W2 - The Treaty of Versailles

• The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, at the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles near Paris
• The Treaty of Versailles was a compromise between the Allied powers, with the decisive negotiations conducted between the 'Big Three':

  • Woodrow Wilson, President of the USA
  • Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France
  • David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Great Britain
• Woodrow Wilson, traditionally portrayed as an idealist, drew up the Fourteen Points with aims such as international disarmament, self-determination, and creating the League of Nations
• Georges Clemenceau, an uncompromising French nationalist, aimed for annexation of the Rhineland, major disarmament of Germany, and heavy reparations
• David Lloyd George, seen as a pragmatist, aimed to guarantee British military security, limit French demands, and keep Communism at bay
• Terms of the Treaty of Versailles included:

  • Territorial arrangements like the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France and the creation of the Polish Corridor
  • Disarmament measures for Germany, including reducing the army and navy limitations
  • War guilt clause (Article 231) where Germany accepted blame for causing the war
  • Reparations set at 6,600 million GBP to be fixed by the Inter-Allied Reparations Commission
• The Treaty of Versailles was viewed as a diktat by Germans, leading to widespread rejection and condemnation
• Reparations after WWI were seen as unreasonable
• The actual size of reparations was not stated in the Treaty of Versailles
• Payment was left to be decided at a later date by the Inter-Allied Reparations Commission (IARC)
• From the German viewpoint, they were basically forced to sign a 'blank cheque'
• The imposition of disarmament clauses in the Treaty was seen as grossly unfair
• Britain and France remained highly armed and made no future commitments to disarm
• Germany's treatment by the Allies was viewed as undignified and unworthy of a great power
• Germany was excluded from the League of Nations but had to accept the rules of its Covenant under the Treaty
• The Treaty of Versailles was seen as a Diktat by the Germans
• The Allies, particularly Britain, maintained a military blockade on Germany until the Treaty was signed
• The blockade had significant human consequences, such as increasing food shortages
• The Allies threatened to take further military action if Germany did not cooperate
• Most Germans regarded the Treaty of Versailles as a diktat from 1919-1945
• Britain developed growing sympathy for Germany's position
• France generally condemned the Treaty as being too lenient
• A more balanced view of the Treaty of Versailles emerged in Europe only after WWII
• Historians are more sympathetic nowadays towards the peacemakers
• At the Paris Peace Conferences, Allied representatives were motivated by their own national self-interests
• Representatives of France and Britain were keen to achieve at the expense of Germany
• The terms of the Treaty were shaped by the situation created by the war, not only anti-German feeling
• The aims and objectives of the various Allies differed, making agreement more difficult
• The circumstances of the time complicated the negotiations
• The Treaty of Versailles was a compromise
• The Treaty was not based on Wilson's Fourteen Points as most Germans thought it would be
• The Treaty was not nearly as severe as certain sections of Allied opinion had demanded
• Clemenceau was forced to give way over most of France's extreme demands
• The application of self-determination was not nearly as unfair as many Germans believed
• Alsace-Lorraine would have returned to France anyway, as it had been French before 1871
• Plebiscites were held in Schleswig, Silesia, and parts of Prussia to decide their future
• Danzig's status under the League was a result of Woodrow Wilson's promise to provide Poland with access to the sea
• The Eastern frontier provinces of Posen and West Prussia were more mixed in ethnic make-up than Germany admitted
• Austria and the Sudetenland had never been part of Germany before 1918
• Germany was not physically occupied during the war, real damage was suffered on foreign soil