The First World War: The Treaty of Versailles

Otto Dix, "Sturmtruppe geht unter Gas vor" (Assault under Gas), 1924
This is another piece of work by otto Dix. It portrays the craziness of the first world war. It is of soldiers in gas masks throwing grenades at their enemies. these soldiers, with their gas masks seem inhuman. I believe that this is the message that Dix was trying to portray. He wanted to show that war is itself inhuman. The soldiers are even portrays as animals in order to portray the savagery of destruction.

Today we discussed in groups how we would have made the treaty of Versailles fairer to all parties. First of all, Germany should have been included in the peace talks. Also the guilt clause should have totally been taken out of the treaty. This clause humiliates Germany even more. They were humiliated enough having lost the war, but to make them take all of the blame, made them even madder. Germany should not have had to pay all war reparations. How can one country be expected to pay all of the debts of the war, when other nations were just as involved in the war. I do not even believe that this treaty was a treaty. It was just a document to humiliate Germany. A treaty should bring about peace, not humiliate another party. Because of this flaw, the treaty of Versailles was doomed to fail. All parties must be involved in the peace making process in order for a treaty to be successful and for there to actually be peace in the Balkans and everywhere else in Europe. Hopefully future leaders will not make the same mistakes as the allied powers.
Clemenceau, the French leader seemed to be a big influence during these talks. His goal was not to bring about peace, but to punish Germany for destroying most of his country. When revenge plays a big role in a treaty, it cannot have any progress. Clemenceau got most of what he wanted. Germany's military was drastically reduced and they lost much territory. They were basically left with nothing. David Loyd George of Great Britain did not want to punish Germany as harshly as Clemenceau did and neither did Wilson. The only leader who got what he wanted was Clemenceau. The allied powers should have not taken Clemenceau so seriously since he was only fueled by rage.


Connection Across Time

Today, treaties are not created in order to humiliate a country. Treaties are created in order to bring about peace; peace cannot exist if a country is humiliated. In order to settle their differences, countries meet and decide a compromise that will work for both parties.