Compare And Contrast The Treaty Of Vienna And Versailles

“History repeats itself.” is a common maxim that is not particularly accurate. Rather, history can exhibit parallels. The treaties of Vienna and Versailles show these parallels, even being a century apart. These treaties share the prominent similarity of their goals towards security, leveling, and peace throughout Europe. But their historical applicability evoke differences in their processes towards peace. The Congress of Vienna took on the monumental task of reassigning territory to each country after Napoleon had skewed borders and leadership over his acquisitions and the Treaty of Versailles weakened and belittled Germany and expected an impossibly peaceful outcome. Although the means towards peace were different, both treaties …show more content…
The primary goal of the Treaty of Vienna was to redistribute lands out from under France, as well as making them pay for their motives that escalated into a series of imperialistic wars, since Napoleon had orchestrated it all. The Congress of Vienna was called into Austria with many issues at hand, all leading to the treaty and peace in Europe. On the agenda was border reconfiguration, a foundation for a new unified Germany, and an attack on imperialism. In regards to establishing fair borders, it had redistributed Napoleon’s acquisitions to their original owners. Although there still was no “Germany” as a result of this treaty, the three hundred principalities had been processed down into thirty-nine, but nationalists instilled fear of an uprising sooner or later. Since Napoleon …show more content…
In this way, the treaty was ineffective in attaining peace because Germany had reached its way out of a hole and fought back in a second World War. Woodrow Wilson had outlined the Treaty of Versailles with his Fourteen Points: an idealized list of proposals with which to satisfy every country and maintain peace. Germany is not mentioned in them, acting as a precursor to the same thing in the Treaty of Versailles. Through these nationalist, excluding points, Germany is left behind while other countries are becoming more independent and not occupied by enemies. This treaty had given Germany a hefty guilt of starting, raging, and continuing World War I. This, as one can imagine, was cumbersome and unfair to Germany, even after Wilson himself did not blame any specific country for the destruction from this war. Germany was not even invited to the Peace Conference, so this German delegation expresses distress: “Such terms are not found on any principles of justice. Quite arbitrarily, here the idea of an imprescribable historical right, there the idea of ethnographical possession, there the standpoint of economic interest shall prevail, in every case the decision being unfavorable to Germany.”. This shows the extent of how Germany is isolated from the rest of Europe under the