The First World War is over! The enemies laid down their guns. The geopolitical reorganization of Europe has begun. But why did Germany, having suffered a heavy defeat, not only mobilize all its forces, but also unleash the most terrible and bloody war in the history of mankind?! I will express my point of view on this matter.
So, the victorious countries (USA, England, France, Italy, etc.) judged the vanquished (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey), naturally, imposing on them their terms of the post-war world order. The Treaty of Versailles, without eliminating the pre-war contradictions, gave rise to new ones - between the victors and the vanquished. Therefore, the Versailles system turned out to be extremely shaky and unstable. “The Treaty of Versailles is a treaty of predators and robbers,” Lenin said and further emphasized that “the international system, the order that is maintained by the Treaty of Versailles is maintained on a volcano.”
The Versailles system turned out to be unable to fulfill its immediate task - to keep the defeated countries in check. The Entente contributed to the unity of the vanquished and aroused their hatred. Germany's defeat in the war reinforced the discrepancy between the country's high level of economic development and the weakness of its position in world markets. The main cause of the First World War - Germany's struggle for markets, sources of raw materials and areas for investment of capital - was not eliminated, but only temporarily muffled and inevitably had to escalate even more after some time. Neither the attempt to undermine the German economy through reparations, nor the deprivation of Germany of a massive army prevented the preparation of revenge. It must be said that the German ruling circles began to think about revenge immediately after the signing of the armistice.
Undoubtedly, the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were extremely difficult, and all this burden fell on the shoulders of the German working people. Germany retained all of its industry and was ready in due time to fully restore its productive power.
An important factor that undermined the Versailles system was also the contradictions between the victors. Imagine the picture: in the Middle East, England secretly supported Syria against France, and France secretly supported Turkey against England. Together with Italy, England tried to weaken French positions in the Balkans.
The Versailles system did not satisfy the United States either, which did not ratify the peace treaty. Moreover, Germany received multibillion-dollar American loans that contributed to the restoration of its military-industrial potential.
The Versailles system legitimized the colonial rule of a handful of countries over 7/10 of the world's population. For this reason, it was in no way fair, and the growing struggle of the oppressed peoples destroyed it. Also, one of the main defects of the Versailles system was its desire to isolate the USSR with a “cordon sanitaire”, to build post-war international relations contrary to its vital interests, which objectively undermined this system, making it fragile and short-lived.
So, let's summarize. The Treaty of Versailles and Washington was supposed to end the war. In reality, he turned her into a constant threat looming over the entire world. The Entente countries are one of the main reasons for the Second World War, their stupid and thoughtless policies, which were calculated two steps ahead, as well as following only their own interests, without seeing the big picture.
Versailles is not peace, it's a truce for twenty years
Ferdinand Foch
The Treaty of Versailles of 1919 was signed on June 28. This document officially ended the First World War, which for 4 long years was the worst nightmare for all the inhabitants of Europe. This agreement received its name from the place where it was signed: in France at the Palace of Versailles. The signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty between the Entente countries and Germany, which officially admitted its defeat in the war. The terms of the agreement were so humiliating and cruel towards the losing side that they simply had no analogues in history, and all political figures of that era spoke more about a truce than about peace.
In this material we will consider the main conditions of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919, as well as the events that preceded the signing of this document. You will see from specific historical facts how stringent the requirements for Germany turned out to be. In fact, this document shaped relations in Europe for two decades, and also created the preconditions for the formation of the Third Reich.
Treaty of Versailles 1919 - terms of peace
The text of the Treaty of Versailles is quite lengthy and covers a huge number of aspects. This is also surprising from the point of view that never before have clauses that have nothing to do with it been spelled out in such detail in a peace agreement. We will present only the most significant conditions of Versailles, which made this treaty so enslaving. We present the Versailles Peace Treaty with Germany, the text of which is presented below.
- Germany admitted its responsibility for all the damage caused to all countries that participated in the First World War. The losing party will have to compensate for this damage.
