What was the Treaty of Versailles?

1. What was the Treaty of Versailles? The treaty of Versailles was one of the “peace Treaties” of WWI. It was signed on June 28, 1919 and was effective until January 10, 1920, after the treaty went down hill from there ..refer to slide.

2. What did the allied powers want to gain from the treaty?! Lets look @ aims: French Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau, wanted to make Germany pay for the damage WWI caused..aka reparations. He supported polices to cripple Germany militarily, politically, and economically. France also hoped to get back Alsace-Lorraine. British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, wanted thing to stabilize in Europe. Britain supported war reparations to a lesser extent than France. Germany was Britain’s largest trading partner, so they did not wish to fully cause the destruction of Germany. United States=The Fourteen Points

3. 440 clauses. Too much to grasp?! No worry, for all encompassed 4 main things: Clause 23 forced Germany to acknowledge guilt and responsibility. with this “war guilt clause,” the allies were “morally justified” to place the rest of the obligations on Germany (refer to last point on this slide). Germany was disarmed and had to abide by the restriction of an army with 96, 000 men and 4,000 officers. Also, these officers were to serve for no more than 12 years The borders of Germany were “fixed.” Germany was assigned Reparations.

4. Two other.. Article 227 indicted weltpolitik master and german emperor, Wilhelm II, as a war criminal. About 3 consecutive articles, after the one mentioned above, indicted german soldiers as war criminals too.

5. A HUGE part of the treaty terms.. involved the Covenant of the League of Nations (part I). This created the League of Nations, an organization intended to put a stop to potential future wars. Precisely because of its failure to prevent future wars, it fails.

6. Germany Treaty of Versailles

7. Germany lost the following land: most of “her” colonies Alsace lorraine to France Northern Shleswig Most of prussia to poland Hultschin to czechoslovakia The cities of Eupen and malmedy

9. Germany was not part of the negotiations throughout the Versailles process. In effect, German government said “no fair” through protest against unfair demands. Even chancellor Sheideman said no to signing the treaty. It was until Sheideman resigned when the next chancellor gave in. Alll in all, within Germany, there was great resentment. Hurt..pulverized much??

10. The treaty may have been a joke.. It was violated dozens of times. Lets take a look at two instances. (1) eventually germany failed to cough up all the reparation $$ on time, so french and belgian forces invaded the ruhr (industrialized german place, near france). Germany will finish paying until 2020.(2) eventually hitler rises to power, and violates military limitations. In fact, he even built up the navy!! He went on to spread his magic to the rhineland, which was supposed to stay demilitarized. In addition, there was the annexation of Austria in 1938, Czechoslovakia in 1939, and finally: the invasion of poland on september 1st..the initiation of WWII ..

11. Ultimately, the Weimar republic.. Which was the democratic and republican (hence republic) government that ruled Germany between 1919-1933, was easily overthrown by Hitler. Easily overthrown because it seemed that this government couldn’t do anything about the economic setbacks the treaty of Versailles had assigned to Germany.

12. What did Britain think about Versailles, the treaty?? Great Britain believed that Germany was too harshly punished because it only viewed them as a: “barrier-fortress against the Russians ” British economist, John Maynard Keynes, said that the conditions of reparations were too harsh and would not benefit Britain’s international trade of goods with Germany The treaty did not benefit Great Britain in any large manner, as Britain did not see Germany as a military threat. Sally Marks argues that it is this lack of treaty enforcement that leads to the treaty’s failure.

13. Europe Post Versailles..

14. What did the U.S. belive?? President Wilson’s “Fourteen Points,” an armistice, sent to Germany was well accepted by the Germany. This peace was brief, as the Treaty of Versailles was much more severe to Germany, and thus was denounced by the nation. In 1920 the senate rejected the treaty on the argument that is was too generous to Germany. This is also the position of disapproving citizens.

15. Contributions: Chavez, Wilson: British and American opinion Galindo, Najelly: germany, design, proofread/collection Martinez, Daniel: research Martinez, David: DBQ, and suggestions/discussion Sewell, Gina: map images, allied powers aims, League of Nations

16. Sources Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914 – 1991 (New York: Vintage Books, 1996). Kitchen, Martin. Europe Between the Wars (London: Longman, 2000). Gelfand, Lawrence E. "Treaty of Versailles." World Book Encyclopedia, 2001. Henig, Ruth. Versailles and After: 1919 – 1933 (London: Routledge, 1995). Morris, Terry and Murphy, Derrick. Europe 1870-1991, Second Edition. London. Harper Collins Publishers Ltd, 2004. Morris, Terry and Murphy, Derrick. Europe 1870-1991, Second Edition. London. Harper Collins Publishers Ltd, 2004.