Why was the Treaty of Versailles not liked?

Answer 1

Actually, the treaty was not " bad." it was a perfectly understandably treaty. The Germans had destroyed much of France, costing thousands of lives, and lost. The treaty was written to prevent this from happening again. That is, to deprive the German Nation the means by which to ever again wage a war of aggression and upset the continental balance of power. In 1871, the Prussian led German invading of France marched on Paris and annexed French territory; isolation of the French republic had been a major foreign policy objective of Prince Bismark, and Wilhelm II had been responsible for some major international crisises.

But the actions of the Kaiserreich, particularly the Kaiser's unwavering support of Franz-Josef following the Archduke's assassination, which would inevitably send Russia into conflict with the Habsburg Empire, thus pulling in France, Germany, Britain, and their empires. The treaty attempted to deprive the Germans the opportunity to ever again upset the continental balance of power by forbidding the development of a munitions industry, limiting the size of the Reichswehr to 100,000 professional soldiers, and putting major restrictions on industry, transferring the Saar Basin to French control for a certain time and requiring the payment of massive reparations to pay for the massive rebuilding of France (keeping in mind that the physical damage to German infrastructure and industry was relatively light). The so-called war guilt clause put the moral blame for the war on the German Empire, the only major power of the central powers that still existed (the Ottoman Empire and Austrio-Hungarian Empire disintegrated, and would be used as justification for much of the reparations. In all honesty, the goal of the treaty, to prevent another war, would have been successful had the treaty been enforced, but the French were the only party to the treaty with an interest in zealous enforcement, by force if necessary, of the provisions. The British were not, for German prewar was a major market for British products, and further, the foreign policy of his Majesty's government has always been to maintain the balance of power on the continent, to prevent any one power from so dominating the continent so as to challenge British naval supremacy in the North Atlantic and globally, threatening her imperial lifeline and posing a direct threat of invasion across the Channel.

Treaties are written by the victor, and so any peace treaty would seem unfair to the loser. But wars are fought to achieve a goal; wars are fought to achieve a political end that can not be achieved through other means. War is a means to an end, and when what began as a small conflict in the Balkan and ended at Versailles, the end was to prevent the Germans from ever again upsetting the Balance of power. Good, bad, right, wrong, are all terms that are subjective, and depend on what the ends were. To the French, as this treaty would give them the ability to extract revenge, money, resources, and a permanent limitation on the German ability to wage war, his was a good treat. To the Germans, because it did all these things, this was a bad treaty; but it was a treaty signed when the combined arms of the French, British Empire, and the United States were on guard and could crush the remaining forces of the exiled German Emperor.

Answer 2

The reason the treaty is considered a failure is because it basically caused WWII. In clause 231-A, Germany is forced to hold blame for the entire war. (even though the war started because of Austria-Hungary's blaming of Serbia for the assassination of their Archduke). Also, Germany was forced to give up the Rhineland and pay 33 billion dollars for other countries' economic damages from the war (mostly France's). President Wilson did not agree with these policies and said they were making way for a future war (WWII). He is also responsible for creating the League of Nations which laid the groundwork for the United Nations.

Answer 3

The Treaty of Versialles was a bad treaty because it made Germany pay for everything! And it made them take blame also they had to subtract the numbers of their army and navy.

Answer 4

It was looked at unfair to Germany, too harsh.

Answer 5

The treaty punished Germany so severely financially that it planted the seeds for the next war.