- Wilhelm 2, the emperor of the country, was recognized as an international war criminal and was required to be brought before a tribunal (Article 227)
- Clear boundaries were established between European countries.
- The German state was prohibited from having a regular army (Article 173)
- All fortresses and fortified areas west of the Rhine must be completely destroyed (Article 180)
- Germany was obliged to pay reparations to the winning countries, but specific amounts are not specified in the documents, and there are rather vague formulations that allow these reparation amounts to be assigned at the discretion of the Entente countries (Article 235)
- The territories west of the Rhine would be occupied by Allied forces to enforce the terms of the treaty (Article 428).
This is not a complete list of the main provisions that the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919 contains, but it is quite enough to evaluate how this document was signed and how it could be implemented.
Prerequisites for signing the agreement
On October 3, 1918, Max Badensky became Chancellor of the Empire. This historical character had a tremendous influence on the outcome of the First World War. By the end of October, all participants in the war were looking for ways to exit it. No one could continue the protracted war.
On November 1, 1918, an event occurred that is not described in Russian history. Max Badensky caught a cold, took sleeping pills and fell asleep. His sleep lasted 36 hours. When the Chancellor woke up on November 3, all the allies withdrew from the war, and Germany itself was engulfed in revolution. Is it possible to believe that the chancellor simply slept through such events and no one woke him up? When he woke up, the country was practically destroyed. Meanwhile, Lloyd George, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, describes this event in some detail in his biography.
On November 3, 1918, Max Badensky woke up and first of all issued a decree prohibiting the use of weapons against revolutionaries. Germany was on the verge of collapse. Then the chancellor turned to the German Kaiser Wilhelm with a request to abdicate the throne. On November 9, he announced the Kaiser's abdication. But there was no renunciation! Wilhelm abdicated the throne only after 3 weeks! After the German chancellor virtually single-handedly lost the war, and also lied about Wilhelm's abdication of power, he himself resigned, leaving behind his successor Ebert, an ardent Social Democrat.
After Ebert was declared Chancellor of Germany, the miracles continued. Just one hour after his appointment, he declared Germany a Republic, although he had no such powers. In fact, immediately after this, negotiations began on a truce between Germany and the Entente countries.
The Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919 also clearly shows us how Badensky and Ebert betrayed their homeland. Armistice negotiations began on November 7. The agreement was signed on November 11. To ratify this agreement, on the German side, it had to be signed by the ruler, the Kaiser, who would never agree to the conditions that the signed agreement carried. Now do you understand why Max of Baden lied on November 9 about Kaiser Wilhelm abdicating power?
Results of the Treaty of Versailles
Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was obliged to transfer to the Entente countries: the entire fleet, all airships, as well as almost all steam locomotives, wagons and trucks. In addition, Germany was prohibited from having a regular army or producing weapons and military equipment. It was forbidden to have a fleet and aviation. In fact, Ebert did not sign a truce, but an unconditional surrender. Moreover, Germany had no reason for this. The Allies did not bomb German cities and not a single enemy soldier was on German territory. The Kaiser's army successfully conducted military operations. Ebert understood perfectly well that the German people would not approve of such a peace treaty and would want to continue the war. Therefore, another trick was invented. The treaty was called an armistice (this a priori told the Germans that the war was simply ending without any concessions), but it was signed only after Ebert and his government had laid down their arms. Even before the signing of the “armistice,” Germany transferred the fleet, aviation and all weapons to the Entente countries. After this, resistance by the German people to the Versailles Peace Treaty was impossible. In addition to the loss of the army and navy, Germany was forced to cede a significant part of its territory.
The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 was humiliating for Germany. Most politicians later said that this was not peace, but simply a truce before a new war. And so it happened.
