Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles: Note for In-class Essay

Historical Context

       I.            Severe casualties by the end of war (1918):

a.       Britain: 750,000 killed

b.      France: 1, 400,000 killed

c.       Russia: 1, 700, 000 killed

d.      America: 116, 000 killed

e.       Germany: 2, 000, 000 killed

f.       Austria-Hungary: 1, 200, 000 killed

g.      Total deaths summed to 8.5 million killed and 21 million wounded

    II.            Vast Areas of North Eastern European land reduced to rubble:

a.       The Ancient City of Ypres had been devastated

b.      Homes of 750, 000 French people were destroyed with little infrastructure remaining to support the people

c.       Roads, coal mines, telegraph poles had all been destroyed and such a loss greatly hindered the area’s ability to function normally

 III.            Important Politicians: David Lloyd George (Britain), Georges Clemenceau (France), Woodrow Wilson (United States of America)à Germany led by Friedrich Ebert

 IV.            Spanish Flu hit Europe in mid-1918 with an estimated 25 million died, this added to the feeling of bitterness that ran through Europe and this anger was primarily directed at Germany

Attitude of the Big Three:

       I.            David Lloyd George had two views:

a.       Public Image was important: needed support of public

                                                        i.            British public wanted revenge and Lloyd George’s image reflected this mood

                                                      ii.            “Hang the Kaiser” and “make Germany pay” were two common calls in the era after the war and George, looking for public support, echoed these views

b.      Was also concerned about the spread of communism in Russia and feared that it would come across to Western Europe

                                                        i.            Believed that the spread of communism posed a far greater threat to the world than a defeated Germany

                                                      ii.            In private, he felt that Germany should be treated in such a way that left her as a barrier to resist the spread of communism

                                                    iii.            Didn’t want Germany’s government to turn communist

                                                    iv.            Did want Germany to be treated with lenience but also knew that Germany would be the only nation to halt the expansion of communism if it “burst out of Russia’s frontiers”

                                                      v.            Germany should be punished but not to the extent of her destituteà it would have been political suicide to present these views to the public

    II.            Georges Clemenceau of France: had one simple belief: wanted Germany to be brought on her knees so she could never again start a war

a.       This reflected view of French public but also that of Clemenceau himself

b.      He had seen the north-east corner of France destroyed and Germany should never be allowed to do this again

c.       “The Tiger” did not have to adapt his policies to suit the French public; they both though alike anyways

 III.            Woodrow Wilson: had been stunned by savagery of the war; did not understand how an advanced civilisation could have reduced itself so that it created so much devastation

a.       In America, there was a growing desire for the government to adopt a policy of isolation and leave Europe on its own

b.      Believed that Germany should be punished but in a way that would lead to European reconciliation as opposed to revenge

c.       Fourteen Points:

                                                        i.            No more secret alliances and treaties (Open diplomacy)

                                                      ii.            Counted must reduce their weapons and armed forces (Multilateral disarmament)

                                                    iii.            National self-determination should allow people under same nationality to govern themselves and one nationality should not have the power to govern themselves

                                                    iv.            All countries should belong to the League of Nations

Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

       I.            Territorial:

a.       The following land was taken away from Germany:

                                                        i.            Alsace-Lorraine (given to France)

                                                      ii.            Eupen and Malmedy (given to Belgium)

                                                    iii.            Northern Schleswig (given to Denmark)

                                                    iv.            Hultschin (given to Czechoslovakia)

                                                      v.            West Prussia, Posen and Upper Silesia (given to Poland)

                                                    vi.            Saar, Danzig and Memel were put under the control of the League of Nations and the people would be allowed to vote to stay in Germany or not in a future referendum

b.      League of nations took control of Germany’s overseas colonies:

                                                        i.            Britain gained East Africa and the Cameroons

                                                      ii.            Australia took New Guinea

                                                    iii.            New Zealand got Samoa

                                                    iv.            Japan took German colonies in China

c.       Germany had to return to Russia the land taken in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk:

Some of this land was made into new states such as Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, Poland also received some of this land

    II.            Military

a.       Germany’s army reduced to 100,00 men; not allowed tanks

b.      Not allowed an airforce at all

c.       Only 6 capital naval ships and no submarines

d.      The west of Rhineland and east of the River Rhine was made into a demilitarised zone (DMZ)

e.       No German soldier or weapon allowed in this zone

f.       Allies kept an army  on the west bank of the Rhine for 15 years

 III.            Financial

a.       Loss of vital industrial territory would be a severe blow to rebuild her economy

b.      Coal from the Saar and Upper Silesia in particular was a vital economic loss

c.       This, along with financial penalties linked to reparations, it seemed clear to Germany that allies wanted nothing else but to bankrupt her

d.      Also forbidden to ally with Austria to form one super state in an attempt to keep her economic potential to a minimum

