Treaty of Versailles and Its Impact on Germany

World War One was a war of bloodshed and suffering that left Europe devastated after the war (History Learning Site, 2000). Woodrow Wilson, stated that The Great War was the war to end all wars (Sturgeon A., 2009). At the end of World War One, Woodrow Wilson came up with the Fourteen Points which was a peace plan to prevent all future wars (Sturgeon A., 2009). Unfortunately, not all of its recommendations were part of the final agreement known as the Treaty of Versailles (Bolotta A., Hawkes C., Jarman F., Keistad M., Watt J., 2000). The Allies wanted to take revenge on Germany by humiliating them for the cause of World War One (Sturgeon A., 2009). Without having any say, Germany was forced to sign the treaty and unwillingly signed it on June 28, 1919. This treaty led to the outbreak of World War Two because some land was taken away from Germany, they were forced to pay huge reparations for the damages and more importantly, had to take all the blame for World War One that angered many Germans (Pollata A., September).
Germany suffered many territorial losses after the treaty was signed (History Learning Site, 2000). On the east side of Germany, they lost their land to create Poland, but also had to return Alsace and Lorraine back to France (Bolotta A., Hawkes C., Jarman., Keirstead M., Watt J., 2000). More land had to be given to Belgium, France, Denmark and Poland (History Learning Site, 2000).Thus, caused Germany’s population to decrease (Macro History and World Timeline, 1998).Not only that, the Paris Peace Conference also produced the League of Nations to make sure that war does not break out ( Sturgeon A., 2009). They had to take control of all German overseas colonies ( History Learning Site, 2000). Obviously, the Germans were really angry at the terms, especially the territorial ones because Germany had lost 10% of its land, 12% of its population and 16% of its coal-fields (Johndclare.net). As a result, all the power and taxes Germany lost were given to Germany’s enemies who were the triple alliance (Johndclare.net). In fact, Germany was also banned from joining Austria on purpose, just to keep Germany weak (johndclare.net). Although, Germany hated the government for signing the treaty, they had no choice because the allies would have continued the war and invade Germany itself (Bolotta A., Hawkes C., Jarman F., Keirstead M.