TREATY OF VERSAILLES PEACE 1919, the treaty that officially ended the First World War of 1914-18. It was developed at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919-20. Consisted of 440 articles, combined into 15 sections. Signed on June 28 at Versailles (France) by the United States, the British Empire, France, Italy and Japan, as well as Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hijaz, Honduras, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland , Portugal, Romania, the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian state, Siam, Czechoslovakia and Uruguay, on the one hand, and capitulated Germany, on the other. Soviet Russia was not invited to participate in the development and signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty. China, which took part in the Paris Peace Conference, did not sign the treaty. Of the states that signed the Treaty of Versailles, the United States, Hijaz and Ecuador subsequently refused to ratify it. The US Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles due to its unwillingness to bind the United States of America to participation in the League of Nations, the charter of which was an integral part of the Treaty of Versailles. On August 25, 1921, the United States concluded a separate treaty with Germany, almost identical to the Versailles Peace Treaty, which, however, did not contain articles on the League of Nations and Germany’s responsibility for starting the war.
The Treaty of Versailles came into force on January 10, 1920, after it was ratified by Germany and the four main Allied powers - Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan.
The Treaty of Versailles was intended to fix the fact of the military defeat of Germany and its responsibility for the outbreak of the war, to redistribute the world in favor of the victorious powers through the liquidation of the German colonial empire, to consolidate territorial changes in Europe, including through the transfer of lands of Germany and the former Russian Empire to others states, to create a system that ensures that Germany fulfills the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty and guarantees the victorious powers for a long time the role of undisputed world leaders.
According to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany transferred to France the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine, to Belgium the districts of Malmedy and Eupen, as well as the Neutral Morena and Prusse. Morena; Poland - Poznan, parts of Pomerania and other territories of West Prussia; Danzig (Gdansk) was declared a “free city”; The city of Memel (Klaipeda) was transferred to the jurisdiction of the victorious powers (in February 1923 it was annexed to Lithuania). The question of the statehood of Schleswig, the southern part of East Prussia and Upper Silesia was to be resolved through a plebiscite (as a result, part of Schleswig passed to Denmark in 1920, part of Upper Silesia in 1921 to Poland, the southern part of East Prussia remained with Germany); A small section of Silesian territory was transferred to Czechoslovakia. The coal mines of the Saar were transferred to French ownership. The Saar itself came under the control of the League of Nations for 15 years, and after 15 years its fate was also to be decided by a plebiscite. Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany renounced the Anschluss, pledged to strictly respect the sovereignty of Austria, and also recognized the full independence of Poland and Czechoslovakia. The entire German part of the left bank of the Rhine and a strip of the right bank 50 km wide were subject to demilitarization. The left bank of the Rhine, in order to guarantee Germany's fulfillment of the obligations imposed on it, was occupied by Allied troops for a period of up to 15 years from the moment the Versailles Peace Treaty came into force.
Germany lost all of its colonies, which were later divided among the main victorious powers based on the League of Nations mandate system. In Africa, Tanganyika became a British mandate, the Ruanda-Urundi region became a Belgian mandate, the Kiong Triangle (Southeast Africa) was transferred to Portugal (these territories previously constituted German East Africa), Great Britain and France divided previously German Togo and Cameroon ; The Union of South Africa received a mandate for South West Africa. In the Pacific Ocean, islands belonging to Germany north of the equator were assigned to Japan as mandated territories, German New Guinea was assigned to the Commonwealth of Australia, and the Samoan Islands were assigned to New Zealand.
According to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany renounced all concessions and privileges in China, the rights of consular jurisdiction and all property in Siam, all treaties and agreements with Liberia, and recognized the protectorate of France over Morocco and Great Britain over Egypt. Germany's rights over Jiaozhou and the entire Shandong province of China were transferred to Japan.
According to the treaty, Germany's armed forces were to be limited to a 100,000-strong land army; compulsory military service was abolished, the bulk of the remaining navy was to be transferred to the winners. Germany was prohibited from having a submarine fleet and military aircraft. The German General Staff and the military academy were dissolved and could not be restored. The production of weapons (according to a strictly controlled nomenclature) could only be carried out under the control of the Allies; most of the fortifications had to be disarmed and destroyed.
