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Was the Treaty of Versailles Fair

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After all, Germany had lost WW1 and could only expect to be punished. Loss of territory, limits on the military and financial penalties had been the lot of losing sides in wars since ancient times, so none of them were anything new. The new Germany had taken Alsace and Lorraine from France at the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, as well as imposing a huge financial indemnity on a defeated France. As Niall Ferguson points out, post WW1 Weimar Germany was easily able to afford the Reparations repayments, if only they had had the political will to pay up on time and in full. Analysis of Weimar finances bears this out; Weimar would have had to spend a much smaller % of German GDP on Reparations payments than the Kaiser did on defence, so the money was always there, as Weimar had a minimal defence budget compared to Germany under the Kaiser.

Compared to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, imposed on Russia by Germany in early 1918, Versailles was a "slap on the wrist" in the words of one eminent modern historian. The popular perception of Versailles being harsh and unfair has come from constant German whinging that it was so ever since - as Hitler once said, if you tell a big enough lie for long enough, people will come to believe it.

Perhaps the only really harsh part of Versailles was Article 231, the so called 'War Guilt' clause, by which Germany had to admit full responsibility for starting the war and thus all the damage and losses caused to the Allies during the conflict. However, as a strong case can be made for this being true, again, the Germans didn't really have that much cause for complaint over its inclusion.

When the treaty was signed, one German delegate commented "what will history say of this?" A French delegate replied "history will not say Belgium invaded Germany."

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