WWI Peace Treaties Basic Review
Treaty Of Versailles - Key clauses :
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Article 231 : Germany recognizes the war guilt.
Article 119 : Germany is to lose all her colonies which will be placed under the
authority of the allies.
Article 42 : Germany is not to construct any fortifications on either sides of the Rhine
for the next 50 years.
Article 428 : As guarantee that the treaty will be carried out the west part of the
Rhine will be occupied by allied troops for 15 years.
Article 160 : The German army is to be reduced to 100,000 men, also the
construction of tanks submarines and airplanes was forbidden.
Article 45 : The Saar land will be given to France as part of the compensation for the
war.
Article 80 : Germany is not allowed to ally ever again with Austria.
Article 102 : The city of Danzig is to become a free city and to be placed under the
protection of the League of Nations.
Effects and Criticisms of the Settlement:
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Didn’t respect the 14 Point Program:
Germany was not present
Britain did not give up right of search (for ships)
Tariff barriers increased (against free trade)
No multilateral disarmament
G.B. and France gained colonies
The Italian frontiers’ issue was not fixed
Self-determination was not applied
Resentment in Germany at having to pay reparations
Divisions amongst the allies as over reparations
Didn’t respect Self-determination
It was economic and strategic factors which influenced the establishments of
frontiers/countries
Created German resentment against the Versailles Settlement.
Long term effects and criticisms:
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Treaties were completed in haste
Procedural difficulties (views of allies on how to deal with matters differed)
The USSR was excluded (this weakened the settlement)
It broke up Austria-Hungary
This:
Created rivalries in the Balkans
Prevented economic cooperation in the newly formed states
The balance of power in Europe was disturbed
The league did not function as had been hoped
The changes brought by the settlement were incomplete
The Reparations Problem:
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Division amongst the allies on this topic
The Germans did not believe such reparations could ever be paid (especially with its
post-war losses)
Countries relied on reparations to finance reconstruction and the delaying of
reparation payments meant the delaying of the reconstruction process
Evaluation of Reparations:
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Could Germany afford them?
Keynes criticized reparations. He later admitted he might have underestimated
Germany’s ability to pay reparations.
Some argued that there was a lack of will in Germany to pay for reparations
Some argue that Hitler spent more on rearmament (in a short time) then the total
revised reparations payments
How much did Germany actually pay?
Estimations point to $9 billion but she received $8 billion in loans
Reparation payments did little to help the recovery of the allies
Reparations contributed to inter-war period tensions
Britain and France linked war debts and reparations and refused to pay war debts
until reparations were paid to them
Four other treaties were made with the countries that had helped Germany during the
war.
The Treaty of Versailles, however, was the template for these treaties, which were
drawn up by officials (not by the big three) and which simply followed the principles of
the Treaty of Versailles:
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2.
3.
4.
The defeated countries had to disarm.
They had to pay reparations.
They lost land.
New countries were formed.
The terms of the treaties
Here are the main provisions of each treaty - showing 1) terms of disarmament, 2)
amount of reparation, 3) land lost, 4) new countries formed - starting with the Treaty of
Versailles.
Germany: Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919)
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100,000 soldiers, six battleships, no air force
132 billion gold marks to be paid in reparations
Posen, Polish corridor, Alsace-Lorraine, all colonies
Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania
Afterwards: The Dawes and Young Plans re-scheduled Germany's payments.
Austria: Treaty of Saint Germain (10 Sept 1919)
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30,000 volunteers, no navy
reparations agreed, but never set
the Austro-Hungarian empire was dismantled, Tyrol lost to Italy
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania
Afterwards: Austria went bankrupt before the amount of reparations could be set.
Hungary: Treaty of Trianon (4 June 1920)
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35,000 volunteers, three patrol boats
200 million gold crowns
The Austro-Hungarian empire was dismantled
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania
Afterwards: Hungary could not pay the reparations, so its payments were suspended.
Bulgaria: Treaty of Neuilly (27 Nov 1919)
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20,000 volunteers, four torpedo boats, no air force
2.25 billion francs
Land to Yugoslavia, Romania and Greece
n/a
Afterwards: Bulgaria paid its reparations.
Turkey: Treaty of Sèvres (10 Aug 1920)
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50,000 soldiers, seven sailboats and six torpedo boats
None
Smyrna and East Thrace to Greece, Rhodes to Italy
Kurdistan, Armenia, Hejaz (Arabia). Iraq and Palestine became British mandates.
Syria became a French mandate
Afterwards: Turkish nationalists, led by Kemel Attaturk, rebelled and rejected the treaty.
This table summarizes how Versailles was 'the hated treaty':
Germans British French Americans
League of Nations
Hated it
OK
Hated it Hated it
Guilt Clause
Hated it
OK
OK
Hated it
German army reduced Hated it
Hated it OK
Hated it
Reparations
Hated it
Hated it OK
Hated it
German lost land
Hated it
Hated it Hated it Hated it
Opinions of Versailles
Germany
The Germans hated everything about the treaty:
1. They were angry that they had not been allowed to negotiate.
2. 'Deutsche Zeitung', a German newspaper, vowed: "We will never stop until we
win back what we deserve."
3. Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, leader of the German delegation at Versailles said
Article 231- the war-guilt clause - was: "a lie". Germany officially denied the warguilt clause in 1927.
4. There was a revolution (the Kapp Putsch) against the treaty in Berlin in 1920.
5. Germany hated reparations. It had to be made to pay in 1921, defaulted in 1923
and eventually Hitler refused to pay altogether.
Britain
Britain gained some German colonies and the German navy was destroyed but:
1. Lloyd George thought the treaty was too harsh, saying: "We shall have to fight
another war again in 25 years time."
2. The British diplomat Harold Nicolson called it: "neither just nor wise" and the
people who made it: "stupid".
3. The economist John Maynard Keynes prophesied that reparations would ruin the
economy of Europe.
France
France got Alsace-Lorraine, German colonies, harsh reparations and a tiny German
army but:
1. Many French people wanted an independent, not a demilitarized, Rhineland.
2. Most French people did not think the League of Nations would protect them
against Germany.
America
Woodrow Wilson got the League of Nations, and new nation-states were set up in
Eastern Europe but:
1. Wilson thought the treaty was far too harsh.
2. Self-determination proved impossible to implement - neither Czechoslovakia or
Yugoslavia survived as united countries.
3. Many Americans did not want to get involved in Europe, and in 1920 the
American Senate refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles, or join the League of
Nations.
Study Questions
1. In what sense did people have unrealistic hopes for the treaty?
2. Why did the big three disagree at the conference?
3. Why did the Germans claim that the peace treaty was unfair?
4. What were the motives and aims of the big three at Versailles?
5. What did the Treaty of Versailles say?
6. What were the territorial, military and financial provisions of the Treaty of Versailles?
7. What did the Germans think of the treaty?
8. Why did the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles make the Germans so angry?