TREATY OF VERSAILLES
June 28, 1919
On June 28, 1919, the Allied powers presented the Treaty of Versailles to Germany
for signature. The following are the key territorial and political clauses.
Article 22. Certain communities formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire have
reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can
be provisionally recognised subject to the rendering of administrative advice and
assistance by a Mandatory [i.e., a Western power] until such time as they are able
to stand alone. The wishes of these communities must be a principal consideration
in the selection of the Mandatory.
Article 42. Germany is forbidden to maintain or construct any fortifications either
on the left bank of the Rhine or on the right bank to the west of a line drawn 50
kilometres to the East of the Rhine.
Article 45. As compensation for the destruction of the coal mines in the north of
France and as part payment towards the total reparation due from Germany for the
damage resulting from the war, Germany cedes to France in full and absolute
possession, with exclusive right of exploitation, unencumbered and free from all
debts and charges of any kind, the coal mines situated in the Saar Basin....
Article 49. Germany renounces in favor of the League of Nations, in the capacity of
trustee, the government of the territory defined above. At the end of fifteen years
from the coming into force of the present Treaty the inhabitants of the said territory
shall be called upon to indicate the sovereignty under which they desire to be
placed.
Alsace Lorraine. The High Contracting Parties, recognizing the moral obligation to
redress the wrong done by Germany in 1871 both to the rights of France and to the
wishes of the population of Alsace and Lorraine, which were separated from their
country in spite of the solemn protest of their representatives at the Assembly of
Bordeaux, agree upon the following....
Article 51. The territories which were ceded to Germany in accordance with the
Preliminaries of Peace signed at Versailles on February 26, 1871, and the Treaty of
Frankfort of May 10, 1871, are restored to French sovereignty as from the date of
the Armistice of November 11, 1918. The provisions of the Treaties establishing the
delimitation of the frontiers before 1871 shall be restored.
Article 119. Germany renounces in favor of the Principal Allied and Associated
Powers all her rights and titles over her overseas possessions.
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Article 156. Germany renounces, in favour of Japan, all her rights, title and
privileges . . . which she acquired in virtue of` the Treaty concluded by her with
China on March 6, 1898, and of all other arrangements relative to the Province of
Shantung.
Article 159. The German military forces shall be demobilised and reduced as
prescribed hereinafter
Article 160. By a date which must not be later than March 31, 1920, the German
Army must not comprise more than seven divisions of infantry and three divisions
of cavalry. After that date the total number of effectives in the Army of the States
constituting Germany must not exceed 100,000 men, including officers and
establishments of depots. The Army shall be devoted exclusively to the
maintenance of order within the territory and to the control of the frontiers. The
total effective strength of officers, including the personnel of staffs, whatever their
composition, must not exceed four thousand....
Article 231. The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts
the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to
which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been
subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of
Germany and her allies.
Article 232. The Allied and Associated Governments recognize that the resources
of Germany are not adequate, after taking into account permanent diminutions of
such resources which will result from other provisions of the present Treaty, to
make complete reparation for all such loss and damage. The Allied and Associated
Governments, however, require, and Germany undertakes, that she will make
compensation for all damage done to the civilian population of the Allied and
Associated Powers and to their property during the period of the belligerency of
each as an Allied or Associated Power against Germany.
Source: From The Treaty of Versailles and After: Annotations of the Text of the
Treaty (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1944)
Full text of the Treaty of Versailles at the Yale Avalon Project
