The Versailles Settlement

• What was diktat?

  The German word for Treaty of Versailles, meaning dictated peace
• Build-up to the signing

  • By June 1919, the discussion about what to do with Germany were over and the German government was informed of the terms
  • The Treaty aimed to punish Germany, to prevent them attacking France again by weakening them, and to give the winning countries compensation so that they could rebuild
  • Germany was told that the Allies would resume the war if the German government refused to agree to the terms
  • Eventually, the Germans sent a telegram confirming that a number of German politicians would arrive shortly to sign the treaty
  • On 28 June 1919 the peace treaty was signed
• The terms of the Treaty of Versailles

  • Germany was not allowed tanks, submarines or an air force
  • The League of Nations was formed, but Germany was not allowed to join
  • The German army was limited to 100,000 men, and conscription was not allowed
  • Germany was split in two by the Polish Corridor, a strip of land that was given to Poland to allow them to have access to the sea
  • Danzig was taken from Germany and made a free city under the League of Nations control
  • The Saar was an important industrial part of Germany; there were many coal mines in this area, it was put under the control of the League of Nations for 15 years
  • Germany lost 10 percent of its land, including Alsace-Lorraine, which was returned to France, Eupen and Malmedy, which was given to Belgium, and North Schleswig, which was given to Denmark
  • Germany's colonies in Africa were given as mandates to the League of Nations, which meant that Britain and France controlled them
• The terms of the Treaty of Versailles pt.2

  • Anschluss (union) between Germany and Austria was forbidden
  • The German navy was limited to 15,000 men and 1,500 officers and 6 battleships - the size and number of other ships was also limited
  • The Rhineland, a strip of land on the border between Germany and France, was to be demilitarised; this meant that Germany could not put an army or defences in this area
  • Article 231 of the Treaty was the war guilt clause: Germany and their allies had to take full responsibility for starting the war; this was the term that Germany hated the most
  • Article 232 : Germany was blamed for the war and had to pay reparations to the winners; in 1921, the figure was agreed at £6,600 million; it was estimated this would take until 1988 to pay back
• Germany and the settlement

  • Germany had arguably been the strongest country in Europe prior to the First World War
  • If Europe was going to function again, the 'German problem' had to be settled
  • The country was in turmoil; the Kaiser had fled to Holland and different political parties were arguing with each other
  • To make matters worse, people were furious about the Treaty of Versailles and how it had left Germany in financial ruin
  • Many historians have agreed that the Treaty of Versailles affected Germany for the next two decades and that it ultimately gave Hitler the excuse to invade other countries to reclaim what had been unfairly taken from Germany
  • During the 1920s and 1930s the attitude towards Versailles was, largely, that it had been unjust and that Germany was right to hate it so much
• Looking back

  • At the end of the Second World War, as the Allies once more met to decide Germany's fate in another peace treaty, opinions about the Treaty of Versailles started to change
  • Historians argued that the terms weren't unreasonable at all: the Germans had rebuilt their country and economy so that they were, again, one of the richest, most powerful countries in Europe by 1929
  • However, the view was obviously influenced by events that happened some time after the Treaty was signed