Most of the negotiations were in Paris, with the "Big Four" meetings taking place generally at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Quai d'Orsay. ==Background== ===First World War=== On 28 June 1914, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist.
Germany's assistance with the restoration of the university library of Leuven, which was destroyed by the Germans on 25 August 1914, was also credited towards the sum.
Eventually, even under the "cruel" terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany's economy had been restored to its pre-war status. Barnett also claims that, in strategic terms, Germany was in fact in a superior position following the Treaty than she had been in 1914.
Anger and dismay over the treaty's provisions helped pave the way for the establishment of Benito Mussolini's dictatorship three years later. ===Portugal=== Portugal entered the war on the Allied side in 1916 primarily to ensure the security of its African colonies, which were threatened with seizure by both Britain and Germany.
In 1917, two revolutions occurred within the Russian Empire.
Instead, the Allies won decisively on the battlefield and forced an armistice in November 1918 that resembled a surrender. ===US entry and the Fourteen Points=== On 6 April 1917, the United States entered the war against the Central Powers.
The other Central Powers on the German side signed separate treaties. Although the armistice, signed on 11 November 1918, ended the actual fighting, it took six months of Allied negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty.
The new Bolshevik government under Vladimir Lenin in March 1918 signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that was highly favourable to Germany.
Instead, the Allies won decisively on the battlefield and forced an armistice in November 1918 that resembled a surrender. ===US entry and the Fourteen Points=== On 6 April 1917, the United States entered the war against the Central Powers.
The existence of these treaties tended to discredit Allied claims that Germany was the sole power with aggressive ambitions. On 8 January 1918, President Woodrow Wilson issued the nation's postwar goals, the Fourteen Points.
House, into the topics likely to arise in the expected peace conference. ===Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, 1918=== After the Central Powers launched Operation Faustschlag on the Eastern Front, the new Soviet Government of Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany on 3 March 1918. This treaty ended the war between Russia and the Central powers and annexed of territory and 62 million people.
In late 1918, Allied troops entered Germany and began the occupation. ===Blockade=== Both Germany and Great Britain were dependent on imports of food and raw materials, most of which had to be shipped across the Atlantic Ocean.
The German Board of Public Health in December 1918 stated that civilians had died during the Allied blockade, although an academic study in 1928 put the death toll at The blockade was maintained for eight months after the Armistice in November 1918, into the following year of 1919.
Clemenceau had told the Chamber of Deputies, in December 1918, that his goal was to maintain an alliance with both countries.
Wilson spoke of the German aggressors, with whom there could be no compromised peace. On 8 January 1918, however, Wilson delivered a speech (known as the Fourteen Points) that declared the American peace objectives: the rebuilding of the European economy, self-determination of European and Middle Eastern ethnic groups, the promotion of free trade, the creation of appropriate mandates for former colonies, and above all, the creation of a powerful League of Nations that would ensure the peace.
In November 1918, the Republican Party won the Senate election by a slim margin.
When the result was announced including from Germany fled to France. ===Rhineland occupation=== In late 1918, American, Belgian, British, and French troops entered the Rhineland to enforce the armistice.
Furthermore, he claimed, it was "hardly a slap on the wrist" when contrasted with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that Germany had imposed on a defeated Russian SFSR in March 1918, which had taken away a third of Russia's population (albeit mostly of non-Russian ethnicity), one-half of Russia's industrial undertakings and nine-tenths of Russia's coal mines, coupled with an indemnity of six billion marks.
It was signed on 28 June 1919 in the Palace of Versailles, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which had directly led to the war.
The treaty was registered by the Secretariat of the League of Nations on 21 October 1919. Of the many provisions in the treaty, one of the most important and controversial required "Germany [to] accept the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage" during the war (the other members of the Central Powers signed treaties containing similar articles).
The German Board of Public Health in December 1918 stated that civilians had died during the Allied blockade, although an academic study in 1928 put the death toll at The blockade was maintained for eight months after the Armistice in November 1918, into the following year of 1919.
Foodstuffs imports into Germany were controlled by the Allies after the Armistice with Germany until Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919.
In March 1919, Churchill informed the House of Commons, that the ongoing blockade was a success and "Germany is very near starvation." From January 1919 to March 1919, Germany refused to agree to Allied demands that Germany surrender its merchant ships to Allied ports to transport food supplies.
Over the winter of 1919, the situation became desperate and Germany finally agreed to surrender its fleet in March.
In the UK, Labour Party member and anti-war activist Robert Smillie issued a statement in June 1919 condemning continuation of the blockade, claiming 100,000 German civilians had died as a result. ==Negotiations== Talks between the Allies to establish a common negotiating position started on 18 January 1919, in the Salle de l'Horloge at the French Foreign Ministry on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris. Initially, 70 delegates from 27 nations participated in the negotiations.