Since Germany was held responsible for starting the war, an article was included in the treaty that provided for compensation for damage to countries that were attacked by it. Subsequently, a special Reparations Commission established the size of reparations - 132 billion gold marks. The economic articles of the Treaty of Versailles placed Germany in the position of a dependent country. They provided for the lifting of all restrictions on the import of goods from the victorious countries, the free flight of aircraft over German territory and unimpeded landing on it; the rivers Elbe, Oder, Neman and Danube were declared free for navigation within Germany, as well as the Kiel Canal. River navigation in Germany was placed under the control of international commissions.
The Treaty of Versailles provided for an international trial of William II and other persons guilty of committing acts “against the laws and customs of war.”
According to Art. 116, Germany recognized “... the independence of all territories that were part of the former Russian Empire on August 1, 1914,” as well as the abolition of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty of 1918 and all other treaties concluded by it with the Soviet government. Article 117 of the Treaty of Versailles obliged Germany to recognize all treaties and agreements of the Allied and Associated Powers with states that “...were or are being formed in all or part of the territories of the former Russian Empire.”
A number of articles of the Versailles Peace Treaty were devoted to the international regulation of labor issues and the creation of the International Labor Office.
The Treaty of Versailles, discriminatory and predatory in nature, did not contribute to the establishment of lasting peace in Europe. Formed as the basis of the Versailles-Washington system, it aroused sharp criticism from a variety of political forces. The "Versailles diktat" was not recognized by the USSR. The Treaty of Versailles deepened old contradictions and gave rise to many new ones, creating fertile ground for the ripening of a new large-scale military conflict. In Germany, his conditions were perceived as “the greatest national humiliation.” He stimulated revanchist sentiments and the development of the National Socialist movement. In the 1920s and early 1930s, a number of clauses of the Versailles Peace Treaty were revised or their implementation was terminated without permission. The Treaty of Versailles finally lost legal force after Germany officially refused to comply with its terms in 1937.
Publ.: Treaty of Versailles. M., 1925.
Lit.: Nicholson G. How the world was made in 1919. M., 1945; Macmillan M. Paris 1919. N. Y., 2002.
The Treaty of Versailles is an important international document of the beginning of the last century, which marked the end of the First World War and established the order of the post-war world order. Its conclusion took place on June 28, 1919 between the Entente states (France, England and America) and the defeated German Empire. Together with the agreements subsequently signed with the German allies and the documents adopted at the conference in Washington, the treaty became the beginning of the Versailles-Washington system of international relations.
What were the goals of the document and who signed it?
The first world war in human history ended in the fall of 1918 with the signing of the Compiegne Armistice, which provided for a cessation of hostilities. However, in order to finally summarize the bloody events and develop the principles of the post-war world order, representatives of the victorious powers needed several more months. The document that sealed the end of the war was the Treaty of Versailles, signed during the Paris Conference. It was concluded on June 28, 1919 in the former royal estate of Versailles, located near the French capital. The signatories of the treaty were representatives of England, France and America (the Entente states) on the side of the winners and Germany on the side of the losing state.
Russia, which also took part in the war on the side of the Entente bloc and lost millions of its citizens in battles, was not allowed to attend the Paris Peace Conference due to the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Germans in 1918 and, accordingly, did not take part in the preparation and signing of the document. .
Thanks to the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty, a new system of post-war world order was established, the goal of which was to quickly revive the economies of the victorious powers and prevent another global military conflict. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles became the subject of long negotiations and discussions between representatives of the victorious states. Each country sought to extract as much benefit as possible from the signing of the future document, so it took the participants of the Paris Conference many weeks to draw up its general provisions. Finally, at the end of June 1919, after long secret meetings, the terms of the Versailles Peace were drawn up and agreed upon between the countries that fought on the side of the Entente.
The Treaty of Versailles, which officially ended the First World War of 1914-18, was signed on June 28, 1919 in Versailles (France) by the United States of America, the British Empire (Lloyd George David - Prime Minister of Great Britain
Fourteen Points of US President William Wilson
- 1. Open peace treaties, openly discussed, after which there will be no secret international agreements of any kind, and diplomacy will always operate openly and in full view of everyone.
- 2. Absolute freedom of navigation on the seas outside territorial waters, both in peacetime and in wartime, except in cases where some seas will be partially or completely closed internationally for the implementation of international treaties.
