Questions to Ponder:
What factors led Germany to seek an armistice?
What were the root causes of WWI?
What were the major provision of Versailles?
Blog Response: How/Did Versailles address the root causes of the war? Explain your response.
Blog Due Wednesday 6/16 p.m.
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46 comments:
For many, the armistice was the hypothetical weight lifted off of the world's shoulders. Citizens and soldiers alike celebrated the end of the war, despite its grueling casualties including the millions of deaths caused by the war. Versailles was called to address the terms to formally end the war for both the Allied and Central Powers. Unfortunately, however, Versailles did not address the root causes of the war. The area of the Balkans was not properly dealt with and there were many loose ends about that area. Wilson's Fourteen Points were weak on several topics. The United States felt that Germany owed them the reparations and debts of the war as a payment of their defeat. Some other Europeans (including those part of the Allied Powers) believed that completely dismantling Germany would ruin the continent both politically and economically. Wilson believed the setup of a League of Nations would also help maintain the issues addressed at Versailles. This League would be unable to control the German dues and therefore, was an unfit organization. The root causes of the war were not properly and thoroughly addressed at Versailles. Many believed that this was not a peace agreement, but rather an armistice that would last merely 20 years. That prediction was only off by 65 days, as World War II breaks out in the very near future.
The treaty of Versailles did adress the root causes of the war by its signifigance by breaking up terrotories of Germany into several independent countries,and it's demands of reparations from the Germans.
In one of the four points of clauses in the Treaty of Versailles includes the territorial clauses. As a result Germany had several areas of land taken away from them. This led to several independent countries which were formed such as Poland, Estonia, and Latvia. This was a direct root of WW2 because it combined and threw together various ethnic groups which led to social unrest such as the Slavs and Chechkz. Due to these tensions along with new primitive forms of Government these weak nations became territories for powerhouse countries such as Germany to conquer leading to the beginning of WW2.
In addition the Treaty of Versailles came the demand of reparations that Germany owed due to their damage during the war. This astonishing toll of 6,600 thousand million pounds made Germany's economy worsen and deteriorate. This ultimately led to rebellious groups and social tensions/hate began to form toward the harsh treatment of Versailles. As a result certain groups who became upset with the new established weimer rebuplic and the Nazis began to form.
Overall the treaty of Versailles directly relates to the root causes of the war because it began social unrest in independent states surrounding Germany and was used as a motivation for Germans against the treaty of Versailles and the three countries that made it. It also caused economic depression which led to radical groups, ultimately the Nazis to form. In Germanys state of this Chaos caused by the treaty Hitler took power. Thus ultimately effecting the direct roots of the war.
World War I ended in 1918 with the signing of the treaty of Versailles. The purpose of the treaty was to decide what to do to stop another war from occurring, while at the same time punishing Germany for its actions during the war. The fate of Germany was on the table, and different allied countries wanted to do different things to the war-torn nation. For example, some countries wanted to separate Germany into multiple small states, occupied by Allied forces. Still others argued that the best way to prevent another war would be to leave Germany intact and make them pay enormous reparations to many European countries. The conference in Versailles was meant to solve this and many other problems.
One of the most notable causes of the First World War was political unrest. For example, Serbians were unhappy with Austrian rule, so they rebelled. This was common in many countries, and led to instability across Europe. The conference in Versailles was supposed to restore a feeling of peace to citizens of all European nations. The war had torn apart families, displaced millions, and had left most countries in shambles. To restore this calm, the conference discussed ways to stop Germany, which had caused most of the problems in the war, from becoming strong again. They decided that dismantling Germany would do more harm than good, because it really wouldn’t solve any of post-war Europe’s economic issues. Instead, they forced Germany to pay for the damage it caused to Europe. This stimulated the economies of European countries, while at the same time taking away Germany’s ability to fund another war.
Overall, I think the conference was very successful. The Versailles conference delivered legislation that kept Europe free of war for nearly 20 years. If not for the Great Depression in the 1930s, its possible that the Versailles conference could have kept peace for even longer.
The Treaty of Versailles was a very successful conference that ended World War I in 1918. The treaty was created in order to figure out what must be done to prevent another war. In doing this, they also hoped to penalize Germany for its engagements during the war. The future of Germany was in the hands of the allied countries but they had a hard time deciding what to do with the country. Most countries had different ideas of what should be done to Germany. Some thought Germany should be split into many small states that the Allied forces controlled. Some of the other Allied countries thought that Germany should be forced to pay extreme amounts of money to European countries. If that were to happen, Germany would still stay together. Because there were so many different ideas as to what should be done with Germany, they all came together at the Treaty of Versailles to decide on one solution.
Germany’s future was not the only problem discussed at the Treaty of Versailles. It was also created to restore security and peace to the citizens of European nations. One significant cause of World War I was political instability. When citizens were not pleased with their government it led to rebellion. The war had destroyed the lives of millions of people by damaging family life at home, losing loved ones, and whole countries were left in ruins. Germany was the cause of most of these problems so, for the good of all people, they needed to be stopped and this was what was discussed at the Treaty of Versailles. One idea brought up at the Treaty was to dismantle Germany. However, since Germany was such a powerful force they realized that by dismantling it would be for the worse. Instead, they decided to force Germany to pay war reparations. This was a very successful solution because it helped the economies of the European countries and Germany would lose the money it had to pay for another war.
The Treaty of Versailles was very successful because it stopped the power of Germany that was destroying Europe. Many countries were diminished because of Germany and the Treaty of Versailles helped protect them from further harm.
At the end of World War I, soldiers and their families rejoiced and celebrated. They were happy that the gruesome war that led to millions of deaths had finally ended and they could go home. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles because it ended the war between Germany and the Allied Powers. Ironically, it was not a “happy ending” to World War I because the Treaty of Versailles failed to address the root causes of the war. For example, the treaty forced Germany to pay an overabundance of money to certain countries and Germany also took blame for the war. These heavy payments were not completely paid off until 2010. This great penalty would help cause The Great Depression and World War II because Germany was in debt, and Hitler blamed the treaty for his aggressive actions against humanity and other countries.
Additionally, several territories were taken away from Germany and distributed to other countries. This formed countries such as Poland and Latvia. Various groups arose from these new countries and tension between them also led to World War 2.
In conclusion, the Treaty of Versailles was not a peace treaty because it damaged Germany too harshly and did not address the roots of war. If Germany had not signed the Treaty of Versailles, the Allies would have invaded them again after they had thoroughly crushed Germany throughout World War I. Arguably, the Treaty of Versailles made matters worse, especially for the future. It should not have been celebrated like it was upon its signing.
