In the beginning, Tiananmen Nov 12, 2009
However, the Versailles Treaty of April 1919 awarded German rights in Shandong to Japan. The peace conference rejected China's request for the abolition of all foreign extra-territorial rights in China, for the annulment of the infamous Twenty-One Demands by Japan and for the return to China her sovereign rights in Shandong. (Asia Times Online)
Robert Fisk on writing from World War I Nov 11, 2009
" Thus the Great War, in the words of its veterans, either gave their lives a sense of hopelessness, a vacuum of meaning, an experience that would forever encourage them to avoid war; or, in the case of men like Jnger, a new kind of purpose, forged in blood and pain, that would necessitate yet another war in order to prove its worth. No wonder that in 1919, a great French leader, Clemenceau, predicted that the Versailles Treaty was merely a 20-year ceasefire. His timing was absolutely correct.... (Sydney Morning Herald -- Opinion)
Obituaries in the news Oct 1, 2009
Many blame Germany's aggressions on the supposedly harsh terms of the Versailles Treaty following the First World War, which stripped a defeated Germany of territory, required reparations and dismantled its military. Nicolae Plesita. (Fresno Bee -- Nation)
10 Lessons We Can Learn From The Rise Of The Nazis Sep 8, 2009
They also had minimal experience with democracy, a terrible economic crisis, the Versailles Treaty, which was an almost universally despised boot placed upon the nation's neck, and an independent military that played a powerful role in political affairs. Some nations, the United States included, have a character that simply precludes their being run by a "Hitler," no matter what the intentions of a leader may be. (Townhall.com)
WWII -- 70 years later Sep 6, 2009
Many blame Germany's aggressions on the supposedly harsh terms of the Versailles Treaty following the First World War, which stripped a defeated Germany of territory, required reparations and dismantled its military. But Versailles was far more lenient than what the Germans had planned for Britain and France should they have won in 1918. (Fresno Bee -- Opinion)
Newsweek: Recalling the German invasion of Poland Sep 2, 2009
The Polish frontier was "impossible and intolerable," he complained to him, and to accept it was absolutely "unthinkable." He portrayed Germany as crippled by the terms of the Versailles Treaty, while "Poland holds a naked knife in her teeth and looks at us menacingly." He claimed that there were 50 soldiers in the armies of France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Belgium for every soldier of the German Army, which meant that any new fighting would be the sole responsibility of the Allies. "To say... (MSNBC -- International)
The Wilsonian Delusion Aug 21, 2009
Fleming does justice to Wilson s egregious conduct at the Paris peace conference and his even more inept performance to win Senate ratification of the Versailles Treaty. The book ploughs new ground in detailing the plot by the president s wife and doctor to conceal nearly total disability following his stroke. (The American Conservative)
From the archive: The Nuremberg Judgment Aug 12, 2009
In 1939 Moscow openly gloried in military cooperation with Germany for the destruction of Poland, "that ugly offspring of the Versailles Treaty," and Ribbentrop in his last plea quoted a cable of congratulation from Stalin as proof that the Soviet Union had not then regarded the war against Poland as an aggression. The contrast between 1939 and 1946 is indeed fantastic, and it is too much to expect that either historians in the future or Germans in the present will share in the current United... (The Economist)
Maliki walks a tightrope in Washington Jul 28, 2009
Writers and politicians close to Maliki have been drawing parallels between debts to Kuwait and the "war guilt clause" imposed on Germany after World War I at the Versailles Treaty in 1919 ... Under the infamous Article 231 of the Versailles Treaty, Germany was required to pay the allies 226 billion Reichsmarks in gold - around US$750 billion in today's money - enraging the German people, and eventually producing Adolf Hitler. (Asia Times Online)
World War One and the Coming of the... Jul 19, 2009
How the Versailles Treaty Contributed to World War II. Short sighted diplomacy, revenge, and unrealistic reparations helped to fuel a political, military, and economic response to the terms of the 1919 Versailles Treaty ... The Versailles Treaty Focuses on Revenge and Indemnity. (Suite101.com)
A Necessary Book Jun 5, 2009
Hitler wanted to overturn the Versailles Treaty. Hitler wanted to restore lands to Germany. (The American Conservative)
Bagehot: There is no alternative May 8, 2009
The first charge is true only in the way that, say, the Versailles treaty caused the second world war. There have been too many intervening years, factors and governments for the case to stand up though it reflects Mrs Thatcher s mythic status that, for some, she must be to blame. (The Economist)
Why They Won't Fight Apr 11, 2009
The Early Progressive Movement gave us the notion that private property be subrogated for the greater good (Teddy Roosevelt); gave birth to the Internal Revenue Service; the Federal Reserve; the imprisonment of ~150,000 Americans for all sorts of things, including one that made a film that disparaged the British pre-Revolutionary War in an unfavorable light; The "Wilsonian" Dime that incorporated the three symbols of early Roman fascism; eugenics; the committal of suffragettes into mental... (Townhall.com)
'Lords of Finance' offers lessons from the lost decade Mar 24, 2009
Each emerged from World War I with different economic priorities, and the mess of the Versailles treaty left each codependent on the others in ways that would warp their economies throughout the 1920s. In guiding the reader through technical details of issues including the Gold Standard, reparations payments, and war debts, Ahamed shows how each national bank head struggled with the orthodoxies of the day. (Boston Globe)
David Brooks: Perverse cosmic myopia Mar 21, 2009
Many people used to wonder how the world's leaders could be so myopic at various points in history like during the Versailles Treaty or the turmoil of the 1930s. We don't have to wonder any more. (International Herald Tribune)
Debt as a unifying power in Iraq Feb 10, 2009
Supporters and opponents of Saddam Hussein claimed that this clause was unjust, always drawing parallels between it and the hated terms of the Versailles Treaty imposed on Germany after World War I. Kuwait alone wanted $45 billion, and has repeatedly refused, since 2003, to cancel the Iraqi debt. To date, Iraq has paid its tiny neighbor $11 billion in compensation. (Asia Times Online)
