(Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images), New European borders, the League of Nations and Germany reparations. ", while General Jan Smuts (a member of the South African delegation) wrote to Lloyd-George, before the signing, that the treaty was unstable and declared "Are we in our sober senses or suffering from shellshock? [140], The German economy was so weak that only a small percentage of reparations was paid in hard currency. Foodstuffs imports into Germany were controlled by the Allies after the Armistice with Germany until Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919. Consequently, passive resistance was called off in late 1923. To create new boundaries is to create new troubles. [160] These members formed over 50 commissions that made various recommendations, many of which were incorporated into the final text of the treaty. Historical consensus is that the charges were exaggerated for political and propaganda purposes, and that the colonial troops behaved far better than their white counterparts. On 9 January 1923, the Lithuanian Army invaded the territory during the Klaipda Revolt. [81] Schmitt argued "had the four Allies remained united, they could have forced Germany really to disarm, and the German will and capacity to resist other provisions of the treaty would have correspondingly diminished. The region returned to German sovereignty on 1 March 1935. ", "How the Treaty of Versailles Contributed to Hitler's Rise", "Peace Without Victory (speech to Senate)", "Reassembling a World Order: Toward a New Historiography of the Paris Peace Conference", "The Making of a Masterpiece: John Maynard Keynes and The Economic Consequences of the Peace", Treaty of Peace between Germany and the United States of America, Documents relating to the Treaty from the Parliamentary Collections, The consequences of the Treaty of Versailles for today's world, Text of Protest by Germany and Acceptance of Fair Peace Treaty, Map of Europe and the impact of the Versailles Treaty, The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Armistice between Russia and the Central Powers, Japan-US Treaty of Peace and Amity (1854), Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia (1855), Dutch-Japan Treaty of Peace and Amity (1854), Japan-Netherlands Additional Treaty (1856), Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States Japan) (1859), Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the Netherlands and Japan (1859), Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Russia and Japan (1859), Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce (1858), Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan (1858), Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Portugal and Japan (1861), Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Prussia and Japan (1862), Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Belgium and Japan (1866), Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Italy and Japan (1866), Russo-Japanese Provisional Treaty of Karafuto Island (1867), Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Spain and Japan (1868), Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation Austria-Hungary and Japan (1869), Sino-Japanese Friendship and Trade Treaty (1871), Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Hawaii and Japan (1871), Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Peru and Japan (1873), Engagement between Japan and China respecting Formosa of 1874, US-Japanese Convention Revising Certain Portions of Existing Commercial Treaties (1878), Japan-Hawaii Labor Immigration Treaty (1884), Declaration of Amity and Commerce between Thailand and Japan (1887), Treaty of Friendship and Commerce between Mexico and Japan (1888), Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1894), Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and the USA (1894), ItaloJapanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1894), Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Brazil and Japan (1895), Treaty for returning Fengtian Peninsula (1895), GermanJapanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1896), JapanChina Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1896), FrancoJapanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1896), JapanNetherlands Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1896), Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Chile and Japan (1897), Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Argentina and Japan (1898), Japan-Thailand Friendship, Commerce and Navigation Treaty (1898), Japan-China Additional Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1903), Additional Agreement of the Japan-China Treaty relating to Manchuria (1905), Japan-China Agreement relating to Manchuria and Jiandao (1909), Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and the USA (1911), Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1911), North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911, Japan-China Co-defense Military Pact (1918), Treaty concerning solution of Shandong issues (1922), GermanJapanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1927), Japan-Manchukuo-Soviet Protocol for Cession of North Manchuria Railway (1935), Japan-Netherlands Shipping Agreement (1936), Japan-China Basic Relations Treaty (1940), Japan-Manchukuo-China Joint Declaration (1940), Japan-Thailand Offensive and Defensive Alliance Treaty (1941), Security Treaty between the United States and Japan (1951), Treaty of Peace between Japan and India (1952), Treaty of Peace between Japan and Burma (1954), JapanPhilippines Reparations Agreement (1956), SovietJapanese 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Taken as a whole, the treaties concluded after World War I redrew the borders of Europe, carving up the former Austro-Hungarian Empire into states like Yugoslavia, Poland and Czechoslovakia. Furthermore, payments made between 1919 and 1921 were taken into account reducing the sum to 41billion gold marks. Some saw it as a good solution in a difficult time, others saw it as a disastrous measure that would anger the Germans to seek revenge. After Wilson's presidency, his successor Republican President Warren G. Harding continued American opposition to the formation of the League of Nations. Black