Thursday, March 10, 2011

The Treaty of Versailles- Fair or Unfair?

World War I was the first war of its kind. No one could forshadow the amount of destruction it would eventually cause, not just in war casualties, but economic, political and physical destruction as well. When the war ended, the Allied Powers, specifically Great Britain and France, inflicted heavy consequences on Germany of which they would never recover from. Do you think the treaty was fair, considering the damage that was caused? Can you blame Great Britain and France for their demands? If there was one aspect of the Treaty of Versailles that you could change, what do would it be and why?

23 comments:

  1. I don't think the treaty was particularly fair. Yes, Germany had caused much damage, but they weren't the ones who specificly caused the war. Each country held a little blame. You can't really blame France or Britain for their demnads though. They had lost many men, and had suffered immense damage. If there was one aspect i could have changed, i would probably have reduced the fee the treaty demanded. Perhaps it would have lessened Germany's hard ship and anger just a bit.

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  3. The treaty was not that fair. Every country that played a major part in World War 1 had a hand in starting the war except for the USA. The treaty could have been less unfair towards Germany which caused Germany to be less bitter which means we could of maybe avoided World War 2. Another thing is they could have let Japan play a bigger role in the treaty. But i cant really blame Britain and France because of how many men they lost. I would change everything so that Germany was still punished but not as severely.

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  4. I do not believe that the Treaty of Versailles was completely fair. I do believe that Germany did a lot of damage, but they did not deserve the amount of blame that they received. Although Germany should not have received as much blame as they did, I cannot Great Britain and France for the decision that they mad. Germany ruined land, killed many people, and just overall disturbed other country's economic and political aspects of it all. If i could change one thing about the Treaty of Versailles, I would probably reduce the amount of punishment on Germany. Either I would cut back on the amount of money that Germany owed or I would just make it so that Germany was not blamed for all of the World War. I would do this because it would help Germany feel like it was at least a little more important and they would receive more respect than they did before.

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  5. I believe that the treaty was not fair, yes Germany is to blame for most of the damage but not for the cause of the war. Hungary is the one to blame for the war, they attacked Serbia for no particular reason dragging in other allies causing a huge war. Everybody played there part of damage in the war so Germany should not have to pay for the damage they had done. no

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  6. I think that The Treaty of Versailles was not fair because every took part in the fighting and destruction that took place in World War I, not just Germany. I think that the fact that Germany had to pay for all the costs of the war is completely unfair. I think that every one that took place in the fighting of World War I should pay for the cost's of what happened. no

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  7. The treaty of Versailles was not fair, since it blamed much on Germany and gave Germany too many consequences from the war. Although they had began the uprising of it all, it was a bit extreme to give them every one of the consequences they had received from France and Great Britain. Germany was not the only country that was at fault, and countries that had been involved did not choose to take the blame for their part in the war, which was also unfair. If I was going to change part of the Treaty of Versailles, I would change Germany's punishment and their reparation price, because the countries that were also at fault did not have to do as much as Germany, which was wrong overall.

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  8. Considering the outcome of the war, i partially think that the treaty was fair. Germany did partake in most of the battles that caused a lot of destruction, and they did cause many casualties for the other countries. However, the other countries that were a part of the war, killed many people too and also caused great destruction where the battles took place, and should have taken a small portion of the blame. Germany obviously wasn't fighting the entire war by themselves and therefore shouldn't have been blamed for everything, which is one aspect that i would change about the treaty of versailles. I cant blame Britain or France for their demands, though, because they had been threatened by Germany before and didnt want anything like WWI to happen again. They were trying to do what was best for their countries, and wanted their people to be safe.

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  9. The treaty was not fair because Germany would of had to repair all the other countries damages while thier country was also in ruins.It's easy to understand France's and Great Britian's demands as harsh as they were, becuase of what they lost to germany. If there was one aspect of the treaty that I would change it would be the amount that Germany had to pay France and Britian to try and minimize thier anger but still get them to repair the damages.

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  10. I think that it has half and half. Part of the Treaty was fair and other part wasn't. I think it's completely fair that Germany got stuck with the repairs of the war because it really was the country that did most of the damage in the war. But i don't think that it's entirely fair that Germany was for started the war or just the war in general. In my opinion, if there were more than one country in that war, than you can't exactly blame one specific country just because you don't like them. But I do think that is was fair to demand Germany to become a Democracy. I think that, that part was completely fair in all ways possible. If there was one aspect of the Treaty that I would change it would be the part in which Germany is blamed for the entire war. I don't think that that is fair at all. As long as there was more than one or even two countries involved with the war, than all of the countries should be blamed not just one.

