To what extent was the Treaty of Versailles justifiable
To what extent was the Treaty of Versailles justifiable? ... The Treaty of Versailles faced many controversies such as the location of the signing of the settlement and the treaty itself faced criticism from many people especially the German nationalists and also many liberals in the UK. ... The moral validity of the Treaty was always questionable and the location of the treaty was questionable as it was France who suffered the most in the war in infrastructure and also the number of casualties. Lord Esher who was present at the conference believed that the location of the treaty was wrong and could lead to dire consequences. ... The location means that the treaty lacked credibility as France wanted to punish Germany and this meant that the treaty that was signed was biased and not a fair treaty. ... P Taylor also discussed the moral validity of the treaty but Taylor was in the revisionist school of thought and felt that the peace treaty was unfair. The peace of Versailles lacked moral validity from the start. Taylor also felt that many points that were drawn up were unfair and harsh but the treaty did have positive impact for Germany as the new Weimar republic was now recognised and the treaty gave some protection to the Germans from the threat of an attack from communist Russia as the Allies accepted the German government and its problems. Lloyd George the British prime minister accepted the terms of the treaty and even argued for the reparations payments which was a enormous issue that many people felt that could not be justified. ... The general feeling in the British public opinion was that German deserved the harsh treaty as the casualties in Britain were also very high. Sir Horace Rumbold who was a diplomat wanted a harsh punishment for the Germans, as there was an existing stereotype of Germans and felt that a harsh treaty would teach the Germans a lesson. ... The civil servants felt that the treaty was harsh and unfair but it was the responsibility of Britain to help maintain those terms drawn up in the treaty and to police the new Europe that was created. ... The quote is useful as it shows the beliefs in this time and also the arrogance which the British showed when dealing with international policies would lead one to believe that the policy which the British followed in the treaty of Versailles was an orthodox system. This meant that the British had the obligation to help out the new Europe policing the terms of the treaty. ... The treaty of Versailles could be seen as too liberal and this was the ultimate failure as the moral justification lay on the emphasis on these liberal ideas which could not be accepted by the critics as liberalism was now an old ideology. The other factor that faced criticism was the reparations payments, which many people felt that it was unjustifiable and this meant that many people felt that it emphasised the unfairness of the treaty. Leading economists such as Keynes felt that the reparation payments was indeed a bad term of the treaty and will lead to a economically backward Europe in the years to come. ... Keynes believed that the terms drawn up in the treaty cannot support the new Europe economically and therefore will cause the depopulation of millions of people in central Europe especially with the new states being set up.