As the gears of war suddenly grinded to a halt in 1919 when the Treaty of Versailles was signed by the global powers of WWI, many believed they were creating a document that would prevent the outbreak of another global conflict at the hand of the Germans. In signing the treaty, countless numbers of men believed that the scathing terms of armistice towards Germany were fair and just, and were needed to give the globe peace and prosperity. Although this widely misjudged treaty addressed the ethnicity problems that sparked World War One, this one sided peace offering completely neglected of alliances and nationalism that sent the conflict down a gruesome path.
The assassination of Austria’s Archduke Ferdinand is what truly set the global conflict into motion. The Austrians and the Serbs had been butting heads with one another for generations, and had considered themselves to be among the fiercest of rivals. However, Austria still desperately clung onto this rebellious territory regardless of the massive ethnic controversy erupting over the crumbling empire. These tensions were sent skyrocketing with the death of the Archduke, and Europe was sent into its dizzying spiral of conflict and brutality. With the signing of Versailles some time later, the resulting League of Nations put forth many solutions to the ethnic conflicts across Europe. In the area of former Poland, Versailles ordered powers such as Russia and Germany to cede lands to form a new state of Poland. This appeased the ethnicities of the area to a substantial degree. The territory of Alsace-Lorraine was also exchanged from the Germans to the French, which satisfied the French speaking ethnicities of the area.
However, it was not solely the conflict of rival ethnicities that caused the war. Alliances, which were the real factor that dragged the entire globe into the conflict, were left relatively untouched and unchanged. Even as the Treaty of Versailles was being forged by the three major allies, secret treaties of alliances were being made and agreed upon without the world’s knowing. These very same secret alliances that bonded Germany to Austria-Hungary, and Britain with France, were still being crafted as though their makers were in denial of how such strong alliances could cause such impeding disaster. Although the Treaty of Versailles set up a very primitive United Nations (League of Nations), it was relatively unenforced and widely ignored: even by those countries who found themselves among its ranks.
The issue of nationalism too was completely ignored by the Treaty of Versailles in countless ways. Rather than finding ways to share the burden of post war reconstruction together, the armistice placed all of the blame, and most of the debt, squarely upon the shoulders of a war torn Germany. Already embarrassed by the impending doom of their once mighty German state, the War Guilt Clause especially sent German nationalism ablaze. Countless officials and civilians were left enraged by the lack of caring and sympathy from the Big Three, and instilled a bloodthirsty lust for revenge into the war scars of Germany. The proud Germans were going to show the world of what they were truly capable of: even if it might take generations to rebuild the country. But it was this arousal of nationalism, and lack of action by the Treaty of Versailles that set the world up for the monstrosity known as World War Two.
When World War I finally came it an end, feelings of jubilation rang out. While the soldiers and their families, as well as everyday citizens were ecstatic that the fighting that took so many lives and ruined the lives of the “lucky” survivors was over, the terms ending the war were not as accepted as one would think. The Treaty of Versailles signed in 1918 ended this war between the Allied Nations and Germany. The reason this agreement was made, was so that future wars could be avoided, as well as punishing Germany for their role in this war. Germany's future was clenched tightly in the grasp of the Allied Nations, and there was much deliberation over what would become of Germany. Some wanted Germany to pay tremendous amounts of compensatory money for all of their wrong doings during this period of war. These massive amounts of money would help in the stimulation of European economies as well as decrease Germany's ability to fund potential wars with their lack of money. Others however wanted to try to sanction Germany off into new province like areas controlled by these Allied Nations. If this were to be done as completely as first thought of, there would be worse repercussions than leaving Germany intact. Even though the full dismantling of Germany did not occur, a few of their territories were taken from their control. Even with these actions were taken to try to stop Germany, the roots of World War I were not addressed in this treaty. While actions were taken to reprimand Germany who played a seriously destructive role in World War I, there was not many steps taken to try to nip the roots of the war in the bud.
After World War One had ended, there was a lot of resentment towards Germany and its allies. Many countries such as France and Great Britain wanted to have harsh punishments in order to prevent Germany from being a threat anymore. The Treaty of Versailles aimed to prevent Germany from rearming itself and being able to invade the rest of Europe again. The Germans found this horrible and difficult because of their strong militaristic industry. They were essentially stripped of its powers in Europe and the seas. The Treaty created a League of Nations to help prevent other wars from developing. Otherwise, the treaty was rather unsuccessful. It was very harsh on the Germans and created a large amount of anger. The Germans had to pay a large amount to pay for the war that they took the blame for. The country was already in a bad economic state and the people were starving. President Wilson was expected to push for kinder punishments but he was very harsh and was pushing to make Germany pay for its mistakes. Much of Europe was also carved up, sometimes not in a good way. These new nations would begin fighting for power and have violent outbreaks. Overall the Treaty of Versailles wasn’t very successful.
World War I was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, but its root causes go much deeper. Nationalism, militarism, imperialism, territorial disputes, and complex systems of alliances were among the features that had marked the European continent for several decades. Driven by rivalry, and fueled by these developed policies, Europe plunged readily into the horrible war that claimed the lives of millions.
When Germany at last sought an armistice and the war was ended, the peace treaty called the Treaty of Versailles was created. Wilson hoped to use the opportunity to apply his Fourteen Points. These called for the end of secret alliances, specific determinations of territory, and a league of nations, among other things. Thus, in these points, Wilson did address some of the root causes of war, confronting the issue of convoluted alliances and hoping for cooperation between nations in the League of Nations. However, the other powerful members of Britain and France had their own agendas, and compromise paired with greed led to a weakened treaty. After all, peace would not last for long.
Essentially, the treaty confronted two major points: the establishment of the League of Nations and the punishment of Germany. Germany was expected to pay for the damage caused by war, limit the size of its army, give up land, and so on. Even in these categories, however, the treaty failed to fully end conflict. French general Ferdinand Foch declared that “This is not Peace. It is an Armistice for twenty years,” because the restrictions on Germany seemed too lenient. Unfortunately, his forecast was almost exactly accurate. The Treaty of Versailles did not successfully end the militarism that led to the war. Though it did attempt to define specific territorial distribution and promote cooperation rather than competition between countries through the League of Nations, its ultimate legacy was the onset of World War II. Germany was not dealt with effectively, and rivalries and alliances between nations, despite Wilson’s desires, were perpetuated. Overall, the Treaty of Versailles was unsuccessful in addressing the root causes of war.
