Have you ever experienced something that you considered to be unfair? Possibly about a grade you received on a test that you thought you didn’t deserve, or maybe it was something a sibling did that you thought was foul or unjust? This topic was brought up to the public numerous of times during the years of 1919 and 1920, while both creating, and signing the treaty of Versailles. Many thought of the act as unfair, and cruel to the Germans, while others thought it wasn’t harsh enough. In my opinion, I believe that the Treaty of Versailles was unreasonable, and the Terms of the Treaty that are unfair, seemed to outweigh the supposedly fair terms. I also think that the treaty not only stripped Germany of their most powerful and reliable assets, but it also fueled nationalism.
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace document created and signed towards the end of world war one, by the allied powers, which consumed of President Woodrow Wilson, David Lloyd, Georges Clemenceau, and Vittorio Orlando. It was signed on June 28, 1919 in the palace of Versailles which is located in France. The Treaty was created to meet the goals of the allied powers, and to overall end the war. However the main focus for some of these allies was to punish Germany for potentially causing the war in the first place, and Hitler’s rise to power and inhumane actions provided the reasoning for the remaining terms of the treaty. There are multiple reasons as to why the Treaty was highly considered to be so unfair to Germany, and one sided (favoring the allies). One of them being that the Treaty stripped away most of their military powers and stability in which Germany disapproved of. According to an article titled “Treaty of Versailles” it states “The German army was restricted to 100,000 men; the general staff was eliminated; the manufacture of armoured cars, tanks, submarines, airplanes, and poison gas was forbidden.” By restricting their army down of men, it left them defenseless and vulnerable.
For such a large country, 100,00 men wasn’t enough to defend Germany from other invading countries. Another reason that shows the unfairness of the Treaty was the territorial terms and agreements. According to an article titled “ Why was there opposition in Germany to the Treaty of Versailles?” Stated that “Germany lost 10% of its land. Including the Saar which was a valuable coalfield, and also the West Prussia and Upper Silesia were rich farming areas.” This shows that due to the loss of these important features increasingly weakened their economy. Another reason that shows how Germany was treated unfairly after the signing of the Treaty was that they wanted Germany to accept the full responsibility for the cause of the war, and the consequences that go with that as well.
Therefore leading them into extreme debt to pay for the damages, and suffering from the war. Considering the restrictions made to Germany’s military, and weapons, the massive amount of land that they had lost as well, and the acceptance of responsibility, and consequences due to supposedly causing the war, proves that the Treaty was unfairly structured towards the Germans and was aimed to go against and cripple Germany as a whole.
