The treaty of Versailles: was it fair?
Revenge or pacification?
The winners’ problems
November 1918: The Armistice
By autumn 1918 the German generals decided that they were about to be defeated and the German government asked the President of the US, Wilson, for peace. There was an agreement to stop fighting on 11 November 1918. This agreement was called the Armistice.
Paris 1919: problems for the winners
The leaders of the victorious countries faced a number of complex problems:
· Germany had nearly defeated Britain, Russia and France single-handed. How could the winners make sure that Germany could not fight another war in the future?
· Communists had seized power in Russia. Communists wanted to destroy all other capitalist governments by workers’ revolution.
· Central and Eastern Europe were in chaos. The royal families of Germany and Austria-Hungary had abdicated before the peace conference.
· The British and French governments had entered into a number of secrets treaties during the war. They had promised Japan special treatment in Asia. Under the Treaty of London of 1915 Italy had agreed to join the allies in return of promise of gains from Austria-Hungary. Japan and Italy now expected to be given in their rewards.
· Nationalists in Eastern Europe had set up new governments even before the war had officially ended. By early November 1918 there were new states in Yugoslavia, Poland and Czechoslovakia.
The end of the war came more quickly than the allies had expected. The victorious allies had given a little thought to the arrangements for the peace. When they did begin discussing the peace it became clear that the winners had very different views about the future.
The plans for the peace
Differences between the Big Three
Perhaps the biggest problem faced at the peace conferences was the fact that the winning countries had very different views about what should happen next. The key players were the so-called Big Three (the term Big Four is use when Italy is also included).
The differences between the Allies were hidden while the war was fought. The French and the British did not agree with many of Wilson’s views. However, they had been desperate to make sure that the USA supported the war. During the war, they kept quiet in public, for fear that disagreement would limit the American war effort. Once the fighting had stopped the French and the British started to disagree with Americans.
The Wilson’s Fourteen Points
Woodrow Wilson made his own idealistic aims clear a year before the Paris conference. Speaking in January 1918, long before the war ended, President Wilson stated what he wanted as Fourteen Points.
A summary of the Fourteen Points
- There should be no secrets deals or treaties between states.
- Countries should be free to send ships anywhere in the world without interference.
- There should be free trade between countries.
- The level of armaments should be reduced in each country.
- The future of colonies should be reviewed and the wishes of local people taken into consideration.
- Other countries should leave Russian territory.
- The Germans should leave Belgium.
- Alsace and Lorraine should be returned to France.
- The Italian borders should be adjusted to bring Italian speakers into Italy as far as possible.
- The different people of Austria-Hungary should be given their freedom.
- Invading armies should leave the Balkan states
- Non-Turkish people in Turkish Empire should be free to have their own governments.
- An independent Poland should be set up. Poland should have access to the sea.
- A League of Nations should be set up to preserve the future peace of the world.
In January 1918 Wilson explained the thinking behind the Fourteen Points
One principle runs through the world program. It is the principle of justice to all peoples and nationalities, whether they be strong or weak. Without this principle, there can be no international justice. For this principle, the people of the United States are ready to devote their lives, their honour, and everything they possess.
Wilson knew that he disagreed with the French and the British. As early 1917 he wrote a private note that said.
England and France have not the same views with respect to peace that we have by any means. When the war is over we can force them to our way of thinking because by the time they will, among other things, be financially in our hands.
The French position
The French leader at Paris conference was Georges Clemenceau. His nickname was “the tiger”. He was aware that most French people wanted revenge for the devastation of the war. The level of the devastation was like no previous war and much of the bloodshed and destruction had taken place in France.
France had suffered greatly during the First World War. A quarter of all French men aged 18–27 had been killed. Another four million had been wounded. Much of North-Eastern France had been devastated. The French government had borrowed huge sums of money to fight the war and was faced with an enormous debt. The French wanted Germany to pay all these losses. They also wanted revenge for the defeat in the war 1870/71 and loss of Alsace-Lorraine.
