Why was the Treaty of Versailles the main mistake of the Allies? Treaty of Versailles The historical significance of the treaty.
In 1918, Germany realized that the war had been lost. All efforts were aimed at making peace, not capitulation. In October, a truce is signed for 36 days: the development of peace conditions, but they were tough. They were dictated by the French. Peace was not signed. The truce was extended 5 times. There was no unity in the Allied camp. France held the first position. She was greatly weakened by the war, both economically and financially. She came out with demands for the payment of colossal reparations, as she sought to crush the German economy. She demanded the division of Germany, but England opposed this.
In October 1918, the German government approached US President Woodrow Wilson with a proposal to conclude a truce on all fronts. This move was an indication that Germany had agreed to Wilson's Fourteen Points, the document that served as the basis for a just world. Nevertheless, the countries of Atlanta demanded from Germany full compensation for the damage caused to the civilian population and the economy of these countries. In addition to demands for restitution, negotiations were complicated by territorial claims and secret agreements made by England, France and Italy with each other and with Greece and Romania in the last year of the war.
June 28, 1919 - Signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which put an end to World War I. The peace treaty between Germany and the countries of the Entente was signed in the Mirror Hall of the Palace of Versailles in the suburbs of Paris. The date of its signing went down in history as the day the World War I ended, despite the fact that the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles came into force only on January 10, 1920.
27 countries participated in it. It was an agreement between the winners and Germany. Germany's allies did not take part in the conference. The text of the peace treaty was created during the Paris Peace Conference in the spring of 1919. In fact, the conditions were dictated by the leaders of the Big Four represented by British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, French President Georges Clemenceau, American President Woodrow Wilson and Italian leader Vittorio Orlando. The German delegation was shocked by the harsh terms of the treaty and the apparent contradictions between the armistice agreements and the provisions of the future world. The vanquished were especially indignant at the wording of German war crimes and the incredible amount of her reparations.
The legal basis for Germany's reparations was accusations of her war crimes. It was unrealistic to calculate the real damage caused by the war to Europe (especially France and Belgium), but the approximate amount was $ 33,000,000,000. Despite the statements of world experts that Germany would never be able to pay such reparations without pressure from the Entente countries, the text The peace treaty contained provisions that allowed for certain measures of influence on Germany. Among the opponents of the recovery of reparations was John Maynard Keynes, who, on the day of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, said that Germany's huge debt would lead to a world economic crisis in the future. His prediction, unfortunately, came true: in 1929, the United States and other countries suffered the Great Depression. By the way, it was Keynes who stood at the origins of the creation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The leaders of the Entente, in particular, Georges Clemenceau, were interested in excluding any possibility of Germany starting a new world war. To this end, the treaty included provisions according to which the German army was to be reduced to 100,000 personnel, military and chemical production in Germany was prohibited. The entire territory of the country east of the Rhine and 50 km to the west was declared a demilitarized zone.
From the very signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the Germans declared that "the Entente imposed a peace treaty on them." In the future, the rigid provisions of the treaty were relaxed in favor of Germany. However, the shock that the German people experienced after the signing of this shameful peace remained in memory for a long time, and Germany harbored hatred for the rest of the states of Europe. In the early 1930s, in the wake of revanchist ideas, Adolf Hitler managed to come to power in an absolutely legal way.
Germany's capitulation allowed Soviet Russia to denounce the provisions of the Brest-Litovsk Separate Peace, concluded between Germany and Russia in March 1918, and return its western territories.
Germany has lost a lot. Alsace and Lorraine went to France, and northern Schleswick to Denmark. Germany lost more territories that were given to Holland. But France failed to achieve a border along the Rhine. Germany was forced to recognize the independence of Austria. Unification with Austria was forbidden. In general, a colossal number of different prohibitions were imposed on Germany: a ban on creating a large army and having many types of weapons. Germany was forced to pay reparations. But the issue of quantity has not been resolved. A special commission was created, which practically dealt only with the fact that appointed the amount of reparations for the next year. Germany was deprived of all her colonies.
Austria-Hungary split into Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. From Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Southern Hungary, at the end of the war, the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian state was formed, which later became known as Yugoslavia. They looked like Versailles. Austria lost a number of its territories and army. Italy received South Tyrol, Trieste, Istria with adjacent areas. The Slavic lands of Czech Republic and Moravia, which for a long time were part of Austria-Hungary, became the basis of the Czechoslovak Republic that was formed. Part of Silesia also passed to her. The Austro-Hungarian naval and Danube fleets were placed at the disposal of the victorious countries. Austria had the right to keep an army of 30 thousand people on its territory. Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine were transferred to Czechoslovakia, Croatia and Slovenia were included in Yugoslavia, Transylvania, Bukovina and most of Banat-Romania. The number of the Vegerian army was determined at 35 thousand people.