In April and May 1919, the French and Germans held separate talks, on mutually acceptable arrangements on issues like reparation, reconstruction and industrial collaboration.
This is, for me, our main and principal expansion." Francesco Saverio Nitti took Orlando's place in signing the treaty of Versailles. ==Treaty content and signing== In June 1919, the Allies declared that war would resume if the German government did not sign the treaty they had agreed to among themselves.
In response, the Allies issued an ultimatum stating that Germany would have to accept the treaty or face an invasion of Allied forces across the Rhine within On 23 June, Bauer capitulated and sent a second telegram with a confirmation that a German delegation would arrive shortly to sign the treaty. On 28 June 1919, the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the immediate impetus for the war), the peace treaty was signed.
All of the Irreconcilables were bitter enemies of President Wilson, and he launched a nationwide speaking tour in the summer of 1919 to refute them.
But Wilson collapsed midway with a serious stroke that effectively ruined his leadership skills. The closest the treaty came to passage was on 19 November 1919, as Lodge and his Republicans formed a coalition with the pro-Treaty Democrats, and were close to a two-thirds majority for a Treaty with reservations, but Wilson rejected this compromise and enough Democrats followed his lead to end the chances of ratification permanently.
Soon after, the US–German Peace Treaty of 1921 was signed in Berlin on 25 August 1921, and two similar treaties were signed with Austria and Hungary on 24 and 29 August 1921, in Vienna and Budapest respectively. ====Edward House's views==== Wilson's former friend Edward Mandell House, present at the negotiations, wrote in his diary on 29 June 1919: I am leaving Paris, after eight fateful months, with conflicting emotions.
On 12 June 1919, the Chinese cabinet was forced to resign and the government instructed its delegation at Versailles not to sign the treaty.
In an emotional and polemical address to the National Assembly on 12 May 1919, he called the treaty a "horrific and murderous witch's hammer", and exclaimed: At the end of his speech, Scheidemann stated that, in the government's opinion, the treaty was unacceptable. After Scheidemann's resignation, a new coalition government was formed under Gustav Bauer.
The treaty was signed on 28 June 1919 and ratified by the National Assembly on 9 July by a vote of 209 to 116. ===Japan=== The disenfranchised and often colonized 'non-white' world held high expectations that a new order would open up an unheralded opportunity to have a principle of racial equality recognized by the leading global powers.
Furthermore, payments made between 1919 and 1921 were taken into account reducing the sum to 41 billion gold marks. In order to meet this sum, Germany could pay in cash or kind: coal, timber, chemical dyes, pharmaceuticals, livestock, agricultural machines, construction materials, and factory machinery.
Between 1919 and 1921, three major outbreaks of violence took place between German and Polish civilians, resulting in German and Polish military forces also becoming involved. In March 1921, the Inter-Allied Commission held the Upper Silesia plebiscite, which was peaceful despite the previous violence.
In March 1919, this force became the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR).
In June 1919, the Third Army demobilized and by 1920 the US occupation force had been reduced to .
Having noted that much, Peukert commented that the policy of rapprochement with the Western powers that Gustav Stresemann carried out between 1923 and 1929 were constructive policies that might have allowed Germany to play a more positive role in Europe, and that it was not true that German democracy was doomed to die in 1919 because of Versailles.
The provisions were intended to make the Reichswehr incapable of offensive action and to encourage international disarmament. Germany was to demobilize sufficient soldiers by 31 March 1920 to leave an army of no more than in a maximum of seven infantry and three cavalry divisions.
When Clemenceau stood for election as President of France in January 1920, he was defeated. ===Italy=== Reaction in Italy to the treaty was extremely negative.
The German Government was to issue bonds at five per cent interest and set up a sinking fund of one per cent to support the payment of reparations. ===Territorial changes=== In February and March 1920, the Schleswig Plebiscites were held.
The East Prussia plebiscite was held on 11 July 1920.
On 20 September 1920, the League of Nations allotted these territories to Belgium.
The total number of troops committed to the occupation rapidly dwindled as veteran soldiers were demobilized, and were replaced by inexperienced men who had finished basic training following the cessation of hostilities. By 1920, the BAOR consisted of only 40,594 men and the following year had been further reduced to 12,421.
This campaign lasted throughout the 1920s and 30s, although peaked in 1920 and 1921.
In June 1919, the Third Army demobilized and by 1920 the US occupation force had been reduced to .
