Treaty of Versailles - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

See also: Treaty of Versailles (homonymy)

The treated Versailles of 1919 announces the creation of the Société of the Nations and determines the conditions of peace between the Germany and the Alliés of the First World War. Worked out during the conference of Paris, the treaty was signed the June 28th 1919, in the Galerie of the Ices of the Château of Versailles and promulgated the January 10th 1920. The Germany, which was not represented during the conference, saw private its colony S and of part of its military rights, amputated by certain territories and obligation with heavy economic sanctions. The original of the treaty was confiscated by the Nazi S in 1940. It was then carried in 1945 with Moscow, from where it never returned.

Choice of the place

The choice of the place of signature of the treaty marks for France the occasion symbolically to wash the humiliation of its defeat of the war of 1870.

It is indeed in same the Galerie of the Ices, with the Château of Versailles, which had had place the proclamation of the German Empire, the January 18th 1871.

Conditions of the drafting and the signature of the treaty

One invited representatives of territories of the whole world to the conference of peace but any person in charge of the overcome states. Certain personalities had a determining influence. One retains of them usually the leaders of four of the principal victorious powers: Lloyd George, British Prime Minister, Vittorio Orlando, President of the Italian Council, Georges Clémenceau, her French counterpart and Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States.

On many points, the positions of these men diverge. The US president wants to set up a new international policy of which it exposed the guiding principles in its Fourteen points. For him, the new diplomacy must be founded on the right of the people to have themselves and on collaboration between States. It has a great prestige and of a considerable political weight because its troops largely contributed to the final victory of the allies. He seeks to spare the Germany to prevent that a revanchist spirit does not develop to with it. The English persons in charge also make a point of leaving in Germany a certain power. Faithful to their theory of balance between the powers, they make a point of preventing the France from acquiring a hegemony in continental Europe. Clemenceau, on the contrary, seeks to impose heavy allowances to limit the economic power and policy of Germany, and to finance the rebuilding of France. With final, the treaty is a compromise which does not satisfy anybody.

The business of Fiume

The signature of the treaty was delayed several months by the takeover by force of Gabriele D' Annunzio which seized the town of Fiume. It was necessary to await the intervention of the Italian marine in December 1920 so that the Traité of Rapallo can apply and allow the official proclamation of the Treaty of Versailles.

14 points of Wilson

Provisions

The treaty has as bases the following principles:

the Germany responsability the moral responsibility for the conflict and must consequently regulate war damagees;
the right of the people to have themselves is recognized;
to avoid future conflicts, an international authority charged to regulate them; will be created (SDN).

The political tendencies of the treaty are:

from a territorial point of view:

the reannexation of the Alsace and the Lorraine by the France;
the attribution of the cantons of Eupen and Malmedy to the Belgium, as well as the Vennbahn;
the attribution of part of the the Schleswig-Holstein, which comprises a Danish population, to the Denmark, which however did not fight;
attribution of the Posnanie and the Western Prussia with new the Polish State, as well as a corridor joining the the Baltic;
the loss of sound colonial Empire for Germany which will be divided between the Belgium, the France, the Japan and the the United Kingdom;
to protect the France, the the Saar is placed under international administration and the left bank of the the Rhine, more Coblentz, Mainz and Cologne, is demilitarized;
in the same way, the High-Silesia and the town of Dantzig are placed under provisional supervision of the allies;
the Anschluss - union with the Austria - is prohibited.
the German colonies pass under mandate of other powers within the framework of the Société of the Nations.

from a military point of view, the Germany is disarmed and cannot rearm itself:

it must deliver 5.000 guns, 25.000 planes, its some armoured tanks and all its fleet (which will be scuttled in Scottish bay of Scapa flow );
the the Rhineland is completely demilitarized;
its army will be limited to a manpower of 100.000 men and the abolished Military service;
the Germany is not entitled any more to the tanks, artillery and the Military aviation.

