Dbq The Benefits Of Punishing Germany

Long time ago the world had many struggles to face. Wars were later on created by the countries. Countries were choosing different sides and helping win the war. The allies of WW1 was Britain, France, Russia, Italy and the United States.These countries fought against the Central Powers which included Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. After the war was over people blamed that Germany started WW1, so punishments by United States were faced by Germany. So now a new topic that people discuss whether the benefits of punishing Germany did or didn’t outweighed the drawbacks. My claim is that the benefits of punishing Germany did not outweighed the drawbacks.

In order to support my claim that the benefits of punishing Germany did not outweighed the drawbacks, I will be stating facts supported by

documents. In document 2 it shows a cartoon and has a description up top. It explains that Germany had no other choice and was forced to accept the terms of the Treaty. People hoped that the Treaty would heal the wounds of war and guarantee world peace, but however the reparations agreement placed an impossible burden on Germany’s economy. Germany also lost it colonies while others were able to keep theirs. Then the Treaty contained provisions to humiliate Germany. On the comic it states by the Big Four,” You’ve got to swallow it whether you like it or not.” This quote shows that Germany didn’t have no freedom or right to choose and was commanded by people. As you can see Germany had it really unfair and made Germany mad and angry, which made Germany triggered and influenced to make the choice that they did later on(the drawbacks). Punishing the Germans did not benefit because it only brought anger for the Germans and made them fight back and start a war to gain their power back. It wasn’t a benefit punishing the Germans because as you can see in document 2 it shows that Germany lost everything and not much was brought from that except for more violence later on.

Another evidence to help backup my claim that the benefits of punishing Germany did not outweighed the drawbacks is document 3.

Document 3 has a description on top and a list of the Fourteen Points. The description explains that Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points were a list of specific proposals for postwar peace. It would have helped settle national border disputes and military cutbacks, proposed lower tariffs and banned secret agreements between nations and more. Wilson’s had a belief in the right for the people to choose their own political status. But then European leaders disagreed with Wilson’s vision of peace and just wanted to straight up punish Germany for its role in the war. This shows that there weren’t much benefits and if they haven’t punish Germany they may had those Fourteen Points, which would have been a benefit for the countries and create peace. Instead they just wanted to punish Germany which didn’t bring any benefits except for more chaos and unorganization for peace. As you can see this document shows that there would have been benefits, but the European leaders didn’t want that, which caused to not outweigh the

drawbacks.

Some people may say that the benefits of punishing Germany did outweigh the drawbacks, but I disagree and here’s why! So in document 5 it has context on top and a map. It says that the map of Europe changed after WW1. The Allied countries took advantage of the “spoils of war” and have added to their territory to their land from the Central Powers. Although this does describe a benefit this wasn’t enough to outweigh the drawbacks. There wasn’t much greater benefits than this and if Germany wasn’t punished the countries would have gained more of a benefit than punishing Germany. This doesn’t affect much on the drawbacks of punishing Germany because this could have been done without punishing no one. Instead the countries did punish Germany and not only did they lost a lot of benefits by doing this, but also created even more chaos in the world. They also did not reach their aim for there to be peace because the countries were being so unfair to the Germans. As you can see this is why the benefits of punishing Germany did not outweigh the drawbacks.

As I can concluded or end this essay is that the benefits of punishing Germany did not outweigh the drawbacks. The punishing the Germans created more chaos instead of benefits. If the countries did not force Germans or punished them, they might have even gotten some more benefits. The countries were also unfair to the Germans and made them lose a lot of things, which influenced on the drawbacks later on in time. Also if the countries would have gave Germany their rights and freedom, the countries would have been able to get the Fourteen Points, which would have been such a great benefit. So this is my statement that I made about this topic.