The end of passive resistance in the Ruhr allowed Germany to undertake a currency reform and to negotiate the Dawes Plan, which led to the withdrawal of French and Belgian troops from the Ruhr Area in 1925. ===Military=== In 1920, the head of the Reichswehr Hans von Seeckt clandestinely re-established the General Staff, by expanding the Truppenamt (Troop Office); purportedly a human resources section of the army.
In 1921 the total cost of these reparations was assessed at 132 billion gold marks (then $31.4 billion or £6.6 billion, roughly equivalent to US$442 billion or UK£284 billion in ).
It was signed into law by President Harding on 2 July 1921.
Soon after, the US–German Peace Treaty of 1921 was signed in Berlin on 25 August 1921, and two similar treaties were signed with Austria and Hungary on 24 and 29 August 1921, in Vienna and Budapest respectively. ====Edward House's views==== Wilson's former friend Edward Mandell House, present at the negotiations, wrote in his diary on 29 June 1919: I am leaving Paris, after eight fateful months, with conflicting emotions.
American policy experts, unaware of these secret agreements, nonetheless suggested that Japan had adopted a Prussian model that would imperil China's own search for autonomy, and these considerations influenced Wilson. ==Implementation== ===Reparations=== On 5 May 1921, the reparation Commission established the London Schedule of Payments and a final reparation sum of 132 billion gold marks to be demanded of all the Central Powers.
Furthermore, payments made between 1919 and 1921 were taken into account reducing the sum to 41 billion gold marks. In order to meet this sum, Germany could pay in cash or kind: coal, timber, chemical dyes, pharmaceuticals, livestock, agricultural machines, construction materials, and factory machinery.
These latter plebiscites were followed by a boundary commission in 1922, followed by the new Belgian-German border being recognized by the German Government on 15 December 1923. The transfer of the Hultschin area, of Silesia, to Czechoslovakia was completed on 3 February 1921. Following the implementation of the treaty, Upper Silesia was initially governed by Britain, France, and Italy.
Between 1919 and 1921, three major outbreaks of violence took place between German and Polish civilians, resulting in German and Polish military forces also becoming involved. In March 1921, the Inter-Allied Commission held the Upper Silesia plebiscite, which was peaceful despite the previous violence.
This campaign lasted throughout the 1920s and 30s, although peaked in 1920 and 1921.
For example, a 1921 German Government memo detailed 300 acts of violence from colonial troops, which included 65 murders and 170 sexual offenses.
Harding's inauguration in 1921.
Although the causes of the devastating post-war hyperinflation are complex and disputed, Germans blamed the near-collapse of their economy on the treaty, and some economists estimated that the reparations accounted for as much as one-third of the hyper-inflation. In March 1921, French and Belgian troops occupied Duisburg, Düsseldorf, and other areas which formed part of the demilitarized Rhineland, according to the Treaty of Versailles.
Bofors was bought by Krupp, and in 1921 German troops were sent to Sweden to test weapons. The establishment of diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union, via the Genoa Conference and Treaty of Rapallo, was also used to circumvent the Treaty of Versailles.
These latter plebiscites were followed by a boundary commission in 1922, followed by the new Belgian-German border being recognized by the German Government on 15 December 1923. The transfer of the Hultschin area, of Silesia, to Czechoslovakia was completed on 3 February 1921. Following the implementation of the treaty, Upper Silesia was initially governed by Britain, France, and Italy.
These latter plebiscites were followed by a boundary commission in 1922, followed by the new Belgian-German border being recognized by the German Government on 15 December 1923. The transfer of the Hultschin area, of Silesia, to Czechoslovakia was completed on 3 February 1921. Following the implementation of the treaty, Upper Silesia was initially governed by Britain, France, and Italy.
By 1923, the French occupation force had decreased to roughly 130,000 men, including 27,126 African troops. The troop numbers peaked again at 250,000 during the occupation of the Ruhr, before decreasing to 60,000 men by 1926.
On 7 January 1923, after the Franco–Belgian occupation of the Ruhr, the US senate legislated the withdrawal of the remaining force. On 24 January, the American garrison started their withdrawal from the Rhineland, with the final troops leaving in early February. ==Violations== ===Reparations=== The German economy was so weak that only a small percentage of reparations was paid in hard currency.
In January 1923, French and Belgian forces occupied the rest of the Ruhr area as a reprisal after Germany failed to fulfill reparation payments demanded by the Versailles Treaty.
Consequently, passive resistance was called off in late 1923.
In 1923, the British newspaper The Times made several claims about the state of the German Armed Forces: that it had equipment for , was transferring army staff to civilian positions in order to obscure their real duties, and warned of the militarization of the German police force by the exploitation the Krümper system.
