Major Provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.

In the year 1914 there was a great war which was centered in Europe. This war was World War One; it lasted for four years and involved all the major powers of the world during that period. According to Britannica ready reference (2003) the first world last from 1914 to 1918 and it was an International conflict between the Central Powers-Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey and the Allied Powers mainly France, Britain, Russia, Italy, and from 1917 the U.S. The U.S kept out of the war at the begin but only became involved when Germany used a submarine against a neutral ship killing Americans and dishonoring of previous agreements eventually brought the U.S. into the war in 1917. According to Cutler, Burt and Strasshofer, Craig (1993) world war one prove to be the first war in history to have an impact upon virtually the entire world. World war one affected everyone, it is described as the worst war ever to have erupted in Europe until the Second World War. During this war many men, women and children lost their lives. This war cause millions of dollars of property damage also social, political and economical damage as well. Most of the European countries became bankrupt from the cost of waging a war for four years. It took many of countries in Europe and other parts of world years to recover from the war. It took the combination of over 120 nations to defeat Germany and her Allies. Germany and her Allies felt the war would have been over quickly and they would have been victors but Germany and her Allies soon realized that they would not be successful in the war against so many nations. Hence Germany surrendered before they were defeated. In the year 1918 Germany according to David Fisher (1994) pleaded with President Wilson who was President of the United States of America for an armistice.

An armistice meant cessation of fighting. According to Britannica ready reference (2003) it was an agreement between Germany and the Allied Nations ending World War I. On November 11, 1918 at 11am Germans and Allied officials met in a rail road car in the Compiegne Forrest in France and signed the armistice document which ended world war one. At that particular time of the signing of the treaty the principal term was that Germany would evacuate Belgium, France, and Alsace-Lorraine immediately. According to Fisher (1994) Germany only signed the armistice because they felt Wilson’s peace program would be the bases of the peace treaty but they here dead wrong in their assumptions. Wilson had developed a fourteen points system which would see a just settlement between Germany and the Allied powers. However during the peace conference held in France in the year 1919They received no favorable treatment. According to Britannica ready reference (2003) Negotiations formalizing the armistice were conducted at the Paris Peace Conference.

On January 1919 over twenty seven delegates met to negotiate the peace settlement for world war one. Among the over twenty seven nations were the four (4) major or world powers at the time; the four powers would lead the meeting and decision making. According to Cutler and Strasshofer (1993) immediately the victorious leaders of the “Big Four” Allied power- Premier George Clemenceau of France, Prime Minister David Lloyd George of England, Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando of Italy and President Woodrow Wilson of the United States of America met at Versailles for Paris Peace Conference to decide the losers fate. However Germany and her Allies were left out of the conference, they were not allowed to be a part of the conference. The results of the conference became known as the treaty of Versailles,

according to Encyclopedia international volume 19 the treaty placed upon Germany the full onus of war guilt, stripped it of its colonies and important European territories, limited its military forces and saddled it with an enormous burden of reparation. Though the world powers along with other nations came together to defeat Germany and her Allies they all had their own intention or hidden agenda and expected outcome of the treaty been signed.

Wilson who is described as been an idealist wanted a peaceable solution which would not seek revenge upon the defeated powers which would stir up more hatred. Clemenceau of France and Lloyd George of Britain wanted Germany to be punished severely and Germany’s ability to wage war ever again destroyed. However to the end no one got what they fully wanted. The process of deciding on what action to take against Germany and her defeated Allies was filled with disagreement, debates and eventual compromises and in the end, the treaty of Versailles was a compromised document that satisfied no one according to Mitchell, Joseph R. and Mitchell, Helen B (2006). Germany was angered by the treaty when they heard all that was to take place under or base on it. According to Ellis and Esler (2003) in June 1919, the Allies ordered representatives of the new Germany Republic to sign the treaty they had drawn up at the palace of Versailles outside Paris, the Germany delegates were horrified. However they had no choice but to sign, if they risk been pulled into a war which would inevitably result in defeat.

