Treaty of Versailles

Map 25.5: Europe in 1919

Treaty of Versailles

• Used Wilson’s 14 Points

• Big 3 + Italy (Big Four)

• Did not agree on goals for the peace talks

The Big Four

Woodrow Wilson USA

David Lloyd-George Great Britain

Georges Clemenceau France Vittorio Orlando Italy

Allied Attitudes

FranceGeorge

Clemenceau

Great BritainLloyd George

AmericaWoodrow Wilson

Make Germany pay!Make it so Germany can never do this againRevenge

Similar to the FrenchBut…Worried that too harsh a treaty might create problems in the future

Put forward the 14 Points designed to establish a lasting peace in Europe

Treaty of Versailles

• Address underlying causes of the war• Open covenants (treaties)• Freedom of the seas• Tariffs/trade barriers• Arms build up• Colonial Policies

Treaty of Versailles

• Used Wilson’s 14 Points– Germany saw hope – the settlement would

not be vindictive– Clemenceau – “Wilson bores me with his

Fourteen Points. Why the good lord himself has only ten.”

Versailles Treaty

• Established 9 new Nations• Shifted boundaries of others• Demilitarized Germany

– Not too weak, not too strong• Reparations - $33 billion• War-guilt clause• Created the League of Nations

Europe 2008

14 Points

• Point 14– League of Nations

• Mutual defense• Resolution of

disagreements

Treaty of Versailles

• Germany had to– Demilitarize Rhineland– Saar basin to France - 15 yrs (coal) – Pay reparations - $33 billion– Return conquered lands– Reduce its military to 100,000 men– 6 battleships/ no submarines– No air force– Demilitarize western Germany– War guilt clause

• Sign or face invasion --“Diktat”

"The Allied and Associated Governments affirm, and Germany accepts, the responsibility of Germany and her Allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associate Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of a war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her Allies."

Article 231

The War Guilt Clause

GERMANY ACCEPTED RESPONSIBILITY FOR STARTING THE WAR

Weaknesses• Germany

– Humiliated– Reparations – economic

depression– Lost territory

• Alienated Russia– Lost territory– Not included in

negotiations

• Ignored claims by colonized people for self-determination

How did Germans React to the Treaty?

Germans thought the Treaty was a “diktat” : a dictated peace. They had not been invited to the peace conference at Versailles and when the Treaty was presented to them they were threatened with war if they did not sign it.

The Treaty was NOT based on Wilson’s Fourteen Points as the Germans had been promised it would.

Most Germans believed that the War Guilt Clause was unjustified. The French and British had done just as much to start the war

The loss of territory and population angered most Germans who believed that the losses were too severe.

Many Germans believed the German economy would be crippled by having to pay reparations.

Treaty of Versailles

• The Kaiser’s government had been replaced and many believed that the new democratic government was being made to bear too much of a burden.– Could it survive?