World War Iwrought unprecedented levels of death and destruction , claiming up of30 millionmilitary casualties and gazillion of civilian life and livelihoods . The four - twelvemonth debacle at last come to an end on Nov. 11 , 1918 , but the last term of Germany ’s capitulation were n’t hammered out until theParis Peace Conference of 1919 .
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson chose to attend the repose negotiations in person , becoming the first American president to journey afield on official business . Wilson arrived with an idealistic vision of a reconstruct Europe safeguarded by a novel League of Nations , as outlined in his famous"14 Points " speech . The French and British , however , who had lost millions of soldiers during years of brutal trench war , came demanding judge and retaliation .
After month of contentious negotiation , to which Germany and the other defeated Central Powers were n’t even ask in , Wilson and his ally counterparts emerged with the Treaty of Versailles ( so - called because it was signed at the Palace of Versailles in France ) . The sprawling papers redrew Europe ’s borders , carving raw country out of the former Austro - Hungarian empire ( including Yugoslavia , Czechoslovakia and Poland ) in a nod to Wilson ’s policy of " ego - determination . " But the harsh terms of the treaty were allow for Germany .
The German military was effectively disarm and concentrate to a defensive skeleton force . Germany lost 10 percentage of its territory , include the long - contested Alsace - Lorraine realm and all of its overseas colonies . confederate forces would concern German territory Benjamin West of the Rhine for 15 years .
And then there was the matter of reparations . In ordering to demand that Germany bear back Allied countries for the hurt it visit to life and property , the Treaty of Versailles needed to officially impute blame . That explains the inclusion of " Article 231 , " also known as the " War Guilt Clause " :
Germany was finally charge for $ 32 billion ( over $ 500 billion in today ’s dollars ) in damages , an galactic union for a nation gutted by war and still without a functioning government . frustration and debt were regretful enough , but the shame and guilty conscience imposed by the Treaty of Versailles were ascertain by many Germans as unbearable .
" From a political standpoint , [ the War Guilt Clause ] does more harm than good , " says Michael Neiberg , chair of state of war study at the U.S. Army War College and generator of " The Treaty of Versailles : A Concise History . " " It stirs up everybody inside Germany . It pass on them something to unite against at a time when Germany is badly divided on what should replace the Kaiser ’s regime . Now you ’ve given them a single matter to rally around . "
Setting the Stage for World War II?
The question that historians have been asking ever since is whether the rough , even violative terms of the Treaty of Versailles , seed the seed of discontentment that would carry Adolf Hitler to power in 1933 . In other word , did the Treaty of Versailles , a pact mean to ensure peace treaty in Europe , in fact lay the groundwork forWorld War II ?
Neiberg says no . While he harmonise that the Treaty of Versailles was a spikelet in Germany ’s side and a powerful symbolization to the German people of the ruthless shabbiness of the Allies , it was n’t enough to fully explain the rise of the Nazis . The Treaty of Versailles alone did not make WWII " inevitable . "
For Neiberg , the more critical factor that put the leg for WWII were the spherical financial nuclear meltdown of theGreat Depressionand the failure of the United States to back one of Wilson ’s highest antecedence in the Treaty of Versailles , the creation of the League of Nations .
The League of Nations was the 14th point of Wilson ’s " 14 Points " philosophical system :
The drafter of the Treaty of Versailles knew that the redrawn map of Europe was going to result in marvellous political instability . The conglomerate that had ruled Europe for centuries — Austro - Hungarian , German , Ottoman and Russian — were all gone , replaced by smaller and weaker states , or reshape by revolution like the Bolsheviks in Russia .
Wilson hoped that peace could be maintained by girding each of the newly create states with an American - style constitution safeguard the right of ethnic minorities . But if job arose — and they definitely would — a strong and unified League of Nations would be able to step in and work them .
The job was that when Wilson amount home and presented the Treaty of Versailles to Congress , American legislators decline to ratify it . A contingent of Republican senator bed as the " Irreconcilables " rejected the very impression of a League of Nations , fearing that U.S. membership would hale America into European conflicts .
Wilson campaigned heavily for confirmation of the pact and rank in the League of Nations , but hesuffered a debilitating strokewhile on a nationwide tour and was replace in 1921 by the unswerving isolationist Warren Harding . American absence seizure from the League of Nations undermined its credibility .
" Once Wilson is off the stage and the United States has turn down the League of Nations , then there ’s really no reasonableness for the successor states of the Austro - Hungarian empire to believe in the organic system of rules that Wilson insisted upon , " says Neiberg .
As for the ascent of Hitler and his antiblack ideologies , Neiberg believe that they found fertile basis in the economic wasteland of Depression - era Germany . Before the 1929 stock market crash , U.S. banks were loaning Germany money to pay its reparations and fund its post - war rebuilding effort . When those loanword were called in after the crash , German industry lost its financing , which moderate to crippling unemployment .
The German multitude , jobless and despairing , lose faith in democracyand found refuge in fascist creeds that fault Jewish conspirators for Germany ’s problems and promised a return to greatness under a " purified , " Aryan state .
" I can envision a European universe in which the stock market here in the U.S. does n’t ram , the Great Depression does n’t happen , and European find ways well short of fascism and bolshevism to influence out the rest of the twentieth century , " tell Neiberg . " It ’s the Great Depression that unhinge all of this . "