- 3. The removal, as far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of equal terms of trade for all nations who stand for peace and unite their efforts to maintain it.
- 4. Fair guarantees that national armaments will be reduced to the utmost minimum consistent with national security.
- 5. The free, frank and absolutely impartial settlement of all colonial disputes, based on strict adherence to the principle that in the determination of all questions relating to sovereignty, the interests of the people should weigh equally against the just claims of the government whose rights are to be determined.
- 6. The liberation of all Russian territories and such a resolution of all issues affecting Russia that guarantees her the fullest and freest assistance from other nations in obtaining a full and unhindered opportunity to make an independent decision regarding her own political development, her national policy and providing her with a welcoming reception in the community of free nations, under the form of government that she herself chooses. And more than welcome, also all the support in everything she needs and what she desires for herself. The attitude towards Russia on the part of her sister nations in the coming months will be a touchstone of their good feelings, their understanding of her needs and ability to separate them from their own interests, as well as an indicator of their wisdom and the unselfishness of their sympathies.
- 7. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without attempting to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys on an equal basis with all other free nations. No other action can serve more than this to restore confidence among peoples in those laws which they themselves have established and determined as a guide for their mutual relations. Without this healing act, the entire structure and entire operation of international law will be forever defeated.
- 8. All French territory must be liberated and the occupied parts returned, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in relation to Alsace-Lorraine, which disturbed the world peace for almost 50 years, must be corrected so that peaceful relations can again be established in the interests of everyone.
- 9. The rectification of Italy's borders must be carried out on the basis of clearly distinguishable national borders.
- 10. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place in the League of Nations we want to see protected and secured, must receive the broadest opportunity for autonomous development.
- 11. Romania, Serbia and Montenegro must be evacuated. Occupied territories must be returned. Serbia must be given free and reliable access to the sea. The relations of the various Balkan states must be determined in a friendly manner in accordance with the historically established principles of affiliation and nationality. International guarantees must be established for the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the various Balkan states.
- 12. The Turkish parts of the Ottoman Empire, in its present composition, must receive secure and lasting sovereignty, but the other nationalities now under Turkish rule must receive an unequivocal guarantee of existence and absolutely inviolable conditions for autonomous development. The Dardanelles must be constantly open to the free passage of ships and trade of all nations under international guarantees.
- 13. An independent Polish state must be created, which must include all territories with an undeniably Polish population, which must be provided with free and reliable access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence, as well as territorial integrity, must be guaranteed by an international treaty .
- 14. A general association of nations should be formed on the basis of special statutes for the purpose of creating a mutual guarantee of the political independence and territorial integrity of both large and small states.
Wilson's speech caused a mixed reaction, both in the United States and its allies. France wanted reparations from Germany because French industry and agriculture had been destroyed by the war, and Britain, as the most powerful naval power, did not want freedom of navigation. Wilson made compromises with Clemenceau, Lloyd George and other European leaders during the Paris peace negotiations, trying to ensure that Clause 14 was implemented and the League of Nations was created. In the end, the agreement on the League of Nations was defeated by Congress, and in Europe only 4 of the 14 theses were implemented.
The purpose of the Treaty of Versailles was, firstly, the redistribution of the world in favor of the victorious powers and, secondly, the prevention of a possible future military threat from Germany. In general, the articles of the agreement can be divided into several groups.
Germany lost part of its lands in Europe:
Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France (within the borders of 1870);
Belgium - the districts of Malmedy and Eupen, as well as the so-called neutral and Prussian parts of the Morenet;
Poland - Poznan, part of Pomerania and other territories of Western Prussia;
The city of Danzig (Gdansk) and its district was declared a “free city”;
The city of Memel (Klaipeda) was transferred to the jurisdiction of the victorious powers (in February 1923 it was annexed to Lithuania).