Ideally the French wanted to break up Germany into a number of small, weak states. Failing this, Clemenceau called for Germany to lose the Rhineland, Saarland, Upper Silesia, Danzig and East Prussia. These areas included much of Germany’s coal and heavy industry.
The French leaders disagreed very strongly with the USA over the question of compensation or reparations. The position of the US was very different to France and Britain. For the two European countries, particularly France, the had been an economic catastrophe. The USA had not suffered economically during the war and had no demands for substantial reparations.
When the war was virtually over, on 29 October 1918, Clemenceau met Lloyd George. Now that the fighting had finished they could begin to express their disagreements with Wilson. According to one account, they discussed how far they agreed with the Fourteen Points. Clemenceau said:
Have you ever been asked whether you accept the Fourteen Points? I have never been asked.
Georges Clemenceau said in 1919
Mark well what I’m telling you. In six months, in a year, five years, ten years, when they like, as they like, the Germans will invade us again.
We were attacked. We are victorious. We represent right, and might is ours. This might must be used in the service of the right.
The British proposal: Lloyd George and a compromise peace
Lloyd George was the British Prime Minister. He occupied the middle ground between France and the USA. Like Clemenceau ha had to listen to public opinion at home. This had been influenced by a press campaign demanding harsh treatment for Germany. He was not personally anxious to punish the Germans severely. He was afraid that if Germany was too weak this would give France too much power in Europe.
The chief concern of Lloyd George was to make sure that the British Empire did not suffer as a result of the settlement. There was an early difference of opinion between Wilson and Lloyd George over the future of the former German colonies, Wilson hated imperialism and wanted the colonies to be looked after by the new League of Nations until they became independent. Lloyd George wanted them divided into the winning powers. Lloyd George wanted to make sure that South Africa, Australia and New Zealand were rewarded with nearby German territories. Both Britain and France also wanted a share of the former Turkish lands of the Middle East.
The British government team was suspicious of France. Traditionally, France had been an enemy of Britain. The British did not want a Europe dominated by France, any more than they wanted a German-controlled Europe. This was another reason for making sure that Germany was not too harshly treated. Lloyd George was also worried that a weak Germany would be unable to stop the spread of communism.
Lloyd George, speaking to the House of Commons before the Peace Conference, said:
We want a peace which will be just, but not vindictive. We want a stern peace because the occasion demands it, but the severity must be designed, not for vengeance, but for justice. Above all, we want to protect the future against a repetition of the horrors of this war.
About the 14 points Lloyd George said to Clemenceau:
I have never been asked either. We cannot accept the second point under any condition; it means the power of the blockade goes. Germany had been broken almost as much by the blockade as by military methods. If this power is to be handed over to the League of the Nations and Great Britain were fighting for her life, no League of Nations would prevent her from defending herself.
Download the paper and compare the positions of the Big Three towards Germany
The treaty of Versailles
On 28 June 1919, Germany reluctantly signed the Treaty of Versailles as part of the Paris Peace Conference in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles — exactly five years on from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the spark that had ignited the First World War.
Watch the video and write down notes about the question below.
The American leader was unhappy with much of the treaty. Many British leaders were also concerned that the treaty was too hard on Germany. They went along with it because they thought the problems of the treaty could be sorted out at a later date. Wilson put much faith in the League of Nations. He thought that this organisation would be able to solve any arguments between countries.
Final assignment: Was the treaty of Versailles fair?
It is important to make up our mind about this key question and be able to back up your view with evidence and arguments. So, place yourself on this scale answering the question.
Now, write an essay (at least 200 words) that justify your choice. Every answer is right, if is correctly supported by arguments. In your text consider the aims and proposals of each leader, the decisions of the Peace Conference of Paris and every information you got.
You can organize the essay following this points:
· state your point about the end of the war
· support your opinion with the first argument
· strengthen your statement with second argument
· End your essay with a proper conclusion that reasserts your thesis