The Treaty of Versailles-

The terms of the treaties

After the peace negotiations ended, five separate treaties were signed between the

Allies and the defeated countries.

The Treaty of Versailles (June 1919) was the first and most important as it dealt

with Germany. Its main points were:

1. Territory Germany lost several areas of land in Europe as follows:

 Alsace–Lorraine returned to France.

 The Saar Basin to be administered by the League for 15years. After which a

plebiscite would be held to decide if it should belong to France, to Germany or

remain under the League control.

 Upper Silesia, Posen and West Prussia to Poland. These losses split East

Prussia from the rest of Germany.

 Danzig, which became a Free City under League of Nation’s control. Poland

could use the port and the strip of the land known as the “Polish Corridor”

 North Schleswig to Denmark.

 Eupen, Malmédy and Moresnet to Belgium.

 The Rhineland, land between France and a line 50km east of the Rhine, to be

demilitarised.

 Memel to Lithuania

 Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania set up as independent states.

 German colonies became mandates of the League of Nations, which effectively meant that Britain and
France controlled them.

2. Anschluss (union) with Austria was forbidden.

3. Disarmament (Armed Forces) to keep Germany weak, it was only allowed an army of 100,000 (all
volunteers, conscription was forbidden), a small navy (36 warships, 6 battleships and 15,000sailors only)
no submarines, tanks and military aircraft were permitted.

4. War Guilt and Reparations Germany were forced to accept Article 231,

blaming it for starting the war.

5. Reparations (compensation) was fixed in 1921 at £6,600 million.

but Germany was not allowed to join.

*Most Germans saw this as a Diktat (dictated peace).

Aims of the Treaty of Versailles

 Guilt - find someone to blame

 Armed forces to be dealt with

 Reparations - who has to pay

 German territories - what to do

 League of Nations to be formed

It was impossible for the ‘Big Three’ to devise a settlement to satisfy all parties since they

all wanted different outcomes regarding the treatment of Germany.

France- the Versailles treaty satisfied a number of their demands as follows;

 The demilitarization of the Rhineland secured its eastern frontier.

 Germany’s economic power and military capacity was reduced.

 Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France.

 France was to be a major recipient of reparations.

 France was to gain some of Germany’s colonies.

*** To avoid France becoming a dominant power in Europe, Lloyd George

persuaded Clemenceau to:

 Abandon the idea of an independent Rhineland state.

 Avoid giving the scale of reparations in the treaty.

 Abandon the idea that Danzig to be given to Poland.

 Abandon the French claim to the Saar Basin.

 Abandon the French president’s idea of splitting Germany into a collection of

smaller states.

*** France wanted an Anglo-American Treaty of Guarantee to assist them if Germany

became aggressive again. This did not materialize as America withdrew into isolation and
Britain would not act independently.

United States- Wilson was pleased with some points of the settlement:

 Reference to a League of Nations was included in each of the peace treaties.

 There was partial satisfaction with the requirement that the defeated nations should

disarm.

 The Rhineland was to remain part of Germany allowing a return of economic

strength and trading possibilities.

*** Wilson was less happy with others:

 He thought that the Versailles treaty was too harsh for Germany.

 The principle of free navigation of the seas was abandoned at Britain’s insistence.

 Britain, France and Japan had rewarded themselves with Germany’s former

colonies.

 Self-determination failed to apply in some areas such as Sudetenland.

 The US Congress failed to approve the treaties and the League of Nations.

Britain- Lloyd George was satisfied with some decisions:

 He had successfully persuaded Clemenceau to moderate his approach towards

Germany.

 He was able to extend British Empire.

 Germany would be able to contribute to the future economic prosperity of

Europe which was reassuring for those who feared the spread of communism.

*** However, Lloyd did not approve of the decision to take place German-speaking people

under the rule of other countries.

Impacts of the Versailles Treaty on the Germans up to 1923

Economic Problems

 Bankruptcy – all reserved gold had been used in WWI. Also had to pay reparations.

 Occupation in the Ruhr – French and Belgium troops invaded the industrial region

of Germany, the Ruhr, and took all of its resources. Passive resistance was

ineffective and the German troops were unmatched by the French troops (750,000

soldiers). 80% of German coal and iron were based there. This event increased
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Germany’s debt, unemployment and the shortage of goods. The French deported

150,000 striking Germans and killed 132 people in separate incidents.

 Hyperinflation – the German government constantly printed out more money to

pay off debts. However as prices increase more money gets printed out which then

increased prices again. Everyone found it difficult to buy necessities as people had

to carry a bundle of money to buy goods which made it inconvenient. There were a

lot of shortages as value of German marks starts to become worthless. Foreign

supplier did not accept German marks so imports and shortages of food started to

decrease. People with saving found their money to become worthless. Those

affected were mostly middle class. Despite this, farmers were better off as they get

to charge their goods for a higher price as well as businesses that have loans as

money starts to lose value which means loans are cheaper.

Political problems

 A fragile new government the Weimar Republic had been set up at the end of

the war. It was forced to sign the hated Treaty of Versailles, making it even

more unpopular.

 It led to an attempted revolt against this democratically elected government

by the freikorps led by Kapp, it failed but left Germany in Chaos.

 The Republic was under threat from the Spartacists who wanted a system of

government based on communism.

German reaction to the Treaty of Versailles

 German people and the government were horrified at the harshness and injustice of

the Treaty of Versailles. They were forced to sign the war guilt clause even though

they did not believe that they started the war.

 They were treated as a defeated nation. Many were not aware that Germany had

surrendered. They thought they had stopped fighting to make peace. They objected

to the “Diktat” or imposed peace, as they should have been allowed to participate in

the discussion.
 They were being punished twice. Firstly through reparations and secondly by being

deprived of important industrial areas such as the Saar, to provide resources needed

to pay reparations which were too high.

 The reduction in armaments brought a loss of pride and resentment. This

contributed to a feeling of insecurity as the size of their army was thought to be too

small to defend against a possible French attack.

 It was seen as insulting that they were not invited to join the League of Nations.