The statehood of Schleswig, the southern part of East Prussia and Upper Silesia was to be determined by a plebiscite (from the Latin plebiscitum: plebs - common people + scitum - decision, decree - one of the types of popular vote, in international relations it is used when polling the population of a territory about its affiliation with one state or another).
part of Schleswig passed to Denmark (1920);
part of Upper Silesia - to Poland (1921);
also a small section of Silesian territory went to Czechoslovakia;
the southern part of East Prussia remained with Germany.
Germany also retained its original Polish lands - on the right bank of the Oder, Lower Silesia, most of Upper Silesia, etc. The Saarland came under the control of the League of Nations for 15 years, after this period the fate of the Saarland was also to be decided by a plebiscite. During this period, the coal mines of the Saar (the richest coal basin in Europe) were transferred to the ownership of France.
2. Germany lost all its colonies, which were later divided among the main victorious powers. The redistribution of the German colonies was carried out as follows:
Tanganyika became a British mandate;
the Ruanda-Urundi region is a Belgian mandate;
- The “Kionga Triangle” (South-East Africa) was transferred to Portugal (the named territories previously constituted German East Africa); - Great Britain and France divided Togo and Cameroon; - South Africa received a mandate for South-West Africa;
France received a protectorate over Morocco;
Germany refused all treaties and agreements with Liberia;
On the Pacific Ocean
The German-owned islands north of the equator were assigned to Japan as mandated territories;
to the Commonwealth of Australia - German New Guinea; - to New Zealand - Samoa Islands.
Germany's rights in relation to Jiaozhou and the entire Shandong province of China were transferred to Japan (as a result of which the Treaty of Versailles was not signed by China);
Germany also renounced all concessions and privileges in China, the rights of consular jurisdiction and all property in Siam.
Germany recognized the independence of all territories that were part of the former Russian Empire by August 1, 1914, as well as the abolition of all treaties concluded by it with the Soviet government (including the Brest-Litovsk Treaty of 1918). Germany pledged to recognize all treaties and agreements of the Allied and Associated Powers with states that were formed or are being formed in all or part of the territories of the former Russian Empire.
- 3. Germany recognized and pledged to strictly observe the independence of Austria, and also recognized the complete independence of Poland and Czechoslovakia. The entire German part of the left bank of the Rhine and a strip of the right bank 50 km wide were subject to demilitarization, creating the so-called Rhine demilitarized zone.
- 4. The German armed forces were limited to 100 thousand. land army; Compulsory military service was abolished, and the bulk of the remaining navy was to be transferred to the winners. Germany was obliged to compensate in the form of reparations for losses incurred by the governments and individual citizens of the Entente countries as a result of military actions (the determination of the amount of reparations was entrusted to a special Reparations Commission).
- 5. Articles relating to the establishment of the League of Nations
The refusal of the American Congress to ratify the Treaty of Versailles actually meant a return of the United States to the policy of isolationism. At this time in the USA there was strong opposition to the policies of the Democratic Party and personally to President Wilson. American conservatives believed that accepting serious political and military obligations to European countries would condemn the United States to unjustified financial costs and (in case of war) human casualties. The benefits from intervention in European problems (facilitated access to the markets of European countries and mandated territories of Africa and Asia, recognition of the United States as the leading power in the world, etc.) did not seem obvious and sufficient to Wilson’s opponents.
The isolationist opposition was led by the leadership of the US Republican Party. The President was accused that the Charter of the League of Nations limited the Congress in some ways in the field of foreign policy. Particularly irritating was the provision on the adoption of collective measures in cases of aggression. Opponents of the League called it an “obligation,” an attempt on American independence, and a dictate from Britain and France.
The debate in Congress about the Treaty of Versailles began on July 10, 1919 and lasted more than eight months. After the introduction of 48 amendments and 4 reservations by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the changes made to the treaty turned out to be so serious that they actually began to contradict the agreements reached in Paris. But even this did not change the situation: on March 19, 1920, despite all the amendments made, the Senate rejected the resolution to ratify the Treaty of Versailles. Thus, the United States, which was turning into the strongest country in the world, legally and in many ways actually found itself outside the Versailles order. This circumstance could not but affect the prospects for international development.