I think Americas idea would probably have worked best, being punished for the first world war made the people of Germany angry, meaning Hitler could more easily gain their favour. However, if they weren't punished, Germans would not have much to be angry about and therefore not care about payback.
Adamski Gaming The British solution was the best. France was too harsh and America too lenient. Germany was treated far harsher after WW2, so the argument that they were treated too harshly doesn't add up.
Wanderer628 But in ww2 they were completely beaten, fully occupied and then denazified/indoctrinated. The allies ruled Germany for 4 years and many Germans died. This is not comparable to the situation after world war I. You are right though that harsh terms dont necessarily work badly. It seems the allies didnt remember the lessons from "the prince". Either please those you defeated or crush them to the point of no return. They went for an inbetween and the world felt it 20 years later.
Simple History I don't understand why you say Wilson wanted to create League of Nations, as USA wasn't in League of Nations. Britain only came into war because neutral Belgium was attacked, but USA ships were attacked before they declared war. Same with WWII. Britain did a lot to avoid war, but Germany went back on invading Poland, while Hitler declared war on USA
KHK001 As every historian bar Chris Clarke thinks. But a bunch of Lay men on the internet have decided Versailles was too harsh and Germany didn’t have any responsibility in the war, so it must be true.
WhereMyShekelsAt ??? Bankers had the most to lose from a world war. Austria declared war on Serbia. Russia declared war on Austria. Germany declared war on France, Russia and Belgium as well as indirectly declaring on the UK.
6 лет назад+15
Not true at all. As a matter of fact: Germany did start the war. They pulled Austria-Hungary's strings and whilst the entente powers acted during the July crisis Germany was only a catalyst and acted to antagonise and provoke a war. It had been a policy of the German origin ministry and German army high command to exploit any European flashpoint into escalation into a wider conflict since the war council meeting of December 1912. They wanted this before Russia's rapid industrialisation saw it become too powerful to likely overcome. Von Moltke was even quoted as saying something like wanting "war the sooner the better". Go and google it if you don't believe me.
@@Ddstairclimber Never heard of French Revanchism and Triple Entente? Attacking France was justified, since they were allies of Russia. And France wanted war against Germany from the very beginning.
fun fact: germany fully paid the reperations from the treaty of versailes in 2010 (Edit October 2020: I love how I started a discussion and a war in the replies just by telling a fun fact)
Didn't mention why Germany was given 100% of the blame, Reality - Austria- Hungary starts it by knowingly and cynically overreacting to assassination of an Arch-duke in Serbia (imagine US nuking the middle easy after 9/11 - like Howard Stern wanted) - Russia fully mobilizes, then Germany fulfills its treaty obligations, as do France and Great Britain.
Britain and France had as much to do with starting WWI as the Germans and Austrians did. Both sides were to blame for the war, and it's ridiculous to blame Germany for it all.
Shaun Diebel Germany was responsible for the war after all they invaded Belgium and France. Who else would France blame for starting the war? Kaiser wanted war he encouraged his allies to start war and wanted to expand his Empire that's Imperialism
No, Germany was definitely not responsible for the war - at least not solely responsible. Germany had invaded France after the war had began after being pulled in by their alliances. There was already imperialistic and nationalist tensions building within Europe at the time, and the assassination of Ferdinand was the spark that ignited it all. Germany may have wanted war, but by no means did they start the war. No one nation can be blamed for starting the war.
Shaun Diebel Germany was responsible for spreading the war in Western Europe. It's only obvious France would blame Germany for the war. Germany invaded their country! Personally I believe Germany should have been carved up like Austro Hungary and Ottomans. Germany didn't exist in the early 1800s!
@@janh.1953 National socialist. Fascism has the goal set for the state not race The holy Roman empire was not holy, not roman, and not an empire. It was barely a confederacy of independent states. It was only when prussia unified the germany states did an empire come into existence. Reich isn't empire
SUMMARY OF PART ONE AND TWO The Treaty of Versailles, What Did the Big Three Want? (Video detailed summary) (part one) * World War I officially came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. * 32 countries had come together in Paris in January 1919 to hold a conference which would make peace after the First World War. * It would be dominated by the big three: * David Lloyd George representing Britain; * Georges Clemenceau representing France; * Woodrow Wilson representing the USA. * Germany was not invited. * The Big Three wanted different things for Germany and disagreed on how harshly they were to be punished reflecting how their countries were treated in the war. * They had to negotiate with each other until there was a compromise. * This was difficult because Wilson was opposed to harsh punishment for Germany. * The USA had not been involved in the war as long as Britain and France and had not received as much damage. He wanted to prevent another world war by creating the league of nations based on his fourteen points to ensure Germany would not be destroyed and that Germany shouldn't be blamed for the war. * Clemenceau (france) aims were the harshest of the three -- representing the damage Germany had done to France's land and people and its threatening proximity. He wanted revenge and to punish Germany to return Alsace Lorraine to France, an independent Rhineland, no league of nations, Germany to pay huge reparations for the damage and losses caused, the disbandment of the German Army so that Germany would never be strong enough to attack France again. * Lloyd George (Britain) was an in-between. This reflected Britain which had little land damage, but high war losses. He wanted a punishment that would be tough enough to please those who wanted to make Germany pay, but would leave Germany strong enough to still trade land for Britain's Empire to safeguard Britain's naval supremacy. * When the Treaty of Versailles was ready, Germany was shown the document, but there was no negotiation, their rebuttal ignored. * On 28th June 1919 the Delegates met at the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles near Paris and forced two German representatives to sign it. ------ The Treaty of Versailles, Terms of the Treaty (Video detailed summary) (part two) * The terms of the Treaty of versailles can be divided into three groups * Territorial, military, financial and economic * Here are some of the territorial terms * Lorraine was returned to france * Germany was forbidden to unite with Austria lands in East Germany Including the farmlands of Posen and the polish corridor between East Germany and East prussia were given to poland * The Saar Which Had rich coal fields were given to France for 15 years * All Germany's colonies were taken and given to France and britain as mandates * Here are some of the military terms * The German army was restricted to only 100,000 men. The Navy could now only have six battleships and no submarines and there was to be no air force allowed * The Rhineland was demilitarized this meant the German army could not go to this area between France and Germany * For the financial and economic terms * Germany would have to pay reparations which would eventually be set at an enormous 132 Billion Gold marks on top of this germany was not allowed to join the league of nations and had to accept responsibility for causing all the damage and Loss by the war * Overall the Treaty of versailles was unpopular with Germany and its creators * Its terms would go on to be reversed by Germany in both secret and in the open by Hitler and help cause world war two
@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki anyway Tsar Nicolas 2 was forced to mobalize the armies into Austro-Hungarian border by the generals and orthodox church. Same goes for Kaiser. He would have looked weaker than he already was if he didn't support Austria. Franz Ferdinand was against any war with Russia and he was thinking about the slavic union as a 3rd part of the Austro-Hungarian empire
@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki ww1 woud have started sooner or later. its not just about balkans. France wanted back the lost territories in the Franco Prussian war, Serbians didn't allow Austrian police to track down the black hand to Serbia, Russia was on a brink of collapse.
@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki And Austrans didn't want to resolve the crisis diplomaticly, because they knew they would lose like they have lost in the past tring to solve things diplomaticly.
@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki Geez i respect your commitment and research to win youtube comment section argumet. But it was unfair to blame Germany alone on the war.
Germany steals French land, and forces heavy reparations after the Franco Prussian war. In WW1 Northern France was turned into a wasteland, most of the major industrial regions occupied by German forces. Is it any wonder that France would want to do the same?
Hindsight is 20/20... if I were French then and I saw my country bloodied by Germany for four years (not to mention being humiliated once in 1870), I wouldn't want to go easy on them either.
Interesting to note that the French adopted a harsh stance at Versailles after the US decided not to enter the League of Nations. The US promised France protection from Germany in exchange for a mildly harsh treaty. When the US didn't enter the League, France was forced to improvise with the Treaty.
World War 2, and the Treaty of Versailles taught the world a very valuable lesson. Never take out your frustration on a country, to the country's people. The soldiers were required to fight, and the people were completely innocent. When Germany fell, France essentially dismantled Germany, and made it nearly impossible for them to figure out a way to fix the economic state. They created a third world country out of Germany. Then, Adolf Hitler, an angry veteran rose to power. And, what do you know? He militarizes Germany. France was one of the first countries to be trampled upon and controlled by the Nazis. For some reason, when Germany in particular unites, it becomes an extremely efficient country. World War 1, and World War 2 especially are great examples. When Germany unites, you want them on your side, and not pissed off at you. That's exactly what both the United States and Soviet Union intended on doing. Soviet Union wanted Germany as a communist country, and America wanted it to be capitalist. The Germans chose America here, and Germany is currently among the most efficient and thriving countries in the world. France on the other hand is thriving off of tourism.
Ouinn Ouinn it still preserved the harsh and unfair punishments that the french so hard asked for the final Versalles treaty was a combination of the three
DuckinArmor it is because mr French fucked mrs Versailes and have a children named Polish Corridor which splitted Germany in half. As the result : who did they responed
@UCCvm98YPsdzOrIkCJJEegcw Yeah no : The germans imposed the litvosk-brest treaty on France before so that totally had that harshness coming . "For some reason, when Germany in particular unites, it becomes an extremely efficient country. World War 1, and World War 2 especially are great examples." Form some reason US rearmed germany just before WW2 thinking they would fight the russians ...
i thought so to. am i missing something or is that how simple things simply were..? more damage=more animosity towards 'offending' party?? 100% agree w you.