IV.               War Guild Clause: (Clause 231)

a.       Provided a moral basis for Allied demands for German reparations

b.      The clause was hated by Germans; it had little practical effect because Germany had already accepted that it would make compensation for “all damage done to civilian population of the Allies” through the Armistice of November 1918

c.       Difficulty in deciding how much Germany should pay and how much the money should be divided amongst the nations

d.      Wilson wanted a reparation settlement based on Germany’s ability to pay

e.       French and British public wanted, as Sir Auckland Geddes put it “to squeeze the German lemon till the pips squeaked”: This would serve the dual purpose of helping Allied countries meet the cost of war and keep Germany financially weak for years to come

f.       Lloyd George was pulled in two ways:

                                                        i.            Wanted Britain to get her fair share of reparations and insisted that the damage include merchant shipping losses, and pensions to those disabled, widowed or orphaned during the war

                                                      ii.            Like Wilson, he also felt that Germany should only how much she could afford and that if Germany was hit too hard, she wouldn’t be a good market for British goods which would damage the post-war British economy

                                                    iii.            However, he could not ignore the prevailing mood in Britain; he had promised in the 1918 elections to screw Germany “to the uttermost farthing”

g.      A Reparations Commission was established from Lloyd George’s suggestion

                                                        i.            This postponed the immediate decision and allowed tempers to cool

                                                      ii.            In 1921, the Commission recommended a sum of ₤6, 600, 000 million (of which 22% would go to Britain)

                                                    iii.            Although this was lower than what was being discussed, German and economist argued that it much more that Germany could afford

h.      Treaty finally signed on 28 June 1919: Germany had no choice but to sign due to threat of invasion

  V.               German View of the Treaty

a.       After agreeing to Armistice, they thought that they would have say in the contents of the treaty

b.      Lack of consultation angered them, but there was nothing they could do about it

c.       Germans were only given three weeks to look over the Treaty before signing it

d.      One last gesture of defiance was when the captured naval force at Scapa Flow (northern Scotland) scuttled itself (sank itself deliberately)

e.       Those who signed Treaty became known as the “November Criminals”

f.       Many Germans felt they were being punished for the mistakes of the government in August 1914; the government declared the war and not the people

VI.               Criticism of Versailles

a.       Germans felt that the treaty was punitive and unfair

b.      1919: the economist J.M. Keynes wrote a critique of the treaty (The Economic Consequences of Peace) à argued that Wilson was naive and that he was influenced heavily by a vindictive Clemenceau and a scheming Lloyd George into creating and over harsh treatyà he particularly condemned the unworkability of the reparation clauses

c.       Lloyd George had doubts about treaty as wellà was echoed by British politicians in years to come

d.      Frenchmen considered the treaty to be too soft: Germany had lost only 13% of its pre-war territory and 10% of her populationà had escaped division and was now surrounded by unstable states, hence, it had the potential to be the strongest state in Europeà Clemenceau only singed treaty because he was offered a defensive alliance with Britain and US

e.       Historians claim the treaty was the worst of all worlds: too harsh to be permanently acceptable by Germans and too lenient to constrain Germany for long without effective enforcement

f.       Some historians, such as A.J.P Taylor have gone so far as to say that it was the Allies failure to solve the German problem in 1919 that led to the WWII

g.      Some Historians defend the policymakers and the treaty such as Kennedy and Adamthwaite

                                                        i.            They stress the problems faced by policy makers in 1919

                                                      ii.            Even though the German problem was not solved, they point out, that even with hindsight, it is difficult to suggest solutions for such a problem

                                                    iii.            Argue that problem was not so much the treaty itself as the German hostility toward the treaty because it represented a defeat which they were not willing to acknowledge

                                                    iv.            A really severe treaty was out of question due to Wilson and George’s desire for a just settlement

                                                      v.            In the circumstance, Adamthwaite sees Versailles as “a brave attempt to deal with intractable, perhaps insoluble problems”

William R. Keylor: “it must, in fairness, be recorded that the Treaty of Versailles proved to be a failure less because of the inherit defects it contained than because it was put into full effect” (The Twentieth Century World and Beyond, 2006)

J.M. Keynes, revisionist view: “the campaign for securing out of Germany the general costs of the war was one of the most serious acts of political unwisdom for which our statesmen have ever beenresponsible”; “Carthaginian peace” (The Economic Consequences of Peace, 1919).