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Impacts Of Ww1 And The Treaty Of Versailles

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(Slide 1) World War One, also known as the War to End all Wars, spanned from 1914 to 1918, and devastated the whole of Europe with its catastrophic amount of casualties. With most of the major world powers involved in a war, including Britain, France, Europe, Germany, Austria-Hungary and the US, the impacts could only be disastrous. I am Donald Morgan, an Australian historian, and I have been investigating WWI and the Treaty of Versailles, a treaty that was held at the Palace of Versailles in France on the 28th of June, 1919, on the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. After coming back from attending the treaty, I started documenting the information, and have currently finished investigating WWI and the Treaty …show more content…

Woodrow Wilson, the 22nd President of the US, simply wanted his 'Fourteen Points' to be used in the treaty. These included various things, from open diplomacy to the creation of the League of Nations. Unlike Georges Clemenceau, he did not want Germany to be destroyed, nor did he want it to have to accept full responsibility for starting the war. (Slide 5) The next major figure at Versailles, David Lloyd George, was the Prime Minister of the UK. Lloyd George had more of an interesting viewpoint at Versailles, or should I say viewpoints. Publicly, Lloyd George wanted to exert 'harsh' peace on Germany and make Germany pay reparations for war damages. Personally, Lloyd George did not want Germany to be destroyed, instead, he wished to still be able to trade with Germany. However, due to the public demand for Germany to be destroyed, Lloyd George was obliged to agree with Clemenceau for Germany to be punished …show more content…

Beginning with the first half of the focus question, the answer was simply no. None of the Big Three were actually fully satisfied with the outcome of Versailles. Clemenceau, who wanted Germany destroyed, was pleased with Alsace-Lorraine, reparations and decreased German army, however, he still thought the Treaty should have been harsher towards the Germans. Woodrow Wilson got some of his demands into the treaty, including the formation of the League of Nations. However, some his ‘Fourteen Points’ were rejected, the American Senate refused to join the League of Nations or sign the Treaty of Versailles. Finally, Lloyd George disliked the outcome of Versailles, as he thought the treaty was too harsh on Germany. (Slide 8) Moving on to the second half of the focus question, ‘what impact did the treaty have on Germany?’. One of the major impacts of the treaty was the territorial changes. First of all, Germany lost some land to Poland, and secondly, it lost all of its colonies. Furthermore, it was forbidden from joining with Austria-Hungary, preventing future wars. Obviously, these impacts weakened Germany and

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