Yes. Many on the french side thought the treaty wasn't harsh enough and would never be thoroughly applied; and they were completely right seeing that Germany was able to weaponize massively again less than two decades afterwards.
Well because they can think rationally, unlike the others who can just let the anger get ahead of themselves. The US can be fair and can actually think logically about the appropriate punishment for its enemies
Your memes are not funny and they are stupid. France is the country that won the most wars in history. People who use these meme are just dumb. Like your comment. France lost 1.4 million soldiers in WWI. The German destroyed the East of France. France suffered the most during the war. France was abandoned by its so called allies the UK and the USA who helped more Germany after the war thsn France.
USA: Let us create a League of Nations, I don't want another world war, Germany will not be destroyed and don't blame Germany for the war France: Nah I will get revenge, I will claim my lands no League of Nations and I want them to pay us a lot of money UK: Nah I want them to pay, I want Germany's colonies for my empire and to have a stronger navy All: *fighting*
Wilson was on the right when he said he didn’t want Germany to be blamed. Austria-Hungary and Serbia should of shared the blame for starting such a brutal war.
@Aniruddh Germany never caused an assassination, the Serbian Government was responsible for that. Ironically they haven‘t paid or said anything to this day. And Germany only invaded Belgium because they wanted to defeat France quickly who was an ally of Russia and Russia didn‘t listen to German demands to stop mobilising and keep out of the war...
Austria Hungary and Serbia started a war, but not the Great War. Without Germany, there is no invasion of Germany, no rape of Belgium, no attack on France, no alliance with the ottoman empire, no African campaigns and no Pacific theater. Germany made this war a word war
Prussian Monarchist Some theorists said that the world would be better if Central Powers won WW I. Check this out ruclips.net/video/Pdpm5l4RoMg/видео.html ruclips.net/video/6Xoe2z4xnuE/видео.html ruclips.net/video/ARCll2cbFNA/видео.html
@@elschaetty no, the french wanted Germany dismembered into several states. The treaty we got isn't what France wanted, it's what UK and US wanted. And Germany imposed much harsher treaties on their defeated enemies. You hypocritical kaiserboos need to stfu.
since we now know that the harsh reparations cost of ww1 is partly what caused Germany to start ww2, would Clemenceau's idea of no standing army have kept Germany from gaining too much power and attacking, despite the harsh reperations?
Probably not. Hitler secretly built up the military again in the inter war years and at quite a rate. It doesn't look like any terms by the Treaty of Versailles would stop him.
Simple History what about Wilson's idea? Surely if Germans weren't punished they wouldn't be as angry as they were, therefore Hitler would not have been able to gain their favour so easily.
Respector Of Women there were many other factors that led to Hitler’s rise like the fact that Germany lost the war but I think Hitler would of had a much harder time gaining power.
Maybe. However, what would France have done if Russia had simply invaded Germany for "free the workers" and "also establish the paradise of communism in Germany"? No German army means that someone else has to defend Germany from external threats...
I just want to say a big thank you to you sir, You don't know me but the effect you've had has been a big game changer in my Life. I went from a 6 to an 8 in History all because of you. Thank you, Very much wishing you the absolute best in life.
It's kind of insane how accurate Wilson was with his prediction of what would happen if germany would get all the blame for ww1 and that this should be prevented by building the league of nations and not playing the blame game. Instead of focusing on preventing another world war they were just after revenge while not understanding that this would only lead to more revenge from the other side. We could live in a world where ww2 never happened if people would have just listened to wilson.
Congratulations, “the war to end all wars” has finally ended. Victory is yours. Before the war, you had a population of approximately 40 million people. But of the roughly ~9 million people who served in your country’s armed forces, 70% have either been killed or wounded in action. The countryside is littered with toxic waste, spent shell castings, and corpses. 1 million acres / 250,000 hectares of prized farm land have been scarred beyond recognition. You country lost more soldiers in the Somme (or even Verdun) than were lost in the last ~99 years of warfare combined. Your infrastructure East of Paris has been pulverized beyond recognition. The economic damage to your country is beyond calculation. The majority of this destruction was wrought by your sworn enemy (Germany) with the help of the other Central Powers, namely (the former) Austria-Hungary Empire, and The Ottoman Empire. Despite this, you’ve “won.” The question now becomes, “Who is going to pay for this?” Well for starters, Austria-Hungary no longer exists. They were effectively dissolved. Individually, the countries that once comprised the Austro-Hungary Empire have relatively small markets and are dealing with their own issues (like famine and political turmoil). And the Ottoman Empire was stripped of most of it’s territorial possessions in the Treaty of Mudros, which was signed two weeks before WW1 even ended. The Ottomans are also dealing with mass starvation at this point and political collapse (sound familiar), so additional reparations might be difficult to secure. By process of elimination / logical deduction, that leaves Germany, one of the largest pre-war economies in the world, and the single most powerful country (militarily and economically) amongst the Central Powers. It’s geographic location, geopolitical potential (and history with France dating back 170 years), casted Germany as a clear rival to both French and British interests from the outset. For these reasons, Germany was perceived (since unification) as an existential threat that had to be neutralized. Germany was also the last remaining Central Power to have a (relatively) intact economy still capable of paying reparations by war’s end. The Treaty of Versailles was intended to comprehensively neutralize the threat posed by a Germany; To not only force Germany to pay significant war reparations, but to also remove Germany’s territorial possessions, and it’s military-industrial capacity once and for all. Ironically, in a bid to force Germany back into an agrarian economy by removing it’s colonies, wealth, and industry, France and (to a lesser extent) Great Britain may have inadvertently set the stage for an even bloodier conflict only 20 years later. Woodrow dictating what should happen to Germany is the more ironic thing I've ever heard, he had no idea of the real destruction caused.
france was willing to be lenient on germany if the USA promised protection from germany. since the USA was unable to join the league of nations, they had to weaken germany instead. while woodrow predicted the germans' anger and the impact of the treaty, ww2 was mainly caused by the british policy of appeasement
As Martial Ferdinand Foch said at the treaty of Versailles "This is not a peace, but an armistice for 20 years." if only he knew how true he would be...
What the victorious powers failed to understand when making the treaty, was that the continent was a single economic unit tied together not just by geography but also trade systems that increased the well being and the quality of life for all europeans. Disrupting the economic eco-system, way too high reparations, exploiting a countrys ressources and businesses, made no economic sense but was down right dangerous. Mostly dictated by vengaence, greed and political oppurtunism and self dellusion, as they redraw borders to gain former prestige. They completely ignored the economic reality the world has created. It was a economic disaster, still I asked my eco-prof how such a thing could have been prevented. Enough reason for him to take a large part of our lesson about history where everyone had to gather ideas that we discussed. The results: desolving germany, entirely occupying it or split it up in an even larger scale would have led not only to an even bigger catastrophe, but could have crippled europe entirely. The best plausible way to negotiate would have been to adopt wilsons 14 points, but also adopt germanys middle europe project and create a economic union to stabilize the continental economy as well as confer any possible territorial changes with germanys and austrias diplomats. Future good relations are indispensable for trade and diplomacy, I'm just glad they learned this lesson after ww2 and rebuild europes entire economy and adopted the ideas of people like Keynes and Rathenau.
@@jackcall28 You do realize this is a video about history, right? Add to that, you scrolled down through the comments, and find a comment about history. And yet, you're surprised.
@@ToreDL87modern historiography says Germany could have paid of the war reparations but actively chose not to. Keynes is hardly an impartial source and is the only source people use to cloak war reparations caused German hyper inflation
Great work I showed all my classes these videos. They are a good and accurate simplification of a very complex negotiation. I'm trying to get on your level.
There was much more than the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, and a war would've happened despite his death, however, his death essentially sparked the war that was waiting to happen.
Shaun Diebel Exactly, tensions were rising because of the heavily manufactured modernized weapons that were supposed to make other nations afraid to fight them, this spread across Europe as a good way to prevent war, but at the same time, made nations look more aggressive.
No, some irrelevant fool in some third world country got shot and Germany screeched for miles and ran as quick as they could to start war with that as an excuse, it was, indeed, responsible entirely for World War 1.
You had it coming Germany See what happenned in ww1 and ww2? That....that's what ahppens when you push French and Russian Revanchism to it's limits. Seriously through screw whingers about Versailles. Germany shouldn't have taken Alksace Lorraine in 1870 then demanded chunks of French Africa in 1911 and They certainly shouldn't have dicked over the Russians at Brest Litovsk. Germany never had any right to complain over Versailles.
is that a joke?- What about the blank cheque to Austria Hungary to support it in destroyign Serbia? Also can you blame france for wanting to reclaim alsace lorraine? It's the same kind of excuse OP used to explain away WW2 and blame it on France. If Germany hadn't started 1870 France dosen't need to get justice in 1914. Germany/Prussia has always been an aggressive power just ask Austria and Denmark less than a decade before 1870.
