According to the “Comments of the German Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference on the Conditions of Peace”, they argued that a number of provisions would damage Germany’s economy. For example, the authors argued that Germany’s enemies were being allowed by the newly-formed League of Nations to determine the amount of monetary reparations that Germany would pay them. In addition, Germany was expected to let its enemies have access to its natural resources, such as rivers, canals, and even other man-made resources such as railroads. Moreover, the authors pointed out that their former relations with older countries were being ruined by the formation of the League of Nations – an organization that Germany was not even allowed to join. Furthermore, they argued that Germany had been left in an isolated state, prohibited from being a part of global commerce. Lastly, the commentators aver that German workers, as a result of unfair treatment by the League of Nations, would be, in effect, held hostage by certain hostile powers, i.e. lending states, such as those that comprised the League of Nations (Comments, 1919).
In the document, the commentators argued that Germany would have been treated differently had Woodrow Wilson held true to his word. Namely, the Germans would have been allowed to run their own affairs as part of a “just peace” that Wilson also promised. Also, Wilson states that World War I was not the responsibility of any one nation, that it was the result of an intersection of various influences. Thus, the commentators contend that, if that were the case, then Germany should not be punished, and extracted payments, e.g. war reparations (Comments, 1919).
I agree that Germany was treated unfairly by the members of the Paris Peace Conference because they disenfranchised Germany from the rest of the world economy, and brought the country to its knees both economically and morally. The only thing one could expect from such a demoralized nation was an attempt to rebuild it from the inside, and retaliate against its sworn enemies. However, the defenders of the Paris Peace Conference might have stated that Germany needed to be economically isolated to prevent it from gaining a foothold in the global economy, and playing a key role in any future global conflicts. The Conference’s defenders might have felt that it was absolutely necessary to prevent Germany from gaining any power after its defeat in World War I. Calculated financial tactics, such as exorbitant war reparations and debt, they hoped, would keep Germany in check for some time. They may have also hoped that Germany would always lack the financial resources to rise against the powers-that-be. Unfortunately, such a scenario did not play out, as World War II and the rise of the Third Reich were just around the corner.
References
“Comments of the German Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference on the Conditions of
Peace.” Oct. 1919. International Conciliation, (no. 143). Retrieved 16 Jun. from
http://college.cengage.com/history/primary_sources/world/conditions_of_peace.htm
