The Treaty of Versailles was a subject of contention for all the nations involved at the Paris conference. While it may have seemed logical and easy then to condemn Germany and hold them responsible for all the atrocities of the First World War, the reality is that all the participants in the fighting had some stake in the conflict. The Treaty never had unified support, even the Big Three disagreed strongly on how punishment should be doled out to the losers of the war. The chief reason the Allies were too harsh on Germany following the end of the war was forcing the burden of reparations on them. In any war, two or more sides fight, not just one. While Germany did worsen the conflict, they most certainly were not responsible for all the damage and death in the war and were not remotely able to pay war reparations when the German economy was in tatters and in need of repair. After all, the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Gavrilo Princip, wasn’t even a German. Germany, like every participant of the war, was roped into the conflict via its alliances and defended itself like any country would. The only difference is that Germany lost, and the victors needed a scapegoat.
	The primary reason I dislike the way the Allies meted out justice after the war was their ignorance of Germany’s economic state and the morale of its people. The Allies figuratively kicked a man while he was down by throwing out all reason and demanding unfathomable payments from Germany, a defeated and dishonored country. Even if Germany had a functioning economy, the sum of the war reparations was of an enormous scale that no country would want to pay. At its lowest moment, Germany was forced to acquiesce to the Allies’ wild demands and given no voice on the matter, solidifying popular unrest against the Treaty of Versailles. It is hard to imagine a better reason for a country to develop a deep-seated hatred and desire for revenge. What made this ordeal worse was that the Allies failed to acknowledge the fact that Germany’s economy was in ruins and in no position to make large payments. The decision to include the war guilt clause was based on hot emotions and exacting revenge on Germany, not on finding peace as President Wilson desired. Lloyd George and George Clemenceau’s shortsightedness meant the League of Nations would never get off the ground as Wilson had envisioned. Ironically, the League of Nations that Wilson had fought so hard to create would never have the United States as a member because of domestic dispute. 
	The failure of France and Britain to look at the greater good by being more merciful with Germany would have dire consequences by the middle of the 1930’s, when the German people rallied behind their unified hatred of the Treaty of Versailles, ultimately resulting in the breakout of World War 2. That very same war guilt clause would be the catalyst for World War 2 and source of bitter loathing among Germans towards the Allies for years to come. It is a bitter irony that the Allies, thinking they were punishing Germany for their crimes during the war and making them better as a result, would stir hatred in the hearts of the German people and spur an even worse conflict than World War I. The Great War was called the war to end all wars, and yet in a way it kickstarted another, more horrifying war.
