Salome Holland

02.03.15
History D.Pennick
The results of the Treaty of Versailles
The treaty of Versailles was one of the Peace treaties, which took
place after the end of the First World War. It was the treaty, which
officially ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied
forces. It was signed on the 28th of June 1919 exactly 5 years after
the assassination of the Arch Duke of Austria-Hungary, Franz
Ferdinand. While the treaty did bring something positive in the form
of the end of the First World War, it also brought many worse things
to Europe most of which were directly linked to the beginning of the
Second World War.
One of the more idealistic results of the treaty of Versailles was the
League of Nations. The League of Nations was founded on the day
the treaty was signed and was a league, which consisted of the
main affected countries of the First World War (other than the United
States of America). The League of Nations was intended to serve as
a mean to keep international peace, while it did not ultimately fulfill
its goal, the founding of the League was a direct result of the Treaty
and its intention was a positive one. Some could say that the failure
of the League of Nations was a direct result of the treaty, however
other factors (such as the exclusion of the United States of America)
played a huge role in this and therefore I do not believe that the
Failure of the League and the treaty are directly related.
Another significant result of the Treaty of Versailles was the
hyperinflation, which occurred in Germany. The crisis of
hyperinflation was obviously worsened by the occurrence of the Wall
Street crash of 1929, however the initial fall towards hyperinflation
in Germany came from a clause in the Treaty of Versailles. The
clause that inflicted Germany to pay reparations to the Allied
countries was the main push towards hyperinflation. The Germans
solution to paying these rather hard reparations was to print more
German marks. While the Germans were already doing this to help
finance the war, the push of the Treaty of Versailles led to an even
bigger amount of hyperinflation for the German mark. The
hyperinflation in Germany was one of the worst the world has ever
seen and was eventually one of the largest factors leading to the
Second World War.
A result of the Treaty of Versailles which is possibly the most known,
is the resentment of the Germans towards the allied forces.
According to the Germans the clauses of the treaty were incredibly
harsh, especially the War Guilt Clause, which said that Germany had
to take the whole blame for the war. The citizens of Germany
resented the fact that they were now being blamed for a war, which
their government had enforced on them. In Germany the Treaty of
Versailles was often called the Diktat because it was heavily
enforced and dictated on Germany. The resentment of the German

Salome Holland
02.03.15
History D.Pennick
public on the Allied forces was one of the decisive factors in Hitler
coming to power and eventually the Second World War occurring.
One way, in which the treaty of Versailles directly affected the
Germans, was the disarmament, which occurred as a result of the
treaty. Disarmament was obviously a clause, which was signed in
the treaty and was therefore a direct result of the treaty. Germany
was required to stop mandatory military conscription, to reduce its
army to 100,000 men, to demilitarize all the land on the left of the
Rhine River, to cease all importation, exportation, and nearly all
production of war material, to shrink the size of its navy to 24 ships,
with no submarines and the naval personnel was not to exceed
15,000. All of this was a direct result of the treaty of Versailles and
was clearly not favourable towards the Germans. Most significantly
however, this demilitarization was a clear lead up to the Second
World War.
Another result, which was caused by the treaty and affected the
German population tremendously, was the land rearrangement. The
treaty of Versailles stated that Germany had to give up AlsaceLorraine, and many other territories including areas that were give
to Czechoslovakia and Poland. While this result may seem minor, it
displaced approximately 6.5 to 7 million Germans out of Germany.
This was one of the factors, which, fueled the result of German
resentment towards the Allied powers and therefore was another
factor aiding the beginning of the Second World War.
To conclude, there were many results of the Treaty of Versailles and
they predominantly affected the German populous. However, the
largest aspect that all these results had in common is that they were
key inducers to the Second World War. It is often said that the
Second World War began in the Hall of Mirrors, and I believe this can
be clearly seen after realizing and analyzing all the results and
effects of the Treaty of Versailles.