Chapter 19-4 Critical Thinking #3 & 5

3)

The Treaty of Versailles didn't lay the foundation for a lasting peace because of its poor treatment of other countries involved in the war. Germany was humiliated by the terms of the treaty, and was unlikely to be able to meet them: they weren't allowed to maintain an army, made to return the region of Alsace-Lorraine to France, and had to pay $33 billion in reparations to the Allies. The war-guilt clause forced Germany to admit sole responsibility for the war. In addition to this, Germany lost its Pacific colonial possessions, which would have helped them to pay the high reparations bill. The Treaty also made an enemy of Russia. Russia had fought with the Allies for 3 years and suffered higher casualty rates than any party involved in the war, but it was excluded from the talks. As a result, it lost even more land than Germany and, once it became the Soviet Union, was determined to regain the territory. The treaty also ignored the pleas of colonies in the Pacific that wanted to be self-governing.


5)

I think that Germany's reaction to the Treaty of Versailles would be outrage and rebellion. Germany was humiliated by the treaty, and although Germany's militarism played a large role in the escalation of the war, it certainly wasn't the only country responsible. Having all the blame dumped on them would make the Germans angrier at the Allies, even more so than before. Furthermore, the huge reparations fee of $33 billion was impossible for Germany to pay after an exhausting 4 year war and after their Pacific colonies had been taken away. They had really no way to get the money, and the country would probably be destitute if it tried to pay the reparation fee. Many of the citizens would be without money if the German government organized a tax, and the government was probably too much of a mess to be able to do that anyways. Many Germans were also now under the rule of Poland, whereas before the war many Poles were under the rule of Germany, something that they likely didn't enjoy. Germany also had to return hard-won territory to France that many soldiers had died to get. All of these factors together would, I think, result in anger at the Allies that Germany would do nearly anything to vent, and could not be healed by time, but only war. The treatment of Germany cleared the way to World War II, with the writings of Hitler so in agreement with the country's mindset at the time. These mistakes in the making of the Treaty would lead to the second World War when Germany would finally get its revenge.