Why Versailles. Treaty of Versailles

Clemenceau, Woodrow Wilson and David Lloyd George

The Treaty of Versailles is the peace treaty that ended the First World War. It was concluded by the Entente countries (France, England ...) on the one hand and their opponents - the countries of the Central European bloc led by Germany on the other

World War I

Started in August 1914. Coalitions of states fought: the British Empire, France, the Russian Empire (until 1918). USA (since 1917), their allies and dominions and Germany, the Habsburg Empire, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire. The fighting was fought mainly in Europe, partly in the Middle East, after Japan entered the war on the side of Britain - in Oceania. During the four years of the war, about 70 million people took part in it, about 10 million died, more than 50 million were injured and maimed. Having exhausted all the resources to continue the struggle, with the acute dissatisfaction of the people with the disasters that had befallen them as a result of hostilities, Germany admitted defeat. On November 11, 1918, an armistice was signed in the Compiegne Forest near Paris, after which the fighting did not resume. The allies of the German Empire capitulated even earlier: Austria-Hungary on November 3, Bulgaria on September 29, Turkey on October 30. With the Armistice of Compiègne, the preparation of the text and terms of the peace treaty began.

The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were worked out at the Paris Peace Conference.

Paris Peace Conference

Germany, as the loser of the war and, in the opinion of France and Great Britain, its main culprit, was not invited to participate in the negotiations, Soviet Russia, which concluded with Germany, was also not invited. Only the victors had a voice in working out the terms of the Versailles Peace. They were divided into four categories.
— The first included the USA, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan, whose representatives had the right to take part in all meetings and commissions.
— In the second - Belgium, Romania, Serbia, Portugal, China, Nicaragua, Liberia, Haiti. They were invited to participate only in those meetings that directly concerned them.
— The third category included countries that were in a state of severing diplomatic relations with the bloc of Central Powers: Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay and Ecuador. The delegates of these countries could also take part in the meetings if they discussed issues directly related to them.
— The fourth group consisted of neutral states or countries that were in the process of formation. Their delegates could speak only after being invited to do so by one of the five major powers, and only on matters specifically concerning those countries.

Preparing the draft peace treaty, the conference participants sought to maximize the benefits for their countries at the expense of the losers. For example, the division of the colonies of Germany:
“Everyone agreed that the colonies should not be returned to Germany ... But what to do with them? This issue has caused controversy. Each of the major countries immediately presented its long-considered claims. France demanded the division of Togo and Cameroon. Japan hoped to secure the Shandong Peninsula and the German islands in the Pacific. Italy also spoke about its colonial interests” (“History of Diplomacy” Volume 3)

The smoothing of contradictions, the search for compromises, the establishment, at the initiative of the United States, of the League of Nations, an international organization designed to influence world politics so that there would be no more wars between states, took six months

The main participants in the development of the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles

USA: President Wilson, Secretary of State Lansing
France: Prime Minister Clemenceau, Foreign Minister Pichon
England: Prime Minister Lloyd George, Foreign Secretary Balfour
Italy: Prime Minister Orlando, Foreign Minister Sonnino
Japan: Baron Makino, Viscount Shinda

Course of the Paris Peace Conference. Briefly

January 12 - the first business meeting of prime ministers, foreign ministers and plenipotentiary delegates of the five major powers, at which the language of negotiations was discussed. They recognized English and French
January 18 - official opening of the conference in the mirror hall of Versailles
January 25 - at the plenary session, the conference adopted Wilson's proposal that the League of Nations should be an integral part of the entire peace treaty
January 30 - Disagreements of the parties on issues of press coverage of the negotiations came to light: “It seemed,” House wrote in his diary on January 30, 1919, “that everything went to dust ... The President was angry, Lloyd George was angry, and Clemenceau was angry. For the first time, the president lost his composure when negotiating with them ... ”(Diary of a negotiator from the United States, Colonel House)
February 3-13 - ten meetings of the Commission for the development of the charter of the League of Nations
February 14 - a new truce was concluded with Germany to replace the Compiègne one: for a short period and with a 3-day warning in case of a break
February 14 - Wilson solemnly reported the statute of the League of Nations to the peace conference: “The veil of distrust and intrigue has fallen, people look each other in the face and say: we are brothers, and we have a common goal .... From our agreement of brotherhood and friendship” - finished President's speech
March 17 - note to Clemenceau Wilson and Lloyd George with a proposal to separate the left bank of the Rhine from Germany and establish the occupation of the left bank provinces by the inter-allied armed forces for 30 years, demilitarize the left bank and a fifty-kilometer zone on the right bank of the Rhine

