幻聴で思った事その４
2023.02.09(Thu)
福岡大
英検一級 英語 英会話
The Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles officially ended World War I in 1919,after more than four years of bloodshed between the Triple Entente of France,Russia,and Britain,and the Central Powers,made up of Germany and its allies.
The actual fighting however,had ceased with an armistice agreement signed in 1918.
This came about when German military to its knees,leading them to make massive concessions to halt the fighting and prevent an invasion of their borders.
Nevertheless,the success of Germany's wartime propaganda campaign,including reports of fictional victories on the front lines,meant civilians were unaware German forces were being crushed.
When the fighting ended,Ger,am chancellor Friedrich Ebert made the deceptive declaration that German troops had returned "unconquered form the field of battle."
Though intended to maintain national pride,this statement contributed significantly to the widespread delusions about the result of the war,and these helped give rises to a betrayal myth known as the "stab in the back."
According to this notion,since Germany had not been defeated militarily,it must have been betrayed fro9m within.
As a result,nationalists were able to blame labor organizations,socialists,and the country's Jewish population for the seemingly disadvantageous terms the Treaty of Versailles imposed on Germany.
The most infamous section of the treaty was Article 231,commonly known as the "war guilt clause."
It established Germany's responsibility for its actions as a basis for surrendering territory and making financial reparations.
Nationalists,bitter from the German defeat,however,condemned it and claimed the reparations costs demanded by the Triple Entente were so excessive thet they impoverished the nation.
When read in context,though,it becomes evident that,rather than condemning Germany for the outbreak of hostilities,Article 231 primarily served to establish that Germany was legally obligated to abide by the demands for reparations laid out in other articles of the treat,one of which actually limited Germany's responsibility mainly to paying for damage incurred by civilians.
The clause is Therefore more accurately viewed as part of a concession to Germany by the victors.
When Adolf Hilere's Nazi Party took power in the 1930s,it Versailles,had became an international outcast.
Playing on the nation of Article 231 as a war guilt clause,the Nazis fanned the flames of German resentment.Their claim was adopted in many historical narratives and taken as fact by influential individuals,like Britain's war time prime minister David Lloyd George,who joined in laying much of the blame for Germany's renewed post war militarism on the legacy of the Nazis had it entirely backwards.
Their illegal rearmament and seizure of territory,which violated the Treaty of Versailles,were the true impetus for Germany's exclusion from the international community.
Perhaps it i\s time to relegate Article 231's label as the "War Guilt Clause" to simply a footnote of history.
2023.02.09(Thu)
福岡大
英検一級 英語 英会話
The Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles officially ended World War I in 1919,after more than four years of bloodshed between the Triple Entente of France,Russia,and Britain,and the Central Powers,made up of Germany and its allies.
The actual fighting however,had ceased with an armistice agreement signed in 1918.
This came about when German military to its knees,leading them to make massive concessions to halt the fighting and prevent an invasion of their borders.
Nevertheless,the success of Germany's wartime propaganda campaign,including reports of fictional victories on the front lines,meant civilians were unaware German forces were being crushed.
When the fighting ended,Ger,am chancellor Friedrich Ebert made the deceptive declaration that German troops had returned "unconquered form the field of battle."
Though intended to maintain national pride,this statement contributed significantly to the widespread delusions about the result of the war,and these helped give rises to a betrayal myth known as the "stab in the back."
According to this notion,since Germany had not been defeated militarily,it must have been betrayed fro9m within.
As a result,nationalists were able to blame labor organizations,socialists,and the country's Jewish population for the seemingly disadvantageous terms the Treaty of Versailles imposed on Germany.
The most infamous section of the treaty was Article 231,commonly known as the "war guilt clause."
It established Germany's responsibility for its actions as a basis for surrendering territory and making financial reparations.
Nationalists,bitter from the German defeat,however,condemned it and claimed the reparations costs demanded by the Triple Entente were so excessive thet they impoverished the nation.
When read in context,though,it becomes evident that,rather than condemning Germany for the outbreak of hostilities,Article 231 primarily served to establish that Germany was legally obligated to abide by the demands for reparations laid out in other articles of the treat,one of which actually limited Germany's responsibility mainly to paying for damage incurred by civilians.
The clause is Therefore more accurately viewed as part of a concession to Germany by the victors.
When Adolf Hilere's Nazi Party took power in the 1930s,it Versailles,had became an international outcast.
Playing on the nation of Article 231 as a war guilt clause,the Nazis fanned the flames of German resentment.Their claim was adopted in many historical narratives and taken as fact by influential individuals,like Britain's war time prime minister David Lloyd George,who joined in laying much of the blame for Germany's renewed post war militarism on the legacy of the Nazis had it entirely backwards.
Their illegal rearmament and seizure of territory,which violated the Treaty of Versailles,were the true impetus for Germany's exclusion from the international community.
Perhaps it i\s time to relegate Article 231's label as the "War Guilt Clause" to simply a footnote of history.