Gets a far worse rap than deserved, actually.
Possibly, but having the Big Four treat the Japanese who attended like they were less than human had a lasting effect. Five allied nations sent delegates, but only the Big Four were recognized. Pearl Harbor may still have been a target because we had business interests in raped Nanjing, but treating the Japs like subhumans cannot possibly have been justified. And we don't even get into the humiliation of the German people by the British and French, because I'm sure anyone over the age of six understands that this set the stage for the NSDAP and its (highly successful) program of job growth and remilitarization and increased nationalism which led to an even bigger war.
FWIW, I voted Horrible Treaty, and I think that the US congress is just as much to blame for its long-term effects as the other various parliaments involved, but then I'm old enough to remember the Cold War--the inevitable indirect geopolitical result of the treaty of Versailles--as an everyday reality.
The idea that the harshness of the Treaty of Versailles led to WWII is a myth. And, so is the idea of highly successful Nazi economic policy.
The German economic conditions that led to the rise of the Nazi Party were caused by the Great Depression and misguided monetary policy, way more than reparations, which had been softened in 1924 and eliminated in 1932, before the Nazis took power. The Nazis would have attacked whatever the treaty ended WWI because their main beef was not with the fairness of the treaty, but the humiliation of defeat itself.
As for "highly successful" economic policy from the Nazis, also false. A large part of that unemployment recovery was the global recovery from the depths of the Great Depression. Unemployment did go down due to a large arms build up and public works, but it also was completely reckless spending. The Nazis completely depleted the German foreign exchange reserves, defaulted on loans and looted private citizens. They actually needed to start WWII so they could loot other countries before their economy totally collapsed. And, then WWII laid waste to Germany and killed millions of their people. So, highly unsuccessful.
Poll
