Was the Treaty of Versailles Fair?

Was the Treaty of Versailles Fair?

Gemma Tai 8A (20)

The Treaty of Versailles was the peace settlement signed to end world War One. However, this treaty was actually designed to cripple Germany militarily, territorially and economically. Also, Germany has to accept the blame for starting World War One.

Kaiser Wilhelm was forced to give up his throne and introduce a new government for the country to stop the war temporary. Kaiser Wilhelm has no choice and has to accept the blame for starting World War One and has to sign the Treaty of Versailles, which is not fair. Lots of countries were involved such as the main alliances throughout the war. World War One broke out because of militarism, Alliances, Imperialism and Nationalism of different countries, which made war tenser between countries. Therefore, the treaty of Versailles was not fair for Germany because they are not the starter of World War One.

Germany was forced to reduce the amount of army and weapons. The army was restricted to 100,000 million, which basically was to make Germany powerless. Germany was not allowed to have modern weapons such as tanks, military air force. They also could not have battleships over 10,000 tons and were not allowed to have U-boats. Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, leader of the German delegation to Versailles said on 15 May 1919, “Those who sign this treaty, will sign the death sentence of many millions of German men, women, and children.”[1]  This is demilitarized, which cause Germany to be unsafe and helpless if they face a sudden attack. They have no control or rights after signing this treaty, which is not fair due to the safety of Germans.

Germany was forced to give up their land. Germany lost national territory that was given to Belgium, their enemy and Denmark and most was given to Poland.  Germany has no control to anything, which the amount of control is not balanced, which means not fair. Germany lost Chinese parts, pacific Island, and African colonies. At first, this should be a peace treaty. However, it seems like a plan to weaken Germany. This plan is not to make peace but it is an attempt to destroy their economy too because Germany cannot develop the country in fact weaken. Germany was forced to pay large amounts of money. Germany has to pay 6.6 billion pounds for war damages, which is not fair because Germany was not the only country involved in the war.  The two alliances were involved too, but why Germany has to pay the damages for the other countries.