Reilly Smith

Ms. Burke

Honors History 10

March 16, 2018

Treaty of Versailles

World War I shook the whole world and left it tremoring. It unleashed many

repercussions that would eave both sides of the war in debate. A settlement was eventually

reached but it only acted as a band-aid. The Treaty of Versailles was not a settlement that could

have ensured peace and could not help Europe recover from the war.

There were three men who took a stand to decide how Europe was to recover from the

WWI. Their names were Woodrow Wilson (from America), Lloyd Georges (from England), and

Clemenceau (from France). According to the first document about Wilson’s 14 Points, he wanted

to create peace. He planned “the evacuation of all Russian territory” and “assure her of a sincere

welcome into the society of nations under institutions of her own choosing.” This means that

Wilson would remove any troops out of Russia that were foreign and allow the nation the option

to join the League of Nations. Wilson also wanted minority populations that were part of the

larger ones to have the chance to thrive on their own. Document 2 says, “People may now be

dominated and governed only by their own consent.” This means that minority nations are

allowed to be independent if they please. All in all, Wilson’s plan for lasting world peace would

never happen.
 Georges Clemenceau represented France in the debate. He was nicknamed “the tiger” for

how harsh of a punishment that he wanted Germany to have. According to document 3, the

Treaty had “mothing to make the defeated central powers into good neighbors.” Clemenceau

understood this and was not a fan of Wilson’s idea for peace. This is because America didn’t

face as much damage as France did. There was no way “to adjust the systems of the old world

and new” (Doc. 3). In document 4, Clemenceau is voicing his opinion. Lloyd Georges meets

Wilson and Clemenceau in the middle saying, “we want to protect the future against a repetition

of the horrors of this war.” Lloyd Georges also states that he thinks Germany should pay for the

entire war. In fact, Germany never wanted to sign the Treaty of Versailles but was forced to.

Document 5 is an image of the Big Three forcing Germany to “swallow” peace terms. It

is a representation of Germany being forced to sign actual peace terms between all nations.

Document 6 shows the hyper-inflation that Germany faced after signing. At the height of the

crisis, one U.S. dollar was worth 4 trillion German marks. In the following years, all of Europe

faced extreme debt. The money was so worthless to the Germans that in document 7, children are

pictured stacking German marks like they’re building blocks. In another picture, a German

woman is burning the money for warmth! Document 8 is an overview of the punishments that

Germany received, like “renouncing her overseas possessions” and reduced military size. The

extreme punishments would not create lasting peace.

Each of the points are examples of why lasting peace couldn’t be accomplished by the

Treaty of Versailles. Wilson was too gentle and only sought to create the League of Nations.

Clemenceau was extremely harsh and highly restricted Germany. All of these mistakes would

ironically lead to a second world war.