The Treaties that ended the war.....
After such a devastating war, the victorious Western Powers imposed a series of harsh treaties upon the defeated nations. These treaties stripped the Central Powers of substantial territories and imposed significant reparation payments. Seldom before had the face of Europe been so fundamentally changed. As a direct result of the war, the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman Empires ceased to exist.
The Treaty of Versailles
Viewing Germany as the chief instigator of the conflict, the European Allied Powers decided to impose particularly stringent treaty obligations upon the defeated Germany. The Treaty of Versailles was presented for German leaders to sign on May 7, 1919.
Initially the plan was to base the treaty on Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points, which he had written some ten months before the end of World War I. Wilson hoped his proposal would bring about a just and lasting peace: a “peace without victory.” The most important of points are:
1. Setting up a League of Nations.
2. Disarmament
3. Self-determination for the people of Europe – the right to rule themselves
4. Freedom for colonies
5. Freedom of the seas (Meaning Germany wasn’t allowed to have a navy)
6. Free Trade
In January 1919 delegates from 32 countries met in Paris to make peace after WWI - the peace they hoped would ‘end all wars.’ The conference was dominated by David Lloyd George, Georges Clemençeau and Woodrow Wilson, the leaders of Britain, France and America, often known as the 'Big Three'. The delegates presented to the Big Three, after which the three made their decision. Negotiations were difficult because each wanted very different things.
Wilson’s Aims:
Clemenceau’s Aims:
David Lloyd George’s Aims:
As you can imagine there was a lot of disagreement and in March of 1919 Lloyd George saved the conference. He issued the Fontainebleau Memorandum, and persuaded Clemençeau to agree to the League of Nations and a more lenient peace treaty that would not destroy Germany. Then he went to Wilson and persuaded him to agree to the War Guilt Clause.
The Germans were shown the proposed Treaty of Versailles. The Germans had expected the treaty to be similar to the Fourteen Points, instead the received the much harsher Treaty of Versailles. There was no negotiation. The Germans published a rebuttal, arguing that the treaty was unfair, but they were ignored. On 28 June 1919, the delegates met at the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, near Paris, and forced two Germans to sign the treaty. In its simplest form the Treaty of Versailles forced the following on Germany.
1. The Covenant of the League of Nations – Germany was not allowed to join.
2. The Rhineland was demilitarized – the German army was not allowed to go there.
3. The Saar, with its rich coalfields, was given to France for 15 years.
4. Alsace-Lorraine returned to France
5. Germany forbidden to unite with Austria.
6. Lands in eastern Germany – the rich farmlands of Posen and the Polish corridor between Germany and East Prussia – Given to Poland.
7. Danzig made a free city under League of Nations control
8. All Germany’s colonies taken and given to France and Britain as ‘mandates’.
9. The German army restricted to 100,000 men.
10. The German navy restricted to six battleships and no submarines.
11. Germany not allowed to have an air force.
12. Germany was responsible for causing all the loss and damage caused by the war.
13. Germany would have to pay reparations – to be decided later – eventually set at 132 billion gold marks.
The terms of the treaty can be classified into three catagories:
Initially the plan was to base the treaty on Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points, which he had written some ten months before the end of World War I. Wilson hoped his proposal would bring about a just and lasting peace: a “peace without victory.” The most important of points are:
1. Setting up a League of Nations.
2. Disarmament
3. Self-determination for the people of Europe – the right to rule themselves
4. Freedom for colonies
5. Freedom of the seas (Meaning Germany wasn’t allowed to have a navy)
6. Free Trade
In January 1919 delegates from 32 countries met in Paris to make peace after WWI - the peace they hoped would ‘end all wars.’ The conference was dominated by David Lloyd George, Georges Clemençeau and Woodrow Wilson, the leaders of Britain, France and America, often known as the 'Big Three'. The delegates presented to the Big Three, after which the three made their decision. Negotiations were difficult because each wanted very different things.
Wilson’s Aims:
- To end war by creating a League of Nations
- To ensure Germany was not destroyed
- Not to put all of the blame on Germany.
Clemenceau’s Aims:
- Revenge
- To return Alsace-Lorraine to France
- No League of Nations
- Independence for the Rhineland
- Enormous reparations
- To disband the German army, so Germany could never again attack France
David Lloyd George’s Aims:
- A ‘just’ peace that would be tough enough to please the electors who wanted to make Germany pay, but would leave them strong enough to trade.
- Land for Britain’s empire
- To safeguard Britain’s naval supremacy.
As you can imagine there was a lot of disagreement and in March of 1919 Lloyd George saved the conference. He issued the Fontainebleau Memorandum, and persuaded Clemençeau to agree to the League of Nations and a more lenient peace treaty that would not destroy Germany. Then he went to Wilson and persuaded him to agree to the War Guilt Clause.
The Germans were shown the proposed Treaty of Versailles. The Germans had expected the treaty to be similar to the Fourteen Points, instead the received the much harsher Treaty of Versailles. There was no negotiation. The Germans published a rebuttal, arguing that the treaty was unfair, but they were ignored. On 28 June 1919, the delegates met at the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, near Paris, and forced two Germans to sign the treaty. In its simplest form the Treaty of Versailles forced the following on Germany.
1. The Covenant of the League of Nations – Germany was not allowed to join.
2. The Rhineland was demilitarized – the German army was not allowed to go there.
3. The Saar, with its rich coalfields, was given to France for 15 years.
4. Alsace-Lorraine returned to France
5. Germany forbidden to unite with Austria.
6. Lands in eastern Germany – the rich farmlands of Posen and the Polish corridor between Germany and East Prussia – Given to Poland.
7. Danzig made a free city under League of Nations control
8. All Germany’s colonies taken and given to France and Britain as ‘mandates’.
9. The German army restricted to 100,000 men.
10. The German navy restricted to six battleships and no submarines.
11. Germany not allowed to have an air force.
12. Germany was responsible for causing all the loss and damage caused by the war.
13. Germany would have to pay reparations – to be decided later – eventually set at 132 billion gold marks.
The terms of the treaty can be classified into three catagories:
- Territorial – Provisions that took land away from Germany
- Military – Provisions that limited Germany’s armed forces
- Financial and economic penalties.
The Treaty of Saint-Germaine-en-Laye {September 10, 1919}
The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye established the Republic of Austria, consisting of the isolated, German-speaking regions of the Habsburg state. The Austria-Hungary Dual Monarchy means that the Habsburg family ruled both countries. Under this treaty the Hapsburg monarchy gave up Austria and gave lands to newly established successor states like Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs, renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. It also relinquished the South Tyrol, Trieste, Trentino, and Istria to Italy, and Bukovina to Romania. An important tenet of the treaty barred Austria from compromising its newly formed independence, which effectively barred it from unification with Germany, an aspiration long desired by “Pan-Germanists” and an aim actively advocated by Austrian-born Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist (Nazi) Party.
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Treaty of Trianon (June 4, 1920)
Under the terms of the Treaty of Trianon the other portion of the Dual Monarchy, Hungary, also became an independent state:Hungary ceded Transylvania to Romania; Slovakia and Transcarpathian Russia to the newly formed Czechoslovakia; and other Hungarian crown lands to the future Yugoslavia.