ACTIVITY: The impact of the Treaty of Versailles

'The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were too harsh on Germany.'To what extent do you
agree with this claim? Answer with reference to Sources F-J and also with reference to your
own knowledge of the treaty.

I personally believe that, to a substantial extent, the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh on
Germany. This would be due to the irrational amount of money requested for reparations, as
well as the hypocrisy of the Allied powers when drafting the treaty, and the distortion of
information to put Germany in a position of inhumanity (regarding war crimes).

The Allies, after long consideration had decided to put a 6.6 Billion £ value on the
destructions caused by the germans. An outrageous price which would have left Germany
completely bankrupt. In todays money that would be worth around 113 Billion £. The effects
on Germany can be seen through Source I, where it is shown that before the treaty, 1£ was
worth 20 marks, and by the beginning of the 1920s, 1£ was worth 16.000.000.000 marks.

Another element which portrays the Treaty of versailles as too harsh was the hypocrisy with
which it was drafted. Wilson’s 14 points as well as the principle of self-determination were
applied to all scenarios which the allies faced, except the one with Germany, where it didn’t
even get a say in it. This can furthermore seen in Source G, stating: ‘Britain and France have
increased their empires by taking control of the German colonies ... this is against the ideas
set down in Wilson's 14 points!’

The treaty was also too unfair from a humanitarian point of view, since the allies omitted
some information which was extremely relevant to the position which germany was going to
be put on, accepting all responsibility for the damage (War Guilt). Even though germans
accepted responsibility for all the atrocity of war crimes, an example being gas warfare.
Nevertheless it was the french to use mustard gas for the first time. Another example would
be the Lusitania incident, where the germans did bomb the ship with a U-Boat, but the
americans was transporting about 173 tons of war munitions for Britain, which the Germans
cited as further justification for the attack.