It came to Turkey. Under the Treaty of Sèvres, she lost about 80% of her former lands. England received Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq. France - Syria and Lebanon. Smyrna and the surrounding areas, as well as the islands in the Aegean Sea, were to pass to Greece. In addition, Masuk went to England, Alexandretta, Killikia and a strip of territories along the Syrian border to France. The creation of independent states - Armenia and Kurdistan - in the east of Anatolia was envisaged. The British wanted to turn these countries into a springboard for the fight against the Bolshevik threat. Türkiye was limited to the territory of Asia Minor and Constantinople with a narrow strip of European land. The straits were entirely in the hands of the victorious countries. Turkey officially renounced its previously lost rights to Egypt, Sudan and Cyprus in favor of England, Morocco and Tunisia - in favor of France, Libya - in favor of Italy. The army was reduced to 35 thousand people, but it could be increased to suppress anti-government protests. In Turkey, the colonial regime of the victorious countries was established. But because of the beginning of the national liberation movement in Turkey, this treaty was not ratified and then annulled.
The United States left the Versailles conference dissatisfied. It has not been ratified by the US Congress. It was her diplomatic defeat. Italy was also not happy: it did not get what it wanted. England was forced to reduce the fleet. It's expensive to maintain. She had a difficult financial situation, a large debt to the United States, and they put pressure on her. In February 1922, the 9-Power Treaty on China was signed in Washington. He did not sign the Treaty of Versailles, as it was planned to give some territory of German China to Japan. The division into spheres of influence in China was eliminated, there were no colonies left there. This treaty gave rise to another discontent in Japan. This is how the Versailles-Washington system was formed, which lasted until the mid-1930s.
Completed the First World War, was signed on June 28, 1919 in the suburbs of Paris, in the former royal residence.
The truce, which actually put an end to the bloody war, was concluded on November 11, 1918, but it took the heads of the warring states about another six months to work out the main provisions of the peace treaty together.
The Treaty of Versailles was concluded between the victorious countries (USA, France, Great Britain) and defeated Germany. Russia, which was also a member of the coalition of anti-German powers, earlier, in 1918, concluded with Germany (according to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk), therefore, it did not participate either in the Paris Peace Conference or in the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. It is for this reason that Russia, which suffered huge human losses, not only did not receive any compensation (indemnity), but also lost part of its original territory (some regions of Ukraine and Belarus).
Terms of the Treaty of Versailles
The main provision of the Treaty of Versailles is an unconditional recognition of "causing war." In other words, the full responsibility for inciting a global European conflict fell on Germany. This resulted in unprecedented severity of sanctions. The sum of the total indemnities paid by the German side to the victorious powers amounted to 132 million gold marks (in 1919 prices).
The last payments were made in 2010, thus, Germany was able to fully pay off the "debts" of the First World War only after 92 years.
Germany suffered very painful territorial losses. All were divided among the countries of the Entente (anti-German coalition). Part of the original continental German lands was also lost: Lorraine and Alsace went to France, East Prussia - to Poland, Gdansk (Danzig) was recognized as a free city.
The Treaty of Versailles contained detailed requirements aimed at the demilitarization of Germany, preventing the re-ignition of a military conflict. The German army was significantly reduced (to 100,000 people). The German military industry was actually supposed to cease to exist. In addition, a separate requirement was spelled out for the demilitarization of the Rhineland - Germany was forbidden to concentrate troops and military equipment there. The Treaty of Versailles included a clause on the creation of the League of Nations, an international organization similar in function to the modern UN.
Impact of the Treaty of Versailles on the German economy and society
The terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty were unjustifiably harsh and harsh, she could not withstand them. A direct consequence of the fulfillment of the draconian requirements of the treaty was the complete destruction of the total impoverishment of the population and monstrous hyperinflation.
In addition, the insulting peace agreement touched upon such a sensitive, albeit intangible, substance as national identity. The Germans felt not only ruined and robbed, but also wounded, unfairly punished and offended. German society readily embraced the most extreme nationalist and revanchist ideas; this is one of the reasons why a country that just 20 years ago ended one global military conflict with grief in half, easily got involved in the next one. But the Versailles Treaty of 1919, which was supposed to prevent potential conflicts, not only failed to fulfill its purpose, but also to some extent contributed to the incitement of the Second World War.
