The Treaty of Versailles was a post-war treaty the Allies signed with Germany.

It was
negotiated between the Big Three in the Paris Peace Conference and was based on
compromises.
Sources C, H and B agree that the treaty was fair. Source C shows this because it says
“wishes of the various populations prevailed” and they clearly managed to please their
nation, as an example, when Lloyd George came back to Britain he received a glorious
welcome by the population and the King himself. Even with the public pressure put
into the authors, Source C says that they made a “fair judgement” because none of
them got all of their ambitious aims, for example, Clemenceau wanted Germany to pay
24 million in reparation but after the conference, he agreed with the value of 6,6
million. Source B also agree that the leaders made compromises and weren´t at all
selfish because if Germany had won they “might as easily fared much worse” we can
say this because of the example of the Treaty of Brest-Litovski which Germany made
with Russia where the germans were really harsh. Source H agrees with that statement
but differently, it says that the treaty was justified because Germany “did lose the war”
and deserved what they got. Source H claims that Germany was not deeply affected by
the treaty as it “was able to rebuild its military” therefore quickly regained importance
and became once again a powerful force in Europe.
Sources E and F believe that the treaty was reasonable. Source E argues that what the
Allies imposed on Germany was “quite moderate” compared to the treaties that
Germany made to Russia and Romania, even if Germany lost his colonies to Britain and
France. Source F says that the Treaty of Versailles was “harsh but understandable”
nevertheless, the source also suggests that the Germans were left with political
instability which was difficult to overcome. This shows that the Sources E and F agree
that the treaty was indeed understandable.

In contrast, Sources D, A and G indicate that the Treaty was actually unfair. Source

D says that the cost of reparation would “ruin Germany” economically because it was
too high, one example of this was the loss of the Rhineland, an important industrial
area. Source A says that the Allies “were very stupid men” as they started by wanting
to negotiate peace with Germany but, they left the conference knowing that they
imposed the treaty upon Germany. This decision was very unjust and some Germans
refer to it as a Diktat. Source G is in agreement with Source A and it even says that is
was an affront to Germany because their leaders weren´t invited to the conference.
Another “humiliation” was the limitation of its army, they were left with only 100,000
men and to a country of the size of Germany, it wasn´t enough to protect most it.

Overall, we can undoubtedly say that the treaty didn´t appeal to everyone like they say
in source C but, the sources justifying its fairness have more detail and information to
state that it was indeed just, like Sources E and H.

Margarida