How Did The Treaty Of Versailles Affect Australia

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918, gunfire ceased and silence was celebrated. France, Britain, and Germany had signed an Armistice, an agreement to lay their weapons down. Six months later the Treaty of Versailles evolved, in an attempt to create peace and formalise the end of the First World War. However, instead of healing nations, it caused great financial and social havoc for Australia. Disappointingly, the allied nations used the treaty as an opportunity to lay the blame of the war solely at Germany, which caused international relationships to shatter. Consequently, this also provoked the Germans, and blaming and shaming them became the catalyst for World War Two. However, given the fact that Germany’s participation

World War One was the first war to affect people on a global scale and specifically Australia. The economy crashed and political parties and communities split under the weight of a grieving nation, that couldn’t recover from their significant loss (Beaumont, 2013). Some argue that the Treaty of Versailles was a central success for Australia because it was the first international conference they attended, however, it only contributed to a reality of self-inflective national pride and finical strain. A reliable article, The Effects of World War One Lingered Long in Australia, supports this by arguing that it was an immense economic let-down, that caused mass hysteria and havoc. Two Australian politicians represented their country in the hall of mirrors and

It was supposed to consolidate peace after WW1 but instead did the complete opposite. Full participation and agreement of all nations, including Germany, was not achieved, resulting in WW1 being solely blamed on Germany. This caused Germany to detest the guilt the treaty placed on them, ensuring the second total war (The origins of World War II 1929–39, 2017). Post-treaty, Germany’s anger grew rapidly as they watched the detrimental effects destroy their country to the fullest extent. Authoritative historians corroborate that Germany, stripped of their assets, land, military, and dignity, were forced to stumble in the dark and trying to regain control of itself, and when it finally did it was only to ignite WW2 (History Channel, n.d.) (Chapman, 2014). With a dramatically reduced military, Germany feared the rebels from Russia would overthrow their government. Germany's situation became so overwhelming that it developed into a stage where financial distress and treaty debts, caused the French to invade, to retrieve what was needed to pay off the debt. This anger fuelled hostility among German politicians, a perfect example of this is Adolf Hitler. Hitler portrayed the first World war as a time where Germany was a united front and convinced the German public that a second war would achieve this once more. Hitler redirected the hate and resentment for the Treaty of Versailles to the allies