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Purpose of Treaty of Versailles

Updated: 8/22/2023
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โˆ™ 12y ago

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The Treaty of Versailles (1919) was the peace treaty which officially ended World War I between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany. After six months of negotiations, which took place at the Paris Peace Conference, the treaty was signed as a follow-up to the armistice signed in November 1918 in Compi

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โˆ™ 17y ago
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โˆ™ 11y ago
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To be honest the Treaty of Versailles was not needed. It was something that England, and especially France wanted.

WW I could have ended with a simple agreement for all the armies to return home.

But there were many hidden feelings that caused the French and English to want it. There is an old saying (that is true). "The French fight for glory, the English fight for land, and the Americans fight for souvenirs."

Both the French and English has lost MANY men in the war. They felt (and possibly true) that they could not face the people of their nation if the war ended without obtaining something that would make their deaths "worthwhile." That meant the French wanted glory (revenge), the British wanted land.

Why did the French want revenge? They had fought a war with the Germans in 1870-71 and had lost. That was bad enough (Paris was captured), but worst of all the Germans required the French to surrender in the place that represented the glory of France -- the palace of Versailles. (Home of Louis XIV, Frances greatest king.) In addition the Germans acknowledged their unified nation by making Kaiser (Emperor) Wilhelm I their leader in the Palace of Versailles. So to regain their honor the French felt they had to force the Germans to surrender, to accept the shame of saying they -- alone -- started World War I (which was a lie and they knew it.)

The English favored making the Germans say they started the war, so they could punish them for that terrible thing. Punishment in the eyes of the English meant that they would get all the German colonies in Africa. (By the way the Japanese fought on the Allied side in WW I and they were rewarded by being given most of the German islands in the Pacific Ocean, areas we would later be forced to fight for in World War II.)

What did the U.S. get out of the war? Nothing, only souvenirs.

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The above answer completely ignores:

  1. The fact that, from a European point of view anyway, a very destructive and traumatic war had been fought.
  2. The fact that there was an important political dimension to the peace treaty. Lloyd George and Clemenceau weren't operating in some political vacuum. They wanted to make a repetion of the war impossible; they also had to satisfy their own angry electorates ...

Note the following statement in the above answer:

"Why did the French want revenge? They had fought a war with the Germans in 1870-71 and had lost. That was bad enough (Paris was captured), but worst of all the Germans required the French to surrender in the place that represented the glory of France -- the palace of Versailles. "

No, the French didn't surrender in the Palace of Versailles in 1871. Not only is the answer ill informed, it's isolationist Propaganda. Moreover, the issue of German war guilt is still controversial, and it certainly can't be dismissed as a "lie".

The treaty wasn't about settling a point d'honneur. There were genuine issues that needed settling. The French had lost Alsace-Lorraine and had been forced to pay heavy reparations.

What's more, one needs to consider the possibility that by 1914 Germany was already on the road to becoming a rogue state, which emerged very clearly in full roguery 20-25 years later.

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โˆ™ 14y ago

To settle the arguments between Germany and many other European countries. Germany did not attend the meeting to settle the terms and because all of the other countries blamed Germany for the beginning of WW1, the Treaty was very unfair to them.


The main terms of the Treaty were:


  • Germany lost the rights to own lots of their land, such as, the Rhineland and Saar.
  • The Germany army was forced to reduce to only 100000 men and submarines and weaponry was reduced.
  • Reparations were set at 600 million German Marks to pay France and Germany the money that they owed for destroying their countries during WW1.
  • All of the blame was put onto Germany for the cause of WW1 and they lost all of their pride and dignity. Most of the German workers turned against their own government for agreeing to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
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โˆ™ 9y ago

The Treaty of Versailles happened because the First World War had ended. It was intended to be a lasting peace agreement.

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โˆ™ 13y ago

The Treaty of Versailles was signed to end World War One. Hope this is what you were looking for! :)

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โˆ™ 14y ago

Paris was (and still is) a popular location for signing treaties. The Palace of Versailles may have been chosen because Germany had used it in 1871 to proclaim its empire.

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โˆ™ 11y ago

It had happened in Versailles because at that time the palace had a great significance world wide and it was near to the allied powers.

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Trแปng ร‚n Nguyแป…n

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โˆ™ 1y ago

Example of the relation between the world order today and the treaty of versallies failure's lessons

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โˆ™ 12y ago

it was a treaty of Versailles.

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