On November 11, 1918, the war had officially ended for the quarreling countries (Germany, Britain, Russia/United States, Italy, France, Austria-Hungary, etc.). While the war was going on, everyone believed that Germany would win the war, but that turned into a big assumption. Towards the end of the war, Germany decided to accept the defeat, which came to a shock for everyone. On June 28, 1919, A treaty called The Treaty of Versailles was written by the league of nations (A league made up of all the other countries involved with the war except Russia and Germany), to which it explained its harsh punishments for the loser of the war (Germany). Some of the terms on the Treaty of Versailles were too harsh for Germany, causing so much damage to most of what they owned. I believe that if a treaty causes a country so much trouble and pain, it should be rewritten immediately. So my case? I think the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh on Germany, and if there was ever a chance, it should’ve been rewritten immediately.
In the Treaty of Versailles, stripping Germany of their military was a term that had to be abided by. The term demanded that Germany would only have 100,000 men for their army (They were all volunteers too), They also were forbidden to have tanks and airplanes. One term critically stated that the German border over to France, known as Rhineland, was demilitarized. This meant that all of Germany’s military had to stay out of that area. The German people were very terrified for the loss of their military. They believed it left them available for an attack, since none of the other countries neighboring Germany had to reduce their armies as well. Germany couldn’t even control the law in their own country with the 100,000 men, let alone defeat a country if they were ever attacked. The demand for this term was very unnecessary, because it is inhumane to strip someone of their powers and leave them vulnerable. That term of the Treaty of Versailles stripped Germany’s power, and left the people of Germany defenseless against anything that could’ve happened during that period of time. Matters became worse when they didn’t strip anyone else’s powers, only Germany’s. Just because one country lost a war, doesn’t mean it should’ve been the only country to have their military reduced.
A term for the Treaty of Versailles stated that Germany was required to pay the bill for the countries with a lot of war damages. This term, at first, didn’t seem all that bad to the German people; the German people then saw how much they had to pay. The payment for the countries with the most damage came up to 132 billion gold marks, which is 835 billion dollars in US dollars. Germany was outraged by this, seeing that they already had their economy in pieces, they saw no way how to pay 132 billion gold marks. This outraged many more, and riots became known throughout Germany for the amounts of money having to be paid. Making Germany pay for the worst of the war reparations wasn’t necessary, including that their economy and population had been obliterated by some of the other terms on the Treaty of Versailles. The league of nations were very wrong to add this term to the treaty, because of its lack of justification. Making Germany pay for only one reparation would’ve been enough, but making them pay multiple reparations took a toll on many of the German people.
The Treaty of Versailles could’ve been handled so much better. If only the country leaders could’ve put themselves in Germany’s shoes, would they have seen how much Germany was suffering. Most of the terms on the Treaty of Versailles didn’t need to affect so much of what Germany had. Germany’s economy, military, and land was taken away from them, which could’ve caused so many more wars between the countries. The Treaty of Versailles was very unfair to Germany, and like I said earlier, it should’ve been rewritten.
