To What Extent Was the Treaty of Versailles Weakened by the Clemenceau Desire for Revenge - Essay Example

The mention of Treaty of Versailles brings with it a sense of peace as it is well known as the only treaty that brought World War I to its end. This treaty ended the major war between Allied Germans as well as the Allied Powers. Treaty of Versailles was signed and passed in the year 1919 on 28th of June. This took place after the demise of Archduke Franza. During the First World War, France had a Prime Minister named Clemenceau Georges Benjamin. The purpose of this essay is to exemplify to what extent was the Treaty of Versailles weakened by the Georges Clemenceaus desire for revenge.

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Clemenceaus desire for revenge was as a result of some issues. Firstly, He wanted revenge on France. His main purpose for seeking revenge was to attempt to punish Germany for the problems they had brought to French. He became very harsh, and some of his actions were unbearable. Some of his main agendas were inclusive of but not limited to: restrict Germany from using excessive force with its military, get funds for development back to cover for the damages during the war period, to make Germany weaker than others (Martet, 1930).

When the US, British and France met at the fated Paris Peace Conference in 1919, there were no clear intentions of each representative of the three countries in the peace deal. Europe went through a terrible four years of war, and there was a need for sustainable peace. It is clear that France was the best one at the revenge mission. This is because France had experienced more losses than USA and Britain in regards to property as well as casualty. This way Leaders like Clemenceau hard the intention of passing stringent measures for Germany who were perceived to have been responsible for the most damage caused by the war. To do so, he proposed some of the regulations that would affect Germany directly as mentioned before. His main aim was basically to punish Germany and this in return weakened the peace treaty.

Upon its completion, Clemenceau achieved some of the issues he proposed that aimed at restricting Germany from being such a power in the atrocities. Firstly, Germany was prohibited from using submarines, tanks as well as aircraft in their warfare. Secondly, the Rhineland was demilitarized, and this means Germany could not easily get to France. Moreover, the number of the army men was reduced to a minimal of a hundred thousand. They French also gained their colony from Germany, and this meant total autonomy. As if this was not enough, The War Guilt Clause viewed Germany as the center of the atrocities that faced them in the First World War, and thus the blame pointed to Germany. Clemenceau was a happy man upon the passing of this verdict as he hated anything that related to Germany.

The results of the Treaty of Versailles were not as such successful in promoting a sustainable peace. The US technique to solving this matter was one that was shortsighted and the effects were far-reaching than just peace. After this treaty, there had come a stronger force of dictatorship as the grudges among the parties brewed even stronger. This sort of isolationism by the American Policy even marked a beginning of a worse war.

For Clemenceau, he got himself in a more moral predicament during this treaty conference. He was up to getting revenge at the same time he was interested in being viewed as a rational leader who was fair enough. He had a bad temper during this period and could not hide his harsh intentions on Germany. These to him did not appear to weaken the peace treaty, but they did derail the process of the peace deal.

Nevertheless, one important aspect that Clemenceau regarded is the security of France. His main aim to disintegrate Germany economically, militarily as well as morally so that they would not have the power to strike them again that hard was ultimately driven by the desire to make France more secure. According to Christensen, (1990), the urge by Clemenceau to covet power was a fundamental part of the reason why the treaty did not get credibility in entire Europe. She says that it was not only the desire by French alone but also British were part of the problems as they also intended a harsh revenge on Germany as well. In this view, the United States has some degree of blame to bear since they failed to fully moderate the French and Germanys desire to revenge (Christensen, 1990).

The vengeance of Clemenceau in this peace treaty procedure on Germany helped in the perpetuation of the outright discord in Europe (Destler, 1978). His harsh nature caused a lack of reconciliatory approach to the approach taken thus this doomed the treaty further.

In conclusion, the desire to revenge is what caused the weakening of the Treaty of Versailles. With regards to how the personal motives motivated the reinforcement of the treaty, it was derailed from the beginning. Thus the prospect of sustainable peace could not be achieved through this approach by Clemenceau and other leaders.

References

Martet, M. J. (1930). M. Clemenceau and the Versailles Peace Treaty. Journal of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, 9(6), 783. doi:10.2307/3015414

Christensen, K. (1990). Revenge: What It Is and What It Isn't. Revenge and Social Conflict, 13-27. doi:10.1017/cbo9781316795972.002

Destler, I. M. (1978). Treaty Troubles: Versailles in Reverse. Foreign Policy, (33), 45. doi:10.2307/1148460