With the closing of the first World War, many soldiers celebrated alongside their families, grateful for the chance to be home, and the privilege to stay there. World War I came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1918, reuniting families and sending many deserving countrymen home. The Treaty of Versailles officially settled the disputes between the Allied Powers and Germany, however it did not prove to be a complete success. It solved problems temporarily, while also presenting many issues in itself. The Treaty of Versailles did not take into account the real meaning behind why the war broke out in the first place- a fatal error.
The repercussions of the Treaty of Versailles were not fully thought out at the time that it was written. For example, the treaty caused Germany to lose a lot of its land, which was redistributed and eventually formed into smaller nations, including Poland and Latvia. Cultural groups began popping up in these newfound areas, which inevitably lead to harsh tension between them. The harsh feelings of these groups is now acknowledged as one of the causes of World War II, which would occur nearly two decades later.
The Treaty of Versailles would also cause Germany to suffer tremendous amounts of debt from paying off war reparations. The United States strongly believed that they should be paid what was due to them from Germany, although this would mean total destruction of the German economy. It was a commonly held belief that causing Germany to slip into an economic downfall, it would prevent them from being able to fund another war in the future, taking into account all the damage they caused in the first one.
The root causes of the war were not properly addressed, ultimately leading to the second World War, which would become another German effort in the near future. The Treaty of Versailles was merely an armistice that would not last. By not addressing the core problems, only a temporary solution was given to a longer lasting issue.
World War I ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. At the conference, the matters discussed were how to make and maintain peace as well as punishing Germany and prevent them from reproducing their actions later on. While many options were looked at for the punishment of Germany, the nations at Versailles chose to keep Germany as a united country and made it pay back reperations for all of the damages it caused. This payment stimulated the European economy while draining the German economy, preventing the Germans from funding a second war anytime soon. The conference also discussed causes of the war in order to prevent another war from occuring. One of the main causes was the dispute over boundaries and rule. In Serbia, the people were tired of Austro-Hungarian rule and began to rebel. This was the case in many nations and the conference worked to restore peace to all nations by redistributing power to make the people happy.
Another cause of the war was Germany's lust for land and power. The conference at Versailles realizes this and works up ways to keep Germany under control by making it pay back Europe to prevent them from funding another war and by occupying the country for a short time.
All in all, Versailles expalained the various causes of World War I and how to prevent another war by solving the problems that caused World War I.
At the end of World War I in 1918 the allies all had built up resentment towards Germany but they were relieved that their men were able to return home. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles because it ended the war between Germany and the Allied Powers. Even with the signing of the Treaty, it was not the fairy tale ending to World War I because the Treaty of Versailles didn’t address the root causes of the war. The treaty forced Germany to pay a ridiculous amount of money to countries involved and take blame for the war. These heavy payments were not completely paid off until October of 2010. This consequence would help cause The Great Depression and World War II because Germany was in debt, and Hitler blamed the treaty for his aggressive actions against humanity and other countries. Due to the fact that many territories were taken from Germany, this formed countries such as Poland and Latvia. Various groups formed from these new countries and tension between them also led to World War II. In my opinion, the Treaty of Versailles was not a peace treaty because it hurt Germany financially and bruised its ego too harshly and did not address the roots of war.
The reason for an armistice was to end all the pain and suffering that had been a result of the Great War. When this day came nearly everyone was overjoyed and celebrated briefly until the realization that so many lives had been lost set in. Because of this realization, blame had to be directed at a country. That country was Germany. The treaty of Versailles ended the war officially for the Allies and Central Powers. Under the treaty, a League of Nations was assembled to help keep all issues in order in the future. Wilson's Fourteen Points were very poor in some aspects. Many agreed with the United States that Germany should be required to pay off their debts of the war as a whole as a way to pay for what they had done. Clearly every rule that was created at Versailles would not prevent another war from breaking out in the near future, proving this treaty to be completely ineffective in terms of its main original goal. Little about the root causes of the war were discussed at Versailles, but it is believed that one main cause of the war was all the political instability throughout Europe's various royal families. However, there is not one main cause of the war, because many different things led to the outbreak such as nationalism and imperialism. All that was created in the Treaty of Versailles would end with the start of World War II only about 20 years later on.
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand changed the world. This sparked World War I. Besides the assassination of Ferdinand, there were other events that led to the third world war. For years tension had grown in Europe, especially in the Balkans between Austria-Hungary, Serbia, and Russia. Although the Versailles Treaty ended the war, it was not exactly flawless.
The Germans were blamed for a lot of things in the Versailles. Germany was now responsible for paying a lot of money for the damages that were done. These issues, eventually led to the rise of Hitler and World War II. The Versailles Treaty did not address one of the most important issues, which was the Balkans. Instead the Treaty focused on France, Germany, the United States, and Britain. The Treaty of Versailles also adjusted the land ownership of European countries. For the most part, only lands of Germany were changed. Alsace-Lorraine was back to being part of France, West Prussia was given to Poland, parts of Schleswig, Germany were give to Denmark, and other parts of former Germany became their own countries. Land that had been from Germany was also given to Belgium and Czechoslovakia.
The most beneficial thing that came from the Treaty of Versailles was probably the League of Nations, which was designed to achieve world peace. Overall, the Treaty of Versailles disregarded the problems that cause World War I in the first place. Instead the document focused on blaming Germany for the War. However, this would backfire in the years to come with the rise of Hitler, and a second World War.
Although the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the direct instigation of the Great War, it was not the immediate factor. Rather, the European policies of militarism, imperialistic ambitions, a blatant two-bloc alliance system, rampant nationalism, a romanticized depiction of warfare were the key factors during early 20th century that made the war inevitable.
Although the German Empire, who indisputably had the strongest military and were able to win key tactical victories during the outbreak of the war, their battle-lines soon stagnated as the war shifted into a brutal war of attrition. No matter how effective their military or decisive their leadership was, it became clear that the side that had the most resources would win the war. Combined with advent of the tank, the vast industrial capacity of the USA and the British blockade of Germany, it became apparent to the German High Command that they were strategically at a decisive disadvantage as their economic strength and ability to maintain the war paled in comparison to the Allied Powers. Much to the dismay of the German leadership, it became clear to them that their best course of action was to agree to an armistice on the Allie's terms before being forced to accept a much harsher peace treaty in the same exact manner the Russian Empire was forced to accept the treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
Although the Germans would appeal to the idealistic US president Woodrow Wilson what with his optimistic 14 points, the victorious and resentful British Empire and French Republic would largely ignore Woodrow Wilson and advocate for a bitter treaty that would ensure that the Germans would never again be able to wage war and threaten them. The British and French justified their terms and forced Germany to accept full responsibility for not only war reparations but the war itself by noting how Germans were the ones who started the hostilities by attacking the allies preemptively despite the fact they were acting on their alliance with Austria-Hungary.