Alex Cayrouse Nope,Germany only wanted to build a real state in 1870. Was France blame after the Defeat of Napoleon.No...whats about Russia? They give serbia a blank cheque to.
Good chance that it would've happened much sooner . The german wanted their revenge regardless of the versaille treaty ( demonstrated by the fact that it was cancelled early on and that still the germa wanted revenge due to the great depression )
It would of happend, Germany might not have been the instigator but it would of happend, it probably would of stared later tho 1942 or 1943, by that time Stalin would feel like he'd be ready for war with the west and invade Poland by end 1942 or early 1943 thus starting WW2
@ If it was the general idea to not restrict and abuse germany (financially and otherwise) that was listened to then germany wouldnt have ANY reason to start a war.
Great video, looking forward to more! One of the other reasons for Lloyd George's approach btw was that he wanted a strong Germany to act as a buffer against the impending threat of spreading communism, and in particular a reaction to the attempted socialist revolution in the Battle of George Square.
It was very unfair, but the treaty of Trianon was much worse, 70%, yes, 70% of the 1000 year old Hungary was given to other countries, mainly to Czechoslovakia, Romania and "Yugoslavia".
Hunfootball they were given because on those lands lived many ethnics czecks romanians and serbs/bosnians and so on The treaty was however a little 2 harsh however as it didnt allowed hungary to arm themselves and so on but it was justified bcs the war attrocities
Fact: Ho Chi Minh sents a letter to Woodrow Wilson while people are celebrating, the letter was ignore, the letter asking Woodrow Wilson to negotiate with France to deconlonize Indochina
@@matheuswagner5198 Hello Matheus In case you wish to understand why I wrote that the fate of the Middle East was "decided" at Versailles as direct effect, and was not "determined" by Sykes-Picot. For a strategy of divide and rule/conquer, *favoratism* is more important than to be fair (or other positive human character traits). Versailles' function was a "gatekeeper", in which Sykes-Picot (a secret deal) was allowed to pass even if in a watered-down manner, while other secret deals were not allowed to pass. That makes Versailles the geopolitically intrinsic, and Sykes-Picot the ancillary/subordinate in history, regardless of the timeline. In case you wish to know more about the impact of geopolitics and grand strategy, please go to the "Kaiser Wilhelm II" video on the "History Room" educational channel. I wrote a series of essays here, so please select the "latest comments first" by clicking on the three little bars at the top of the comments section. I also left a comment for you there, but please read as far back as you wish, and leave a comment wherever you wish. I left a comment for you there.
The Treaty was actually much harsher than any of these videos describe. German private businesses could be taken over without pardon by the french. They would be estimated at low values and add up to the ''To Pay'' list. They could take over freely any German (future) invention even if they were patented and forbid the company to use their own invention. They could take over new ships that Germany built.. even merchant vessels. Germany was only allowed to keep their old ones that France did not want, they were basicly building for the allies now. Germany lost all rights to their own rivers; They had to pay a special tax to be able to use their own rivers for trade. Can you imagine a private business owner losing his entire business just because a Frenchman said ''I want it''? It destroyed millions of lifes and was utterly unfair. The treaty was aimed at making even the normal citizen's lives terrible. And all of these more in-depth rules.. added up to losing all overseas territory and european territory that had been German for hundreds of years. ''The Economic Consequences of the Peace'' by John Maynard Keynes describes in a most objective fashion the details of the treaty. It goes way beyond your imagination. John Keynes was a British economist at that time and dealt with alot of political situations for Britain.
And when Germany did the same thing in 1870 no one is colmplaining. In fact the economic payements made by Germany to France after WW1 were less than France had to pay after the franco-prussian war and was only equivalent to a quarter of the destruction that Germany did on French soil. And which territpry were german for hundred of years did they lose ? Polish land were annexed 150 years prior to the WW1, and Alsace-Moselle was annexed only 50 years earlier. For all their colonies they were German for less than 50 years.
@@leosimon241 Alsace-Mosell has always been german before 1683; the french only stole it when the emperor was fighting the turks. So getting it back in 1870 was a natural. Even today many people in Alsace-Mosell still speak german. Cutting Germany into two parts with no connection was also not that smart an idea...
A bunch of non sense. There was no expropriation of german business, nor stolen patents... my god the stupidities one can hear on the internet. Germany was the richest nation per capita in Europe in 1925, it just shows how horrible their life was in comparison to the rest of europe.
In fact, Clemenceau was not this extreme. He was even disaccording with the president, Poincaré who wanted to follow the war far more in the german lands. Poincaré fought his whole life to make germany pay its war indemnities (that will never be paid : when he decided to occupy ruhr to make them do it, the british blocked french money and made France stop its politics), when Clemenceau was called "father victory"... Alsace Lorraine had been taken in 1871 and France paid a big amount of money for its defeat. It was not so far for these people...
one mistake i noticed in the video is that the treaty wasn't signed in nov 11 1918, it was the armistice that Hindenburg and ludendorf called Wilhelm to ask for, the treaty of Versailles wasn't signed until 28th june 1919
bėÃđvęřţś 2 When 2 millions of soldiers die, when ur lands and city are destroyed by the enemy, when ur economy is killed, when Alsace-Lorraine has been taken, then u can understand the point of view of France. Plus both UK and US have accepted this agreement so they are also guilty.
Germany never started WW1.They just supported their ally Austria-Hungary which started the conflict with declaring war on Serbia.I am really laughing for those who think that Germany has started the First World War.
@@greendevil5176 no, first this was supposed to be a defensive alliance, not an offensive one, and austria and germany were the oned declaring war right and left (when they even bothered doing so). That is why Italy didn't join them, this wasn't the deal. But worse, germany encpuraged austria. Nothing surprising, they wanted to go to war, this was no surprise. For example in 1912 the kaiser said to a swiss joirnalist that there would be war, maybe not this year but soon. The hermans thought that by having a war soon they could prevent the rise of russia.
So many people blaming France for WW2, it's so easy now that we know all the consequences. But back then, hundreds of thousands frenchmen were slaughtered in the most violent war of History, huge parts of national territory was occupied during four years (were most industry was located), and above all ; there was the humiliation of 1870. What was Germany thinking when they decided the terms of 1870's peace ? Annexation of rightfully French territory, heavy war reparations and the entire imperial army deported in German prisons for years. France didn't annex German territory after WW1, France didn't deported German soldiers after WW1. Prussia could have just unify Germany in a peace with honor between the fighters, but no they wanted to humiliate France and so "revanchisme" was born. Between 1870 and 1914 "revanchisme" is everywhere in France, it is a state of mind, the nation mobilizing all its forces for the preparition of the Revanche, the next war to crush German arrogance. That's why, despite having a population twice smaller and a far weaker industry, France was able to stop the German assault at the battle of the Marne, with the gracious help of six British divisions, and hold on during four years of never ending horrors only for this ; Revanche. To give you an example, French schoolboy was taught how to bayonnet charge in sport class. But don't give me wrong, i'm not saying that Clemenceau did the right thing. Because Revanche, just as the Vichy France axe, cuts both ways, it gives you an unstoppable strenght but its also blinds you, and in 1918 France was blind ; they did the same mistake Germany did in 1870. And so the cycle goes on, one country beat and humiliate the other, and it sparks the flame that will burn them both ; Revanche. The cycle continues, unchanged, but firepower grows strongers and finally in the ultimate peak of horror and destruction of WW2, in the fire of hell on earth, France and Germany realised they must stop. Because know the flame was atomic, and the next spark will not only burn them both but also humanity. And so the greatest friendship of all times between two countries was born. As you probably assumed yes i am French, but one day a very good German friend told me : "France is the country with five hundreds cheeses and Germany is the country with five hundreds breads.
If I were China I would follow the French method and punish Japan for what they have done. I would force Japan to pay a huge reparation and if they attack again I would have Russia and North Korea backing me. And who does Japan have? The UN?
The Treaty of Versailles was more or less the reason for WW2. They punished Germany way to hard. Many people even say the plan was to destroy the country completely through the treaty of versailles. Taking away Germany’s military (from 4 mio to only 100 thousand) was a big humiliation for them. The country had one of the most advanced military and it was definitely one of the biggest prides of the nation. Another problem was that in the territories that got taken away from them, there lived many ethnic Germans who didn’t want to belong to the neighboring countries. They also could’ve never payed the allies with the money they demanded from Germany. The country itself was in a huge economic crises. It was only a matter of time before another war would break out. (And don’t forget that they lost all their colonies in Africa and Asia) It was also not fair that Germany had to accept all the war guilt for a war they didn’t even start in the first place which made the people even more bitter.
Germany wasn't as innocent as it claimed. Their foreign policy agression created alliances that led to the escalation of WW1. Germany also initially advised Austria to declare war on Serbia
@@abdirahmanidris290 *looks at British and French aggression at the time* yea Germany's agression was more it fighting against british french aggression
The arrogance, pettiness, and lack of honor of the Entente powers at the end of the war was the real cause of world war II. They didn't treat any Central Power justly and treated them like they didn't exist, refusing to let them join in the peace talks which determined the future of their respective nations. The Entente leadership lacked honour, and I am not saying the central powers had any either.
