Kissinger: The Treaty of Versailles

By Kevin, Diana, Hayley, and Girija

Disagreement Among Victors

• Kissinger argues that one of the main differences between the Congress of Vienna and the Treaty of Versailles was the lack of a unifying force amongst the Allied victors.

• Even though it was in no one’s best interest for Germany to be allowed to become a hegemonic power, the Allies were not working towards the same end and were more focused on national problems than international security. France was focused on security, Britain was focused on money, Italy was focused on territory, etc.

• The Paris Peace Conference had no overarching aspirations and no rallying around a common value. After the Napoleonic Wars, the victors wanted to ensure conservatism. After World War I, the victors just wanted immediate resolutions to their own, personal agendas.

By trying to incorporate so many different aspirations, provisions, and “isms” into one treaty, it became ineffective. Without one unifying force, and with Wilson’s insistence on abandoning the balance of power, the treaty had no hope of success. While Germany was united in their defeat, the Allies were scrambling around to recover themselves. Interdependency was the focus only in name.

Because of the cramming in and compromising of ideas, no country was truly pleased with the end result. With no force or belief to ensure the enforcement of it, the treaty had enormous potential to be violated and ignored. The balance of power agreed upon at the Congress of Vienna lasted as long as it did because all countries involved were driven by the same conservative force, and the absence of one doomed the Treaty of Versailles to be short-lived.

The Congress of Vienna

The Congress of Vienna. Vienna Life. Vienna Life.com. Web. 15 Sept. 2010.

<http://www.vienna-life.com/vienna/congress-of-vienna>.

Jackson, Edward N. Paris Peace Conference.Photograph. Edward N. Jackson: World War One. Web. 15 Sept. 2010. <http://www.edwardnjackson.com/France_Peace_Accord.html>.

Balance of Power and Peace• With no overarching power to guide the victors, the

Treaty ended up as a compromise between beliefs. • George and Clemenceau looked to Wilson for guidance as

the United States maintained the most power at this point, but at the same time, the two European powers were not ready to completely accept Wilson’s radical ideas.

• Wilson focused on the idea of self-determination and democracy, hoping to avoid the harsh treatment of Germany, while Clemenceau and George looked for a way to obtain reparations and a harsher punishment.

• However all three countries agreed to the abandonment of the Balance of Power. This declaration, led by the United States , was made because of the lack of self-determination in the strategy, and also due to the possible rise of Germany. To Wilson, peace was self-determination as it allowed society to harmonize; to Clemenceau and George, a returning to a Balance of Power meant a return to the alliance system, and the possibility of Germany gaining an ally and therefore more power.

The Balance of Power

• The victors wanted the public to be happy in peace, with no need for social uprisings, but unfortunately due to the lack of a strong, shared, ideological base, this could not be accomplished.

• Compromising between the varying ideas proved difficult as there was no way to completely subjugate Germany or give Germany enough freedom.

• The Treaty essentially did not work because it was a “fragile compromise between American utopianism and European paranoia—too conditional to fulfill the dreams of the former, too tentative to alleviate the fears of the latter.“

• Because an equilibrium between a concrete balance of power and an abstract concept of peace was attempted to be achieved, the Treaty was unstable and therefore did not have the power to solve post-war problems.

• This weak compromise eventually led to the condemning of “the exhausted democracies to constant vigilance and to the need for permanent enforcement against an irreconcilable and revisionist Germany.”

Online Image. Ethnicity and Enterprise. 15 Sept 2010. < http://ecommunity.uml.edu/eth_ent/addr/Mid_138/Newspapers.htm >.

Online Image. Balance of Power Cartoons. 15 Sept 2010. < http://www.cartoonstock.com/vintage/directory/b/balance_of_power.asp >

The Absence of Germany and Russia

Artist Unknown. German Flag. 2010. Campion School. Web. 15 September 2010.Artist Unknown. Russian Flag. 2010. Russia adoption. Web. 15 September 2010.

• - Germany and Russia were very important to the treaty of Versailles because at that time they were the two countries with the most people.

- Germany and Russia needed to be there because they could help resolve the issues that the nations had.

- It was unfair that Germany and Russia were not there because they could not accept or reject the reparations put on them.- Germany had to agree to the reparations and they could

not appeal.- Germany could not defend themselves.

- Everything that the Allies said about them, they had to go with it.

- Russia even though it was an ally and the allies had one, Russia could not go to the Treaty of Versailles because they had surrendered to Germany.

- Russia had to deal with what was thrown at them and they could not appeal.

- Russia and Germany held the majority of the population of Europe

• through self-determination, Germany wanted to unify again.- Germany would not accept the reparations.- Germany thought that there would be the 14 points but there

wasn’t.

Online image. Dictionaries and Encyclopedias on 'Academic.' September 15, 2010.< http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/18404>Online image. Vienna Life. September 15, 2010. <http://www.vienna-life.com/vienna/congress-of-vienna>