Comparison Paper:Treaty of Versailles to Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points

Comparison Paper:Treaty of Versailles to Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points

The Treaty of Versailles

This paper compares the Treaty of Versailles to Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, by outlining strengths, weaknesses of each argument, in addition to what the major war nations achieved and lost according to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Concerning the Treaty of Versailles, the agreement had various strengths. To be more precise, the German had to take responsibility for starting World War One, as indicated by clause 231 (Schoenherr, 2004). Now, this was an advantage because it provided sufficient justification for most of the remaining terms. And what is more important is the federal system of Germany had to compensate for the damage they made during the war. As a result, they paid reparations of 6,600 million Euros (Schoenherr, 2004). Another essential advantage of the treaty is that it brought about peaceful relations in most parts of Europe. As a result, there was the establishment of the League of Nations to monitor and foster friendly relationships all over Europe. The implementation of the treaty meant that nations gained individual identity, and they were not part of colonies controlled by other countries. The first weakness of the agreement is that German citizens became hopeless due to war guilt. Secondly, the treaty did not make the League of Nations any stronger since they did not have an army; therefore, they had no authority to go through with most of their decisions. That aside, the British government assumed that the 6,600 million Euros reparation in Germany was too expensive, and this situation had the potential of affecting trade with Germany (Schoenherr, 2004). Also, the treaty did not have strong foundations, and so did the League of Nations.

And this was partly blamed on the fact the United States of America did not join the treaty. Another weakness of the Treaty of Versailles is that Italy and Japan refused to join the agreement since both nations felt like they did not get enough reward after fighting with their allies. In the aftermath, France’s security became stronger when German was banned from moving fifty miles or closer to France. On the other hand, one major nation that lost from the Treaty of Versailles was Germany. To be more precise, the German had to take responsibility for starting World War One (Schoenherr, 2004). What is more, the federal system of Germany had to compensate for the damage they made during the war. As a result, they paid reparations of 6,600 million Euros. Another loss that Germany faced was that the state was not allowed to operate their air force or submarines. What is more, the warned banned from placing troops in Rhineland; then, they were allowed to have six battleships at most and a total of one hundred thousand soldiers only (Schoenherr, 2004). The third loss that Germany faced was the fact that the state was terminated from the League of Nations. What is more, Germany lost most of its territorial land in Europe.

 

Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points

 

Concerning Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, the strengths of the agreement were: it was based on proposals that were aimed at fostering peaceful relations all over the globe both in the short-term and long-term. There were open policies that were aimed at reducing the state’s arms to limit war. What is more, Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points allowed freedom of trade, especially on the famous sea routes. The Fourteen Points was to form the foundations for the eventual surrender of Germany, which was under negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.  Despite his efforts, then Wilson’s ideologies were all later abolished by the Treaty of Versailles, thereby ending World War I (Wilson, 1918). That aside, the Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points had various weaknesses: the most significant failure was that the point about ethnic self-determination was a recipe for violence, chaos and ultimately led to the Second World War (Wilson, 1918). Before, the failure of the Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, Wilson believed that there were minimal ethnic groups in Europe and they occupied separate, homogeneous regions. On the contrary, there were very many ethnic groups spread all over Europe, and they had occupied the areas for centuries. In the long run, they refuse the fourteen points claiming that Wilson’s ideologies were working to justify injustice practices such as land grabbing and discrimination. It also generated bitter resentment in Germany, since a lot of ethnic German territory was handed over to other nations, making a mockery of the Points (Wilson 1918). In the long run, the founder of the fourteen point agreement, the self-righteous Wilson, admitted that the ethnic point was a blunder. Germany lost massively in the aftermath of Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points. The treaty of Versailles was the foundations of Western and Central Europe, the Fourteen Points. During formation, its primary purpose was to protect the redevelopment of the German expansionism. As a result, Germany had to surrender all colonies and certain European territories, including Alsace-Lorraine and Danzig. Generally, the Reich lost about thirteen percent of its land and about ten percent of its population (Wilson, 1918). What is more, they had to face massive reparation payments, conquest, and the eventual nab from Rhineland and Palatinate for a minimum period of ten years. All these outcomes rendered the Germans defenseless in their military. Apart from Germany, the effects also impacted the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was destroyed (Wilson, 1918). Wilson attended the Versailles negotiations with the assumption that the League of Nations was the essential point. However, France and Britain played trickery on him. As a result, Wilson had to accept the two nation’s demands then keeping the League active while using it as a colonial control strategy. In the long run, Britain and France gained since ended up controlling five votes each. On different occasions, the United States of America rejected the Versailles Treaty and the League of Nations. Therefore, they did not lose anything since the process turned out to be an exercise in futility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

Schoenherr, S. E. (2004). The Versailles Treaty of June 28, 1919. San Diego.

 

Wilson, W. (1918). President Wilson’s Fourteen Points. Records of the United States Senate, Record Group, 46.