Treaty of Versailles is less harsh on the Germans.

What if the Treaty of Versailles was less harsh on the Germans. Would there be a WW2? Would there be a Cold War? Would we see a European Federation, today?
 
What if the Treaty of Versailles was less harsh on the Germans. Would there be a WW2? Would there be a Cold War? Would we see a European Federation, today?

You'd have to change a lot of widely-held beliefs on the part of the people and the nations that took part in the Treaty. AFAIK, the only major Entente power that wasn't out for German blood was the US. The French, particularly, wanted to neuter Germany's power forever.
 
What if the Treaty of Versailles was less harsh on the Germans. Would there be a WW2? Would there be a Cold War? Would we see a European Federation, today?

In most instances the seeds of one war is in the peace that ended the previous. The seeds for the Great War were sown in the 1871 Treaty of Frankfurt that ended the Franco-Prussian War. Aside from the War Guilt clause I don't see the treaty particularly harsh for the war that had occured.
 

Nietzsche

Banned
In most instances the seeds of one war is in the peace that ended the previous. The seeds for the Great War were sown in the 1871 Treaty of Frankfurt that ended the Franco-Prussian War. Aside from the War Guilt clause I don't see the treaty particularly harsh for the war that had occured.
<_<

Germany had to lose all of her colonies. Parts of Silesia. The Saar was under French administration. They had to give land to Belgium. Danzig was given to Poland(when it would've been just as possible to give them Lithuania for a port..). Germany also had to pay massive war debts for producing the Maxim Machinegun..

Yeah...
 
AFAIK, the only major Entente power that wasn't out for German blood was the US. The French, particularly, wanted to neuter Germany's power forever.

The British didn't want as harsh a settlement as the French, by a long way.


How about self-determinism is applied to German lands as well?
 

Olmeka

Banned
Danzig was given to Poland(when it would've been just as possible to give them Lithuania for a port..).
It was made a free city-state, Lithuania didn't want to be part of Poland, it would clash with self-determination issue, plus the main external transport and trade infrastructure of Polish state didn't go along that way.
The territorial issues weren't that harsh, unless viewed from position of German nationalism. Gdańsk perhaps could have been re-attached to Germany after transition period, allowing Poles to built alternative port, and likely would have if not for aggressive policy of Hitler.
 
What if the Treaty of Versailles was less harsh on the Germans. Would there be a WW2? Would there be a Cold War? Would we see a European Federation, today?

Yes definitely. Yes, probably, No idea.

The problem with Versailles is not the Treaty, it is that no-one is willing to enforce it. A more lenient treaty will not change anything. It should have been harsher.
 
The Saar Basin was going to France for a period of time, that was unavoidable.

As soon as Wilson and Lloyd George learned that the Germans destroyed the French coal mines even as they were begging for an armistice both men KNEW France would get that bit of rough justice.
 
Nothing strange in that. That was a typical British tactic during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Hmm, colonies were seized during wars for commercial reasons and because they were there and could be used as bargaining tools. The British did not always keep the colonies. The German colonies were of extremely limited economic value.
 

MrP

Banned
Hmm, colonies were seized during wars for commercial reasons and because they were there and could be used as bargaining tools. The British did not always keep the colonies. The German colonies were of extremely limited economic value.

Aye, especially given the fairly recent wars in some of them, in which the natives had been drastically and unpleasantly reduced in population. Poor chaps.
 
Wasn't South Africa pretty keen on holding onto former German South-West Africa? Pretty sure I read that somewhere, not sure what the motive was exactly.
 

Valdemar II

Banned
Wasn't South Africa pretty keen on holding onto former German South-West Africa? Pretty sure I read that somewhere, not sure what the motive was exactly.

Close to South Africa and large White population or more precisely large Protestant White population who spoke a language closely related to Afrikaans
 
What if the Treaty of Versailles was less harsh on the Germans.

That's going to be very difficult to do in the age of public opinion and democracy, especially right after the end of a war which saw the death and maiming of millions and the total destruction of several economies.

Would there be a WW2?

Probably. Hitler's rise to power can be pinned more on the Great Depression than on the Paris Peace Conference.

Would there be a Cold War?

Probably. While the closing months of WWII set the stage for the Cold War as we knew it, rivalry and distrust between the communists and the West saw its seeds planted well before WWII. Depends really on what happens in TTL.

Would we see a European Federation, today?

Likely. Two world wars and a tense confrontational standoff at the heart of the continent might compel Europeans to rethink a few things, a body that makes such wars less likely to occur being one of them.
 

Nietzsche

Banned
It was made a free city-state, Lithuania didn't want to be part of Poland, it would clash with self-determination issue, plus the main external transport and trade infrastructure of Polish state didn't go along that way.
The territorial issues weren't that harsh, unless viewed from position of German nationalism. Gdańsk perhaps could have been re-attached to Germany after transition period, allowing Poles to built alternative port, and likely would have if not for aggressive policy of Hitler.
They were also given the Danzig Corridor. And the self-determination issue was hardly a key part of the ToV. If that were the case Belgium would've recieved nothing at all, Silesia wouldn't of had been (slightly) partitioned between Poland & Czechoslovakia. And IIIRC, I doubt the Alsace would've been returned to France.
 

Valdemar II

Banned
They were also given the Danzig Corridor. And the self-determination issue was hardly a key part of the ToV. If that were the case Belgium would've recieved nothing at all, Silesia wouldn't of had been (slightly) partitioned between Poland & Czechoslovakia. And IIIRC, I doubt the Alsace would've been returned to France.

The Elsassians wished to return to France.
 
<_<

Germany had to lose all of her colonies. Parts of Silesia. The Saar was under French administration. They had to give land to Belgium. Danzig was given to Poland(when it would've been just as possible to give them Lithuania for a port..). Germany also had to pay massive war debts for producing the Maxim Machinegun..

Yeah...

The Silesia was partionied in 1922, after plebiscites and three pro-Polish uprisings. Danzig wasn't given to Poland, but made a Free City. German coloniel were pretty much worthless anyway.
So, yeah.
 
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