World War 1: The Consequences
Treaty of Versailles and Important Events after WW1
My Image is about the the Big Four of WW1 and the Treaty of Versailles. The Four Powers consisted of Woodrow Wilson (American President), George Clemenceau (French Prime Minister), David Lloyd George (Brittish Prime Minister) and Vittorio Orlando (Italien Prime MInister). These four men dominated the peace conference, imposing their view as for Germany’s punishment.
The treaty of Versailles was a treaty that was intended to end World War 1 and prevent another one. However, it kind of started it. The countries France, United States and Great Britain lead by three men, Woodrow Wilson, Clemenceau and David Lloyd George dominated the Peace Conference. France and Great Britain demanded that Germany pay all the expenses and damages. The treaty took a few months to write, from January 1919 to June. In the end, it consisted of 19 parts with 440 articles. It was written by the Allies without the participation of the Germans.
The French, British and Americans took advantage to do their best to make Germany pay for all the expenses and to reduce the German Empire. As a result, the Germans lost 10% of their land, all of their colonies and 12.5% of its population. The Germans found the demand unreasonable. They believed that they hadn’t started the war, and so it wasn’t fair for them. They also claimed that in 1914 they were surrounded by many enemies and were forced to join the war. They claimed they had fought a defensive war. And that isn’t even mentioning the financial expense. Germany believed that because they didn’t start the war, they shouldn’t have to pay the expenses. They were appaulled when the final sum of 6,600 pounds was set for them to pay. No European country was able to pay that kind of money at that time. The Germans utterly believed that the treaty was a “dictated peace” (said “Diktat” in german) and referred it to a kind of execution. In the end, this stimulated rage within the german borders as the dictator Adolf Hitler rose to power and swore to rip the treaty of Versailles into schredds. This ended up starting the second world war.
The WW1 ended at 11 o'clock in the morning of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.
FUN FACTS
Caricatures like these were made to show Germany's burden and how they resonded. For example, the image to the right is demonstrating the Allied Powers imposing their high demands for Germany while the one to the left is showing Germany's response to the Peace Treaty, especially as we all know it sparked World War 2.