Thursday brings the roaring twenties to a screaming halt, ushering in a world-wide an economic depression. The Treaty of Versailles (French: Trait de Versailles; German: Versailler Vertrag, pronounced [vza ftak] (listen)) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. The other members of the Central Powers signed treaties containing similar articles. By placing the burden of war guilt entirely on Germany, imposing harsh reparations payments and creating an increasingly unstable collection of smaller nations in Europe, the treaty would ultimately fail to resolve the underlying issues that caused war to break out in 1914, and help pave the way for another massive global conflict 20 years later. American and British representatives refused the French claim and after two months of negotiations, the French accepted a British pledge to provide an immediate alliance with France if Germany attacked again, and Wilson agreed to put a similar proposal to the Senate. In spite of this position and in order to ensure that Japan did not refuse to join the League of Nations, Wilson favored turning over the former German colony of Shandong, in Eastern China, to the Japanese Empire rather than return the area to the Republic of China's control. 5] It called for a just and democratic peace uncompromised by territorial annexation. [126] [ii] In response, the Allies issued an ultimatum stating that Germany would have to accept the treaty or face an invasion of Allied forces across the Rhine within 24 hours. This is, for me, our main and principal expansion." [131] Especially when they did not put a war guilt clause on Austria-Hungary, which you could reasonably argue were the people that actually started this., The first informal meeting of the League of Nations in Geneva. The French wanted Germany to maintain a conscript army of up to 200,000 men in order to justify their own maintenance of a similar force. It was signed into law by President Harding on 2 July 1921. [124] Wilson, a Democrat, refused to include prominent Republicans in the American delegation making his efforts seem partisan, and contributed to a risk of political defeat at home. Germany's assistance with the restoration of the university library of Leuven, which was destroyed by the Germans on 25 August 1914, was also credited towards the sum. [5], The United States entered the war against the Central Powers in 1917 and President Woodrow Wilson largely shaped the peace terms. [36], Initially, a "Council of Ten" (comprising two delegates each from Britain, France, the United States, Italy, and Japan) met officially to decide the peace terms. [114] But though most Germans were furious about the Treaty of Versailles, calling it a Diktat (dictated peace) and condemning the German representatives who signed it as November criminals who had stabbed them in the back, in hindsight it seems clear that the treaty turned out to be far more lenient than its authors might have intended. Wilson himself was an enactor of segregationist policies in the United States, Clemenceau openly ridiculed them, Balfour considered Africans inferior to Europeans equality was only true of people within particular nations while William Hughes, adopting a "slap the Jap" attitude, was a vocal defender of a White Australia policy. Furthermore, the Commission recognized that the Central Powers could pay little and that the burden would fall upon Germany. Germany surrendered eight battleships, eight light cruisers, forty-two destroyers, and fifty torpedo boats for decommissioning. Anger and dismay over the treaty's provisions helped pave the way for the establishment of Benito Mussolini's Fascist dictatorship three years later. Upon receiving this, the new government recommended signing the treaty. The German Kaiserliche Marine was mainly restricted to the German Bight and used commerce raiders and unrestricted submarine warfare for a counter-blockade. Italian nationalists, however, saw the War as a "mutilated victory" for what they considered to be little territorial gains achieved in the other treaties directly impacting Italy's borders. World War I had brought up painful memories of that conflictwhich ended in German unification and its seizure of the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine from Franceand now France intended to make Germany pay. The treaty required Germany to disarm, make ample territorial concessions, and pay reparations to certain countries that had formed the Entente powers. On 8 January 1918, however, Wilson delivered a speech (known as the Fourteen Points) that declared the American peace objectives: the rebuilding of the European economy, self-determination of European and Middle Eastern ethnic groups, the promotion of free trade, the creation of appropriate mandates for former colonies, and above all, the creation of a powerful League of Nations that would ensure the peace. Orlando refused to see World War I as a mutilated victory, replying at nationalists calling for a greater expansion that "Italy today is a great state.on par with the great historic and contemporary states. [181] Richard Debo wrote "both Berlin and Warsaw believed the Soviet invasion of Poland had influenced the East Prussian plebiscites. The money would help to pay for Allied occupation costs and buy food and raw materials for Germany.[76][n. [52][53][50] By arguing that British war pensions and widows' allowances should be included in the German reparation sum, Lloyd George ensured that a large amount would go to the British Empire. Barnett also claims that, in strategic terms, Germany was in fact in a superior position following the Treaty than she had been in 1914. The country had suffered high casualties, yet failed to achieve most of its major war goals, notably gaining control of the Dalmatian coast and Fiume. This council was replaced by the "Council of Five", formed from each country's foreign ministers, to discuss minor matters. [177], French historian Raymond Cartier states that millions of ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland and in Posen-West Prussia were placed under foreign rule in a hostile environment, where harassment and violation of rights by authorities are documented. [170] To compensate for the destruction of French coal mines, Germany was to cede the output of the Saar coalmines to France and control of the Saar to the League of Nations for 15 years; a plebiscite would then be held to decide sovereignty.