Treaty Of Versailles Research Paper

The first world war was very destructive and on November 11, 1918 Germany signed a cease- fire called “ the Armistice”. In January 1919 a conference was held to discuss terms of peace treaty to end the war. The Germans were not invited to the conference and had no say in the making of the peace treaty. Germany complained about the seriousness of the treaty but in the end Germany had no choice but to sign the document. The Treaty of Versailles did accept President Woodrow Wilson’s fourteenth point to create a League of Nations but this left out Germany and Russia. This made America not join the League of Nations so they wouldn’t have to deal with international affairs and made the United States go into isolationism. With all the information …show more content…
Germany was not allowed to join but could let other countries know how it felt. Germany was led to believe that the treaty would be based on the promises made in Wilson’s fourteen points. Russia was communist and not allowed to participate but they would be allowed to voice their opinion. Since Austria,Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bosnia, and Poland wanted countries of their own they fully supported Wilson’s principle of ethnic self determination. They also wanted a League of Nations to protect weak nations against strong counties. Vittorio Orlando was the Prime Minister of Italy and he declared war on Germany in 1915 changing from the alliance they had at the beginning of the war. He was bribed with land as a reward if he changed sides. On January,18,1918 Wilson shared his fourteen points with congress. Points one through five were the root cause of the wars. Wilson believed these causes included secret treaties, violation of freedom of the seas, trade barriers, arm races and competition for colonies. By changing all of these things to make them right Wilson hoped to realize his goal for world peace. The points of six through thirteen are to adjust national boundaries in Europe to allow all major ethnic groups a …show more content…
The second is that Germany was in a state of disarmament forbidden to have submarines or an air force, they could have a navy of only six battleships and an army of 100,000 men. In addition Germany wasn’t allowed to place any troops in Rhineland, the land next to France.The third provision is that Germany had to pay 6,600 million in reparations for the damage done during the war. The fourth provisions is that Germany lost land in Europe and Germany’s colonies were given to Britain and France. The fifth provision is that Germany couldn’t join the League of Nations. The sixth provision was that Germany couldn’t unite with Austria. Economic collapse and political turmoil fed the rise of dictator Benito Mussolini in Italy and fueled the revolution and the rise of communist dictators in Russia. The humiliating terms of the Treaty of Versailles and the Germans’ economic distress helped the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany.The treatment of Germany weakened the Treaty of Versailles ability in providing peace for Europe. Also the exclusion of Russia because of its communist government probably didn’t help the peace movement along. The problems in the treaty made international problems that would soon cause World War

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