Regina Torchia

Honors World History 11

Ms. Burke

24 April, 2017

Treaty of Versailles DBQ Essay

After the fighting stopped in all countries that were involved in the war, the countries met

together and decided the fate of Germany. They created a document, using Woodrow Wilson's

fourteen Points as a basis, and called the document the Treaty of Versailles. But was the Treaty

of Versailles a way to help Europe keep peace? I believe that the Treaty of Versailles did not

help Europe recover from the war and did not ensure peace throughout the countries in Europe.

First, the countries blamed the war on Germany and gave them the greatest War debt out

of any other European countries. This greatly hurt Germany in the long run because they were

not able to keep up with their war debt. Document 6 shows that in 1921 Germany was 305% in

debt after the Great War. Because they needed so much money, they started printing more

money and inflation increased. This decreased the value of money throughout Germany. Also

shown in document 6, from 1919 to 1922, inflation skyrocketed as shown in the graph. In

addition, in a speech by Lloyd George, he says, We propose to demand the whole cost of the

war from Germany. His purpose by saying this was to influence the others around him to feel

the same way. By pinning the the war on Germany, it created more tension between Germany

and the Allied powers who thought so negatively of them. Therefore, by blaming Germany for

the war and the enormous war debt that the Treaty of Versailles placed on Germany, it
negatively impacted German society after the war and would dig a deep hole of debt that the

German economy would struggle to recover from in years to follow.

Secondly, the Treaty of Versailles extinguished any chance that Germany had to fight. In

Articles 159 come 160, it states, the German military forces shall be demolished and reduced as

follows: by a date which must not be later than March 31st, 1920, the German Army must not

compromise more than seven divisions of infantry and three divisions of Cavalry. The army shall

be devoted exclusively for the maintenance of order within the territory into the control of the

Frontiers. This author must have felt that Germany needed to be severely punished and that was

his purpose for his quote. Although this might have proved as a good thing at the time, it gave

Germany no chance to fight back against any of its surrounding countries. This ultimately

dissatisfied the Germans. This helped with the destabilization of Germany and would later be a

cause of World War II. In comparison to destabilizing their army, they could have let Germany

pay a minimal cost and let them develop politically using a checks and balancing system. This is

similar to what the Treaty of Versailles allowed Russia to do in document 1. Moreover, the

Treaty of Versailles did not help to keep peace.

Lastly, Germany was forced to accept the punishment that the surrounding European

countries gave to them in the Treaty of Versailles. As shown in document 5, the peace terms

were basically forced down the throats of Germany. Similarly to today, when you are forced to

do something you do not necessarily want to do, you fight back against whatever force is making

you do it. Well, that's what happened to Germany. Germany did not accept the terms of the war

and this ultimately caused them to fight back against the other powers in World War II. Also, it

states in document 3 that John Maynard Keynes explains, The treaty includes no provision for
the economic rehabilitation of Europe - nothing to make the defeated Central Powers into good

neighbors, nothing to stabilize the new States of Europe, nothing to reclaim Russia;... Keynes

point of view is that he is against the Treaty and did not think it was an effective peacekeeper

tomorrow at all. Clearly, the treaty did not help certain countries recover from the war and did

not ensure the peace throughout Europe.

In conclusion, the Treaty of Versailles was not a settlement that helped ensure peace

throughout Europe and did not help certain countries, Germany in particular, recover from the

war. The War debt, the extinguishing of the German Army, and the peace terms that were forced

upon Germany, all led up to the later rebellion of Germany against the rest of Europe in World

War II. Not only did the Treaty of Versailles not keep the peace in Europe, but it was one cause

of a great epidemic that would cost many lives.