MyDaRkN3SsLiV3s Some theorists said that the world would be better if Central Powers won WW I. Check this out ruclips.net/video/Pdpm5l4RoMg/видео.html ruclips.net/video/6Xoe2z4xnuE/видео.html ruclips.net/video/ARCll2cbFNA/видео.html
The victors at Versailles after WWI were famously called The Big Four: France, England Italy, and the US. While Italy didn't do much (or get much), they were counted as one of the Big Four. Now, in WWII, the post-war world's fate was decided by The Big THREE: Churchill, Stalin, and FDR. So unfortunately, you seem to have confused World War terminology. I can appreciate the whole "Simple History" concept, but it really shopuld be a bit more accurate.
@@NONO-oy1cu No , if France really asked for WW2 they would have acted way , WAY more severely ( the reparations that france asked were actually very reasonable compared to what germany asked from the countries they defeated and what they planed to ask ) . In fact France not wanting WW2 is probably their biggest mistake , had they acted sooner and more decisively , Germany would not have have been such a treat . It is that which make me angry about France ( and UK ) , if they had stuck to their gun and not allowed germany to rearm it wouldn't have been such a nightmare .
Don't blame the Brits, in my opinion it was at its boundaries. France was too much, and Wilson's idea was the best. The Brits just wanted a compromise from what I can see.
@@alessioaurrecoechea3147 Don't think Germany was the innocent party here, just look what sort of treaty Germany would have dished out to the Weston allies like in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
Versailles is an enchanted place. In this place, arrogance, greed, incompetence, and the desire to finish off the recumbent rule. Let the descendants remember this....
In all of the debt negotiations following Versailles, Australia never agreed to any German debt moratorium or reduction. Which leaves Germany in debt to Australia today at $200.0Bn, and that figure is without interest.
They arrested the Hungarian representatives at the treaty of Trianon so they couldn't claim their own lands at the border adjustment so the Germans would be arrested aswell, I'd bet.
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando representing Italy, is said to have wept on the floor when he discovered that Italy would not be rewarded for what it had been promised to them.
By this young generation were thought "if you win you need not have to explain your actions , but if you are lost you should take all the responsibility"" .😥such a harsh world.. France is week to manage Germany alone, it is a fact that all has to agree.
well no european power alone could have beat germany one on one on land....there army was the strongest by a significant margin......and other then russia they also had the highest population as well.
![Megan Thee Stallion - Bigger In Texas [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QxTkZTLWdo4/mqdefault.jpg)
I think Americas idea would probably have worked best, being punished for the first world war made the people of Germany angry, meaning Hitler could more easily gain their favour. However, if they weren't punished, Germans would not have much to be angry about and therefore not care about payback.
the crash of 29 made germans angry, and it was america who did it.
boss180888 j you're an idiot
Cash Dunn fine
Adamski Gaming The British solution was the best. France was too harsh and America too lenient. Germany was treated far harsher after WW2, so the argument that they were treated too harshly doesn't add up.
Wanderer628 But in ww2 they were completely beaten, fully occupied and then denazified/indoctrinated. The allies ruled Germany for 4 years and many Germans died. This is not comparable to the situation after world war I.
You are right though that harsh terms dont necessarily work badly. It seems the allies didnt remember the lessons from "the prince". Either please those you defeated or crush them to the point of no return. They went for an inbetween and the world felt it 20 years later.
If you enjoyed the video don't forget to share and like!
Simple History =D
Simple History Your the best History
This was used in my History lesson today. Finally, a teacher uses a channel I am subscribed to.
Robert Hancock Same but with WW2
Simple History I don't understand why you say Wilson wanted to create League of Nations, as USA wasn't in League of Nations. Britain only came into war because neutral Belgium was attacked, but USA ships were attacked before they declared war. Same with WWII. Britain did a lot to avoid war, but Germany went back on invading Poland, while Hitler declared war on USA
Serbia: kill Franz
Austria-Hungary: attack Serbia
German Empire: supports its ally
The World: Germany is responsible for WWI
Me: 😐
KHK001 As every historian bar Chris Clarke thinks. But a bunch of Lay men on the internet have decided Versailles was too harsh and Germany didn’t have any responsibility in the war, so it must be true.
Yes it's True
Not Serbia,but Serbian nationalists from young Bosnia organization.
Ever heard of the Schlieffenplan ?
Sorry, there is missing a line:
Austro-Hungary: attack Serbia
Russia: declared war on Austro-Hungary
German Empire: supports its ally
I agree with Woodrow Wilson, you can't really blame Germany for starting ww1 because they didn't, Serbia and Austria-Hungary started the war.
*HI* yeah, but Germany shouldn’t be blamed for the war
WhereMyShekelsAt ???
Bankers had the most to lose from a world war.
Austria declared war on Serbia.
Russia declared war on Austria.
Germany declared war on France, Russia and Belgium as well as indirectly declaring on the UK.
Not true at all.
As a matter of fact: Germany did start the war. They pulled Austria-Hungary's strings and whilst the entente powers acted during the July crisis Germany was only a catalyst and acted to antagonise and provoke a war.
It had been a policy of the German origin ministry and German army high command to exploit any European flashpoint into escalation into a wider conflict since the war council meeting of December 1912. They wanted this before Russia's rapid industrialisation saw it become too powerful to likely overcome. Von Moltke was even quoted as saying something like wanting "war the sooner the better".
Go and google it if you don't believe me.
didn't germany attack france, and they violated neutral nations like belgium
@@Ddstairclimber Never heard of French Revanchism and Triple Entente?
Attacking France was justified, since they were allies of Russia.
And France wanted war against Germany from the very beginning.
fun fact:
germany fully paid the reperations from the treaty of versailes in 2010
(Edit October 2020: I love how I started a discussion and a war in the replies just by telling a fun fact)
SteveThrNeigborly Gamer It took 92 years....
Jacob Simpson We just have honor. We signed it so we pay it.
@@PurgeBros the current german government and the government that signed the treaty of Versailles are two different governments
Jacob Simpson Meant is the german state. a government can change. The state does not.
what about reparations from ww2? and to the jews
POV: you’re watching this for history
Stfu bot
Edit: I had no idea this would escalate to a massive argument. I'm very sorry lol
@@farahahmedkarim377 fr tho I’m watching this crap for history so u stfu
Nah I just like it
Yeah. What country?
@@josephstow SA
Didn't mention why Germany was given 100% of the blame,
Reality - Austria- Hungary starts it by knowingly and cynically overreacting to assassination of an Arch-duke in Serbia (imagine US nuking the middle easy after 9/11 - like Howard Stern wanted) - Russia fully mobilizes, then Germany fulfills its treaty obligations, as do France and Great Britain.
TommyTwobats
Germany invaded Belgium and France. The West won the War. Germany stared the War in the West !!! Germany is to blame for warmongering
Britain and France had as much to do with starting WWI as the Germans and Austrians did. Both sides were to blame for the war, and it's ridiculous to blame Germany for it all.
Shaun Diebel
Germany was responsible for the war after all they invaded Belgium and France. Who else would France blame for starting the war? Kaiser wanted war he encouraged his allies to start war and wanted to expand his Empire that's Imperialism
No, Germany was definitely not responsible for the war - at least not solely responsible. Germany had invaded France after the war had began after being pulled in by their alliances. There was already imperialistic and nationalist tensions building within Europe at the time, and the assassination of Ferdinand was the spark that ignited it all. Germany may have wanted war, but by no means did they start the war. No one nation can be blamed for starting the war.
Shaun Diebel
Germany was responsible for spreading the war in Western Europe. It's only obvious France would blame Germany for the war. Germany invaded their country! Personally I believe Germany should have been carved up like Austro Hungary and Ottomans. Germany didn't exist in the early 1800s!
Sadly ironic how the German Empire was ended the same place it started, the Hall of Mirrors
That was the intend.
@@exicutioner161
1:Holly Roman Empire of German Nation
2:The German Empire (Monarchist)
3:The German Reich (Facist)
Jan H. The HRE shouldn’t be considered an empire
@@janh.1953 National socialist. Fascism has the goal set for the state not race
The holy Roman empire was not holy, not roman, and not an empire. It was barely a confederacy of independent states. It was only when prussia unified the germany states did an empire come into existence.
Reich isn't empire
@@janh.1953 Does the Holy Roman Empire really count? The first Reich feels more like Prussia
*WWII happens*
Europe: "Why would Germany do this?"
Germany: "Really.....Really?"
Europe? Do you mean France?
Serbia: Wierd flex, but okay.
So now you blaming Europe for WW2...Wtf
So you actually care... WTF@@Raisonnance.
@@Raisonnance. its actually france fauly
SUMMARY OF PART ONE AND TWO
The Treaty of Versailles, What Did the Big Three Want? (Video detailed summary)
(part one)
* World War I officially came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919.
* 32 countries had come together in Paris in January 1919 to hold a conference which would make peace after the First World War.
* It would be dominated by the big three:
* David Lloyd George representing Britain;
* Georges Clemenceau representing France;
* Woodrow Wilson representing the USA.
* Germany was not invited.
* The Big Three wanted different things for Germany and disagreed on how harshly they were to be punished reflecting how their countries were treated in the war.
* They had to negotiate with each other until there was a compromise.
* This was difficult because Wilson was opposed to harsh punishment for Germany.
* The USA had not been involved in the war as long as Britain and France and had not received as much damage. He wanted to prevent another world war by creating the league of nations based on his fourteen points to ensure Germany would not be destroyed and that Germany shouldn't be blamed for the war.
