Jennifer R. Lindahl World Civilizations Mrs. Swartzell, Mr. Stefanich 22 April 2005 The Treaty of Versailles
When we think of different wars that have happened in the world most of the time at the end of them, a treaty is made. This is exactly what happened for World War I. The war had just ended on November 11, 1918, after four years of fighting, and most of Europe¡¦s farms, factories, and coalmines had been ruined. A lot of countries were mad at the Germans and decided to draft a treaty that would make the Germans have to pay for causing this war. The treaty that the countries drafted was called the Treaty of Versailles. The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader of the events around and the contents of the Treaty of Versailles. It will discuss what people thought of the treaty, what the treaty accomplished, and the treaty¡¦s faults.
On January 8, 1919, the representatives of thirty-two countries, including the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan, met at the Paris Peace Conference to draft the Treaty of Versailles (Gelfand). The thirty-two countries that attended represented about seventy-five percent of the world¡¦s population (Spartacus). The German Republic and the Soviet Russia were not invited to attend the conference and they did not have any say in shaping the treaty (Nelson).
During the drafting of the treaty there were a few figures that played an important role in these negotiations. They were George Clemenceau of France, David Lloyd George of Britain, President Woodrow Wilson of the United States, and Vittorio Orlando of Italy (Spartacus). These important figures were known as the Big Four (Hay 9). The Big Four differed on their goals for the peace and they had many negotiations over this, but they were not the only ones (Hay 10).
At the Paris Peace Conference the Allies also had some trouble. Britain and France showed little sign of agreeing to Wilson¡¦s type of peace...