The allies forced Germany to dismantle their colonial empire, surrender several provinces to France, Belgium, Denmark and the newly created countries of Czechoslovakia and Poland. In was in this manner that the treaty had acknowledged the issue of nationalism yet at the same time failed to recognize the fact that there were a large presence of German people within these regions. This would later act as one of the casus-bellis that Adolf Hitler would use to initiate World War II. The treaty also forced to the Germans to demilitarize the Rhineland as to render it impossible for the Germans to attack France or threaten the allies. Needless to say, the humiliating terms of this treaty would enrage the proud German people and force them to resort to extremism. It was the Treaty of Versailles that had ironically guaranteed the Nazis rise to power and the election of Adolf Hitler who promoted militaristic policies and would initiate the second world war. Had the terms been less humiliating for Germany and actually recognized the European policies that guaranteed the war, perhaps Woodrow Wilson's vision for a peaceful Europe could have been potentially realized.
The Versailles Treaty’s terms and accusations can be seen as both unjust and so harsh that it was nearly inevitable that a second war would break out. It seemed that Germany was named the sole perpetrator of the Great War and the enormous reparation this country was forced to pay was sure to induce social and political disorder resulting from total economic breakdown. The cause of World War I was an accumulation of European diplomatic actions which led to greater conflicts. This does not mean that Germany was not deserving of any punishment, as it rightly was, but it was not necessary to oppress them within the terms of the treaty, and was detrimental to Europe as a whole as time would show. The terms would destabilize both the German and European economy. I think that this all happened because those who were in charge of making sculpting the terms for the treaty were emotion ridden after such a horrid destruction filled war and wanted to avenge their fallen comrades and countries. Also that they felt they had to bring down the fist of justice, and bring it down hard. This being said, the Treaty of Versailles did not address the causes and rightly distribute punishment by any means, but it can be thought that it lead and was a major cause of the second World War.
Although it was not the root cause of World War I, the murder of Archduke Ferdinand was what set World War I in motion. The root causes of the war went deeper, into disputes of imperialism, nationalism, alliances and disputes over territory. This war would throw the world into turmoil, only to be ended years later by the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
However, the Treaty of Versailles did not address the root causes of the war. The Allied powers were conflicted over the terms of surrender that they required from Germany. Each of the Big Three wanted something different. Wilson wanted his Fourteen Points put into action, including a new League of Nations. France wanted to punish Germany so harshly that they would never be able to wage war again. The Allied powers demanded that Germany pay huge reparations to give back to the Allies what the war had cost them.
The League of Nations also came out of the Treaty of Versailles. However, without the United States, who would not join, the League was ineffective in dealing with crises. Territorial changes were made as well, such as the creation of Poland and Yugoslavia. However, many of these new countries ruled over conflicting nationalities, leading to internal problems.
The Treaty of Versailles did not deal well with the root causes of the war. Only the disputes over territory and the problems with conflicting nationalities were dealt with, but not very effectively. This failure in satisfying European countries, would lead to the next huge problem in world history, World War II.
From the country of Austria, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the cause that set off World War One. His assassination was important and devastating to Europe because it caused the whole country to change. Not only did the war have an important impact on only their nation, but the entire world was also forced to get involved. After the fighting and destruction in the world, during the year of 1918, the Treaty of Versailles was created in return of the War. Even though the Treaty of Versailles was successful in creating some regulations, it still consisted of many flaws that nobody cared about and was not said during the conference. For example, the Treaty failed to recognize and explain why the First World War started. Nevertheless, the Treaty of Versailles was created in order to inform people that another big war should not take place again. For example, during the war there were enough destruction, money problems and deaths that nobody wanted to deal with anymore. Not only did this discussion trigger the idea of wanting to make peace with other nations; but, it also let Germany know that their nation was held accountable for paying all of the damage and obliteration that was caused around the world. Due to the fact that Germany had to pay off all the demolition caused during the War, the nation definitely had financial issues and took the blame for it. Furthermore, one event that the Treaty of Versailles was successful in creating was, the League of Nations. This doctrine was created in order to achieve the idea of a nonviolent and calm world. Besides that one doctrine, the Treaty of Versailles did not address the root causes of the war; instead it only hurt Germany and then led to more destruction and economic problems during World War Two.
The purpose of the Treaty of Versailles was to put in place an armistice or cease-fire to end the dispute between the warring countries of the Allied nations and Germany during World War I. Although it did effectively put an end to this particular war, it didn't address the causes of the war well enough to prevent future ones from occurring. There were countless underlying causes that catalyzed the beginning of the first World War, such as nationalism in germany, serbia and other countries, imperialism and overseas territory, military strength, alliances and the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by Serbian Nationalists. All of these increased tensions between nations until their breaking point. Yet the Treaty of Versailles didn't bring forth these causes. Germany, the country being blamed for the war, wasn't even allowed to take part in the negotiations at Versailles, nor by the terms met in the treaty was Germany really weakened, which would come in to play in WWII. Plus the other countries involved placed the blame of the entire war upon Germany's shoulders. Completely ignoring all the other underlying causes. It's purpose was not met, and it only served to make people angry. It didn't help relations as tensions continued to grow into World War II.
One of the most devastating events in human history was World War 1. Millions of soldiers suffered casualties and the war ended on bitter terms. While the Treaty of Versailles was able to end the war, it by no means solved the long-term problems posed by the war and failed to address many of the key roots of the war. One of the prime causes for the outbreak of war was the conflict in the Balkans. Despites its importance, the Treaty did not deal with it adequately. Furthermore, nationalism and disputes over territory were yet other factors that forced the nations into war. The Treaty took away land from the Germans which greatly humiliated them and in turn created many small nations with fragile government and loyalty to their new states. Along with the war reparations Germany was forced to pay, these losses in land fed the disdain the German people felt.
