When World War I came to a close in mid-November of 1918, many ideas were circulating in Europe as to what the peace settlement should entail. In Britain, leaders were thinking about how to increase British colonial power. In France, many wanted to permanently punish the Germans, partly in revenge for Germany's aggression in World War I, but also, perhaps subliminally, for the Franco-Prussian war in 1871. In Germany, citizens were worried about how radical changes after the war could affect their daily lives. Finally, in the United States, President Wilson was already concocting a system of permanently preserving European peace. All these biases, worries, plans, and ideas came together in Paris in 1919, with the Treaty of Versailles, establishing the post-war peace in Europe. Yet just twenty years later, war would once again break out in Europe. So why were the peace settlements of World War I unable to prevent the outbreak of war twenty years later in World War II? To underst!
and this, one must first have a detailed understanding of the World War I peace settlement at Versailles.
The first and most significant treaty signed after World War I was the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty, signed on the 28th of June 1919, was mainly o
. . .
These were more lenient than what Britain and France wanted, and Wilson believed they were more oriented to preserving the peace and status quo in Europe. Until then, though, they started on the $5,000,000,000, already a very daunting task for the nation. He even thought that Germany should eventually be allowed into the League. All German assets in other colonies were to be immediately dissolved into the current government of those colonies. Hitler and Germany were able to take over the Rhineland, the Saarland, the Sudetenland, (which had been given to the nation of Czechoslovakia by the peace settlements) and unify with Austria with the League left only to watch. In the East, Germany was literally split into two parts. France gained the much sought after region of Alsace-Lorraine.
The Treaty of Versailles had one true plan in preserving the peace, to completely eliminate Germany's territorial, imperial, military, and economic power so much, that the country could never wage war again. Unfortunately, the leaders of Britain and France ignored these problems and signe!
d the Treaty of Versailles into existence. Belgium also gained the provinces of Eupen and Malmedy.
Approximate Word count =
2663
Approximate Pages =
11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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