Post #2- WWI

4/3/09- The F.R.Q. we had to write for our WWI essay made me realize how utterly backwards the whole thing was. About one hundred years earlier, the Congress of Vienna was able to construct a solid and long lasting peace for most of Europe. Even thought France was to blame for most of the wars and destruction at that time, they were not harshly treated for it. During the peace conference at Versailles, Germany was blamed and bullied through the whole process of drafting the treaty, which they were not even present for. I think it would be difficult to twist all of the events that led up to the war to make it completely Germany's fault. Yet they still had all the blame, had to pay for it in land, money, people, and dignity. If the Congress of Vienna worked so well for so long, why would not the peace conferences and treaties that came after it follow the example? Instead, England, France, and other countries harassed Germany and upset the balance of power that Metternich worked so hard to maintain decades earlier. In return, Germany came back only twenty years later to start WWII.