At the end of World War I, a number of major concerns were raised about Germany and what should be done to prevent her from rising as a military power once more. Woodrow Wilson proposed his Fourteen Points for the purposes of negotiation at the peace conference. An analysis of what emerged in the form of the Treaty of Versailles shows that in many ways, the Germans emerged from the war with much of her army leadership intact and with very little democratic change in the governmental system. Considering how much importance Woodrow Wilson placed on the peace conference and on his hopes for certain peace-keeping mechanisms, the question can be raised as to whether Wilson actually sold out his ideals at the Paris Peace Conference or whether some other reason can be given for the failure of the allied forces to impose all that Wilson stated he wanted on the defeated Germans. The First World War, known then as the Great War, was also supposed to be the war to end all wars. Clearly, it did not achieve this lofty goal. The defeat of Germany led to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, and that document was intended to lead to a new and more peaceful world. To achieve this, though, the victors believed they had to bind Germany so that the German military would never again be able to threaten the rest of Europe. There was more than a slight element of punishment in the provisions placed upon Germany by the victors, though the victors did not fully agree among themselves as to the proper course to take.
The Treaty of Versailles was the result of the Paris Peace Conference, organized by the victors to settle the issues raised by the war. The 27 nations represented at the Conference had conflicting plans for peace, so the sessions were tumultuous and the resulting treaties controversial. The conference convened on January 18, 1919. Germany and the other defeated Central Powers were not permitted to sit at the conference tables...