Lauryn Lucatorto

Honors Modern World History

Ms. Burke

5/24/18

Treaty of Versailles DBQ In-Class Essay

World War I officially came to a close with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. This

document was meant to bring peace and prevent further conflicts. However, the Treaty of

Versailles failed to fulfill this duty. The agreement was ineffective as a peace treaty because it

did not grant freedom to ethnic groups, did not focus on the rehabilitation of Europe, and brought

great peril to Germany.

The First World War had several main causes These were militarism, alliances,

imperialism, and nationalism. Militarism became a problem because all nations were prepared

for war and had more advanced war technologies after the Industrial Revolution. The system of

alliances that formed in the time leading up to WWI was an issue because many countries got

unnecessarily pulled in when their allies went to war. Imperialism was a cause because all

counties wanted more land and power, but nationalistic ethnic groups wished to be free of these

larger powers. An effective peace treaty would address these issues so that war would not break

out again.

The Treaty of Versailles often did not grant Freedom to smaller ethnic groups that wished

to be free. Document 8 shows that many territories taken from Germany were put under the

control of the Allies, at least for a set period of time. This angered the colonists because they had
been hoping for freedom after the war. As Wilson states in Document 2, “This war had it’s roots

in the disregard of right of small nations and nationalities.” This holds truth because the Serbian

and Bosnian Slavs wanted freedom for Bosnia, so that the could join a Pan-Slavic nation. Serbia

and Bosnia’s angel caused the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand, which triggered the

war. If these nations were given their freedom, they would be less likely to cause conflict in the

future.

The treaty did nothing to help Europe recover after the war. As stated in Document 3, the

treaty contains no change that promotes the rehabilitation of Europe. The treaty was ore based

around who would take the blame for the war and who would gain what territories. As shown in

Document 6, many European countries had crippling debt to deal with, even years after the war.

This led to inflation for many counties, but Germany specifically

Finally, the treaty was detrimental to Germany an its economy. As shown in Document 5,

the peace terms were forced upon Germany without their consent. The cartoon, drawn from the

point of view of Germany, shows the Big Four forcing Germany to swallow the peace terms.

Germany was not invited to the Palace of Versailles in order to agree on peace terms and was

forced by the other nations to accept the terms, despite them being completely unfavorable.

According to Document 6, Germany suffered hyperinflation to the point that 4 trillion German

marks were worth only 1 U.S. dollar. Compared to the other lines on the graph, Germany’s

inflation skyrockets. This idea is also supported by Document 7, which shows a woman loading

marks into the furnace and children using them as toys. They were so worthless and invaluable

that they were worth more as fuel and toys that as currency. This occurred because Germany was

rapidly printing money in an attempt to pay off their debt. Document 8 shows that Germany was

forced to pay full reparations for the war and take full blame for starting it. This was unfair
because it is practically impossible for Germany to come up with all that money, and it was

decided on by the Allies.

The Treaty of Versailles did not support peace and rehabilitations, but rather, more

conflict. After the war, Germans dealt with hyperinflation, a suffering economy, and political

instability, The terms of the Treaty of Versailles caused the German people to feel resentment

against the Allies for decades to come. The treaty essentially set Europe up for another World

War.