Justification for the Treaty of Versailles
The Post-War Treaties
The Post-War Treaties
Four other treaties created the Versailles Settlement. These are:
The Treaty of St Germain
The Treaty of Neuilly
The Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Sevres
Representatives of each country were forced to sign the treaty
The Treaty of St Germain
Date | Format | Terms | Impacts |
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September 1919 | The Allies' dictated peace treaty with Austria |
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The Treaty of Neuilly
Date | Format | Terms | Impacts |
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November 1919 | The Allies' dictated peace treaty with Bulgaria |
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The Treaty of Trianon
Date | Format | Terms | Impacts |
June 1920 | The Allies' dictated peace treaty with Hungary |
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The Treaty of Sevres
Date | Format | Terms | Impacts |
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August 1920 | The Allies' dictated peace treaty with Ottoman Türkiye (Turkey) |
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Impact of the peace treaties of 1919-1920
Key Opinions on the Treaty of Versailles
Key Opinions on the Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles can be justified | The Treaty of Versailles cannot be justified |
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Some journalists in Britain insisted that Germany could afford the reparations | Due to economic crashes, Austria’s and Hungary’s reparations were cancelled. When Germany’s economy collapsed, the Allies reduced but did not stop reparations |
The French claimed that Germany’s diktat on Russia in 1917, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, was much harsher than the Treaty of Versailles | The Treaty of Lausanne undermined the Treaty of Versailles. It indicated that the Allied politicians knew the Versailles Settlement was unfair |
Marshal Foch, the French commander of the Allied forces, stated that the treaty did not protect France from invasion | Some British politicians and journalists believed that the treaty’s terms would cause Germany to start another world war |
Some politicians in the USA believed the treaty was the best solution, given the political context in 1919 | The Allies had different motives and aims. They were more interested in achieving their own aims rather than creating a fair treaty |
Some people in Britain and France thought that the treaty was too lenient. As long as Germany existed as a country, they were still a threat to world peace | Forcing Germans to live under foreign rule and its exclusion from the League of Nations isolated Germany. This increased support for extremist groups in Germany |
Contemporary Opinions of the Treaty of Versailles
“If we aim at the impoverishment of Central Europe, vengeance, I dare say, will not limp. Nothing can then delay for very long the forces of Reaction and the despairing convulsions of Revolution, before which the horrors of the later German war will fade into nothing, and which will destroy, whoever is victor, the civilisation and the progress of our generation.” |
A quote from the British economist John Maynard Keynes in The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919) |