To what Extend Did The Paris Peace Treaties Deserved The Harsh Criticism They Have Receive?
The Paris Peace mostly deserved the harsh criticism it was given for that it failed to provide a long-term peace and led to an even more horrifying war twenty years later. The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the victors of World War I to set the peace terms for the Central Powers, yet many of the terms did not show intensions of peace but the hope to benefit from the reparation that will be paid. The Paris Peace Conference was unjust towards the defeated countries, Germany in particular, and was ineffective.
The Treaty of Versailles was commonly considered to be a failure because of the ineffective terms and unjust treatment to German. First of all, Germany was not invited to the Paris Peace Conference in the beginning. The Allies discussed the terms that Germany was to agree was forced to agree to without German participation.
Germany was not told clearly of the terms of the treaty; they were tricked to believe that the peace treaty would be based on Wilson's Fourteen Points. Germany did not fully believe in treaty either. According to A.J.P. Taylor, though Germany signed the treaty, "none took the signature seriously". A treaty that was neither properly discussed with both sides nor "seriously" signed already shows signs of being not effective in the future. Secondly, the Treaty of Versailles places the war guilt on German. The Treaty of Versailles blamed Germany and his allies to be the only reason for when when the cause of World War I was a collective mistake. Not one country or side was solely responsible for starting the war. Some of the reasons why the war started were the naval race, the Alliance systems, and...