РефератыИностранный языкWWWWI Peace Settlement Essay Research Paper The

WWI Peace Settlement Essay Research Paper The

WWI Peace Settlement Essay, Research Paper


The First World War started in 1914 and ended in 1918. Germany and her


Allies, Austria – Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria lost the war with the


British Commonwealth, France, Belgium, Russia and Serbia, who with


Japan formed the Allies and who were later joined by Italy, Rumania,


USA and some other countries. Millions of people were killed during


the war, empires were broken up, countries were half bankrupt so the


First World War left whole nations suffering. Idealists on both sides


vowed that a disruption like this should never repeat.


So The Treaty of Versailles was the way to maintain peace among


nations. So, in January 1919, President Woodrow Wilson of the United


States, Georges Clemenceau of France and Lloyd George, Prime Minister


of Britain who were otherwise known as the ^Big Three^ and


representatives of twenty nine other victorious nations met in Paris to


draw up a peace treaty. The Treaty of Versailles, which was based on


Wilson^s Fourteen Point Programme for Peace, dealt with Germany and the


rest of the losers of the First World War. The Peace Treaty mainly


dealt with three kinds of arrangement which were territorial, military


and war guilt. The treaty was signed on the 28th of June 1919.


The Germans considered the treaty to be too harsh, inhuman and unfair.


Germany was not allowed to be represented at the Peace Conference, they


had no say. The Germans were appalled at the severity of the treaty the


Allies expected them to sign. The treaty was practically forced upon


them followed by a threat by the Allies saying that they will invade


Germany if they do not agree to sign, there was no room for


negotiation. The Germans were bitter and felt extremely humiliated and


embarrassed.


Another reason which caused ill feeling between Germany and the Allies


was the treaty terms itself. Germany hated having to be disarmed with


her army reduced to a very low number as 100 000 volunteer men and been


forbidden to have tanks, only a small navy and no air force and


moreover no troops were to be allowed into the Rhineland. The Rhineland


was handed over to the League of Nations. War guilt was another major


point. Germany had to agree with the allies^ statement that Germany


and her allies alone were to be blamed for starting the war. They had


to pay for damage and were forced to pay heavy reparations. They had


to pay some payments in goods as well. Germany lost 13 1/2 per cent of


her territory, with seven million of her people, to neighbouring


countries. They were most bitter about being forced to give up Alsace


and Lorraine to France. Germany considered all these terms to be too


harsh.


The last point of Wilson^s fourteen points was to set up a Parliament


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where nations would meet together to settle argument instead of going


to war. In 1920 the League of Nations was formed. But undoubtedly


there were major weaknesses in the League. One was that the defeated


nations such as Germany were not allowed to join at first. So Germany


was literally cut off from European affairs all together and that


spoiled the relationship between Germany and the Allies even more.


Another reason that caused ill feeling between the Allies and Germany


was that in 1923 when Germany declared that she could not afford to


make any further payments the French occupied the Ruhr which was one of


the major industrial areas of Germany and forced Germany to pay


reparations. The German workers went on strike in protest at the


French army^s occupation so as a result of this the German government


went bankrupt from printing too much money and the German Mark soon


became worthless.


Even though there were many disputes before, between the years 1924 to


1929 the relationships between European countries improved. This


period was called the era of hope because Europe was starting to settle


most of its problems. In 1924 Germany got help from USA to pay her


reparations, she received huge loans from the US and Germany was given


more time to pay as well. So the Dawes plan and Young plans were a big


relief for Germany.


In 1925 the forming of the Treaty of Locarno took place. Britain,


France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Czechoslovakia signed the treaty.


One of the most important points made in the treaty was that Germany,


France and Belgium were not to wage war on each other but find a


peaceful solution.


In 1926, Germany joined the League of Nations, and was given a


permanent seat in the council with the other great nations. So this


definitely put Germany back into European affairs.


The late 20s were prosperous. Production, trade and personal incomes


were rising. So Europe was getting itself wealth and power back.


During the late 20s anti-war feeling was very high in most countries.


In 1929 Remarque^s anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front became


a best-seller in several languages. So that showed that there was hope


that Europe would not get into another Great War.


The treaty of Versailles was harsh on the Germans in a way and that


caused ill feeling between Germany and the Allies because the Germans


thought the treaty way too tough and that the Allies were trying to


pull Germany down as much as they could. But during the latter part of


the 1920s Europe some what ^got their act together^, tried to settle


their disputes and tried to find solutions to prevent another war and


they definitely started to look towards the future more positively.


By Nimandra de J. Seneviratne

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