* Clemenceau (france) aims were the harshest of the three -- representing the damage Germany had done to France's land and people and its threatening proximity. He wanted revenge and to punish Germany to return Alsace Lorraine to France, an independent Rhineland, no league of nations, Germany to pay huge reparations for the damage and losses caused, the disbandment of the German Army so that Germany would never be strong enough to attack France again.
* Lloyd George (Britain) was an in-between. This reflected Britain which had little land damage, but high war losses. He wanted a punishment that would be tough enough to please those who wanted to make Germany pay, but would leave Germany strong enough to still trade land for Britain's Empire to safeguard Britain's naval supremacy.
* When the Treaty of Versailles was ready, Germany was shown the document, but there was no negotiation, their rebuttal ignored.
* On 28th June 1919 the Delegates met at the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles near Paris and forced two German representatives to sign it.
------
The Treaty of Versailles, Terms of the Treaty (Video detailed summary)
(part two)
* The terms of the Treaty of versailles can be divided into three groups
* Territorial, military, financial and economic
* Here are some of the territorial terms
* Lorraine was returned to france
* Germany was forbidden to unite with Austria lands in East Germany Including the farmlands of Posen and the polish corridor between East Germany and East prussia were given to poland
* The Saar Which Had rich coal fields were given to France for 15 years
* All Germany's colonies were taken and given to France and britain as mandates
* Here are some of the military terms
* The German army was restricted to only 100,000 men. The Navy could now only have six battleships and no submarines and there was to be no air force allowed
* The Rhineland was demilitarized this meant the German army could not go to this area between France and Germany
* For the financial and economic terms
* Germany would have to pay reparations which would eventually be set at an enormous 132 Billion Gold marks on top of this germany was not allowed to join the league of nations and had to accept responsibility for causing all the damage and Loss by the war
* Overall the Treaty of versailles was unpopular with Germany and its creators
* Its terms would go on to be reversed by Germany in both secret and in the open by Hitler and help cause world war two
my savior for real. i hope both sides of your pillow are cold
Teacher: who caused WWI
Me: The Uber driver
Lol
lol
Now that you mention it yeah it was the uber driver fault
Hars to believe ww1 could of been prevented if the driver didn’t take a turn to where the assassins was.
Lol
Serbia: kills archduke Franz Ferdinand
Everyone: “Germany is responsible for WW1”
Me: ....
@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki Everyone was responsible of ww1.
@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki anyway Tsar Nicolas 2 was forced to mobalize the armies into Austro-Hungarian border by the generals and orthodox church. Same goes for Kaiser. He would have looked weaker than he already was if he didn't support Austria. Franz Ferdinand was against any war with Russia and he was thinking about the slavic union as a 3rd part of the Austro-Hungarian empire
@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki ww1 woud have started sooner or later. its not just about balkans. France wanted back the lost territories in the Franco Prussian war, Serbians didn't allow Austrian police to track down the black hand to Serbia, Russia was on a brink of collapse.
@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki And Austrans didn't want to resolve the crisis diplomaticly, because they knew they would lose like they have lost in the past tring to solve things diplomaticly.
@Polish Hero Witold Pilecki Geez i respect your commitment and research to win youtube comment section argumet. But it was unfair to blame Germany alone on the war.
You had it coming France, see what happened in WW2? That's...that's what happen when you push people to their limits
You forget that they were pushed first :)
It's easy to blame the war on one person or one country but it does not make it accurate :)
You forgot about the franco prussian war france were pushed first
Germany steals French land, and forces heavy reparations after the Franco Prussian war. In WW1 Northern France was turned into a wasteland, most of the major industrial regions occupied by German forces. Is it any wonder that France would want to do the same?
Ryan Chow totally agree
Hindsight is 20/20... if I were French then and I saw my country bloodied by Germany for four years (not to mention being humiliated once in 1870), I wouldn't want to go easy on them either.
Interesting to note that the French adopted a harsh stance at Versailles after the US decided not to enter the League of Nations. The US promised France protection from Germany in exchange for a mildly harsh treaty. When the US didn't enter the League, France was forced to improvise with the Treaty.
WW1: happens
Allies: wE tHiNk GeRmAnY iS tHe ImPoStEr!
*Germany was not the Impostor*
It was, and actually the allies never claimed Germany to be the sole impostor.
Austria-Hungary was the imposter
@@Axjc102 Germany encouraged A-H to wage war with Serbia and then germans started unprovoked aggression against France.
@@arnold3768 But, Serbians murdered archduke Ferdinand which is equal to murdering the vice-president or prince who was going to be king in the future
@@arnold3768 Nope, both started unprovoked agression against each other
World War 2, and the Treaty of Versailles taught the world a very valuable lesson.
Never take out your frustration on a country, to the country's people. The soldiers were required to fight, and the people were completely innocent.
When Germany fell, France essentially dismantled Germany, and made it nearly impossible for them to figure out a way to fix the economic state. They created a third world country out of Germany.
Then, Adolf Hitler, an angry veteran rose to power. And, what do you know? He militarizes Germany.
France was one of the first countries to be trampled upon and controlled by the Nazis.
For some reason, when Germany in particular unites, it becomes an extremely efficient country. World War 1, and World War 2 especially are great examples.
When Germany unites, you want them on your side, and not pissed off at you. That's exactly what both the United States and Soviet Union intended on doing. Soviet Union wanted Germany as a communist country, and America wanted it to be capitalist. The Germans chose America here, and Germany is currently among the most efficient and thriving countries in the world.
France on the other hand is thriving off of tourism.
Ouinn Ouinn it still preserved the harsh and unfair punishments that the french so hard asked for
the final Versalles treaty was a combination of the three
DuckinArmor it is because mr French fucked mrs Versailes and have a children named Polish Corridor which splitted Germany in half. As the result : who did they responed
nanda erdhani Did you fail history exam?
@UCCvm98YPsdzOrIkCJJEegcw
Yeah no : The germans imposed the litvosk-brest treaty on France before so that totally had that harshness coming .
"For some reason, when Germany in particular unites, it becomes an extremely efficient country. World War 1, and World War 2 especially are great examples."
Form some reason US rearmed germany just before WW2 thinking they would fight the russians ...
@@stormbringer2840 What do you mean? That treaty was for russia , not France
The allies with the least damage and least loss of life were the most lenient at Versailles. Pretty elementary, isn't it?
@Comrade Serb he means the USA m8
i thought so to. am i missing something or is that how simple things simply were..? more damage=more animosity towards 'offending' party?? 100% agree w you.
Yes. Many on the french side thought the treaty wasn't harsh enough and would never be thoroughly applied; and they were completely right seeing that Germany was able to weaponize massively again less than two decades afterwards.
Well because they can think rationally, unlike the others who can just let the anger get ahead of themselves. The US can be fair and can actually think logically about the appropriate punishment for its enemies
france is now paying the consequences of the treaty by surrender memes
No the french bashing is because the US didn't swallow that france was an independent country able to refuse to go to war with them in Afghanistan.
Also with their demographic replacement.
@@AB-dd4jz iraq* there are french troops in afghanistan
Your memes are not funny and they are stupid.
France is the country that won the most wars in history. People who use these meme are just dumb. Like your comment.
France lost 1.4 million soldiers in WWI. The German destroyed the East of France. France suffered the most during the war. France was abandoned by its so called allies the UK and the USA who helped more Germany after the war thsn France.
@@ghaithmagroune1253 and they paid with blood and a humiliating defeat in ww2, heh funny surrender country
USA: Let us create a League of Nations, I don't want another world war, Germany will not be destroyed and don't blame Germany for the war
France: Nah I will get revenge, I will claim my lands no League of Nations and I want them to pay us a lot of money
UK: Nah I want them to pay, I want Germany's colonies for my empire and to have a stronger navy
All: *fighting*
The League of Nations wasn't effective to begin with.
France was fine with the League of Nations.
Wilson came with the idea, but the US Congress told him no.
@@computerassistedbiological5391 neither united nation
1:37 lul
21 Years later france was overrun in not even 4 weeks
Yannick489 It took Germany 4 years to get close to Paris in WW1. In WW2 it took Germany 4 weeks to overrun Paris
iDeath MaximuM II Guess that's what you call *German progress* .
the German machine
XD
Gamelin's incompetense...
Wilson was on the right when he said he didn’t want Germany to be blamed. Austria-Hungary and Serbia should of shared the blame for starting such a brutal war.
@Aniruddh They should not be blamed for the war, but they still need to be punished for the war crimes they committed.
@Aniruddh Germany never caused an assassination, the Serbian Government was responsible for that. Ironically they haven‘t paid or said anything to this day. And Germany only invaded Belgium because they wanted to defeat France quickly who was an ally of Russia and Russia didn‘t listen to German demands to stop mobilising and keep out of the war...
Europe was already close to a massive war, the war would have started with or without those countries
I'd say austria hungary got worse considering they got completely dismantled
Austria Hungary and Serbia started a war, but not the Great War. Without Germany, there is no invasion of Germany, no rape of Belgium, no attack on France, no alliance with the ottoman empire, no African campaigns and no Pacific theater. Germany made this war a word war
Treaty of Versailles: exist*
Hitler: *Wow, this is worthless!*
The worst treaty every made...