The Treaty of Versailles also continued to fail to keep peace by creating a very weak alliance; the League of Nations. Despite Wilson’s emphasize on his optimistic 14 points, the leaders of France and Britain had much more drastic ideals in mind, annexing the United States from the treaty. The new alliance, though it had the right ideas, was weak in establishing a union on the European continent and with the exclusion of Germany, further increased the tension.
After 20 years of uneasy peace, Hitler was able to use the embarrassment the Germans suffered from the Treaty to gain support for his cause and in turn, caused the outbreak of yet another World War.
World War One was very complicated. Nationalism, militarism, imperialism, territorial disputes, and complicated alliances impacted the European continent for several decades before WWI began. All of these aspects drove different forces of Europe against one another resulting in this awful world-wide war. This war was extreme and it resulted in extreme casualties for all of Europe. The Treaty of Versailles was signed ending this war in 1918.
The Treaty focused on The League of Nations and the punishment of Germany. The League of Nations was part of Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points. In the end this was unsuccessful but it was a good attempt towards a system of peace and alliances among all. The three big powers: Wilson of America, Lloyd of Great Britain, and Clemenceau of France were the controllers of the treaty and what it said in it. Germany was blamed for the war and responsible for paying great reparations along with reducing the size of its military and losing territory. Although Germany did cause great destruction during the war, they were not the root cause. In the end there were many causes for the war including, mostly due to political instability in Europe at this time. This was not officially recognized at Versailles. Overall, Versailles was not a successful treaty, and the problems arose again leading to another mass destructive war.
Maggie Kulpa
The Treaty of Versailles was a document signed and accepted to end World War I. This document spilt Germany’s territories among other countries, mostly the “Big Three”, stated that Germany must pay millions of dollars in war reparations for starting the war, and ordering that Germany cannot have an army of more than 100,000 men, U-boats, any type of air force, or any other types of threats towards other countries. This treaty was mostly written up by the “Big Three”, America, Britain, and France, and Germany was forced to accept or be defeated in the resumed war. While this treaty did, however, make other countries feel as if they had punished Germany for their wrong doings in starting the war, it did not truly address the root causes of the war.
First off, the treaty was mainly for punishment of Germany, it was purely things that they were forced to uphold or give up as a result of the war. In doing this, there was no mention as to the causes of the war except that Germany had started it and they would be forced to pay for it because of that. In doing so, the treaty did not address the cause of the war, but merely what the outcome would be.
Second, full blame for the war was placed on Germany, as stated in the treaty. This is not entirely true, however, as many Germans feel as if they were only holding up their promise and treaty with Austria. When Serbia began planning an attack against Austria, Germany stepped up and began a fight, as they had signed a treaty with Austria to aid them in wars. This resulted in other countries being forced to enter into the war in result of the tangled web of allies. This factor was not taken into consideration when the Treaty of Versailles was written, thus Germany was fully blamed for the entire war. In this case, the root causes of the war were once again not fully addressed.
Although the Treaty of Versailles ended the war and made the countries that helped write it feel as if they had helped to take a step towards unifying the world and making it war-free, it did not address the root causes of the war. Instead of doing this, it stated what the outcome of the war would be for Germany and marked the eventual downfall of Germany’s government and economy, which would later bring Hitler into control.
After the armistice came into effect in November 1918, the fighting ended, but the war was not over. The Allied countries had to decide on the peace agreement, and stopping this from happening again. At the palace of Versailles in France, the countries of Great Britain, France, Italy, and the United States led the way. David Lloyd-George, Gorges Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson were known as the Big Three, and all had different agendas. The result of this conference did not address the root causes of the war, and only delayed the almost inevitable second world war, and many other conflicts further on. One of the main causes of the Great War was conflict in the Balkans. Versailles did not address this issue except for splitting the Austria-Hungarian Empire up, and giving some nations independence. The ethnic conflicts that have erupted recently were strongly influenced by this Treaty. Furthermore, the random territory lines that were drawn in Africa, as well as in the Middle East have led to current day conflicts. One very important point about the aftermath of WWI was that Germany and many of its citizens did not recognize that they had lost. Many celebrated, and honored the German soldiers for defending the homeland. The Treaty of Versailles did not address this problem, only fueled the issue by requiring Germany to pay reparations, as well as requiring them to take full responsibility for the war. The Second World War might have occurred whether or not they were humiliated and put in huge debt, but it definitely sped the process. Overall, the Treaty of Versailles did not address the root causes of the war, and only fueled animosities that would boil over decades later as well as give in to revenge and not true peace. By not including the Germans and Russians among other things, the leaders of Versailles could not effectively create a lasting peace in Europe.
There are sense in which the Treaty of Versailles did and did not address the root causes of the Great War. Wilson’s creation, the League of Nations, was a potentially powerful source of peace building diplomacy, but that fact that the American Congress refused to pass the legislation allowing the United States to join it stopped the League from being truly efficacious in dealing with Germany. The Treaty greatly decreased the size of the German army and prohibited poison gas, armed aircraft, tanks, and armored cars. But, because the United States refused to enter into the League and because the European nations were too tired after the First World War, Germany did not have difficulty increasing the size of its army and producing aircrafts and tanks once Hitler had become chancellor. Always a problem in Europe, the possession and rightful ownership of certain territories had created feuds between nations like Germany and France for a long time. The Treaty did not end this problem because it took Alsace and Lorraine from Germany as well as much of much of West Prussia being given to Poland. Other land was also taken from Germany. This would only embitter the Germans against their neighbors, which would last to fuel another world war. The Treaty demanded that the Germans pay reparations for the war which did not ease tensions. Though many argue today that the reparations were not all that bad because they could be paid over time (as shown by the fact that they were in fact paid off only two years ago), others considered the amount demanded of the Germans to be excessive and the reparations still were an added burden on the very poor nation and a source of anger and embarrassment for the Germans. The anger and embarrassment was complemented by the demand that Germany accept full responsibility for the war, a conflict which they thought was really started by those violent Serbs. The real starter of the war was Austria, and a separate treaty did essentially disband the Austrian Empire into many parts to try and ease the tensions of the Balkans, not that the Balkans became peaceful after that period.
The issue that sparked World War One was very complicated and had several faces. The initial face was that of the murdering of The Archduke Ferdinand of Austria by a Serbian secret nationalist society. However the real root of the problem was the much deeper than the assassination of Ferdinand, it was had much more to do with political issues between these countries that surrounded around nationalism and disputes about territories. When the Archduke was shot, Austria-Hungary used this as an excuse to try and stamp out Serbia. Thus launched the first World War and soon dragged other parts of Europe in with it.
