What influenced the peace treaties ending WWI and how did people react?

It seemed that anger and vengeance helped to drive the Treaty of Versailles.  There was not a strong emphasis to seek a peace that would actually respect the needs of all parties.  Wilson might have been driving for a more embracing vision, but he was overrun by the French and the British.  In needing their support, the price paid was that unflinchingly brutal terms were invoked on Germany.  Appeasing the victors at the cost of the vanquished seemed to be the fundamental principle that guided the the Treaty, which seemed to be more of an armistice and not an actual treaty.  The reaction was to develop and embed the sense of German resentment which led to the rise of Nazism and Hitler as time progressed.

In addition, President Woodrow Wilson was very idealistic in his approach to peace.  He brought his Fourteen Points - ideas to end war for all time - to the peace negotiations, while Britain was more interested in how their empire could gain from winning the war, and France was more interested in punishment of Germany and war reparations.

The Fourteen Points did influence the final treaty, creating a League of Nations and creating the new nations of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, but the Treaty was also harsh and damaging towards Germany in the end, which many historians argue led to the rise of Hitler in later years.

The main factors that influenced the peace treaties were the strength of the Allies and the amount of anger that they felt towards Germany.  Because of this, the Treaty of Versailles was written with some rather harsh terms.  These included forcing the Germans to pay rather large amounts of war reparations. These terms hurt Germany greatly.

Eventually, the British came to think the Treaty was too harsh.  But the French (who were in most danger from the Germans) really liked and supported the Treaty.  The Germans, of course, really hated the Treaty.

What were people's reactions to World War I peace treaties?

The way people reacted to the Treaty of Versailles which ended World War I depended largely on which country they were from. When the conditions laid out in the treaty were publicly announced in June of 1919, people reacted in a number of different ways. While individuals responded to the treaty differently, we can consider the following explanations to generalizations of the way different nationalities reacted.

Many Americans disapproved of the Treaty of Versailles. Even though the United States fought against Germany, many, including President Wilson, felt the treaty to be unduly harsh. They wanted Germany to be punished, but they felt that the treaty was being used as an instrument of revenge, not peace. Some even considered it a scheme to benefit the French and British exclusively. In the end, Congress did not even ratify the treaty. By the time the treaty was signed, many Americans were growing weary of involvement in foreign affairs and did not concern themselves too much in considering the conditions of Versailles.

The Germans found the treaty to be unduly harsh. They had no role in drafting the treaty but were forced to sign it nonetheless. Since the treaty greatly limited the size of Germany's armed forces, reduced its territory, and required the payment of reparations, most Germans considered the treaty to be a raw deal. Many were absolutely outraged by the terms of the treaty which they considered foisted upon them without their consent.

The British, for the most part, considered the Treaty of Versailles to be fair and just. Some even felt that Germany should have been punished even more harshly. Most people in Britain seemed happy that the treaty would reduce the threat of Germany in the future and would sufficiently punish the country for the deaths of so many young Englishmen. After some time though, many British came to see the treaty as being too punitive on Germany. By the 1930s, British politicians willingly failed to enforce the conditions that limited the size and scope of Germany's military as the Nazi army began to grow and mobilize.

The French mostly agreed with the terms of the treaty. They received a large portion of the reparations that Germany had to pay and gained lucrative territory as well. Much of the war was fought on French soil and had caused an incredible amount of destruction. Therefore, severely punishing Germany was a personal matter for many French citizens. Consequently, they tended to react positively to the treaty.

How did people react to the WWI treaties?

I think people on the United States were very angry at the Germans. They wanted to punish them after the war. Many people thought Germany should be wiped off the face of fhe earth. The British felt the same way. The Germans, on the other hand, felt like they did not deserve to be punished.

This depends a great deal on which country you are talking about.  I will look briefly at the reactions of people in the United States and in Germany.

In the US, the treaty never did get ratified by the Senate.  This was because the people were not sufficiently in favor of the treaty to force the Senate to pass it.  Many Senators did not like the idea of the League of Nations and so they opposed the bill.  Pres. Wilson tried to persuade the people to pressure the Senate to pass the bill, but the Senate did not.

In Germany, the whole treaty was hated.  The treaty assigned all blame for the war to Germany.  It forced Germany to pay reparations to the winners.  Both of these clauses (as well as others that also weakened Germany) made the German people very angry.  It was their anger that eventually allowed Hitler to come to power promising to break the Treaty of Versailles.

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