Name __________________
Modern World History
Mr. Kraft
WWI
Treaty of Versailles (1919)
Major Points
1. German Leadership:

Kaiser William II must abdicate and he along with other German war leaders are to be placed
on trial for war crimes.

German Monarchy is abolished and Germany must become a democracy freely elected by the
German people (Weimar Republic).
2. German Territorial Returns:

Germany must surrender colonies in Africa & the Middle East.

Germany must return Alsace-Lorraine to France (taken in the Franco-Prussian War), and the
French border is extended to the Rhine River (Rhineland).

Germany must give their coal mines in the Saar Basin to France because French coal mines
were destroyed during WWI.

Other Countries that got a piece of Germany:
1. Belgium
2. Lithuania
3. Czechoslovakia
4. Poland
5. Denmark
6. Hungary
7. Holland
3. German Military Restrictions:

German Army is limited to 100,000 men with no conscription (draft).

Germany is prohibited to have tanks, heavy artillery, poison-gas supplies, combat aircraft, and
airships.

German Naval vessels are limited to under 100,000 tons in size.

German Navy is prohibited to have submarines (U-Boats).
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4. Guilt and War Reparations:

Germany must accept sole responsibility for WWI.

Germany must pay war reparations to countries affected by WWI.

War Reparations Amount = $33,000,000,000 over the time period of 30 years. This amount
would later be increased to $56,000,000,000.
5. Mandate System – Division of the Ottoman Empire:

The Ottoman Empire having sided with Germany is dissolved and separated.

France gets control of Syria, Lebanon, and Djibouti.

U.K. gets control of Iraq, Jordan, and Palestine (Israel).

Turkey becomes an independent country.

Iran becomes an independent country.

Greece becomes an independent country.
6. Austria-Hungary Division:

Austria-Hungary having sided with Germany is to become two separate countries with two
separate governments.
7. League of Nations – International Peace Organization:

Main Function: International Peace Organization

Goal: Resolve conflicts between countries in an effort to avoid war.

Member Countries: See Attached Sheet

Proposed Executive Council:
1. United States (never joined)
2. France
3. Italy
4. England
5. Japan
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Specific Parts of the Treaty of Versailles that aimed to penalize the Germans:
Article 10: the members of the League undertake to respect and preserve as against external
aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all members of the Langue. In
case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or danger of such aggression, the Council shall
advise upon the means by which this obligation shall be fulfilled.
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 kilometers to the East of the Rhine.
Article 45: as compensation for the destruction of the coal-mines in the North of France and as
payment toward the total reparations due from Germany for the damage resulting from the war,
Germany cedes to France in full and absolute possession, with exclusive rights of exploitation,
unencumbered and free from all debts and charges of any kind, the coal- mines situated in the Saar
Basin as defined in Article 48.
Article 51: the territories [Alsace- Lorraine] which were ceded to Germany in accordance with the
preliminaries of Peace signed at Versailles on February 26, 1871, and the Treaty of Frankfort on May
10, 1871, are restored to French sovereignty as from the date of the Armistice of November 11.1918.
Article 119: Germany renounces in favor of the Principle allied and Associated Powers all her rights
and titled over her overseas possessions.
Article 159: The German military forces shall be demobilized and reduces as prescribed hereinafter.
Article 160: After the date [March 31,1920] the total number of effectives in the Army of the stated
constituting Germany must not exceed one hundred thousand men.
Article 170: Importation into Germany of Arms, munitions and war material of any kind shall strictly
be prohibited.
Article 181: After expiration of a period of two months from the coming into force of the present
Treaty, the German naval forces in commission must not exceed: 6 battleships,6light cruisers, 12
destroyers, 12 torpedo boats, or and equal number of ships constructed to replace them as provided
in Article 190. No submarines are to be included.
Article 198: The armed forces of Germany must not include any military or naval air forces.
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 Treaty, to make complete reparations for all such loss and damages. 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 by such aggression by land, by sea and from the air. [Later set $56 billion]
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