Was the Treaty of Versailles a Carthaginian Peace?
1. The Versailles settlement quickly gained a reputation as ‘a Carthaginian peace’. What was meant by this, and was it a fair and accurate assessment.
The Versailles Peace Treaty was signed in June 1919 after the First World War by the victorious Allies and defeated Germany and was intended to punish Germany for what was seen as her war guilt and to prevent her from becoming powerful enough again to disturb European peace. It was called a Carthaginian peace in the first instance by Jan Smuts (a member of the British Delegation at the Peace Conference in Paris) in a letter to Lloyd George dated 16th March 1919[1] and in 1920 by John Maynard Keynes (also a member of the British Delegation) in his book The Economic Consequences of the Peace. A Carthaginian peace is described in modern usage as referring to a peace settlement ‘whose terms are overly harsh and designed to perpetuate the inferiority of the loser’.[2] The Allies, especially France, were insistent that Germany should be seen to pay for her part in the war and the terms were not as harsh as those Germany had imposed on Russia (the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, summer 1918)[3] or those that Germany intended to impose on the Western Allies had she won the war, which included the suppression of Belgium, who had been an innocent victim of German aggression in 1914. However, at the end of the war where approximately 8.5 million soldiers had died and 21 million wounded the victorious Allies were not in a mood to be benevolent towards a Germany they thought responsible for causing the war. Carthage and its inhabitants were almost totally annihilated by the Romans and the objective of the Treaty of Versailles was not even meant to perpetuate the inferiority of the Germans but to protect her neighbours from her ambitions of territorial expansion through aggression. Therefore, compared to Carthage the phrase ‘Carthaginian peace’ would not appear to be a fair and accurate description of the Treaty of
The Versailles Peace Treaty was signed in June 1919 after the First World War by the victorious Allies and defeated Germany and was intended to punish Germany for what was seen as her war guilt and to prevent her from becoming powerful enough again to disturb European peace. It was called a Carthaginian peace in the first instance by Jan Smuts (a member of the British Delegation at the Peace Conference in Paris) in a letter to Lloyd George dated 16th March 1919[1] and in 1920 by John Maynard Keynes (also a member of the British Delegation) in his book The Economic Consequences of the Peace. A Carthaginian peace is described in modern usage as referring to a peace settlement ‘whose terms are overly harsh and designed to perpetuate the inferiority of the loser’.[2] The Allies, especially France, were insistent that Germany should be seen to pay for her part in the war and the terms were not as harsh as those Germany had imposed on Russia (the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, summer 1918)[3] or those that Germany intended to impose on the Western Allies had she won the war, which included the suppression of Belgium, who had been an innocent victim of German aggression in 1914. However, at the end of the war where approximately 8.5 million soldiers had died and 21 million wounded the victorious Allies were not in a mood to be benevolent towards a Germany they thought responsible for causing the war. Carthage and its inhabitants were almost totally annihilated by the Romans and the objective of the Treaty of Versailles was not even meant to perpetuate the inferiority of the Germans but to protect her neighbours from her ambitions of territorial expansion through aggression. Therefore, compared to Carthage the phrase ‘Carthaginian peace’ would not appear to be a fair and accurate description of the Treaty of
Bibliography: Boemeke, M., Feldman, G. And Glaser E. (eds) (1988) The Treaty of Versailles: A Reassessment After 75 Years, Cambridge University Press. Brentano L. (nd) www.wintersonnenwende.com (accessed 17.7.2010) Golby J., Waites B., Warner G., Gundle S., Mombauer A., Aldgate T., Marwick A., & Lentin A., (2001) Hobsbawn E., (1996) The Age of Extremes: A History of the World 1914-1991. New York Vintage Books. Keynes John Maynard (1920) The Economic Consequences of the Peace, Indo-European Publishing 2010. www.google.com/books (accessed 6.7.2010) Lentin A Lentin A. (1984) Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson and the Guilt of Germany. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge. O’Brien J., http://webjay.cuny.edu/~jobrien/index.html. nd. (accessed 21.7.2010) Marwick A., & SimpsonW., (2001) Primary Sources 2: Interwar and World War II Mombauer A., (2002) The Origins of the First World War: Controversies and Consensus. Pearson Education Limited. Roberts J. (2001) Europe 1880-1945. Third edition. Pearson Education. Sharp A. The ‘big four’ – peacemaking in Paris in 1919. www. highbeam.com (accessed 16.7.2010) Sharp A Unterberger B. M. The Treaty of Versailles: Carthaginian Peace or Pragmatic Compromise? Nd. www.jstor.org/stable/2702615 (accessed 14.7.2010) www.reference.com (accessed 1.7.2010) http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/The_Peace_Treaty_of Brest-Litovsk. (accessed 21.7.2010) www.historylearningsite.co.uk [4] Keynes J.M. (1920) p. 16 [5] Lawrence Gelfand (1998) in Boemeke M., Feldman G., Glaser E [8] Hobsbawn E. (1996) p. 36 [9] Mombauer A., (2002) p [12] Mombauer (2002) P. 96 [13] Ibid p [14] Lentin A. (1984) p. 101 [15] Marwick & Simpson (2001)1 .23 [16] Lentin A. (2007) p. 207 [17] Sharp A [18] Marks S. (1998) p. 359 in Boemeke, Feldman & Glaser [19] Ibid p.361 [22] Lentin A. (1984) p. 135 [23] J [26] Lentin A. (1984) p. 143 [27] Schwabe (1998) quoted in Boemeke et al p [28] Marwick A., & Simpson W., (2000) Document 1.19 [29] Mombauer A [30] Lentin A. (2007) p. 194 [31] Lentin A [34] Lentin A. (1984) p. 83 [35] Mommsen W [38] Roberts (2001) p. 261 [39] Soutou quoted by Lentin (1998) p [40] Henig R. (1995) p. 31 [41] Martel G [42] Lentin A. (2001) p. 205 [43] Ibid [44] Lentin A. (1998) p. 243 (in Boemeke et al) [45] www.historylearning.co.uk