On 11/11/18 when the armistice took place, soon after, the Treaty of Versailles was crafted. But did this treaty really work towards fixing the root issues of the war? My argument would be no; not entirely. While Woodrow Wilson’s goals were to diminish the amount of secret alliances and treaties, when put into practice, his 14 points did little to achieve this; for shortly after, the Second World War erupted for those very same reasons. Wilson also called for a large reduction across the board of everyone’s army, which in theory would help to reduce the possibilities of a world war ever occurring again, but sadly this did little to achieve this goal as well. Due to the strong hatred that France still held for Germany, the Treaty was not only not effective in addressing the root causes of the war, but it simply increased the tension between France, Britain and Germany. The Treaty of Versailles was presented to German with the demand that they accept the terms with no negotiations or face another attack. With war not an option, Germany signed the treaty which put much of the economic and political blame and responsibility on their own government. A responsibility that was not paid off fuly until 2010.
As the First World War came to an end people around the world were ecstatic to finally see the end of a gruesome war which ended up with millions of soldiers from various countries dead. The Treaty of Versailles helped to bring an end to the war by addressing some of the main issues which caused the war although it never actually addressed all of the causes.
One issue that led to the war was imperialism, which is the policy that extends a country’s power to other areas through diplomacy or military means. Many areas in Africa and parts of Asia were rich with natural resources which the major European world powers vied to take control of. This led to tension between many countries. The Treaty of Versailles forced certain countries to give up areas of land while other countries received areas which they had lost during the war.
Another issue that Versailles dealt with was militarism. Another cause of tension prior to the war was mobilization of great numbers of troops in many countries. The Treaty forced Germany to reduce its army to 100,000 men, they weren’t allowed tanks, submarines, or an air force, and they could only have 6 battleships. This prevents Germany from easily attacking another country, but what about the other major European powers? The Treaty never dealt with their armies.
The Treaty of Versailles addressed few of the root causes of the war, and it mainly focused on punishing Germany. Over all the Treaty could have been better in terms of resolving the main reasons WWI began in the first place. The fact that it punished Germany so severely means that it was hardly even a peace treaty.
The "spark" of World War I was the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, however it was not the direct cause. World War I had a great deal of build-up, with contributing factors such as nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and a string of alliances between European countries from 1879 to 1914. Franz Ferdinand was shot at the hands Serbian nationalist society, the Black Hand, in which Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia in response. They aimed to destroy the nationalist movement in Serbia and fortify their influence in the Balkans, hoping to generate a reaction from Serbia that would cause a war to be launched against them. But in 1914 Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia anyway - and Russia, a nation bound by treaty to Serbia, announced they would mobilize their army in Serbia's defense. It was shortly afterwards that Germany declared war on Russia, viewing Russia's mobilization as a war threat against Austria-Hungary.
The Treaty of Versailles does not address any of these matters; it primarily focuses on returning land to nations like Belgium, France and Denmark, and it included the War Guild Clause, a clause forcing Germany to accept responsibility for starting the war. Germany did take action by declaring war on Russia quickly and without much thought, causing huge amounts of debt and economic struggle on the home front because the majority of their money was going to the military. A long and costly war may have been prevented had the Germans taken precaution before declaring war, however the bubbling tensions of nationalism were not going to go away without a fight. If it wasn't the Germans, it could have been Austria. The Treaty of Versailles did not deal with the increasing nationalistic tensions that "lit the flame" of the war (Ferdinand's murder), essentially causing Germany to intervene, solely on the premise that they were allied with Austria-Hungary.
Throughout history, particularly European history, there have been very few events that can rival World War I in regards to its devastation of human life, never mind surpass it. With so many entities involved and so many casualties, it would naturally be expected that at the war’s finale, its participants would not likely be treating each other with amiability immediately. At this finale, was the Treaty of Versailles. Of course, the treaty’s main purpose, first and foremost, was to bring about an armistice; this goal was achieved but beyond that, many crucial concerns were left unaddressed, including many of the roots of the war. While the terminal catalyst of the war was the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand, it was merely that - a catalyst - not one of the root causes of World War I, there were many preexisting and new issues that were never addressed by the Treaty of Versailles.
The main focus of the Treaty would appear to be reparations and revenge for the allies; little attention was paid to identifying the real causes of the war and addressing them. Instead, the easy way out was chosen and Germany took 100% of the blame, becoming the scapegoat. Thus, all the tensions that had been existing well before the war were simply swept under the rug. The chief issue not adequately addressed was that of alliances. It truly was the existence of secret alliances that paid the most significant role in causing this worldwide disaster. Although Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points spent some effort discussing these alliances, the measures taken by them were not substantial enough, underwhelming and halfhearted support from his European counterparts did little to aid this cause either. Had the Treaty of Versailles only failed to adequately handle many of the root causes of World War I, the Second World War would not have necessarily occurred. This was not the only shortcoming to the document, however. In addition, an extreme pitfall of the treaty was the aforementioned reckless scapegoating it engaged in when it came to Germany. Admittedly, Germany was a main instigator of war and perhaps the most responsible for it, the country was by no means the only agitator and should not have received the magnitude of blame and vengeance that it did. The Treaty’s dismantling of the German people’s ego was a main cause of World War II. An additional, secondary way in which the Treaty of Versailles aided the development of the subsequent world war was in the perceived lack of reparations awarded to Italy. The Italian people believed themselves to have gotten the short end of the stick - this was another important factor in the manifestation of the Axis powers.
Versailles ended the First World War in 1918. The Treaty of Versailles was signed to prevent future wars as well as punish Germany. Because of the devastating results of Germany’s power in World War I, the treaty was to prevent Germany from rearming and taking control of Europe once again. This treaty only found temporary results, though. The implications of the Treaty of Versailles were not fully complete, as the treaty failed to address the causes of the war specifically.
One major focus of it was to cause Germany to suffer from large amounts of debt caused by paying off the reparations of the war. The United States had been the country, which believed that Germany should be required to pay off their debts to pay for what they had done in the war. Germany was often accused of the sole cause of the war, however, other European countries were at fault as well. Furthermore, territory negotiations were made as well. But it has been said by historians that the failure of satisfying European countries with the territory disputes that lead to the second World War.
