Treaty of Versailles
The Paris Peace Conference and the Versailles Treaty were designed to prevent Germany from ever threatening the world again. How did it attempt to do this? What were its strength? Weaknesses? Be as complete as possible, tracing the evolution of peace proposals, treaties, and describing the perspectives and goals of each belligerent state. The ideas of a policy to support a peaceful society began on Jan. 8, 1918 when Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States proposed to congress his idea of something referred to as The 14 Points. Although they were not officially proposed at that time to the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire) the ideas that would change the entire worlds views on what to expect because of the war were born. It was these 14 points that Wilson would continue to push for adoption by the Allies (United States, Britain, France, Italy, and Japan) as the guidelines that they were to follow given victory in the war. In October of 1918 it would be these points again that after much debate the Allies would reluctantly accept as a basis for the armistice requested by Germany. After having lost several major battles, the Central Powers were suffering severely and had
This situation introduced a new problem that had not existed before the war began. The French also wanted extremely large war reparations repaid to them covering their entire costs of the war and the loss of lives that they experienced. It wa!s the intention of the treaty for the mandate states to be prepared by the Allies to one day be released from Allied control and granted their own state. First, on the positive side the idea was born for the League of Nations. (3) A country was to be formed for the Slavic peoples in central Europe known as Czechoslovakia. Restricting representation to only certain countries developed hostile feelings among the remaining countries that were not permitted to participate. Once again, Wilson pushed for his 14 points as an answer to this problem. With the ability to look back on the treaty, it is evident to see the major strengths and weakness present in it. Although having flaws of it's own the concepts were nations could gather to debate issues before violence started meant that war could be avoided. This put into practice the nation-state idea that Wilson laid out in his 14 points. Britain felt threatened by the large naval forces amassed by the German Empire. (5) The League of Nations was to be formed with permanent members of all members that were present at the peace talks. The issue of peace was the primary concern for most of the Allies with the exception of France. After months of debating, it was decided that 5 major provisions must be part of the final peace treaty. The decreasing population would hinder German resource production.
Common topics in this essay:
League Nations,
Europe Wilson,
Central Powers,
Germany Additionally,
Wilson Wilson,
Germany Franco-Prussian,
Versailles Treaty,
France Germany,
Allies Germany,
Germany French,
league nations,
war reparations,
central powers,
treaty versailles,
peace conference,
peace treaty,
war reparations required,
germany pay,
france germany,
german empire,
paris peace conference,
peace talks,
reparations required britain,
war loss lives,
britain france italy,
|
Acceptance Essays
