Why the peace failed
The Treaty of Versailles is often called the great failed peace. There are several reasons.
-
It was harsh enough to enrage Germans but not crushing enough to prevent German recovery. The combination guaranteed German revanchism.
-
It violated Wilson's own self-determination principle in many places. The Polish Corridor split Germany. South Tyrol's German speakers were given to Italy. The new Czechoslovakia included millions of Germans in the Sudetenland. These provided grievances Hitler would exploit.
-
The United States Senate rejected the treaty in 1920, partly out of opposition to the League of Nations. The U.S. never joined the League, fatally weakening it.
-
Russia (now communist USSR) was excluded from the settlement. The new Soviet state was hostile to the entire international system.
-
Italy, though on the winning side, felt cheated of promised territory. This grievance helped Mussolini's rise.
-
The reparations and economic dislocation poisoned interwar economic relations. The Great Depression then destroyed what remained of the Versailles order.