Prussian Monarchist Some theorists said that the world would be better if Central Powers won WW I. Check this out
ruclips.net/video/Pdpm5l4RoMg/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/6Xoe2z4xnuE/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/ARCll2cbFNA/видео.html
@@epg96
Not really the Germans were just as unforgiving than the allies just read the treaty of brest-livosk
@@donttrytokillme1231 Brest litovsk was a good treaty
@@chillaxo9863 For Germany and AH monarcy,yes.Not for Russia.It was catastrophic for her.
@@chillaxo9863 yeah sure. Just as good for Russia as Versaille treaty was for Germany.
"Just sign the treaty. You're to blame. End of argument. Just sign it"
But It's Unfair :(
It's an extremely unfair treaty and you all knew it
Just sign or we invade your country. You dont have enough soldier left
THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU DON'T KNOW HOW GRATEFUL I AM MY EXAM IS TOMORROW AND ALL THE OTHER VIDS I SEE AREN'T ENGAGING OR FUN TO WATCH THANK YOU !!!!
Same hahaha
@@alvarobarillas115 How was it lmao
I agree with Wilson
I agree with Wilhelm.
I agree with wilson
i agree with Muricans and Britains
Yeah,should not blame german.should blame the sebian nationalist.
I agree with Wilson
I can absolute understand why Germans despised the French after WW1.
Yes, so they started another world war to get petty revenge and then lost even more land in the end. Lul...
@fernando jose gonzalez olguin what you mean ?
@@arnold3768 Doesnt matter, living standards in germany are higher. France sucks
@@arnold3768 You do know that the treaty of Versailles was a FRENCH idea made out of revenge after they lost the Franco-Prussian war
@@elschaetty no, the french wanted Germany dismembered into several states. The treaty we got isn't what France wanted, it's what UK and US wanted. And Germany imposed much harsher treaties on their defeated enemies. You hypocritical kaiserboos need to stfu.
since we now know that the harsh reparations cost of ww1 is partly what caused Germany to start ww2, would Clemenceau's idea of no standing army have kept Germany from gaining too much power and attacking, despite the harsh reperations?
Probably not. Hitler secretly built up the military again in the inter war years and at quite a rate. It doesn't look like any terms by the Treaty of Versailles would stop him.
Simple History what about Wilson's idea? Surely if Germans weren't punished they wouldn't be as angry as they were, therefore Hitler would not have been able to gain their favour so easily.
Not even close, if the Kaiser had been left as a constitutional monarch it is very unlikely Hitler would ever have gotten power.
Respector Of Women there were many other factors that led to Hitler’s rise like the fact that Germany lost the war but I think Hitler would of had a much harder time gaining power.
Maybe. However, what would France have done if Russia had simply invaded Germany for "free the workers" and "also establish the paradise of communism in Germany"? No German army means that someone else has to defend Germany from external threats...
I just want to say a big thank you to you sir, You don't know me but the effect you've had has been a big game changer in my Life. I went from a 6 to an 8 in History all because of you. Thank you, Very much wishing you the absolute best in life.
Thank you so much, this summarises it really well!
It's kind of insane how accurate Wilson was with his prediction of what would happen if germany would get all the blame for ww1 and that this should be prevented by building the league of nations and not playing the blame game. Instead of focusing on preventing another world war they were just after revenge while not understanding that this would only lead to more revenge from the other side. We could live in a world where ww2 never happened if people would have just listened to wilson.
Congratulations, “the war to end all wars” has finally ended.
Victory is yours.
Before the war, you had a population of approximately 40 million people.
But of the roughly ~9 million people who served in your country’s armed forces, 70% have either been killed or wounded in action.
The countryside is littered with toxic waste, spent shell castings, and corpses. 1 million acres / 250,000 hectares of prized farm land have been scarred beyond recognition.
You country lost more soldiers in the Somme (or even Verdun) than were lost in the last ~99 years of warfare combined.
Your infrastructure East of Paris has been pulverized beyond recognition.
The economic damage to your country is beyond calculation.
The majority of this destruction was wrought by your sworn enemy (Germany) with the help of the other Central Powers, namely (the former) Austria-Hungary Empire, and The Ottoman Empire.
Despite this, you’ve “won.”
The question now becomes, “Who is going to pay for this?”
Well for starters, Austria-Hungary no longer exists. They were effectively dissolved.
Individually, the countries that once comprised the Austro-Hungary Empire have relatively small markets and are dealing with their own issues (like famine and political turmoil).
And the Ottoman Empire was stripped of most of it’s territorial possessions in the Treaty of Mudros, which was signed two weeks before WW1 even ended.
The Ottomans are also dealing with mass starvation at this point and political collapse (sound familiar), so additional reparations might be difficult to secure.
By process of elimination / logical deduction, that leaves Germany, one of the largest pre-war economies in the world, and the single most powerful country (militarily and economically) amongst the Central Powers.
It’s geographic location, geopolitical potential (and history with France dating back 170 years), casted Germany as a clear rival to both French and British interests from the outset.
For these reasons, Germany was perceived (since unification) as an existential threat that had to be neutralized.
Germany was also the last remaining Central Power to have a (relatively) intact economy still capable of paying reparations by war’s end.
The Treaty of Versailles was intended to comprehensively neutralize the threat posed by a Germany; To not only force Germany to pay significant war reparations, but to also remove Germany’s territorial possessions, and it’s military-industrial capacity once and for all.
Ironically, in a bid to force Germany back into an agrarian economy by removing it’s colonies, wealth, and industry, France and (to a lesser extent) Great Britain may have inadvertently set the stage for an even bloodier conflict only 20 years later.
Woodrow dictating what should happen to Germany is the more ironic thing I've ever heard, he had no idea of the real destruction caused.
france was willing to be lenient on germany if the USA promised protection from germany. since the USA was unable to join the league of nations, they had to weaken germany instead. while woodrow predicted the germans' anger and the impact of the treaty, ww2 was mainly caused by the british policy of appeasement
If the treaty was followed and enforced then there would not have been a second world war
Wilson's 14 points directly Led to fascism in Italy but u lot never talk about that
@@billyosullivan3192 No it did not
As Martial Ferdinand Foch said at the treaty of Versailles
"This is not a peace, but an armistice for 20 years."
if only he knew how true he would be...
And even today people continue to say that the treaty was too harsh...
What the victorious powers failed to understand when making the treaty, was that the continent was a single economic unit tied together not just by geography but also trade systems that increased the well being and the quality of life for all europeans. Disrupting the economic eco-system, way too high reparations, exploiting a countrys ressources and businesses, made no economic sense but was down right dangerous.
Mostly dictated by vengaence, greed and political oppurtunism and self dellusion, as they redraw borders to gain former prestige. They completely ignored the economic reality the world has created.
It was a economic disaster, still I asked my eco-prof how such a thing could have been prevented. Enough reason for him to take a large part of our lesson about history where everyone had to gather ideas that we discussed. The results: desolving germany, entirely occupying it or split it up in an even larger scale would have led not only to an even bigger catastrophe, but could have crippled europe entirely. The best plausible way to negotiate would have been to adopt wilsons 14 points, but also adopt germanys middle europe project and create a economic union to stabilize the continental economy as well as confer any possible territorial changes with germanys and austrias diplomats. Future good relations are indispensable for trade and diplomacy, I'm just glad they learned this lesson after ww2 and rebuild europes entire economy and adopted the ideas of people like Keynes and Rathenau.
Neeeeeeeeeeeeerd
@@jackcall28 You do realize this is a video about history, right?
Add to that, you scrolled down through the comments, and find a comment about history.
And yet, you're surprised.
@@ToreDL87modern historiography says Germany could have paid of the war reparations but actively chose not to. Keynes is hardly an impartial source and is the only source people use to cloak war reparations caused German hyper inflation
@@billyosullivan3192 Oh, no protests there, my reply was minted at jackall28.
Treaty of Versailles was the biggest mistake human ever did in our history period.
No, the western world is now going to make the biggest mistake by imposing sanctions on Russia.
Great work I showed all my classes these videos. They are a good and accurate simplification of a very complex negotiation. I'm trying to get on your level.
your a teacher?
I think one lesson I have learnt from all of these world war events, is the extent to which anger, bitterness, hatred and revenge can push you.
Nice to know Germany got their revenge on France later on...
This was Frances revenge on Germany for 1870
This is a story of eternal revenge until the French and German people decided to stop this never ending spirale of violence.
abc64pan Nice to know that germany killed like 10 million of those rapist communist before reaching Germany
Nice to know that people care about countries getting even through blood and damnation. #sarcasm#😑
Nolan Cummings they didn't they anyways lost ww2
Serbia started the war. Right?
JELegends fan SCP Researcher technically, yes
There was much more than the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, and a war would've happened despite his death, however, his death essentially sparked the war that was waiting to happen.
