Jiravadee Tangjariyatam 10-03 5761030

The War Guilt Clause of the Treaty of Versailles forced

Germany to accept full responsibility for the outbreak of the
war. Was this fair?
Peace is an admirable treasure, but sometimes it is utilized as a tool to reach a purpose. After
World War I ended, in November 1918, every country all through the world needed peace especially
those who were members of Triple Entente and Central Powers. The victorious countries wanted
restoration from the defeated countries, mainly from Germany. Therefore, the victorious countries
leading by France gather up to build the Treaty of Versailles. The aim of the Treaty was bringing
true peace after World War I, but its result was unsuccessful and unfair to German because it created
anger and also led to World War II. German was not invited to create the Treaty of Versailles, the
German was forced to pay impossible amount of restoration, as well as some German land and most
Germans colonies were given to the victorious country these are the three main ideas to support my
point of view.
First of all, German was not invited to create the Treaty of Versailles. According to
Document 7C, after the war ended, the result showed that the Central Power defeated. German
which was one of the defeated country secretly built up 14 points plan with Woodrow Wilson of the
United States of America. The intention of 14 points plan was to cease the war and bring true peace
around the world. The 14 point plan was fair to both victorious and defeated country as every
country had to decrease factors that can cause the war to begin again. France which was one of the
victories refused to admit the plan, it wanted to penalise German harder. Therefore, France crated
the new treaty called Treaty of Versailles. According to Document 7A, the process of the Treaty
of Versailles occurred in Versailles, France, which composed of the leader from the victorious side
(England, Italy, France, and the United States of America). However, German, the country that
greatly affected, was not invited in the Paris Conference. Finally, according to Document 7C, the

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treaty was built and German was forced to sign the treaty without no right to say or refuse it.
German felt that it was tricked and deceived, so they were enraged and detest the treaty. In addition,
as you can see in Document 8 German also did not involve in the League of Nations, the
organisation for every country to bring back the sustainable peace. As the evidence showed, the
Treaty of Versailles treated German unfairly since German had no right to say and participate in the
treaty.
Secondly, the Germany was forced to pay impossible amount of restoration. As you can see
in table A showing Statistics related to the First World War, each country participating the war
exhausted their soldiers, lands, and resources, including German. The table also shows that German
was one of the most destructive country. Although German had to pay a lot of money for the
restoration of their own country, the Treaty of Versailles compelled German to pay the impossible
amount of the war restoration. According to document 8, German had to pay approximately 6.6
billion pounds within 63 years to the victorious country, even though German was not the only one
country that made the war to begin. According to document 8, to compare with the other members
of Centre power, German was judged to pay the most. From the evidences that discuss above,
German faced the difficult situation. There was severely effect to German especially economic
state. In the period of time German had no financial property to restore all the destructive, due to
industries which was accidentally forced to stop during the war. Therefore, German had no financial
support for industrial investment. Moreover, the economic state and value of money of German
dropped sharply, which made it could not comeback to be powerful as same as before the war
started or the victorious countries. All the problems happened to German were affected form the
Treaty of Versalles, which forced it to pay exceeding amount.

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Moreover, the Treaty of Versailles commanded that some German lands and most Germans
colonies had to given to the victorious countries. As you can see in Birth of a Nation
Retrospect ,when the imperialism occurred German was a new country which did not receive any
respect. So it had no powerful enough to complete with French and British during the time they
tried to conquer Africa, as you can see in Cause of World War I. That made German had conflict
between French and British. After a period of time, the other conflict was created because the 14
point plan was cancelled and the Treaty of Versailles was created. Originally, the 14 point plan said
that German should return Alsace-Lorraine and all of the land it took during the war, as you can see
in document 8B. However, France did not agree with the plan, so the the Treaty of Versailles were
built instead of 14 point plan. The new Treaty was extremely unfair to German as it compelled
German to return lands it took during war and also lands that belonged to German since before war.
For instance, Alsace-Lorraine was given back to France, Eupen and Malmedy were given to
Belgium, and North Schleswig was given to Denmark. The victorious countries also stole Germans
farming areas and coalfield areas, so German loss the important factor for economy and industry
material as showed in document8. This was one of the evidence that showed the unfairness of the
Treaty of Versailles to German lands.
In conclusion, the World War I ended up with grieved, which the Treaty of Versailles
emphasised on Germans punishment. German did not invite to the Paris conference, so it had no
right to built or say in the Treaty of Versailles. German also judged unfairly on the restoration with
the impossible amount that the defeated country could pay. German lost its colonies and some parts
of its land to the victories countries. Truly the treaty of Versailles wanted German, which was the
most powerful county among the defeat countries, to be unable to potent like before the war began.
Since the Treaty of Versailles treated German unfairly, it caused temper to accumulate in one period
of time. Finally, it led to the World War II, which was the other violent war in the world history.

Jiravadee Tangjariyatam 10-03 5761030