Accept Finite Disappointment, but Never Lose Infinite Hope

Treaty of Versailles - Fair or Unfair

80. Germany will respect the independence of Austria.
81. Germany recognizes the complete independence of Czechoslovakia.
87. Germany recognizes the complete independence of Poland.
119.

Germany surrenders all her rights and titles over her overseas

countries.

159. The German military forces shall be demobilized and reduced not
to exceed 100,000 men.

181. The German navy must not exceed 6 battleships, 6 light cruisers,
12 destroyers, and 12 torpedo boats. No submarines are to be included.
198. The Armed Forces of Germany must not include any military or
naval air forces.
231.

Germany and her Allies accept the responsibili

ty for causing all

the loss and damage to the Allied Powers.

233. Germany will pay for all damages done to the civilian population
and property of the Allied Governments. [The figure was later set at
$33 billion].
428. To guarantee the execution of the Treaty, the German territory
situated to the west of the Rhine River will be occupied by Allied
troops for fifteen years.431. The occupation forces will be withdrawn as soon as Germany
complies with the Treaty.

The treaty given to Germany in May 1919, as a punishment and effort towards world peace, was not fair. I do believe that Germany did cause huge damage during the war and they should be punished but this treaty takes it to the next level. It isn't fair because they had to give up all the land they rightfully conquered, no other country had gotten punished like that before, and it wasn't built on the base of a treaty that Germany was told to expect.

The Germans had conquered a huge amount of land and now they are told the must give nearly all of it back. I understand that the Germans deserve to have some of their land to be taken away but the almost all of their conquered land was taken away from them. In the treaty it also explains that Germany must respect the independence of some of the other countries meaning they may not reconquer those countries. It's quite harsh to make them give back all the land they fought hard to conquer but it's even worse to know that you need to recognize and respect that they are an independent country. It's like taking one step forward and two steps back. It's not fair that Germany has to give independence to almost every country they fought to conquer.

This treaty also isn't fair because it's not the same treaty as the example Germany was first shown. The rules on the first treaty weren't as harsh as the ones on the final product. If Germany was shown an idea of what the treaty would look like, it shouldn't have changed as much as it did. The treaty would have be a lot more fair if it greatly resemble the idea Germany was shown. For some reason many thing on that lis twas changed and Germany felt betrayed by practically being lied to. The y were lied to because they were shown an idea of the treaty and then presented by am entirely different one causing the situation to be unfair for Germany.

Open Diplomacy - There should be no secret treaties between powers

Freedom of Navigation - Seas should be free in both peace and war
Free Trade - The barriers to trade between countries such as custom duties should be removed
Multilateral Disarmament - All countries should reduce their armed forces to the lowest possible levels
Colonies - People in European colonies should have a say in their future
Russia - Russia should be allowed to operate whatever government it wanted and that government should be accepted, supported and welcomed.
Belgium - Belgium should be evacuated and restored to the situation before the war.
France - should have Alsace-Lorraine and any lands taken away during the war restored.
Italy - The Italian border should be readjusted according to nationality
National Self -Determination - The national groups in Europe should, wherever possible, be given their independence.
Romania, Montenegro and Serbia - Should be evacuated and Serbia should have an outlet to the sea
Turkey - The people of Turkey should have a say in their future
Poland - Poland should become an independent state with an outlet to the sea.
League of Nations - An assembly of all nations should be formed to protect world peace in the future.

One last thing that also made the situation and treaty unfair is that no other country had been punished the same way before. In other wars no other countries had to agree to such harsh rules. No other country had the majority of their conquered countries taken away. Why did it have to be this way for Germany? It wasn't fair that Germany had to be the only country that got punished with the rules of the treaty. If it were done to a country before due to being a big destroyer during a war, it would be fair to give the same punishment to Germany. But nothing so harsh had been done before and even observing countries admitted that the punishment was quite harsh.

I believe that if the punishment wasn't so harsh, the treaty was changed s much, and the punishment been done before, then this would have been completely fair to Germany and they would have definitely deserved every bit of the punishment. But since none of it was, I believe this treaty was something that pushed Germany off the edge and really made them mad. It could have been the war to end all wars, which was what it was meant to be, but I think the treaty rules took it a step to far and there isn't world peace yet. I hope that next time a treaty will just secure everything and not be unfair.