The Treaty of Versailles did not really address the issues that started World War I. The main purpose of the treaty was basically to make sure that Germany accepted full responsibility for starting the war, and to ensure Germany’s punishment on that basis. However, Germany had little to do with starting the war at all. World War I began as a conflict of interest between Austria and Serbia. The two countries had opposing views but were not yet at the point of war. When Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, the attack became the spark that set off the war. In reality, it would only have been a matter of time before the war started all by itself. Notice that Germany has still not done anything that should warrant this harsh punishment. When the Russians stepped in to provide backup, and the French backed up the Russians, Germany was surrounded by the enemy. The German government was subsequently forced to declare war on both Russia and France in order to avoid being invaded, and to honor its former alliance with Austria-Hungary. Germany did not have a choice whether or not to sign the Treaty of Versailles; in fact, there were no German representatives at the conference while the treaty was being written up. The three huge powers at the time, the United States, Great Britain, and France, drew up the treaty and threatened Germany: either you sign, or we resume the war. Germany could not afford to continue fighting either monetarily or otherwise. They were forced to sign it and admit all guilt for the war, disband the majority of their army, and pay huge reparations in war debt to these other countries. The debts were not fully repaid until quite recently, in 2010. All of these requirements humiliated Germany to an unfair, unnecessary, and unreasonable extent, eventually leading them to build up their military by bending the law and exacting their revenge on the world by eagerly sparking World War II.
Contrary to popular belief, Gabriel Principe’s assassination of Franz Ferdinand was not the sole cause of World War I. Years of tension and nationalist feelings sought to doom the European continent. It was the Treaty of Versailles that finally brought the devastating war to its end. Effectively, the treaty served only to redefine the map of Europe, and to shovel the blame for the war onto Germany. The Treaty of Versailles was as superficial as the palace in which it was signed. It was a document pulsing with Italy’s desire for more land, France’s desire to demoralize Germany, Britain’s need to preserve its colonies and repair its broken population, and the United States’ proposal for global democracy. As such, the idea of preventing the occurrence of such horrors again seemed out of focus. Wilson’s hopes for global democracy and penis crumbled, but his beloved League of Nations came into existence. However, it would prove in the following years to be a completely useless establishment that served only to appease Hitler’s takeover of Europe. The treaty certainly demoralized the Germans, by centralizing all blame, and therefore all reparations onto them. The tension created by such demands, coupled with the breakup of German territorial holdings and militaristic structure served only as the motivation for the Nazis in World War II. Taking this into account, it is clear that the Treaty of Versailles not only proved to be completely useless, but it served as to create a second world war. Thus, in general, the Treaty of Versailles hardly addressed the root causes of World War I, and rather served to satisfy only the desires of the Allies.
On November 11th, 1918, at the eleventh hour, armistice finally reached the battlefields that had ravaged Europe for years; this was the long-awaited end of WWI. Soon, the victorious Allied powers gathered in Paris to determine the terms for peace. Among the nations represented at this conference, the Big Four (Woodrow Wilson of the US; David Lloyd George of Britain; Georges Clemenceau of France; and Vittorio Orlando of Italy) controlled the proceedings. Each of these four brought their own agendas to the table at Versailles, but almost nowhere at the conference, or in the treaty that resulted from it, was there any proposed resolution to the issues that had led to war in the first place.
One of the central conflicts leading to the war arose in the Balkan region. Serbs in the area desired independence from Austria-Hungary, which had already been slowly crumbling under political strain. The assassination of the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand acted as the immediate cause of war, but years of conflict and growling instability had built the fuse the assassination lit. While the Treaty of Versailles formally recognized the many nations that had formed in the rubble of the old Austrian-Hungarian Empire since the beginning of the armistice, including Serbian Yugoslavia, it made no measure to ensure the stability of the region; a mistake that would cost the Allies dearly in a little over twenty years when WWII sparked fighting in the region again.
Instead of seeking stability, the Versailles treaty ignored the needs of the losers and instead catered to the many desires of the conquerors, to disastrous results. Satisfying Clemenceau’s desire for revenge and safety by heavily punishing and demilitarizing Germany, as well as George’s desire for repayment of debt by laying all blame for the war on Germany and seeking war reparations, the treaty created unnecessary resentment in Germany, along with long-lasting instability caused by economic collapse. Much to the German delegates’ dismay, Wilson’s idealistic, democratic thought had only been applied to the states that declared self-determination by separating themselves from Germany; no new order was created, and certainly no new era of peace and freedom. The Treaty of Versailles fixed none of the instability that led to the First World War, instead developing the further instability and resentment that would eventually lead to the Second.
The armistice was a great relief to the world and its inhabitants. The end of the war had come and the people of countries rejoiced and celebrated the end of the gruesome war. They could finally look forward the the war-free future. Even with the celebration, the Treaty of Versailles did not fully deal with the root causes of the war and was not completely clear in its points. For example, the Balkan lands were not clearly understood. A few countries such as France sought to completely dismantle Germany however most of the League of Nations believed the break-up of Germany could completely mess up the continent. Instead, war reparations were brought up and the League did not watch over them well. Also, the reduction of arms for Germany happened on paper, however they did not closely watch the army size, and about 20 years later, it would come back to bite them. In turn, the improper controlling and supervising of Germany's reparations and armies was the ultimate root cause in why Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party were able to rise to power.
Although Germany was definitely a catalyst in the war, I think it is wrong that the Treaty of Versailles blamed fully for the damage caused of World War 1, and that Germany was solely responsible for the start of the war. I thought it was a little immature to place such a hardship on Germany considering they were brought into the war when Russia invaded from the East. The Germans had not declared war, but involved themselves as many others did at the time. In reality it takes two to fight a war so it’s absurd to try to blame a single country for an entire World War. Germany was the enemy of the victors so its obvious they would be punished severely, however it does not make it right. In general I don’t even believe there needed to be a scapegoat of the war; especially when the cause of the war had originated from multiple different factors including the conflict between the Balkans and the rise in militarism in Europe.
The treaty also, on the other hand did have many positives. Germans military along with many other countries around the world involved in World War 1 were made to reduce their military and weapons. The military was reduced so much that a country was only supposed to have enough weapons to protect themselves but nothing else. It would have been easy to only add this clause for Germany, but to make mandatory for the entire world I thought was very progressive. The League of Nations was also born from this treaty and was the worlds first attempt at international peace and cooperation on a mass scale. However Germany should not have been excluded from the League of Nations. The Treaty of Versailles should not have been a punishment for the loser, but instead a treaty that focuses on bringing peace among the world powers. If the Treaty had focused more on making Germany a better place then maybe World War 2 might have been less likely to have started. The treaty in nature I thought was a good idea, however it did not solve anything by placing sole responsibility for the war on Germany.
