The Versailles Treaty and Kosovo
Bethany Megan Robinson
Following is the concluding part of an essay I had written some three
years ago as part of my college Access course which I took in Historical
Studies, English Literature and Biological Science to qualify for University
entry i.e. Durham, first in Environmental Science and Development then
where I am now in Theology. Little did I realise then how soon such a
political clique as Nato would rise and cause the terrorisation upon an
innocent and defenceless little nation . One can therefore only live in
fear of the immediate future. G-D help us all. Conclusion of an Essay written in 1996. Bethany Megan Robinson.
'The Versailles Treaty' 'Vicious and Shortsighted.'? Was the Versailles
Treaty unnecessarily harsh?. Was it guilty of failing to take a broader
view of how clauses it would implement affect futuristic trends and
circumstances. This essay attempts to examine some
of the issues involved in assessing and examining the viciousness and short
sightedness of the treaty, whilst attempting to understand how some clauses
could have been justified.................
Conclusion...
Articles 6,7, and 8
of the Treaty seem fair and just. Russia had not posed any aggressive threat to Germany , but had come into the war to defend her friend Serbia - - a loyalty which has been lasting unto this day -. Germany could not have expected to hang on to Belgium, as for Alsace and Lorraine it was not unreasonable nor unfair to hand these territories back to France. Prussia had seized these in 1871 as an act of revenge for Napoleon's mischief. Forty eight years of foreign subjugation was enough punishment.Conclusion.
It was a vicious and undemocratic action not to allow Germany
any redress or chance to put forward her side of the story at the
conference. The Historian A Lentin in his book ' Guilt at Versailles'
points out in relation to President Woodrow Wilson ..'He was ignorant when
he promised Italy the South Tyrol, that its population was Austrian. When he
approved the boundaries of Czechoslovakia he had no idea that they
contained three million Germans. When he assented to the incorporation of
Transylvania within Roumania he was unaware of sanctioning an act of
annexation.' The Treaty was shortsighted in consideration of the fate of
German people living in countries to be lost or returned to their rightful
owners. Yet it could be argued that countries which had lost their
identities due to German takeover - - illegally - - were now being given
back their independence. So there exists two sides of the argument on this
issue. Legal overseas colonies belonging to Germany ought to have been left
alone unless German rule over these was inhumane and dictatorial.
Implementing clauses such as this restricted Germany's chances of being in
a position to pay off the reparations demanded of her . Upon re-establishing
Poland, consideration and agreement ought to have been given to France's
access to the Northern Sea, a privilege she had enjoyed formerly through
Russia.
The Treaty of Versailles may have been shortsighted in
several places, especially in matters of how reparation was to be made
possible. John Maynard Keynes seems correct in his assertion that ' the
financial and economic chapters of Versailles were unjust and unworkable'.
It was shortsighted in not considering German exiles living in lands being
returned to original ownerships. Shortsighted and thoughtless in several
places it may have been , it was vicious in not allowing any German
delegation to the Conference and therefore to redress, denial of this was
unjust and undemocratic. Viciousness in other areas where it may be accused
of being, depends upon which side of the fence one happens to be standing.
It has been claimed that the Versailles Treaty led to
bitterness which germinated the seeds which grew into the Second World War.
This may partly be so and Hitler may well have viewed matters in this
light and certainly exused his actions by it in his expansionistic policy,
Lebensraum or 'Living Space.'. It has been claimed that when Germany
plunged into other countries, it did so mainly to rescue the exiled Germans
and this appears to be what the German people were led to believe by the
Nationalsozialististische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei - National Socialist
German Worker's Party or Nazis. Hitler was cunning in that he held appeal
to various classes of people. It was purely out of political expediency
and the grasping of power that on one hand his policies were Nationalistic
and Imperialistic whilst on the other Socialistic, but all enshrined in a
sinister aura of racism and of an esoteric evilness made tangible.
