"The Treaty of Versailles had some good points but they were overshadowed by its weaknesses."

The Treaty of Versailles was made after WWI in Paris 1919 there was a representative from America, Great Britain, France and Italy. American Woodrow Wilson, Great Britain's David Lloyd George, Frances Georges Clemenceau and Italy's Vittorio Orlando were known as the 'Big Five'. The Treaty was drawn up so Germany who was responsible for the war was to pay reparations to the allies and their associated powers. The Treaty consisted of Territorial Settlements, a war guilt clause, reparations and restrictions on military power.

I agree that the Treaty of Versailles had some good points but there were more wrong than right. The main weaknesses of the Treaty were; it was a dictated piece that Germany was forced to sign the treaty Germany thought this was unfair as anyone would. The choice was either to sign the treaty or go back to war, which Germany could not afford to do. Germany was forced to admit guilt for the war although they didn't feel it was entirely their fault. The Germans had to agree to a clause in the treaty, which declared that Germany itself had been guilty of violence and held solitary responsibility for the war and its losses. Germany had to pay US $32 billion in reparations for the war and the treaty imposed Germanys military strict restrictions. It was limited to 100 000 men with no aircraft, tanks or heavy guns and the Rhine River between Germany, France and Belgium was occupied by Allied troops and was permanently demilitarized. The impact of the treaty and under the terms of the territorial settlement Germany lost 7 million German-speaking citizens and territory, some to Poland, some to Czechoslovakia. The Polish Corridor also divided Germany into two. Germany had lost 12.5 percent of her territory, all her foreign investments and most of her merchant fleet.

Although the treaty had more bad points, there were also good things that came out of the treaty. National identity was recognized within countries like Hungary, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. They all became independent nations in their own rights instead of being controlled. Another good point about the treaty was the fact of there being a lesser likely hood of war by Great powers such as Austria- Hungary and Germany because they had been made weaker. Americas Woodrow Wilson wanted the treaty to be based on his fourteen point plan the main points of that plan were; 1) no more secret treaties

2) countries must seek to reduce their weapons and their armed forces

3) national self-determination should allow people of the same nationality to govern themselves and one nationality should not have the power to govern another

4) all countries should belong to the League of Nations. That plan was aimed to prevent future war and not to punish Germany. The treaty of Versailles also set up to what it is now called today the United Nations (then called the League of Nations) this was a grouping of countries leaders/representatives to help stop war and settle disputes through out the world.

Given the above even thought the Treaty of Versailles did have some good points, its weaknesses surpass them