About Triumph or Tragedy of Treaty of Versailles

When taking into consideration the devastating results and impact that the creation and enforcement of the Treaty of Versailles imposed in history, this event must be directly regarded as a tragedy. Although, this treaty may be considered as a positive attempt to resolve controversial conflicts between nations by officially confirming the end of World War I. Ultimately, it was the development of the War Guilt Clause, the contradiction of the 14 points (proposed by the United States president Woodrow Wilson), and the Hyperinflation period imposed by this treaty that may have led to one of the most tragic periods in world's history such as World War II.

One of the primordial causes for why the Treaty of Versailles must be considered as a tragedy is the War Guilt Clause included within article 231 in the treaty of Versailles as it was one of the primordial causes that led to the development of the Nazi party and subsequently WWII. This may be supported by the fact that this clause led Germany to develop an increased growth of a feeling of resentment towards the allied powers (Britain, France, Russia, Italy and the United States) as following WWI this clause placed most of the blame of WWI on Germany. As it was one of the main contributors to the development and expansion of this war, which was supported by the fact that Germany directly supplied its ally Austria-Hungary with military support, and weapons following the declaration of war that Austria Hungary imposed on Serbia in July 28th, 1914. Furthermore, although the War Guilt Clause was meant to ensure the stability and peace among nations it ultimately weakened Germany's power after WWI. This clause began to be considered by the German democratic government as a type of punishment (or dictated peace-DIKTAT) rather than a peaceful settlement.

As it officially declared Germany as the main provider of the economic support (money) necessary to restore all the damage that was created during this terrible war which in fact summed up to 132 billion gold marks ( which is now represented as $33 billion dollars ). This led to an overall feeling of hatred towards the Allied powers as this clause was considered as a form of humiliation for Germany. As numerous overseas colonies were taken away from Germany such as Germany's territory of Alsace-Lorraine which was given to France along with the territory of Saarland (which was managed by the league of Nations), the city of Danzig (which is now called Gdansk) which in fact conformed a large part of Germany's ethnic population and many others. Furthermore, not only was germany broken down by the distribution of this territory (which was used to reinforce its sense of nationalism and played an essential role towards strengthening the German nation) but also the treaty of Versailles demilitarized the area of Rhineland. Also, this treaty also limited Germany's army to 100,000 men, and placed a restriction over the German naval vessels as these were only allowed to be under 10,000 tons. Ultimately, Germany was also banned from conscription, tanks, heavy or light artillery, poison gas supplies, and aircraft or zeppelins which were prominent for its Navy airforce.

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