Also, following the damage caused throughout all war in the Northern of France and in Belgium - and being regarded as the person in charge of the war -, Germany will have to pay strong repairs with these two countries.

a later commission has, in 1921, fixed the amount of financial repairs at 132 billion Mark-but what was a really high sum;

For that, it should be added that repairs were regarded at the time of the conflicts former as a kind of tribute paid by overcome to the winner. However, here, required repairs were it only to repair really caused damage: this damage being enormous, of an amount estimated at 150 billion mark-but, nothing more normal than the amount repairs are it also. Nevertheless, fixed at such a sum, Germany was not likely really any to leave the economic crisis and policy which shook it after war. The amount of repairs and the Treaty of Versailles played a relatively important part in the German feeling of rancour and took part in the come to power of Adolf Hitler - which always violently refused the responsibility for the war 1914-18 in Germany and denounced the payment of repairs to the “hereditary enemy of the German people: France” by the German government of the time.

Several commercial sanctions and of the deliveries in kind supplement this economic shutter:

Germany loses the property of all its Brevet S. the rivers the Rhine, Oder, Elba is internationalized and Germany must admit the goods coming from Alsace-Lorraine and of Posnanie without customs duties. Moreover, the country must deliver to Allied material and agricultural produce.

to also note the creation of a protective system of the minorities in the States lately created like Czechoslovakia and Poland.

Continuations of the treaty

The Polish State is recreated by regrouping of pieces coming from the empires Russian, German Austro-Hungarian and . Its new territories had sometimes strong German-speaking minorities and the Corridor of Dantzig which gives him access to the sea is quite narrow, but separates the Germany from the Eastern Prussia.

Additional treaties with the treaty of Versailles were signed separately with each one of overcome. Treaties of Saint-Germain-in-Bush hammer then Trianon with the Austria-Hungary which is cut up in:

a Austria reduced to the occupied territory by German-speaking S;
a State Hungarian independent;
the Czechoslovakia, State mainly binational (Czech and Slovak), but with a strong German-speaking minority (Sudètes) and other minorities: Polish, Hungarian, Ruthène.
of other pieces of its territory goes to:

the Romania (the Transylvania with strong minorities Hungarian woman and German-speaking);
to reward the Serbia, a federation of the Slaves of the south is created: the Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Slovenia, plus the Bosnia-Herzégovine, multinational area and a Hungarian minority.

Thus, the Germany is seen cut down by 15% of its territory and 10% by its population, but what scandalizes more the Germans, it is the creation of the Couloir of Dantzig. This narrow strip of land allotted to the Poles breaks the German unit by separating the Eastern Prussia from the remainder of the fatherland. They live this treaty, qualified “ Diktat ”, like a terrible humiliation, which, well far from alleviating the tensions, will nourish a deep desire of revenge poked by the speeches of the soldiers and the policies. The “ Diktat ” of Versailles will become thus one of the major topics of the speech hitlérien.

As of its signature, this treaty is called into question. Plenipotentiary German was only called to sign and could not anything negotiate. The American Sénat refused to ratify it and thus prevented the the United States from entering to SDN.

The question of German repairs

Following multiple negotiations, Germany poured only, until in 1933, 22.891 billion marks instead of the 132 envisaged initially and France touched only 9,5 billion marks whereas it was to perceive some more than 68 billion. Still the mark it had devaluated in considerable proportions.

Other resentments

The Italy very badly lived also this treaty and spoke about “ mutilated victory ” because the Allies did not respect the promises made during the conflict concerning the attribution of the provinces of the Istrie, the Dalmatie and the Trentin. The Italian Fasciste S will be able to exploit this treason and will find there a compost favourable with the exaltation of a virulent Nationalisme.

The France, which is however one of principal the recipients of the treaties (return of the Alsace and the Lorraine in the French bosom, demilitarization of the west of Germany, cutting-up of the old Austro-Hungarian empire, obtaining an enormous amount for financial repairs), is not yet satisfied because she would have liked to obtain the permanent occupation of left bank of the Rhine.

The Savoy saw the provisions of annexation of the Traité of Turin (1860) not respectées.
Article 435 of the treaty of Versailles is the cause, this article removes the zones neutral and frank present in Savoy and related to the conditions of annexation. France was condemned by the International Court of Justice of $the Hague in 1932 for the violation of the treaty of Turin.

See too

External bonds

Of the charts animated on the territorial recutting of Europe at the end of the First World War

J. Bainville and J.M. Keynes: two analyzes of the treaty of Versailles per Edouard Husson, specialist in Germany.
TEXTS in bond with the treaty of Versailles Cliotexte.
Chronology of German repairs after the 1 {{Re}} world war

Sources

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