"How the Treaty of Versailles and German Guilt Led ..." Topic

…to World War II.

"When Germany signed the armistice ending hostilities in the First World War on November 11, 1918, its leaders believed they were accepting a "peace without victory," as outlined by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in his famous Fourteen Points. But from the moment the leaders of the victorious Allied nations arrived in France for the peace conference in early 1919, the post-war reality began to diverge sharply from Wilson's idealistic vision.

Five long months later, on June 28—exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo—the leaders of the Allied and associated powers, as well as representatives from Germany, gathered in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles to sign the final treaty. By placing the burden of war guilt entirely on Germany, imposing harsh reparations payments and creating an increasingly unstable collection of smaller nations in Europe, the treaty would ultimately fail to resolve the underlying issues that caused war to break out in 1914, and help pave the way for another massive global conflict 20 years later…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Let us not let Woodrow Wilson off the hook. TR proposed peace between Russia and Japan, and helped it come about without a single American death. Wilson made no such effort, and didn't seek an agreement on war aims and the peace before seeking a declaration of war--which left him at the end with no leverage.

And there's no mention of the way the Allies used enforcement of their will, even beyond the treaty, to discredit German democracy.

Other than that, the article is clear but breaks no new ground. Versailles didn't cause WWII, but it certainly made starting WWII easy. No one involved seems to have learned anything from the Congress of Vienna.

"Versailles didn't cause WWII"

I cannot help but recall Marshal Foch's acerbic (and fairly accurate) observation that the Versailles Treaty would mean another war in twenty years.

Just sayin'.

B

I'm sure that the Great Depression, US banks inability/refusal to continue to lend money to Germany and the continuing demand by all nations to get their reparations, had a great deal to do with it.

Dan

Agree.

Amicalement
Armand

Versailles didn't cause WWII, but it certainly made starting WWII easy

Very much so …

Blutarski +1

In the future, historians will probably view it as one great war with a ceasefire in the middle.

It certainly could look that way in future. The sides took a break, rearmed & refitted and then started up again … Albeit some switched sides the second time around or sat this one out …

Surely the likelier view is that the five wars started by Prussia / Germany – with Denmark in 1864, Austria in 1866, France in 1870 and then the allies in 1914 and 1939 – were the one great war, rather than just the final two?

I believe that with more nations being involved all over the world during WWI & WWII is a better way to define it. And both wars were in the 20th Century.

I guess it would depend on far you want to go back. Some say what Napoleon did could be considered a cause & affect for WWI.