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  11. I think that the Treaty of Versailles was definitely unfair. Although Germany was partly responsible, the war was not more Germany's fault than any other countries. Although the treaty should have punished Germany somewhat, Germany had suffered the same amount of destruction as the other countries, and was not in any shape to pay for rebuilding (in fact, the Central Powers had a greater percentage of casualties than the Allies). Britain and France's demands, although somewhat justified by the amount of destruction they suffered, were still unreasonable. If I could change one aspect of the treaty, I would either change the amount of money Germany paid the other countries to something a lot smaller, or change the treaty to blame all of the countries equally.

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  12. The Treaty of Versailles was fair and not fair at the same time. It was fair because the Allied powers won, but they should not have made Germany pay for all the damages because they made them as well. I do not blame Britain and France for putting harsh consequences on Germany. They won, and their property was damaged. If I could change one aspect of the treaty it would be that all countries that participated in the war should pay for their own damages. Also I feel that Germany should have been put into the League Of Nations.

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  13. I believe that the treaty of Versailles was unfair with all of its four major points. First of all, it was pretty unfair that the war was placed on Germany. It was not all Germany's fault that the war happened, the blame should also have been placed on countries who pressured Germany and kept the war going. Plus, how does this solve anything or create any peace. All I see in this point is just a reminder that everyone hates Germany. Another point that was unfair is the decision to cut down Germany's military. This decision could just make Germany angry resulting in another big war when other countries decide to take advantage on this weakened state. The third major point is that Germany must release all colonies from its rule. This point was not as bad as the others but it was still pretty unfair. Those colonies were rightfully conquered by Germany and should not have been taken away from them. The fourth and final point that was unfair was that Germany had to give £6,600 at the time for reparations, which is a lot more money now. Not all of the damage in the war was caused by Germany, but they had to pay all of the damage. Overall ,the four points we learned of in class were unfair towards Germany.

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  14. I think the treaty was unfair because it solely punished germany for starting the war when it was really serbias fault because the killed the king of austria so they shoyld also be blamed for starting the war. I think the demands were a little to demanding and they should have asked for less. Also i think the france should have bought the land back from germany because they fought hard for that land. I believe that the treaty was one of the mai. Causes for ww2 because it made germany want to get revenge on the british and if the treaty wouldnt have been so harsh i dont think there would have been a ww2.

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  15. I don't think the Treaty of Versailles was fair towards Germany. Even though Germany caused a lot of damage to other countries it wasn't completely their fault for starting the war. I agree they should pay for the damages, but the other demands were a little harsh. I think Great Britain and France's demands were a little harsh. I believe the demand that Germany had to give up its colonies is unfair because that land rightfully was Germany's. They conquered that land fairly. Overall i think if the treaty were more fair Germany wouldn't have as much reason to start another war. A specific point i would change was that Germany was blamed for the war.

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  16. In all honesty i believe the treaty was completely fair, but I also believe that the punishments that were directed at germany should have been aiming more towards preventing a second war instead of punishing them. Germany was treated fairly considering how much pre war aggresion they showed. I think that if Germany hadn't begin the mobilize for war, nothing wouldve happen. I do strongly beleive though, that Germany should've been under heavy surveliance because i feel that world war 2 was a result of that.

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  18. I agree with Chloe,
    I think the treaty was unfair. Even tough Germany has a lot to blame for starting the war. I think Seria was a lot of the reason to for killing Francis Ferdinand. But because all of the demands that were given to Germany, they want to fight back and rebel agenst all of the other countries.

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  19. I think it was unfair. Even though Germany did have alot of things to blame for starting the war. The demands to Germany were very high and many cause them to fight back and start a new war. I also think if Germany did not moblize for war many things would not have happened at all.

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  20. I think parts of the treaty were fair and parts were unfair. I agree that Germany should have to disarm their miltary and they should accept responsibilty for the war. However, I think 30 billion dollars is way too much. I think they should have had to pay but defenetely not that much. I also believe that taking away all of there over seas colonies was too much. Taking back lands was fair but overseas had nothing to do with this war. I think if the Allied powers had decided to desgin the treaty to stop another issue like this from developing they would have been more succesfull. As it turned out, the Treaty of Versailles did nothing but trigger World War 2, an even bigger and more deadly war.

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  21. I think the treaty was unfair. Germany had a lot of blame for starting war however Germany caused them to fight back & later on a new war began.

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  22. I think the treaty was reasonable in some aspects and unfair in others. I think it was fair to make Germany become a democracy because they have had so much difficulty already with their past governments, and democracy at the time seemed to work for other countries that used it. I also think it was relatively fair to make Germany pay for damages because they were the ones who did the most damage on the loosing side. However, I do not think it was fair at all to make them take the blame for starting the war. All of the countries in Europe played a part in starting the war. It was not fair to blame it all on Germany just so no one else had to take the blame. It was in some ways, very immature and childish of them to do.

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  23. *Them meaning all the other European countries

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