On November 11, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson declared the signing of the Armistice that ended the Great War to be a national holiday that Americans would come to know as Veterans Day. Woodrow Wilson of the US, David Lloyd George of Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France, and Vittorio Orlando of Italy used the Treaty of Versailles to end the war in a style that would satisfy their own concerns, but did nothing to fix the problems within the European political system that caused the war in the first place.
The Treaty of Versailles was not a treaty at all, but more like a metaphorical execution of Germany while the country was on her knees, begging for mercy. Prime Minister Clemenceau of France was hell-bent on extracting revenge upon Germany and securing his country’s borders from another German invasion. He made sure that the entire war debt was put on Germany’s shoulders, and that her military was stripped down to be a paltry and weak fighting force, eventually leading to Germany’s economic collapse. A clause was even put into the armistice that forced Germany to accept the entire blame for the war’s beginning, in order to alleviate Britain’s concerns. It seemed as though the only thing that could save the dignity of Germany would be President Wilson’s “fourteen points,” a progressive view of what the “new world order” should be like. Unfortunately, this ideology, which consisted of democracy and equality, was only implied in those countries that separated themselves from Germany before the war ended.
After the war, new states, such as Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Yugoslavia started to form in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, the very place where the origins of the Great War took form. While the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria had set the flame of war alight, the tinder was smoldering for years prior to the fire. The Treaty had simply left the fire to burn itself out. Absolutely no measure was made to ensure the future stability of the region, something that would prove deadly in the 1920’s and 1990’s.
The Treaty of Versailles was not a treaty at all, but the final blow that the Allies dealt to Germany. The only efforts made were ones with the intentions of securing revenge against Germany, a move that would cost the Allies dearly in a mere twenty years time.
The treaty of Versailles did address the root cause of the war in regard to territorial dispute. However, to address does not mean to solve. The new country lines that were drawn during the treaty had no regard to the cultures of the people living there. The solutions that were created during Versailles would later cause more disputes.
People were very happy that the treaty had been drawn up because no one could stand to fight any longer. Troops were severely damaged and the home front was suffering. The war had gone on long enough and people were happy to see it end.
The treaty left much to be desired, though. Loose ends were left everywhere and the new border lines were drawn by a child. The purpose of the treaty was to end all the fighting in Europe. However, the “peace” only lasted for about 20 years. Many of the unresolved conflicts of the First World War would resurface when the second one rolled around.
Overall, however, the treaty was successful in bringing an end to the war and keeping peace for nearly 20 years. The benefits of the treaty were far from even between the countries, and Germany in particular suffered because of it. The treaty did address most of the root causes of the war and brought the long awaited relief that the people of Europe longed for.
Summit Singhaviranon
The treaty of Versailles attempted to address the root causes of the WWI. One may argue that the root cause of WWI was the rise in nationalism in many independent states. In the treaty of Versailles, they divided Germany into many small, independent nations. However, many ethnic groups like the Czechs and Slavs were outraged that they were not given their own independent states, in turn leading to more violence than leaving Germany untouched.
Another major point of the Treaty of Versailles was to prevent another world War. At first they created the League of Nations, which was meant to oversee all of Europe. Sadly, they made the League of Nations too weak because it did not have the support of its western allies: the United States. They also failed to address the root causes of the war when they demanded reparations from Germany. Germany was forced to an unfathomable sum of cash. This heavily inflated the Germany economy. At one point, the German mark was worth about 1/1000000 of a dollar, which provided an opening for totalitarian leaders to take control over Germany, most notably Adolf Hitler.
Many historians believe that if the League of Nations had been stronger and if the Treaty of Versailles did not demand so much from the Germans WWII could have been evaded.
Armistice was the light at the end of a tunnel. It was an end to the devastating war that so many people had sacrificed their lives for. The universal celebration of the ending of the war was something that many people could not see. A war-free world would become a reality. Although the Treaty of Versailles did called for peace it had not addresses all the causes of the war. Some countries wanted to wanted to completely separate Germany but the majority of nations could see the repercussions that. The separation of Germany would only send the world back into chaos. The armistice identified the root causes of the war was the army size of Germany was unsupervised and able to grow to enormous power and strength.
Many factors led Germany to seek an armistice. They had exhausted nearly all of their manpower and money and needed the war to be over. The armistice agreement was a huge relief for all major powers of the world and citizens around the world celebrated its ending, as well as mourned the loss of the huge number of people who had died. There were parades, parties, and a strong feeling of nationalism prevailed as what would soon be known as the baby boomer generation returned home from the war.
The Treat of Versaille was called to ensure that a war like this would never happen again. The treaty addressed the root cause of the war by figuring out what do with Germany. As unrest in Germany had been the route cause of the war. Some wanted to split Germany into several smaller states while others wanted to keep the country intact but make them pay large reparations to the Confederation of Europe. In the end they decided that both arrangements would be appropriate. Most felt that this was too harsh and that the Treaty of Versaille was not a peace treaty as it did not really solve the main problems of the war and was too hard on Germany.
Many of these do not adequately address the question of "root causes." Better pick it up if you want full credit on the last few assignments!
Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1918 after a large conference of European countries did address the root cause of the problem. The war left many dead and even more wounded and countries damaged. The Allies wanted to come to an agreement about what to do in order to prevent a cataclysmic war like WWI from ever happening again. Some countries wanted more harsh punishments than others. Some wanted germany to be split into many smaller states. This would give the Allies the power over these states eliminating the ability for Germany to ever be a threat again.
Germany looked to the US and President Wilson for a less harsh deal. Wilson would then write is 14 points in which he lays out 14 things that he believe should happen in Europe such as transparency, free seas for all countries, and other points dealing with the root causes of the war. This was never rarified, and European countries came to another conclusion about what to do to Germany. Germany took most of the blame because they were the ones who initiated the war.
The final decision was this: To make Germany page large sums of money to the Allies as damage payments. This was a punishment that many thought was not too harsh, yet not do lenient. They also said that Germany was not allowed to rearm themselves. This means that the Allies could guarantee that Germany could never be a military threat again in the near future. These two punishments ended up keeping peace for a few decades.
There is always going to be the treat of war. Because this treat kept peace for 20 years, I would say that it was successful. The treaty may not have addressed the root causes of the war, but it was fairly successful at keeping the peace in Europe.
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