There were other factors beside the Versailles Treaty which may have caused
frustration such as internal political frictions, an American slump had
occured which in its train had caused an economic depression, not only felt
in Germany. In such dark days the people needed a vision to stop them
perishing altogether, it was an unfortunate choice that the vision appearing
before the Germanic people disguised as some superman cum saviour turned
out in reality to be akin to some demon from hell. No Versailles Treaty
could have caused a regime to horrifically massacre six million innocent
European Jews, along with Gypsies and other minority groups who happened to
get in the way of the Nazi ideology.
The Versailles Treaty did not help matters, but it is
doubtful whether it was the sole cause for so much grief ahead.
Psychologically the real root problems seemingly were festering long
before the Treaty and indeed long before the War itself - - i.e. 1st World
War. We cannot even be certain that they will never ever re-emerge again.
If Neo-Nazism or something equally as evil ever reaches political strength
again - perhaps not while the memory of Hitler and World War 2 is still
pretty fresh in people's minds, but perhaps when all the horror cannot be
felt or the shock factor disappears. Or even in a world grown sick and
uncaring enough.
If Germany felt agrieved by the Versailles Treaty,
then it would be hypocritical of them not to feel equally alarmed in that
they attempted to do exactly the same - if not worse, to Russia with their
own Brest-Litovsk Treaty.'
The End.
Bethany Megan Robinson. 1996.
PS. Since composing that essay we are seeing the very fear expressed
in the paragraph second from the end materialising right in front of our
eyes. The 'problems which were festering even prior the first World War,
was the same Weltpolitik, or in other words MEDDLING in other countries
affairs and not always welcomed or in keeping with justice and democracy.
What we are seeing is 'Germany on the March again.' but yet not so much
Germany herself and I do not wish to cause offence to present day German
people by making such a statement for I realise that many good German people
oppose this recent action of Nato upon little Serbia. But that very same
domineering, and bombastic spirit which seems to have been grasped upon
since the end of World War 2. Interestingly enough Germany was not
'punished' for her part in World War 2 in quite the severe way that she was
following the first World War via the Versailles Treaty . In fact she
thrived, maybe partly due to the
reparations she would have received as a nation attacked by the allied
forces , albeit though she was in the wrong and had brought it upon
herself . But what we have seen in the formation of such as the Bilderberg
Club, is that very same pattern or spirit - if you like for the want of a
descriptive word - - that was inherent in the character of Germany and
which caused her to enjoy marching so much has been adopted by a larger
sphere of politicians of other countries. Indeed today's European Union
enshrines policies which were conjured up by the Nazis. As U.K.
Independent Party member and candidate Rodney Atkinson states in his book
'Treason at Maastricht' ' The ideas of collectivism , statism, trade
protectionism and corporatism are not so physically apparent as the blitz
and marching armies, which is why they have been so successfully
re-established themselves in Europe, under the guise of the 'European
Union.'.
The ethnic Albanians of Kosovo have become the equivalent to the
Czechoslovakian Germans in providing an exuse for the
jackbooted -Weltpolitik aggressive takeover. Fortunately Hitler was
stopped in his tracks by the allied force, albeit later than what it
ought to have been, had he been stopped much earlier instead of it
being said that 'Czechoslovakia is a far away place we know little about.'
then the bloodshed which it took to exocise the evil could have been far
less and six million innocent Jewish people would not have died so
horrendously as they did . What is worrying today is who can stop the
present day beast? What allied force is there now to come to the rescue?
Many of us are living in countries whose political force IS the very
beast. Our politicians have seen the chance of rich pickings and all the
progress which has been made over many years of our modern civilisation in
legislation to ensure humanitarianism to be paramount priority is
suddenly being swilled down the drain because of our politicians' greed and
global expansionism. Who can stop the modern day Beast running rampant?
. It would seem that this task lies in the hands - - should enough
enthusiasm and humanitarian care be aroused - - of the People and -
G-D.