The Treaty of Versailles
The End of WWI
What was the Treaty of Versailles?
 The
peace settlement signed after
WWI ended
 Signed at the Versailles Palace in France
 The Big Three
– David Lloyd George of England
– Woodrow Wilson of USA
– Georges Clemenceau of France
The Major question: How to pay for the
damages?
Some WWI Statistics

WWI left Europe devastated
– Britain:750,000 killed, 1.5 million wounded
– France:1.4 million killed, 2.5 million wounded
– Belgium:50,000 killed
– Italy: 600,000 killed
– Russia: 1.7 million killed
– USA: 116,000 killed
– Germany: 2 million soldiers killed
– Austria-Hungary: 1.2 million killed
– Turkey: 325,000 killed
– Bulgaria 100,000 killed
Total deaths equals 8.5 million, 21 million
wounded
The Attitudes towards Germany
 Britain’s
Attitude
– Germany should be punished, but
not so much that the people would
turn to Communism, like what was
happening in Russia
– The British public wanted severe
repercussions for Germany
– Had to go with popular opinion, rather
than gut feeling
The Attitudes towards Germany
 France’s
Attitude
– Bring Germany to their knees so that
it could never start a war again
– This reflected the French public as well
– Germany had destroyed the northeast corner of France displacing
750,000 French people. This
deserved a total reprimand.
Attitudes towards Germany
 USA
Attitudes
– Wilson and the USA were stunned by
the atrocities of WWI. Questioned how
a civilized country could create that
much devastation
– American public wanted to be
isolated from Europe, wanted
limited input on the Treaty
– Wilson wanted Germany to be punished
but in a way that would lead to
reconciliation, not revenge
What did the Treaty do to Germany?
-Took away vast amounts of land from the
Germany territory
-Alsace-Lorraine given to France
-West Prussia given to Poland
-The League of Nations took over Germany’s
overseas colonies
-Return land to Russia taken away in the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: New Countries of
Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia
German Military
Germany’s army reduced to 100,000
men and no tanks
Germany was not allowed an airforce
Only allowed 6 naval ships
A DMZ was established along the Rhine
river, Germany not allowed to cross over
Three Critical Aspects
1. Germany had to admit full
responsibility for the war
2.
Since Germany was responsible for the
war, it had to pay full reparations
mainly in France and Belgium
3.
A League of Nations was established
to keep world peace
Germany’s Choices
 They
 Or,
could either sign the Treaty
be invaded by the allies
 Since
their armies were completely
disbanded, they had no choice but to
sign it