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- Treaty of Versailles, Yu.V. Klyuchnikov. The Treaty of Versailles was intended to consolidate the redistribution of the capitalist world in favor of the victorious powers. According to it, Germany returned Alsace-Lorraine to France (within the borders of 1870); ...
The First World War is over! The enemies laid down their guns. The geopolitical reorganization of Europe began. But why Germany, having suffered a heavy defeat, was able not only to mobilize all its forces, but also to unleash the most terrible and bloody war in the history of mankind?! I will express my point of view on this matter.
So, the victorious countries (USA, England, France, Italy, etc.) judged the vanquished (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey), naturally, imposing on them their conditions of the post-war world order. The Treaty of Versailles, without eliminating the pre-war contradictions, gave rise to new ones - between the winners and the vanquished. Therefore, the Versailles system turned out to be extremely shaky and unstable. “The Treaty of Versailles is an agreement of predators and robbers,” Lenin said and further emphasized that “the international system, the order that is maintained by the Treaty of Versailles, rests on a volcano.”
The Versailles system was unable to fulfill its immediate task - to keep the defeated countries in check. The Entente contributed to the rallying of the vanquished and aroused their hatred. Germany's defeat in the war intensified the discrepancy between the high level of the country's economic development and the weakness of its position in world markets. The main cause of the First World War - Germany's struggle for markets, sources of raw materials and areas for capital investment - was not eliminated, but only temporarily muffled and inevitably had to become even more aggravated after a while. Neither the attempt to undermine the German economy through reparations, nor the deprivation of Germany of a mass army prevented the preparation of revenge. It must be said that the German ruling circles began to think about revenge immediately after the armistice was signed.
Undoubtedly, the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles were extremely difficult, and all this burden fell on the shoulders of the German working people. Germany, on the other hand, retained all its industry and was ready in due time to restore its productive power to the full extent.
An important factor that undermined the Versailles system was also the contradictions between the winners. Imagine the picture: in the Middle East, England secretly supported Syria against France, and France - Turkey against England. Together with Italy, England tried to weaken the French positions in the Balkans.
The Versailles system did not satisfy the United States either, which did not ratify the peace treaty. Moreover, Germany received multibillion-dollar American loans that contributed to the restoration of its military-industrial potential.
The Versailles system legitimized the colonial rule of a handful of countries over 7/10 of the world's population. For this reason, it was in no way just, and the intensifying struggle of the oppressed peoples destroyed it. Also, one of the main vices of the Versailles system was its desire to isolate the USSR with a “cordon sanitaire”, to build post-war international relations contrary to its vital interests, which objectively undermined this system, made it fragile and short-lived.
So, let's sum up. The Versailles-Washington peace was supposed to end the war. In reality, he turned her into a constant threat hanging over the whole world. The Entente countries are one of the main causes of the Second World War, their stupid and thoughtless policy, which was calculated two steps ahead, as well as following only their own interests, without seeing the big picture.
The Treaty of Versailles is an important international document of the beginning of the last century, which marked the end of the First World War and established the order of the post-war world order. His conclusion took place on June 28, 1919 between the states of the Entente (France, England and America) and the defeated German Empire. Together with the agreements subsequently signed with the German allies and the documents adopted at the conference in Washington, the treaty became the beginning of the Versailles-Washington system of international relations.
What were the goals of the document and who signed it
The first world war in the history of mankind ended in the autumn of 1918 with the signing of the Armistice of Compiègne, which provided for the cessation of hostilities. However, in order to finally sum up the bloody events and develop the principles of the post-war order of the world, it took the representatives of the victorious powers a few more months. The document that fixed the end of the war was the Treaty of Versailles, signed during the Paris Conference. It was concluded on June 28, 1919, in the former royal estate of Versailles, located not far from the French capital. The signatories of the treaty were representatives of England, France and America (the states of the Entente) on the part of the winners and Germany on the part of the losing state.
Russia, which also took part in the war on the side of the Entente bloc and lost millions of its citizens in battles, was not admitted to the Paris Peace Conference due to the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Germans in 1918 and, accordingly, did not take part in the drafting and signing of the document. .
Thanks to the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty, a new system of post-war order of the world was established, the purpose of which was to revive the economies of the victorious powers as soon as possible and prevent another global military conflict. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles became the subject of long negotiations and discussions between representatives of the victorious states. Each country sought to derive as much benefit as possible from the signing of the future document, so it took the participants of the Paris Conference many weeks to draw up its general provisions. Finally, at the end of June 1919, after long secret meetings, the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were drawn up and agreed between the countries that fought on the side of the Entente.
