The Versailles Treaty June 28, 1919 Resources: World War One on the Web (Steven Shoenerr) A.P. European History: World

1. The Versailles Treaty June 28, 1919 Resources: World War One on the Web (Steven Shoenerr) A.P. European History: World War One The Treaty of Versailles (BBC) Spartacus WWI Modern History Sourcebook (Halsall)

2. from Literary Digest , 7/5/1919

3. Literary Digest , 9/13/1919

4. Literary Digest , 9/13/1919

5. Literary Digest , 9/20/1919

6. from Literary Digest , 7/5/1919

7. Woodrow Wilson: “The Fourteen Points” (1919) • Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understanding of any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view. • Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants. • The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance. • Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety. • A free, open­minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.

8. VI. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the independent determination of` her own political development and national policy and assure her a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under institutions of her own choosing; and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of her needs as distinguished from their own interests, and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy. VII. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all other free nations. No other single act will serve as this will serve to restore confidence among the nations in the laws which they have themselves set and determined for the government of their relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole structure and validity of international law is forever impaired. VIII. All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions restored, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of Alsace­Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interest of all.

9. IX. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality. X. The peoples of Austria­Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity of autonomous development. XI. Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated; occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan states to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines of allegiance and nationality; and international guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into. XII. The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.

10. XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant. XIV. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike....

11. Preamble to the Versailles Treaty: • In order to promote international co-operation and to achieve international peace and security • by the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war, • by the prescription of open, just and honourable relations between nations, • by the firm establishment of the understandings of international law as the actual rule of conduct among Governments, and • by the maintenance of justice and a scrupulous respect for all treaty obligations in the dealings of organised peoples with one another, • Agree to this Covenant of the League of Nations.

12. Key Points of the Versailles Treaty: • National Self-Determination: people of nine new countries could vote to decide upon their own form of government • A League of Nations: Open Diplomacy: No more secret treaties: Disagreement would be subjected to arbitration and the rule of law: (Article 10, the 'covenant' clause) • Colonial Mandates instead of Colonial Possessions: benign paternalism (but colonialism was not outlawed.) (Article 22,  the 'mandates' Clause) • Punishment of Germany: war guilt clause, reparations clause, and de-militarization orders (Article 231), the 'war guilt' clause; (Articles 232-235), the 'reparations' clause • The Soviet Union was excluded. A cordon-sanitaire was created between the Soviets and the Western Democracies. • The AJP Taylor Thesis: • The Versailles Treaty guaranteed another war.

15. Key Points of the Versailles Treaty: • National Self-Determination: people of nine new countries could vote to decide upon their own form of government • A League of Nations: Open Diplomacy: No more secret treaties: Disagreement would be subjected to arbitration and the rule of law: (Article 10, the 'covenant' clause) • Colonial Mandates instead of Colonial Possessions: benign paternalism (but colonialism was not outlawed.) (Article 22,  the 'mandates' Clause) • Punishment of Germany: war guilt clause, reparations clause, and de-militarization orders (Article 231, the 'war guilt' clause; Articles 232-235, the 'reparations' clause ) • The Soviet Union was excluded. A cordon-sanitaire was created between the Soviets and the Western Democracies. • The AJP Taylor Thesis: • The Versailles Treaty guaranteed another war.

17. Key Points of the Versailles Treaty: • National Self-Determination: people of nine new countries could vote to decide upon their own form of government • A League of Nations: Open Diplomacy: No more secret treaties: Disagreement would be subjected to arbitration and the rule of law: (Article 10, the 'covenant' clause) • Colonial Mandates instead of Colonial Possessions: benign paternalism (but colonialism was not outlawed.) (Article 22,  the 'mandates' Clause) • Punishment of Germany: war guilt clause, reparations clause, and de-militarization orders (Article 231, the 'war guilt' clause; Articles 232-235, the 'reparations' clause ) • The Soviet Union was excluded. A cordon-sanitaire was created between the Soviets and the Western Democracies. • The AJP Taylor Thesis: • The Versailles Treaty guaranteed another war.

