Daryl Loper

History 22
Midterm: World War I Peace Negotioations
World War I was a war full of lots of politcal strong arming and casualties that shook urope
and ultimately all of the strong economical powers of the early twentieth century! "t its closing the
central powers all met at the Paris Peace #onference to discuss what to do with $ermany at the
aftermath of the war and how to pick up the pieces lost %y all fronts!
&he &reaty of 'ersailles( signed on )une 2* +,+, ended the war %etween $ermany and the
"llied Powers and aside from stopping the fighting -which actually ended with an amistace on
No.em%er ++ +,+*/ it also set up pro.isions to %ring a%out ways to pre.ent a war like this from
occuring again! &he first pro.ision the treaty laid out was the punishment of $ermany! $ermany was
re0uired to take %lame for the war and pay the estimated 122 %illion dollar cost in damages including
homes and %uisnesses destroyed( war supplies like ammo and weapons( and salaries for soldiers!
$ermany3s forces were also shrunk in si4e and its na.al fleet was gi.en to the allies! Lastly german
territorties were di.ided and turned o.er to the allies! &he ne5t pro.ision was that "ustria6Hungary(
$ermany3s %iggest ally in the war( %e split into the countries of "ustria( Hungary( 7ugosla.ia( and
#4echoslo.akia and the countries of Poland( 8inIand( stonia( Lat.ia( and Lithuania were put on
$ermany3s %orders to stop the spread of communism! Lastly two international peace6keeping
organi4ations were created to help pre.ent more wars like these! &he League of nations was esta%lished
so that countries who were mem%ers would act together to end international conflict and the World
court was set up so that countries could ha.e an open forum to negotiate desputes!
&his treaty didnt come up as one uniform idea though! .ery ma9or country had their own
interests to watch out for in drafting this document for peace! &he countries with the %iggest sway in
the construction of the treaty were 8rance( "merica( and $reat :ritain( often referred to in this conte5t
as ;&he :ig &hree<! 8rance for e5ample( led %y Prime Minister $eorges #lemenceau(
was chiefly focused on weaking $ermany since it happened to share a %oarder with the country and
also due to that fact france was strongly pushing the payment of reparations frome the hea.y amouts of
damage it took warring with its neigh%or! "merican President Woodrow Wilson on the other hand had a
.astly different idea! In his ;8ourteen Points(< instead of ad.ocating for re.enge he sought to make the
world safe %y ending the war at a fair peace where e.eryone could agree to the same terms! He wanted
a disarmament of aggressi.e powers( the League of Nations where countries to speak of peace %efore
war and a promise of self determination so that uropean counties could settle their own disputes
without =!>! Inter.ention! :ritish Prime Minister Da.id Lloyd $eorge3s stance was somewhat in the
middle! He wanted to make $ermany pay %ecause that was the stance of his people( %ut %eli.ed 9ustice
and re.enge were not the same thing! >ince %eing to harsh on $ermany would 9ust cause another war in
time her ad.ocated with the =!>! and 8rance for a halfway point! :ritains other o%9ecti.es were
increasing its territory( %olstering trade and impro.ing the na.y( all of which are present in the final
.ersion of the treaty!
In my own opinion whether the treaty was fundimentally fair depends on where you actually
place the springing point of the war to actually put $ermany at fault! Was $ermany really at fault for
getting in.ol.ed in its allie3s conflict and drawing a line in the sand with ?ussia or was it the fact that
$ermany really was indeed the first power to declare war@
Well to me yes $ermany is the one who indeed started the international conflict with %eing the
one to offically declare war first so $ermany should indeed ha.e taken the %lame for the war! :ut 9ust
%ecause they are the ones that initation the conflict doesnt mean that they are the sole ones that lead to
World war I %eing fought on an international front! &he war was indeed from my .iewpoint an
;International Dog Pile< in which alliances lead to countries 9umping in where they weren3t needed and
the conflict growing from a one on one skirmish to full on armageddon! Making $ermany pay the ta%
of a war that e.ery power participated in for irrational reasons immoral! I think for all intents and
purposes $ermany was the scapegoat for the winning allied powers to further their own gain with who
e.eryone tagged as the one at fault! &he hits to the $erman na.y and military were kicking the country
while it was down and only really left the country %itter and as the :ritish Prime Minister stated would
only lead to more conflict!-WWII/ "nd lastly asking one country to shoulder the cost of an
international conflict with all the ma9or world powers is not only insurmounta%le and a heafty thing to
ask %ut outright impossi%le to ask of a %attered nation!
If I was to look at this from the "llies Point of .iew on the other hand the fact of the matter is
they didn3t ha.e much of a choice in front of them! None of the allies could ha.e told their own people
to shoulder the %lame of a war that they had no part in starting! 8rom their .iewpoint they were indeed
defending freedoms and honring the promises made to allies countries to support them in times of need!
If any power %roke their promises then how could they e5pect to gain any support in the future! &he
treaty accomplished what the people of each nation wanted and satisfied what the allies promised to
eachother so it was indeed their only choice! 8air to $ermany it may not %e %ut %etter for e.eryone else
in.oled it certainly was! Was the &reaty of 'ersailles fair@ No( no war treaty is e.er really fair to the
losing party! Was it realistic@ 7es it furthered the politcal interests of those who were in the position to
%argain and gain and further their own nations without %lame! :ut with a war like World War I where a
lot of its e.ents and reasonings are up to de%ate it does indeed .ary on how you look at it!
If I could rewrite the &reaty of 'ersailles there would %e 0uite a few alterations I would make!
&hey would %e changes that do not lea.e $ermany as the scapegoat of the entire conflict %ut also does
penali4e it for declaring war on the ?ussians which sparked the entire thing! >o first change would %e
$ermany signing a written declaration of an end to the war and an apology to the world for its hasty
action instead of full %lown finger pointing that way $ermany doesn3t look like a world wide %ad guy
%ut still does take the responsi%ilty of its actions!
Ne5t off I would do away with the disarmament clause of the treaty which made $ermany
reduce it3s military si4e and relin0uish its na.y! &hat lea.es an already %attered country pretty much
defenseless against attack and would make the people feel weak! I would instead ha.e $ermany swear
to cease all of its aggressi.e militaristic actions for a set period of time for things to settle down world
wide!
&he %iggest change I3d make to the treaty would %e the shouldering of the whole war cost! I do
agree that $ermany should pay a hefty sum for something that it had the %iggest hand in causing %ut
not the entire cost! I would make e.ery country who participated pay the cost of the occupation of its
troops and their salaries and make $ermany pay the com%ined cost of damages to factories and homes
during the war and a fund to families who lost lo.ed ones during the war!
&he :reakup of the "ustria6Hungary mpire and the esta%lishment of countries on $erman
%oarders would %e kept the same to ease tensions in the region %ut the siege of outling $erman
territories %y :ritain and other powers would %e instead %e donated land for those displaced %y the war
to mo.e to get a new start funded %y the money left for the families!
I made these choices to insure that most importantly from a forld .iew no one country looks like
the e.il power and the country taking responsi%ility does not ha.e ill feelings to cause future conflict!
&hese re.isions to me would %e somewhat realistic %ut in the end to the .ictors go the spoils and that is
the definition of the the resolution of World War I