The Paris Peace Conference. An ignoble peace for Germany? (eBook)

Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Politics - Topic: Peace and Conflict, Security, grade: 8,0, , language: English, abstract: This paper argues that one cannot state that the Treaty of Versailles was an "ignoble peace" as it had a compromise character in some respects. However, parts of the Treaty and the circumstances of the Paris Peace Conference led to the perception in the Weimar Republic that it was an ignoble peace and resulted in political and economic turmoil in the country.

Analyzing the articles of the Treaty, it had aspects of both, a victorious and a negotiated peace: Because Germany had no other choice than signing it and because of its isolation of not being part of the League of Nations and the high pressure due to the demilitarized zone, the Treaty had indeed aspects of a victorious peace. However, as Germany remained politically independent and was still able to trade with the Allies, the contract is not fully a victorious peace. Nevertheless, especially one article, number 231, played an important role in 1919 and afterwards, because it was continuously highlighted by the Germans and as the war-clause debate determined domestic and international politics for a long time.