Treaty of Versailles
Map 25.5: Europe in 1919
Treaty of Versailles
• Used Wilson’s 14
Points
• Big 3 + Italy (Big
Four)
• Did not agree on
goals for the peace
talks
Woodrow Wilson USA
David Lloyd-George Great Britain
The Big Four
Georges Clemenceau France
Vittorio Orlando Italy
Allied Attitudes
France
George
Clemenceau
Make Germany
pay!
Make it so
Germany can
never do this again
Revenge
Great Britain
Lloyd George
America
Woodrow Wilson
Similar to the
French
But…
Worried that too
harsh a treaty
might create
problems in the
future
Put forward the 14
Points designed to
establish a lasting
peace in Europe
Treaty of Versailles
• Address underlying causes of the war
• Open covenants (treaties)
• Freedom of the seas
• Tariffs/trade barriers
• Arms build up
• Colonial Policies
Treaty of Versailles
• Used Wilson’s 14 Points
– Germany saw hope – the settlement would
not be vindictive
– Clemenceau – “Wilson bores me with his
Fourteen Points. Why the good lord himself
has only ten.”
Versailles Treaty
• Established 9 new Nations
• Shifted boundaries of others
• Demilitarized Germany
– Not too weak, not too strong
• Reparations - $33 billion
• War-guilt clause
• Created the League of Nations
Europe 2008
14 Points
• Point 14
– League of Nations
• Mutual defense
• Resolution of
disagreements
Treaty of Versailles
• Germany had to
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Demilitarize Rhineland
Saar basin to France - 15 yrs (coal)
Pay reparations - $33 billion
Return conquered lands
Reduce its military to 100,000 men
6 battleships/ no submarines
No air force
Demilitarize western Germany
War guilt clause
• Sign or face invasion --“Diktat”
The War Guilt Clause
"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 Associate Governments and their
nationals have been subjected as a
consequence of a war imposed upon them
by the aggression of Germany and her
Allies."
Article 231
GERMANY ACCEPTED
RESPONSIBILITY FOR
STARTING THE WAR
Weaknesses
• Germany
– Humiliated
– Reparations – economic
depression
– Lost territory
• Alienated Russia
– Lost territory
– Not included in
negotiations
• Ignored claims by
colonized people for selfdetermination
How did Germans React to the Treaty?
Germans thought the Treaty was a “diktat” : a dictated peace.
They had not been invited to the peace conference at Versailles
and when the Treaty was presented to them they were
threatened with war if they did not sign it.
The Treaty was NOT based on Wilson’s Fourteen Points as the
Germans had been promised it would.
Most Germans believed that the War Guilt Clause was
unjustified. The French and British had done just as much to
start the war
The loss of territory and population angered most Germans who
believed that the losses were too severe.
Many Germans believed the German economy would be crippled
by having to pay reparations.
Treaty of Versailles
• The Kaiser’s government had been
replaced and many believed that the new
democratic government was being made
to bear too much of a burden.
– Could it survive?