Shaun Diebel Exactly, tensions were rising because of the heavily manufactured modernized weapons that were supposed to make other nations afraid to fight them, this spread across Europe as a good way to prevent war, but at the same time, made nations look more aggressive.
the war was declared by Hungry against Serbia
No, some irrelevant fool in some third world country got shot and Germany screeched for miles and ran as quick as they could to start war with that as an excuse, it was, indeed, responsible entirely for World War 1.
your videos are the best because they 2x as short but they explain 2x better then the others
You had it coming France, see what happened in WW2? That...that's what happen when you push people to their limits
I think Germany came off worse in WW2 as well
You had it coming Germany See what happenned in ww1 and ww2? That....that's what ahppens when you push French and Russian Revanchism to it's limits. Seriously through screw whingers about Versailles. Germany shouldn't have taken Alksace Lorraine in 1870 then demanded chunks of French Africa in 1911 and They certainly shouldn't have dicked over the Russians at Brest Litovsk. Germany never had any right to complain over Versailles.
Alex Cayrouse the Treaty of Versailles was very unfair and a massive blame
for Germany.France wanted the War not the German Empire.
is that a joke?- What about the blank cheque to Austria Hungary to support it in destroyign Serbia? Also can you blame france for wanting to reclaim alsace lorraine? It's the same kind of excuse OP used to explain away WW2 and blame it on France. If Germany hadn't started 1870 France dosen't need to get justice in 1914. Germany/Prussia has always been an aggressive power just ask Austria and Denmark less than a decade before 1870.
Alex Cayrouse Nope,Germany only wanted to build a real state in 1870.
Was France blame after the Defeat of
Napoleon.No...whats about Russia?
They give serbia a blank cheque to.
if everyone listened to Wilson, good chance WW2 would not have happened
@ :/
Good chance that it would've happened much sooner . The german wanted their revenge regardless of the versaille treaty ( demonstrated by the fact that it was cancelled early on and that still the germa wanted revenge due to the great depression )
And Britain
It would of happend, Germany might not have been the instigator but it would of happend, it probably would of stared later tho 1942 or 1943, by that time Stalin would feel like he'd be ready for war with the west and invade Poland by end 1942 or early 1943 thus starting WW2
@ If it was the general idea to not restrict and abuse germany (financially and otherwise) that was listened to then germany wouldnt have ANY reason to start a war.
America had the better idea.
American Tabby lol
American Tabby For once in history.
American Tabby yeah. That's not something you hear often
No, it was the worst, it would have led to ww2 sooner
UberDroid I didn’t know that thanks
Great video, looking forward to more! One of the other reasons for Lloyd George's approach btw was that he wanted a strong Germany to act as a buffer against the impending threat of spreading communism, and in particular a reaction to the attempted socialist revolution in the Battle of George Square.
The inter war Weimar Republic and the Spartacist uprising come to mind
It was very unfair, but the treaty of Trianon was much worse, 70%, yes, 70% of the 1000 year old Hungary was given to other countries, mainly to Czechoslovakia, Romania and "Yugoslavia".
Hunfootball they were given because on those lands lived many ethnics czecks romanians and serbs/bosnians and so on The treaty was however a little 2 harsh however as it didnt allowed hungary to arm themselves and so on but it was justified bcs the war attrocities
But there are many ethnics hungarians in transylvania, vojvodina and in Slovakia (The ww2 form of hungary was the best shape of hungary i think)
Pinkcloudysky P
Wut? Do you even history bro?
Hungarians are only a minority on vojvodina so it rightfully belongs to serbia
Hunfootball That's what they get for making an entire empire and aggressing small nations
This video was very interesting and it told me things that I would I never knew about otherwise. It also helped me with my history work in school. 😁
pov: you're watching this for history in 2024
Real
Fact: Ho Chi Minh sents a letter to Woodrow Wilson while people are celebrating, the letter was ignore, the letter asking Woodrow Wilson to negotiate with France to deconlonize Indochina
Had to watch for my high school history class, but was very easy to understand, and very fun to watch!!
Versailles has generated a huge number of new conflicts around the world.
The Middle East is a direct result of Versailles.
@@ralphbernhard1757 The awful partition of the middle east was a result of the Sikes-Picot agreement, not Versailles
@@matheuswagner5198 Hello Matheus
In case you wish to understand why I wrote that the fate of the Middle East was "decided" at Versailles as direct effect, and was not "determined" by Sykes-Picot.
For a strategy of divide and rule/conquer, *favoratism* is more important than to be fair (or other positive human character traits). Versailles' function was a "gatekeeper", in which Sykes-Picot (a secret deal) was allowed to pass even if in a watered-down manner, while other secret deals were not allowed to pass. That makes Versailles the geopolitically intrinsic, and Sykes-Picot the ancillary/subordinate in history, regardless of the timeline.
In case you wish to know more about the impact of geopolitics and grand strategy, please go to the "Kaiser Wilhelm II" video on the "History Room" educational channel. I wrote a series of essays here, so please select the "latest comments first" by clicking on the three little bars at the top of the comments section. I also left a comment for you there, but please read as far back as you wish, and leave a comment wherever you wish.
I left a comment for you there.
If the treaty was followed and enforced then there would not have been a second world war
The Treaty was actually much harsher than any of these videos describe. German private businesses could be taken over without pardon by the french. They would be estimated at low values and add up to the ''To Pay'' list. They could take over freely any German (future) invention even if they were patented and forbid the company to use their own invention. They could take over new ships that Germany built.. even merchant vessels. Germany was only allowed to keep their old ones that France did not want, they were basicly building for the allies now. Germany lost all rights to their own rivers; They had to pay a special tax to be able to use their own rivers for trade. Can you imagine a private business owner losing his entire business just because a Frenchman said ''I want it''? It destroyed millions of lifes and was utterly unfair. The treaty was aimed at making even the normal citizen's lives terrible. And all of these more in-depth rules.. added up to losing all overseas territory and european territory that had been German for hundreds of years. ''The Economic Consequences of the Peace'' by John Maynard Keynes describes in a most objective fashion the details of the treaty. It goes way beyond your imagination. John Keynes was a British economist at that time and dealt with alot of political situations for Britain.
And when Germany did the same thing in 1870 no one is colmplaining. In fact the economic payements made by Germany to France after WW1 were less than France had to pay after the franco-prussian war and was only equivalent to a quarter of the destruction that Germany did on French soil. And which territpry were german for hundred of years did they lose ? Polish land were annexed 150 years prior to the WW1, and Alsace-Moselle was annexed only 50 years earlier. For all their colonies they were German for less than 50 years.
@@leosimon241 yes but they didn’t steal inventions or torment civilians
@@Sharkoon030 they literally marched into the country.
@@leosimon241 Alsace-Mosell has always been german before 1683; the french only stole it when the emperor was fighting the turks. So getting it back in 1870 was a natural. Even today many people in Alsace-Mosell still speak german. Cutting Germany into two parts with no connection was also not that smart an idea...
A bunch of non sense.
There was no expropriation of german business, nor stolen patents... my god the stupidities one can hear on the internet.
Germany was the richest nation per capita in Europe in 1925, it just shows how horrible their life was in comparison to the rest of europe.
Germany: *gets rekked by treaty of versailles*
Austria: *is ok*
Germany: wait this operation was your idea
Imagine you go back to 1914 as the driver of Archduke Ferdinand
In fact, Clemenceau was not this extreme. He was even disaccording with the president, Poincaré who wanted to follow the war far more in the german lands.
Poincaré fought his whole life to make germany pay its war indemnities (that will never be paid : when he decided to occupy ruhr to make them do it, the british blocked french money and made France stop its politics), when Clemenceau was called "father victory"...
Alsace Lorraine had been taken in 1871 and France paid a big amount of money for its defeat. It was not so far for these people...
France (and belgium) simply had a huge bill on their hands to rebuild northen France. Asking Germany for a part of the cost wasn't unfair.
I see the better animations in your vids means you guys are doing great progress keep it up!!!!
one mistake i noticed in the video is that the treaty wasn't signed in nov 11 1918, it was the armistice that Hindenburg and ludendorf called Wilhelm to ask for, the treaty of Versailles wasn't signed until 28th june 1919
seven Look in the description, it says 28th June 1919
@@PillzSufrie Descriptions change.
You are awesome man ❤
Treaty of slavery. Thanks France for WW2
bėÃđvęřţś 2 When 2 millions of soldiers die, when ur lands and city are destroyed by the enemy, when ur economy is killed, when Alsace-Lorraine has been taken, then u can understand the point of view of France. Plus both UK and US have accepted this agreement so they are also guilty.
Anosteke In Alsace lothraine everybody speaks german
Lorraine*
No. They don't speak german, they speak french and a local language.
Like in the "french" city of Straßburg?
Germany never started WW1.They just supported their ally Austria-Hungary which started the conflict with declaring war on Serbia.I am really laughing for those who think that Germany has started the First World War.
German foreign policy agression led to alliances which escalated the scale of a potential war
@@abdirahmanidris290 dude the war started because of the fucking hapsburgs why are you so ignorant of history?
Germany declared war on russia and on France.
They could have simply stated neutrality.
@@MN-vz8qmyeah and lose all credibility on world stage as a country who would not even support its own allies in a harsh time of the country.
@@greendevil5176 no, first this was supposed to be a defensive alliance, not an offensive one, and austria and germany were the oned declaring war right and left (when they even bothered doing so).
That is why Italy didn't join them, this wasn't the deal.
But worse, germany encpuraged austria.
Nothing surprising, they wanted to go to war, this was no surprise. For example in 1912 the kaiser said to a swiss joirnalist that there would be war, maybe not this year but soon.