20. Key Points of the Versailles Treaty: • National Self-Determination: people of nine new countries could vote to decide upon their own form of government • A League of Nations: Open Diplomacy: No more secret treaties: Disagreement would be subjected to arbitration and the rule of law: (Article 10, the 'covenant' clause) • Colonial Mandates instead of Colonial Possessions: benign paternalism (but colonialism was not outlawed.) (Article 22,  the 'mandates' Clause) • Punishment of Germany: war guilt clause, reparations clause, and de-militarization orders (Article 231, the 'war guilt' clause; Articles 232-235, the 'reparations' clause ) • The Soviet Union was excluded. A cordon-sanitaire was created between the Soviets and the Western Democracies. • The AJP Taylor Thesis: • The Versailles Treaty guaranteed another war.

21. Germany was forced to – • Reduce its army to 100,000 men and was not allowed to have conscription. • Reduce its navy to 6 warships and was not allowed to have any submarines. • Destroy all of its air force. • Give land to Belgium, France, Denmark and Poland. The land given to Poland became known as the "Polish Corridor“, and it separated the main part of Germany from East Prussia. • Hand over all of its colonies. • Agree to pay Reparations to the Allies for all of the damage caused by the war; these came to £6,600,000,000 in gold. • Put no soldiers or military equipment within 30 miles of the east bank of the Rhine. • Accept all of the blame for the war, the "War Guilt Clause".

24. Germans were horrified: • Germany had not been allowed to the Peace Conference and were told to accept the terms or else. Most Germans had believed that the Treaty would be lenient because of Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points. • Many Germans did not believe that the German army had actually been defeated in 1918 because Germany had not been invaded. One of these people was Corporal Adolph Hitler, who had been in hospital in November 1918 recovering from gas-blindness. Like many others he came to believe that the army had been "stabbed in the back" by the "November Criminals", the politicians who had signed the Armistice which had brought the Great War to an end on 11th November 1918. • Several of the clauses of the Treaty were thought to be very harsh. It was going to be almost impossible to pay the Reparations. In fact, the German government gave up after only one year, and the War Guilt Clause seemed particularly unfair. How could Germany be the only country to blame for the war? After all it had started when a Serbian shot an Austrian. • It was felt that Germany had simply been made a scapegoat by the other countries for all that had happened. The Official German Reaction to the Treaty of Versailles

25. Ausrufung der Republik vor dem Reichstagsgebäude durch Philipp Scheidemann Photographie Berlin, 9. November 1918

26. Unrest in Germany from 1919 to 1922: • Returning soldiers formed armed gangs, the Freikorps, who roamed the streets attacking people. In March 1920 they tried to seize power. • There was an attempted revolution by the Communists in January 1919, the Spartacist Revolt. • There were many murders, including two government ministers, one of whom had signed the Armistice. • A number of extremist political parties were set up, including the German Workers' Party, which Adolph Hitler took over in 1921. He based his support upon the hatred that many Germans felt for the Treaty of Versailles. • The government became more and more unpopular and appeared to be very weak because it was not able to deal with the revolutions and the unrest.

27. Key Points of the Versailles Treaty: • National Self-Determination: people of nine new countries could vote to decide upon their own form of government • A League of Nations: Open Diplomacy: No more secret treaties: Disagreement would be subjected to arbitration and the rule of law: (Article 10, the 'covenant' clause) • Colonial Mandates instead of Colonial Possessions: benign paternalism (but colonialism was not outlawed.) (Article 22,  the 'mandates' Clause) • Punishment of Germany: war guilt clause, reparations clause, and de-militarization orders (Article 231, the 'war guilt' clause; Articles 232-235, the 'reparations' clause ) • The Soviet Union was excluded. A cordon-sanitaire was created between the Soviets and the Western Democracies. • The AJP Taylor Thesis: • The Versailles Treaty guaranteed another war.