What made the Treaty of Versailles difficult to negotiate?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary. There were several problems in negotiating the Treaty of Versailles. First and most problematic was the imposition of a war guilt clause on Germany, Act 231, for having started the war and for having utilized a total war strategy, particularly in trench warfare. From a diplomatic standpoint, Wilson's Fourteen Point Plan was seen as outside interference from a country that really had no comprehension of the damages caused by the war, and Lloyd George and Clemenceau were also interested in protecting their respective colonial territories. Wilson arrived in Paris with a strong proposal for national self-determination, granting independence to some countries. His reason for entering World War I had been "to make the world safe for democracy." But a significant conflict was immediately apparent in whether or not the terms of self-determination should be met or whether to uphold secret agreements made during wartime, such as the Sykes-Picot agreement, or the Balfour Accords. The Great Powers also promoted the protection of ethnic minorities, particularly in redrawing the map and the boundaries of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Turkey, and others were only granted with agreement to treat ethnic and religious minorities (especially Jews) as equals.