Before the treaty, US president Woodrow Wilson had created the “Fourteen Points”, a list of war objectives that dealt with territorial and political resolutions, and focused on preventing war in the future. However, when Wilson propose the idea to the other nations at the Paris Peace Conference, the other countries in the “Big Four” (Italy, France, and the United Kingdom) rejected the idea. They instead wanted to put more harsh, strident obligations on Germany, because they saw them as the primary cause of World War 1. However the United States were against this view and later on in 1920, didn’t ratify the treaty or join the “League of Nations”. These burdens on Germany would soon be known as the “Treaty of Versailles.”
The Treaty of Versailles was a document that specifies
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One thing the article made Germany do was admit to being responsible for the war, and the losses and damage to the Allies (Article 231). Secondly, it inflicted many financial burdens on Germany, including having them pay approximately $33 billion for reparations. There were also limitations on Germany’s army, which was reduced to 100,000 soldiers, and restrictions on their manufacturing of weapons, ammunition, and other war technologies. They even had to had to give up some of their land and colonies, and were given new borders. Germany lost all its colonies in China, Africa, and the Pacific, and were given to France, Britain, Japan, and other allied nations. They also lost 13% of its territory in Europe and 10% of its population due to its citizens now living outside Germany’s borders (6.5-7 million people). Although most of treaty was made for punishing Germany, it also made a covenant for the League of Nations, an organization that was founded in January 10th, 1920. The purpose of this union was to settle international disputes and keep peace, but failed its