[n. II and III. His war aim was to detach the war from nationalistic disputes and ambitions. [177] Rather, Peukert argued that it was widely believed in Germany that Versailles was a totally unreasonable treaty, and it was this "perception" rather than the "reality" of the Versailles treaty that mattered. This figure fell to 7,102 by 1926, and continued to fall as a result of diplomatic developments. )[40] What has become of Wilson's 14 points?" Marshal Ferdinand Foch stated "this (treaty) is not peace. Despite the oppression and migration, Opole Silesia "remained ethnically mixed. Norman Davies wrote that "a curious oversight" of the military restrictions were that they "did not include rockets in its list of prohibited weapons", which provided Wernher von Braun an area to research within eventually resulting in "his break [that] came in 1943" leading to the development of the V-2 rocket. He also argued that Versailles was not the "main cause" of National Socialism and the German economy was "only marginally influenced by the impact of reparations". Although the armistice of 11 November 1918 ended the actual fighting, it took six months of Allied negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. Senate Documents: Addresses of President Wilson (MayNovember 1919), vol. Germans viewed the treaty as a humiliation and eagerly listened to Hitler's oratory which blamed the treaty for Germany's ills. By 1920, the BAOR consisted of only 40,594 men and the following year had been further reduced to 12,421. 17], The treaty was comprehensive and complex in the restrictions imposed upon the post-war German armed forces (the Reichswehr). [151][152] Production was not the only violation: "Volunteers" were rapidly passed through the army to make a pool of trained reserves, and paramilitary organizations were encouraged with the illegally militarized police. [106], After Scheidemann's resignation, a new coalition government was formed under Gustav Bauer. Otherwise, Portugal gained little at the peace conference. The Rhineland was to be demilitarized, all fortifications in the Rhineland and 50 kilometres (31 miles) east of the river were to be demolished and new construction was forbidden.[n. [166], It has been argued for instance by historian Gerhard Weinberg in his book A World at Arms[167] that the treaty was in fact quite advantageous to Germany. Furthermore, German negotiators were excluded to deny them an opportunity to divide the Allies diplomatically. [122], During the formulation of the treaty, the British wanted Germany to abolish conscription but be allowed to maintain a volunteer Army. The minor powers attended a weekly "Plenary Conference" that discussed issues in a general forum but made no decisions. On 28 June 1919, the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the immediate impetus for the war), the peace treaty was signed. Because Germany was not allowed to take part in the negotiations, the German government issued a protest against what it considered to be unfair demands, and a "violation of honour", soon afterwards withdrawing from the proceedings of the peace conference. It eliminated Russia as a direct enemy of Germany, at least in the 1920s, and it removed Russia as an ally of France. [134], The French Army of the Rhine was initially 250,000 men strong, including at a peak 40,000 African colonial troops (Troupes coloniales). During the 1940s, Mantoux wrote a posthumously published book titled The Carthaginian Peace, or the Economic Consequences of Mr. Keynes in an attempt to rebut Keynes' claims. The Bismarckian Reich was maintained as a political unit instead of being broken up, and Germany largely escaped post-war military occupation (in contrast to the situation following World War II). Government Officials Drafting the Terms of the Treaty of Versailles. "[178], The Treaty of Versailles resulted in the creation of several thousand miles of new boundaries, with maps playing a central role in the negotiations at Paris. When the outcome of the vote became known, 4,100 (including 800 refugees who had previously fled Germany) residents fled over the border into France. 16] Togoland and German Kamerun (Cameroon) were transferred to France, aside from portions given to Britain, British Togoland and British Cameroon. [177] Finally, Peukert argued that it was the Great Depression and the turn to a nationalist policy of autarky within Germany at the same time that finished off the Weimar Republic, not the Treaty of Versailles. "[176], The German historian Detlev Peukert wrote that Versailles was far from the impossible peace that most Germans claimed it was during the interwar period, and though not without flaws was actually quite reasonable to Germany. [156][157][158] The resulting rearmament programmes were allotted 35billion Reichsmarks over an eight-year period. In June 1919, the Third Army demobilized and by 1920 the US occupation force had been reduced to 15,000 men. On 7 May, when faced with the conditions dictated by the victors, including the so-called "War Guilt Clause", von Brockdorff-Rantzau replied to Clemenceau, Wilson and Lloyd George: "We can sense the full force of hatred that confronts us here. The Versailles Treaty forced Germany to give up territory to Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Poland, return Alsace and Lorraine to France and cede all of its overseas colonies in China, Pacific and Africa to the Allied nations. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, followed quickly by the entry of most European powers into the First World War. Francesco Saverio Nitti took Orlando's place in signing the treaty of Versailles. Most importantly, Article 231 of the treaty placed all blame for inciting the war squarely on Germany, and forced it to pay several billion in reparations to the Allied nations. The treaty was registered by the Secretariat of the League of Nations on 21 October 1919. It failed. The Versailles Treaty had also included a covenant for the League of Nations, the international organization that Woodrow Wilson had envisioned would preserve peace among the nations of Europe and the world.