JOYCE'S ESSAY

        In January of 1919, Woodrow Wilson of the United States, David LLoyd George Great Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France, and Orlando of Italy convened in Paris to Create a peace settlement that would put an end to World War I -- a war which devastated numerous countries throughout the world, and one that had threatened the chances of peace ever existing in the future among the nations of Europe. Known as the Treaty of Versailles, its goal was to restore a new nationalism throughout the world by creating new states and forming new boundaries. However, conflicts which resulted over dispute border regions between Germany and Poland. Austria and Hungary, and Italy and Yugoslavia, as well as the intense hatred towards the Allies and the peace settlement itself, but the Germans clearly indicated that the Treaty of Versailles had created more problems that it had solved and laid the foundations for World War II.

        Practically all of the nations involved in the war, fought on the basis of selfish motives. Recognizing that most countries had participated in order to acquire new territories. Woodrow Wilson, the most idealistic of the Big Four that convened at the peace conference in Paris, created a series of "Fourteen Points", which he believed encompassed the main principles which would meet the needs of each individual country. His main ideas included "open covenants of peace, openly arrived at after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind."(2), as well as self-determination for everyone because Wilson believed that "it is an imperative principle of action."(3) Above all, he insisted on the creation of a League of Nations, in whose primary goal was to maintain peace among all the nations. However, the failure of the United States to join the League consequently resulted in a lack of interest of international enthusiasm towards the League. It gradually became ineffectual as it failed to deal with growing international crises in the mid 1920 to 1930's. This failure immediately caused much unrest in France for it was relying on help should Germany pose as a threat in the later years. The problem was solved when Great Britain and the United States agreed to form a defensive alliance should France come under attack. Nonetheless, France was still wary towards Germany, particularly because after the war, Germany suffered from a rising inflation, and after a year of paying France war indemnities, they were unable to continue to do so. Because the French were afraid that Germany was violating the Treaty of Versailles, troops were sent in to occupy the Rubs valley until Germany was able to allocate the funds. Both countries suffered because of this. German money became worthless as the government scrambled to print paper money, and the maintenance of French troops in German territory was costly for the French as well.

        Germans were particularly angered by the war resolutions and deemed the provisions of the Treaty unjust and unfair. According to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was required to give up various territories, such as Alsace, West Prussia, and colonies overseas to the Allies. Thus, numerous Germans were relocated after the treaty instituted new borders in an attempt to take away German colonies. At the same time, both its army and navy suffered severe cuts and Germany had to pay reparations to compensate for the civilian damage done in the war. However, the worst provision was the "war guilt clause" in which Germany was to be fully blamed for starting the war. Germans were devastated at the harsh provisions of the treaty, and one man, Adolf Hitler was especially angered. Declaring that Germans would never again "remain pacifist for ever and live forever on the Treaty of Versailles"(7), Hitler and his followers, who formed the National Socialist German Worker's Party, or the NAZIS, were able to gain complete control in Germany, and managed to turn the provisions of the Treaty upside down. Hitler ruled Germany during a time when life was rough. After World War I, most European states suffering under reparations and war debts damaged the postwar economy and the Great Depression of 1929 added to the nightmare. After American investor began to pull money out of Germany to invest it in the American stock market, numerous German banks began to weaken. At the same time, trade was decreasing and unemployment was on the rise. In Germany, for example, 40 percent of the German labor force was unemployed. "German Children Are Starving", depicted one portrait of hungry German children, created by a German artist.

        The Treaty of Versailles, which to redrew boundaries created new states was violated when Hitler decided to invade Poland, on Sept.1, 1930, in an attempt to win back the part of East Prussia that the treaty had ceded to Poland. East Prussia would have given Poland access to the Baltic Sea, otherwise known as the Polish Corridor, but Hitler refused to allow such a harsh treaty to simply tear down German nationalism and prevent Germany from fulfilling what he considered to be her historic destiny of dominating all of Europe. This triggered the Second World War.

        In conclusion, peace certainly was not the end result of the 1919 peace treaty. Like numerous historians, in an analysis of the Treaty, it was inevitable that twenty years later the world become involved in a Second World War. However, some argue that perhaps if the provisions of the treaty had been rigorously enforced, Europe would not have had to deal with the many conflicts that it did, once World War I came to an end. Because of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany suffered a collapse of power and practically every Eastern European state was left to deal with various minority groups that were destined to create future problems. Said one architect after the war, "the old forms are in ruins, the benumbed world is shaken up...We float in space and cannot yet perceive the new order."(4) Truly, it was quite unfortunate to all the nations involved, that a treaty which was meant to reconcile major issues that had caused the war, subsequently resulted in increasing problems which fueled the fire for the next war.

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