Today, I’d like to delve into the prehistory of the Treaty of Versailles, exploring the historical events and circumstances that paved the way for this pivotal agreement.
The thing is, there was a huge chaos before this event: after the First World War, many countries had different and conflicting demands. The Great powers (USA, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan) wanted Germany to pay for the deaths of millions of people. Italy on the other hand, was lured into the war and it was so angry that it wanted further lands. The Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy wanted independence. So the peace conference was opened in January 1919. The losers however were not incited including Russia, which was busy with its civil war anyway. The following leaders dominated the conference: Woodrow Wilson (USA), David Lloyd George (Great Britain), George Clemenceau (France) and Vittorio Emanuele Orlando (Italy).
As you see, the road to the treaty of Versailles was quite rocky. In my opinion, the Great Powers were right that Germany should pay for the price of the war. However, nothing could bring back the victims. As for Italy, it was not fair that it was lured into the war so I am not surprised that the Italians wanted a valuable reward. It is always better to avoid going to war than any kind of promises in return.