opinions on the treaty of versailles

Question 1

Germany (5)

Answer 1

The Germans hated everything about the treaty:
-They were angry that they had not been allowed to negotiate. They called Versailles a diktat or dictated peace
-Deutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper, vowed: We will never stop until we win back what we deserve.
-Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, leader of the German delegation at Versailles said Article 231 - the war-guilt clause - was a lie. Germany officially denied the war-guilt clause in 1927.
-There was a revolution (the Kapp Putsch) against the treaty in Berlin in 1920.
-Germany hated reparations, and was forced to begin paying them in 1921. They defaulted in 1923 and eventually Hitler refused to pay altogether.

Question 2

Britain (3)

Answer 2

Britain gained some German colonies and the German navy was destroyed but…
-Lloyd George thought the treaty was too harsh, saying: We shall have to fight another war again in 25 years time.
-The British diplomat Harold Nicolson called it neither just nor wise and the people who made it stupid.
-The economist John Maynard Keynes prophesied that reparations would ruin the economy of Europe.

Question 3

France (2)

Answer 3

France got Alsace-Lorraine, German colonies, harsh reparations and a tiny German army but…
-Many French people wanted an independent, not a demilitarised, Rhineland.
-Most French people did not think the League of Nations would protect them against Germany.

Question 4

USA

Answer 4

Woodrow Wilson got the League of Nations, and new nation-states were set up in Eastern Europe but…
-Wilson thought the treaty was far too harsh.
-Self-determination proved impossible to implement - neither Czechoslovakia or Yugoslavia survive as united countries.
-Many Americans did not want to get involved in Europe, and in 1920 the American Senate refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles, or join the League of Nations.