Having noted that much, Peukert commented that the policy of rapprochement with the Western powers that Gustav Stresemann carried out between 1923 and 1929 were constructive policies that might have allowed Germany to play a more positive role in Europe, and that it was not true that German democracy was doomed to die in 1919 because of Versailles.
On 8 May 1924, after negotiations between the Lithuanian Government and the Conference of Ambassadors and action by the League of Nations, the annexation of Memel was ratified.
The end of passive resistance in the Ruhr allowed Germany to undertake a currency reform and to negotiate the Dawes Plan, which led to the withdrawal of French and Belgian troops from the Ruhr Area in 1925. ===Military=== In 1920, the head of the Reichswehr Hans von Seeckt clandestinely re-established the General Staff, by expanding the Truppenamt (Troop Office); purportedly a human resources section of the army.
The Weimar Government also funded domestic rearmament programs, which were covertly funded with the money camouflaged in "X-budgets", worth up to an additional the disclosed military budget. By 1925, German companies had begun to design tanks and modern artillery.
By 1923, the French occupation force had decreased to roughly 130,000 men, including 27,126 African troops. The troop numbers peaked again at 250,000 during the occupation of the Ruhr, before decreasing to 60,000 men by 1926.
In January 1927, following the withdrawal of the Allied disarmament committee, Krupps ramped up production of armor plate and artillery. Production increased so that by 1937, military exports had increased to Reichsmarks.
The German Board of Public Health in December 1918 stated that civilians had died during the Allied blockade, although an academic study in 1928 put the death toll at The blockade was maintained for eight months after the Armistice in November 1918, into the following year of 1919.
Having noted that much, Peukert commented that the policy of rapprochement with the Western powers that Gustav Stresemann carried out between 1923 and 1929 were constructive policies that might have allowed Germany to play a more positive role in Europe, and that it was not true that German democracy was doomed to die in 1919 because of Versailles.
Finally, Evans argued that it is untrue that Versailles caused the premature end of the Republic, instead contending that it was the Great Depression of the early 1930s that put an end to German democracy.
The problems that arose from the treaty would lead to the Locarno Treaties, which improved relations between Germany and the other European powers, and the re-negotiation of the reparation system resulting in the Dawes Plan, the Young Plan, and the indefinite postponement of reparations at the Lausanne Conference of 1932.
As these programs did not require an expansion of the military, they were nominally legal. On 7 November 1932, the Reich Minister of Defense Kurt von Schleicher authorized the illegal Umbau Plan for a standing army of 21 divisions based on soldiers and a large militia.
It was also negotiated for the French Army to be reduced. In October 1933, following the rise of Adolf Hitler and the founding of Nazi regime, Germany withdrew from League of Nations and the World Disarmament Conference.
Schmitt argued "had the four Allies remained united, they could have forced Germany really to disarm, and the German will and capacity to resist other provisions of the treaty would have correspondingly diminished." Max Hantke and Mark Spoerer wrote "military and economic historians found that the German military only insignificantly exceeded the limits" of the treaty before 1933.
The League of Nations mediated between the Germans and Lithuanians on a local level, helping the power-sharing arrangement last until 1939. On 13 January 1935, 15 years after the Saar Basin had been placed under the protection of the League of Nations, a plebiscite was held to determine the future of the area.
The region returned to German sovereignty on 1 March 1935.
In March 1935, Germany reintroduced conscription followed by an open rearmament programme, the official unveiling of the Luftwaffe (air force), and signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement that allowed a surface fleet the size of the Royal Navy.
In January 1927, following the withdrawal of the Allied disarmament committee, Krupps ramped up production of armor plate and artillery. Production increased so that by 1937, military exports had increased to Reichsmarks.
Left-wing politicians attacked the treaty and Clemenceau for being too harsh (the latter turning into a ritual condemnation of the treaty, for politicians remarking on French foreign affairs, as late as August 1939).
The League of Nations mediated between the Germans and Lithuanians on a local level, helping the power-sharing arrangement last until 1939. On 13 January 1935, 15 years after the Saar Basin had been placed under the protection of the League of Nations, a plebiscite was held to determine the future of the area.
During the 1940s, Mantoux wrote a posthumously published book titled The Carthaginian Peace, or the Economic Consequences of Mr.
In a 1995 essay, Weinberg noted that with the disappearance of Austria-Hungary and with Russia withdrawn from Europe, that Germany was now the dominant power in Eastern Europe. The British military historian Correlli Barnett claimed that the Treaty of Versailles was "extremely lenient in comparison with the peace terms that Germany herself, when she was expecting to win the war, had had in mind to impose on the Allies".
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