The Versailles Treaty

The Versailles Treaty The Deal that ended World War I was called the Versailles Treaty. Some of the conditions of this Treaty were as follows: Territorial 1. Alsace-Lorraine returned to France. 2. Eupen and Malmedy ceded to Belgium. 3. Northern Schleswig turned over to Denmark. 4. Posen, West Prussia, and part of Upper Silesia (the “Polish Corridor”) given to the new republic of Poland. 5. Danzig made a “free city.” 6. The Soar Basin transferred to the League of Nations for 15 years, with its coal mines to be operated by France; in 1935 a plebiscite was to determine its future status. 7. German colonial possessions in Africa and the Pacific given as mandate to England, France, Japan and the British dominions. Military 1. German army limited to 100,000. 2. Conscription abolished, and a 12-year term of service required for all volunteers. 3. Rhineland demilitarized. Allied army to occupy the Rhineland for 15 years 4. Manufacture of war material banned. 5. Submarines and military airplanes banned. 6. German navy limited in size.

Economic and War Guilt 1. German required paying indemnities for all damages. The total, set at a 1920 conference, was $33 billion. 2. Germany completely blamed for the war.

Results of the War Political 1. Nationalism triumphed in the creation of many new independent states – Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. 2. Democracy spread, with woman suffrage granted in England and the United States, and constitutional republic created in many of the new countries. 3. Autocratic empires were broken up – the Turkish Empire, and those of the Hapsburgs in Austria-Hungary, the Romanovs in Russia, the Hohenzollerns in Germany. 4. New minority problems were created 0 Germans were governed by Czechoslovakia, Hungarians by Rumania, and Yugoslavs by Italy. These sore spots created new ill-felling. 5. The United States emerged as an important world power, but her rejection of the Treaty of Versailles and her unwillingness to join the League of Nations weakened peace efforts. 6. Dictatorships were established in Poland, Hungary, Russia, Italy, and later Germany where efforts to solve postwar problems by democratic means failed. 7. The peace movement was stimulated through the creation of the League of Nations and the World Court but these organizations failed to maintain peace. 8. Dissatisfaction of many nations with the treaties, even the victorious ones like France and Italy, and particularly the defeated ones, like Germany.

Economic

1. Severe war damages required heavy taxes to pay for the recovery of Eurpean nations. 2. German reparations created problems not only for Germany but also for the Allies, who needed German payments help pay war debts owed to the United States. 3. Creation of new states increased tariff barriers, with constant upset of world trade.

4. Postwar depression of 1918-20 created much distress of unemployment. 5. The economic life of countries, under government continued during the war, helped to promote the idea of communism

Social 1. Loss of life was very high. Nearly 9 million soldiers were killed, and 29 million more wounded, captured or reported missing. Millions of civilians died, too, as a result of the hunger and disease. 2. New rivalries and hatreds were created, and old enmities aggravated. 3. Hunger, disease, revolution and warfare did not end.