Causes And Effects Of The Treaty Of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was the peace treaty that was discussed at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. The treaty discussed the punishment for those who were held responsible for World War I. While the Ottoman Empire was completely destroyed, other countries, including newly formed Austria and Hungary were punished. The country that was most severely punished, however, was Germany. There was an extraordinary amount of punishment that was outlined in the treaty such as a diminished army, large (huge) debt and fines to pay, as well as the acceptance of all blame for the causes and effects of the war. These all were extremely influential on the rise of power of the Nazi party in Germany. There are many ways that the result of World War I contributed …show more content…
First, Russia did not regain the territory that they gave up to the Germans in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 3, 1918). Everyone around the world knew what this treaty would do. The leader of the Democratic Socialist party knew that this treaty would do nothing more than continue the war with all of its repercussions. The treaty was not only an inevitable continuation of a war, but it was hypocritical of Woodrow Wilson to be in favor of this treaty because it would destroy Germany economically. Wilson in his Fourteen Points stated that this was something he wouldn’t do. Conrad Haussmann (of the Democratic Party) stated that France, England, and the United States were “violating the basic principles of democracy” with the signing of this treaty. Even women in the country of Germany knew about the disaster that this treaty would bring. A woman who was a member of the Socialist party who spoke for German women said that this treaty would only lead to another war. At this point it was pretty clear that the Allied Powers were only setting themselves up for disaster. Because of the large reparations Germany had to face by this treaty, they went into a large economic depression. In the United States, this was known as The Great Depression after the stock market crash of 1929. This was the largest economic depression the United States had ever seen. Because of Germany taking the blame for …show more content…
However, the lasting effects are what is most crucial. Again, this all stems from the War-Guilt Clause of the Treaty of Versailles. Some of the long lasting effects of World War II were the formation of new countries. Some of these countries include the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the reformation of Germany. The reformation of Germany was crucial because parts of Germany were controlled by the four allied powers USSR, France, Great Britain, and the United States. Because the USSR had lost the most citizens in the war and also arrived at Berlin first, they got the largest portion of the now split nation. This lead to many problems because of the Communist Regime of the USSR in control of parts of Berlin and Germany as a whole. A result of this was the Berlin Wall which was not taken down until 1989 and the Berlin Airlift by the Western Powers to give supplies to the democratic side of Berlin. The western portion of Germany, though separated between the Western Powers, kept the common ground of their democratic ideals. They soon reformed the nation, though lacking the portion controlled by the USSR. This, along with other disputes between the Eastern and Western powers lead to the Cold War conflict that did not end in dispute until 1991. This deformation and reformation of Germany was because of the results of World War II which was caused largely by the War Guilt Clause after World