The territorial provision of the treaty of Versailles states according to Perry Marvin et.al (2007) that France regained Alsace and Larraine, the territory lost to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 to 1871. Not only did Germany lose territories gained in earlier wars but

her overseas colonies too. According to Fisher (1994) Germany lost all of her Asian and African colonies. Germany land west and as far as thirty miles of the east of the Rhineland was taken and occupied by the Allied nation forces though France would have preferred to have it under her rule only. The treaty also reestablished an independent Polish nation which also received a portion of the coal rich province of Silesia. An outlet to the Baltic Sea was created for Poland once East Prussia had been detach from the rest of Germany and this outlet became knowing as the Polish Corridor. Lithuania under the treaty was given the German port of Memel. The treaty also stated that Germans living in countries such as Russia, Poland Alsace and Lorraine and the German colonies had to leave and return their own country of Germany. According to Fisher (1994) altogether the Germans lost twenty five thousand square miles of territory inhabited by six million people.

The economic provisions angered Germany more than anything else but Germany’s present leaders due to their current situation couldn’t object but had to comply fully. Germany under the treaty had to supply several of the allied nations with coal from their mines. Germany also had to turn over many of her merchant and fishing vessels to the allied nations and to add insult to injury they had to build new ships for the Allied nations. They weren’t allowed to build any new ship for itself. According to Fisher (1994) the most damaging economic provision of the treaty was the reparation payments. The reparation payment was for damages to life and property cause by Germany who all the Allied deem solely responsible for the war. At first they refused to pay, and only started paying after France and Britain invaded Germany (January 1921).

According to Perry et.al (2007) the issue of war reparation caused great bitterness between Wilson and his French and Britain adversaries. This bitterness was because the Americans felt that the sum should be reasonable and a fixed amount and this amount would have to be paid over a specified period of years. However this section of the treaty was back by the other “Power Houses” and left Germany with an opened bill, this meant there wasn’t a limit on the amount to be paid or for how long it should be paid. The total cost of Germans reparation according to Ellis and Esler (2003) would later be calculated at thirty million Dollars which would be equivalent to 2.7 trillion Dollars today. Due the reparation payment been made by Germany they suffered greatly economically. They tried various methods to redeem their economy, such as printing more monetary notes, which resulted in disastrous inflation, creating unemployment and causing starvation.

The last blow to Germany’s pride was the military provision. According to Perry et.al (2007) to strip Germany of any offensive capacity, the settlement abolished the German general staff and forbade military conscription. Germany had a huge army which was still feared though they had sign the treaty. According to Spielvogel Jackson (1999) the treaty forced Germany to reduce its army size to 100,000 men, cut back its navy and eliminate its air force. Germany wasn’t allowed to have any heavy artillery, tanks or submarines. The treaty also demilitarized the zone east of the Rhine River in the hope to bar any future German military moves west ward against France.

The provisions made under the treaty of Versailles was deem unfair by the Germans but deem most fitting my most of the Allied nations. Germany felt she was dealt with ruthlessly and she was hoodwink because it was led to believe that the peace treaty would be guided by President Wilson “fourteen points” which Germany felt would be just towards them because it promised self-determination. Germany hadn’t been invited to join the League of Nations. Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations was created, but Germany was not invited to join Germany was shun and isolated, even though they had comply to all the provisions named by the treaty of Versailles. According to Fisher (1994) Germany resentment and anger at the unjust provision soon changed to hatred and thought of revenge began to mount. The treaty created a situation in Germany with ideal conditions for rising fascist leadership Adolf Hitler. It is believed by many historians that the treaty of Versailles didn’t help or ensure lasting peace in Europe but help to set the scene for the chain of events which fuel the worst war ever to be witness by man, World War II.

REFRERENCES

Britannica Ready Reference Encyclopedia (2003)

Cutler, Burt and Strasshofer Craig (1993). History Safari. California, Educational Insights

Ellis, Elisabeth Gaynor and Esler, Antony (2003). World History. Boston, Massachusetts, Pearson and Pearson Education.inc.

Encyclopedia International, 1975 volume 19, Grolier Inc. New York, USA

Fisher, David A. (1994). World History for Christian Schools 2nd edition. Greenville, South Carolina, Bob Jones University Press.

Mitchell, Joseph and Mitchell, Helen Buss (2006) Taking Sides: Clashing Views in World
History, Volume 2, Two Edition, McGraw-Hill/Dushkin USA.

Perry, Marvin et.al (2007) Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics and Society 8th edition, Haughton Miffin Company, Boston USA.

Spielvogel, Jackson J. (1999). Modern World History, Belmont, California, USA, Contemporary Publishing Group Inc.