The hermans thought that by having a war soon they could prevent the rise of russia.
love this channel.
I love your channel keep up the great stuff
I died when it said germany wasn't invited lmao.
watching this before my history test LOL
Clear and to the point. Thank you
POV: your history teacher told you to watch this and then say that it’s a good channel so you should follow
I did not expect my history teacher to choose you simplehistory
I was forced to watch this and i LOVE it
So many people blaming France for WW2, it's so easy now that we know all the consequences. But back then, hundreds of thousands frenchmen were slaughtered in the most violent war of History, huge parts of national territory was occupied during four years (were most industry was located), and above all ; there was the humiliation of 1870. What was Germany thinking when they decided the terms of 1870's peace ? Annexation of rightfully French territory, heavy war reparations and the entire imperial army deported in German prisons for years. France didn't annex German territory after WW1, France didn't deported German soldiers after WW1. Prussia could have just unify Germany in a peace with honor between the fighters, but no they wanted to humiliate France and so "revanchisme" was born. Between 1870 and 1914 "revanchisme" is everywhere in France, it is a state of mind, the nation mobilizing all its forces for the preparition of the Revanche, the next war to crush German arrogance. That's why, despite having a population twice smaller and a far weaker industry, France was able to stop the German assault at the battle of the Marne, with the gracious help of six British divisions, and hold on during four years of never ending horrors only for this ; Revanche. To give you an example, French schoolboy was taught how to bayonnet charge in sport class. But don't give me wrong, i'm not saying that Clemenceau did the right thing. Because Revanche, just as the Vichy France axe, cuts both ways, it gives you an unstoppable strenght but its also blinds you, and in 1918 France was blind ; they did the same mistake Germany did in 1870. And so the cycle goes on, one country beat and humiliate the other, and it sparks the flame that will burn them both ; Revanche. The cycle continues, unchanged, but firepower grows strongers and finally in the ultimate peak of horror and destruction of WW2, in the fire of hell on earth, France and Germany realised they must stop. Because know the flame was atomic, and the next spark will not only burn them both but also humanity. And so the greatest friendship of all times between two countries was born. As you probably assumed yes i am French, but one day a very good German friend told me : "France is the country with five hundreds cheeses and Germany is the country with five hundreds breads.
Solignox go french patriot and capitulate
On the war of 1870 Germany only took Alsace Lorraine, a German speaking land TAKEN away by the french from the HRE, its technically German sooo.
How dumb are you? The baguettes stole alsaße from the holy roman empire. This was german, but under french rule. The germans only took it back.
1870 was a good thing.
If I were China I would follow the French method and punish Japan for what they have done. I would force Japan to pay a huge reparation and if they attack again I would have Russia and North Korea backing me. And who does Japan have? The UN?
Worth noting that Germany had imposed a very harsh Brest-Litovsk treaty on Russia after winning on the Eastern Front.
Who knew I get to watch this for history!
it has been so useful thanks so much!
i have tomorrow my igcse so I'm super nervous and I'm watching videos to understand everything hahaha
WW1 was most pointless war ever fought.
Ok boomer
WW2 even more pointless
@@proudhellene5874 no not really
Why wasnt austria and hungary blamed
Mark Hayes They collapsed by this point.
The fate of austria and hungary was decided in another treaty
Yes they were blamed in other treaties but not so cruel as germany.
1:40 "so that Germany will not be strong enough to attack France again"
21 year's later:
Germany: hold minz beer
USA: peaceful
France: Harsh
UK: peacefully harsh
Who would you choose?
ToV: the second one
Germany signs the treaty:
I will never financially recover from this
The Treaty of Versailles was more or less the reason for WW2. They punished Germany way to hard. Many people even say the plan was to destroy the country completely through the treaty of versailles. Taking away Germany’s military (from 4 mio to only 100 thousand) was a big humiliation for them. The country had one of the most advanced military and it was definitely one of the biggest prides of the nation. Another problem was that in the territories that got taken away from them, there lived many ethnic Germans who didn’t want to belong to the neighboring countries. They also could’ve never payed the allies with the money they demanded from Germany. The country itself was in a huge economic crises. It was only a matter of time before another war would break out. (And don’t forget that they lost all their colonies in Africa and Asia)
It was also not fair that Germany had to accept all the war guilt for a war they didn’t even start in the first place which made the people even more bitter.
trying to deny a country its right to a military has almost always caused war
Germany wasn't as innocent as it claimed. Their foreign policy agression created alliances that led to the escalation of WW1. Germany also initially advised Austria to declare war on Serbia
@@abdirahmanidris290 *looks at British and French aggression at the time*
yea Germany's agression was more it fighting against british french aggression
@@scottgrasser9475 Germany gave Austria the blank check and invaded Belgium which made Britain join the war
If the treaty was followed and enforced then there would not have been a second world war
how do you have such a perfect and calm voice ?
I have seen other treaties but this one take's it to a hole new level
Woodrow Wilson wanted to “prevent another world war?” Wtf France and Britain why didn’t you choose that?
Worked out well didn't it? When you invade, you destroy completely, not partially. Otherwise don't fight at all.
I agree .
treaty of versailles shouldn't been that much harsh as it was the prime cause of second world war
Hi Wilson!
Funny how Clemenceau was depicted to always be angry and Wilson is smiling
Well based on their situations, it only makes sense to depict them that way.
The arrogance, pettiness, and lack of honor of the Entente powers at the end of the war was the real cause of world war II. They didn't treat any Central Power justly and treated them like they didn't exist, refusing to let them join in the peace talks which determined the future of their respective nations. The Entente leadership lacked honour, and I am not saying the central powers had any either.
MyDaRkN3SsLiV3s Some theorists said that the world would be better if Central Powers won WW I. Check this out
ruclips.net/video/Pdpm5l4RoMg/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/6Xoe2z4xnuE/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/ARCll2cbFNA/видео.html
@Evan Pangaribuan Yes it would have
The cause of ww2 was not simply going with the french plan; Basically what the US has done anyway at the end of WW2.
It's really stupid that Germany got the blame instead of Serbia and Austro-Hungary
The victors at Versailles after WWI were famously called The Big Four: France, England Italy, and the US. While Italy didn't do much (or get much), they were counted as one of the Big Four. Now, in WWII, the post-war world's fate was decided by The Big THREE: Churchill, Stalin, and FDR. So unfortunately, you seem to have confused World War terminology. I can appreciate the whole "Simple History" concept, but it really shopuld be a bit more accurate.
anybody else here because they got caught in an argument over whether the war ended on November 11th or June 28th?
Great summary for students!!!!
Bottom line: France asked for WW2
Idiot .
Stormbringer a year late for that comment
@@two5126
Never too late for that . ( unless he died in that time frame in which case it was effectively too late )
@@stormbringer2840 It was true tho. France asked for ww2
@@NONO-oy1cu No , if France really asked for WW2 they would have acted way , WAY more severely ( the reparations that france asked were actually very reasonable compared to what germany asked from the countries they defeated and what they planed to ask ) . In fact France not wanting WW2 is probably their biggest mistake , had they acted sooner and more decisively , Germany would not have have been such a treat .
It is that which make me angry about France ( and UK ) , if they had stuck to their gun and not allowed germany to rearm it wouldn't have been such a nightmare .
Wilson's idea was the best because he knew another war would start somehow but the French and British were too ignorant to see it.
Don't blame the Brits, in my opinion it was at its boundaries. France was too much, and Wilson's idea was the best. The Brits just wanted a compromise from what I can see.
@Dino king Studios just like Germany was greedy after the franco Prussian war.
France idea was the best. It is exactly what the US has done. But as the americans are braindead it took them another world war to figure it out.
The Allies treated Germany like a monster 20 years later it chose to become the monster they made it out to be.
The treaty wasn't harsh enough. Blaming a paper treaty for ww2 is some childish thing to do.
@@arnold3768 Please do explain more.
@@SirChill-gm8bh explain what?
@@arnold3768 explain how the treaty of Versailles was completely innocent and how it did not punish Germany enough
@@alessioaurrecoechea3147 Don't think Germany was the innocent party here, just look what sort of treaty Germany would have dished out to the Weston allies like in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
Versailles is an enchanted place. In this place, arrogance, greed, incompetence, and the desire to finish off the recumbent rule. Let the descendants remember this....
In all of the debt negotiations following Versailles, Australia never agreed to any German debt moratorium or reduction. Which leaves Germany in debt to Australia today at $200.0Bn, and that figure is without interest.
this was the longest 2 minutes and 48 seconds of my life
But Germany didn’t start ww1, it was Austria and Serbia
If I was Germany I will be like hey this is about my country i be invited too???
They arrested the Hungarian representatives at the treaty of Trianon so they couldn't claim their own lands at the border adjustment so the Germans would be arrested aswell, I'd bet.
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando representing Italy, is said to have wept on the floor when he discovered that Italy would not be rewarded for what it had been promised to them.
watching this a day before a huge exam lol
By this young generation were thought "if you win you need not have to explain your actions , but if you are lost you should take all the responsibility"" .😥such a harsh world..
France is week to manage Germany alone, it is a fact that all has to agree.
well no european power alone could have beat germany one on one on land....there army was the strongest by a significant margin......and other then russia they also had the highest population as well.