Germans to become loyal to a nationalist party, led by a charismatic idealist who promised

8), a clause which had a severe impact on German nationalism, as many Germans felt that they were being unfairly condemned for a war which was not their sole fault. Other clauses detrimental to Germany ranged from the Allied powers confiscating some of Germany’s disputed territory and colonies, significantly reducing their army size into a glorified police force, and most notably requiring Germany to pay reparations to the Allied forces for all the damage done (Doc. 8, BG Info). All of these severe consequences brought upon Germany were for the most part France’s doing. Woodrow Wilson, the president of the U.S., felt that there should be a peaceful and primarily amicable settlement between the Allied powers and Germany, and David Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of England somewhat agreed (Doc 4: Source B-C). However, Georges Clemenceau, The Prime Minister of France, felt that harsh consequences were a necessity for the survival of France, not to mention how severe reparations were imperative to save France from its economic crisis. France felt that the U.S. and England did not understand the gravity of having such a powerful military presence bordering their own, a grave reality that France has grown deeply

Hyperinflation became so grave that it became more economically viable for German citizens to burn German Marks to fuel their furnaces instead of buying real fuel, as four trillion German marks were equivalent to one U.S. dollar (Doc. 6-7). These economic troubles did not stay contained in Germany, for Germany consistently defaulted on its payments to countries relying on German reparations to keep their economy afloat, resulting in many other large European countries falling into extreme debt (Doc. 6). The Treaty of Versailles had no plan to preserve the economy of Europe (Doc. 3), rather only a very flimsy idea to make Germany fix everything, showing once again that its impacts did far more harm than good on the overall economic and political stability of Europe. The Treaty of Versailles also had no plan to stabilize the newly created countries of Europe or make Germany and its allies “into good neighbors” (Doc. 3, 8), all of which led to extreme instability and unpredictability in Europe, as well as the German government itself, a mistake which paved the way for the rise of Hitler and the Nazi