(at the same time) Clemenceau demanded the transfer of the Saar basin to France. If this did not happen, he argued, Germany, owning coal, would actually control all of French metallurgy. In response to Clemenceau's new demand, Wilson stated that he had never heard of the Saar until now. In his temper, Clemenceau called Wilson a Germanophile. He bluntly declared that no French prime minister would sign a treaty that would not condition the return of the Saar to France.
“So if France doesn’t get what she wants,” the president said icily, “she will refuse to act together with us. In that case, would you like me to come home?
“I don’t want you to go home,” Clemenceau replied, “I intend to do it myself.” With these words, Clemenceau quickly left the president's office.

March 20 - a meeting of prime ministers and foreign ministers of France, England, the United States and Italy on the division of spheres of influence in Asian Turkey. Wilson summed up the meeting: “Brilliant - we parted ways on all issues”
March 23 - Disputes between Britain and France over Syria are leaked to the press. Lloyd George demanded an end to newspaper blackmail. “If this continues, I will leave. Under such conditions, I cannot work,” he threatened. At the urging of Lloyd George, all further negotiations took place in the Council of Four. From that moment on, the Council of Ten (leaders and foreign ministers of the USA, France, England, Italy and Japan) gave way to the so-called "Big Four", consisting of Lloyd George, Wilson, Clemenceau, Orlando
March 25 - Lloyd George's memorandum, the so-called "Document from Fontainebleau", outraged Clemenceau. In it, Lloyd George opposed the dismemberment of Germany, against the transfer of 2,100 thousand Germans to Poland, proposed that the Rhineland be left to Germany, but demilitarize it, return Alsace-Lorraine to France, grant it the right to exploit the coal mines of the Saar basin for ten years, give Belgium Malmedy and Moreno, Denmark - certain parts of the territory of Schleswig, force Germany to give up all rights to the colony

“You can deprive Germany of her colonies, bring her army to the size of a police force and her fleet to the level of the fleet of a power of the fifth rank. Ultimately, it doesn't matter: if she finds the 1919 peace treaty unfair, "

April 14 - Clemenceau informed Wilson of his consent to the inclusion of the Monroe Doctrine * in the charter of the League of Nations. In response, Wilson revised his categorical "no" on the Saar and Rhine issues.
April 22 - Lloyd George announced that he joins the President's position on the Rhine and Saar issues.
April 24 - In protest against the unwillingness of the Council of Four to annex the city of Fiume (today the Croatian port of Rijeka) to Italy, the Italian Prime Minister Orlando left the conference
April 24 - Japan demanded that the Shandong Peninsula, which belongs to China (in eastern China), be handed over to it.
April 25 — German delegation invited to Versailles
April 30 - German delegation arrived in Versailles
May 7 - A draft peace treaty is presented to Germany. Clemenceau: “The hour of reckoning has come. You asked us for peace. We agree to provide it to you. We give you the book of the world"
May 12 - At a rally of thousands in Berlin, President Ebert and Minister Scheidemann said: "Let their hands wither before (the German representatives in Vnrsal) sign such a peace treaty"
May 29 - German Foreign Minister von Brockdorff-Rantzau presented Clemenceau with a reply note to Germany. Germany protested against all points of the peace conditions and put forward its own counterproposals. All of them were rejected
June 16 - Brockdorf was handed a new copy of the peace treaty with minimal changes
June 21 - The German government announced that it was ready to sign a peace treaty, without recognizing, however, that the German people were responsible for the war.
June 22 - Clemenceau replied that the allied countries would not agree to any changes in the treaty and to any reservations and demanded either to sign peace or refuse to sign
June 23 - The German National Assembly decides to sign peace without any reservations.
June 28 - New German Foreign Minister Hermann Müller and Minister of Justice Bell sign the Treaty of Versailles.

Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

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Results of the Versailles Peace

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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 reinforced the discrepancy between the high level of economic development of the country 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 position 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, concluded between the countries of the Entente and the Triple Alliance in 1919, determined the conditions for the end of the First World War for each of the warring parties.

At the beginning of the 20th century, tension gradually increased in the world. Each of the major European powers wanted to strengthen their positions, acquire new territories and expand their zone of influence. Territorial claims were both in the countries of the Entente (based on three powerful powers: Russia, France and England), and in the Triple Alliance (Germany, Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary). Later, most European countries were drawn into the war.

Bloody battles and diseases claimed the lives of almost 10 million people, 20 million were injured. The war began in 1914 and ended only in 1919. The Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28 at the Palace of Versailles, put an end to it. However, the terms of the treaty turned out to be such that it was clear to the political leaders of the states that in the near future the world should expect a new war. The “offended” party under the terms of the Versailles Agreement was Germany, which, instead of a dominant position, fell back into the position of a controlled state, deprived even of the opportunity to have its own regular army.

The results of the war for Germany under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles

The German Empire was no longer a powerful power. The country has lost

colonial lands in Africa;
the Pacific islands it controls;
benefits and privileges in Thailand;
fleet, airships, railway transport (all this she had to transfer to the countries of the Entente);
its army and military aviation;
coal mines of the Saar basin;
the city of Danzig (which came under the control of the League of Nations).

The Entente received the right to a 15-year occupation of the left bank of the Rhine. This was due to the need to monitor that there were no attempts on the part of Germany to violate the terms of the treaty. The German General Staff was dissolved, and conscription was abolished. Emperor Wilhelm II was recognized as an international criminal, he should have been brought to the tribunal.

The German Empire was obliged to pay huge sums of reparations to the Entente countries. Only in the next three years after the conclusion of peace, she had to give 20 billion marks in gold, securities and goods.

The total losses of Germany amounted to an eighth of the territories that belonged to her before the war, and a twelfth of the population.

Austria-Hungary, an ally of Germany, as a result of the agreement, ceased to exist as a separate state: it broke up into independent units (Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia).

Bulgaria, the third ally, withdrew from the war even before the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, being economically exhausted. The Bulgarian government was forced to deal with internal conflicts that flared up due to the difficult economic situation.

The results of the war for the victorious countries

The Treaty of Versailles brought considerable gains to the opponents of the Triple Alliance, although the losses of the population during the hostilities were huge on this side as well.

Since new supporters joined the Entente during the war, they also managed to change their borders in the direction of increasing.

State	Acquired lands
	Alsace and Lorraine (these lands belonged to France before, until 1870, when they were under German rule). Plus the Saar coal mines.
	Eupen, Malmedy
	Schleswig-Holstein
	Became independent and received the regions of Pomerania, Poznan, parts of Prussia - Western and Eastern
England and France	Received joint control of the German colonies of Cameroon and Togo
England, Belgium, Portugal	Divided the colonies in the eastern part of the African continent
Australia	Part of New Guinea
New Zealand	Samoa archipelago
	pacific islands

France, Belgium and Italy, under the terms of the agreement, were to receive from Germany a considerable amount of fuel and energy reserves: 140, 80 and 77 million tons each, respectively.

The terms of the Treaty of Versailles as a prerequisite for the formation of the Third Reich

The German Empire hoped, after the end of hostilities, to finally form as a powerful power playing a leading role in Europe politically and economically. Other states also sought to strengthen their position, and in addition, they feared the growing influence of Germany and the potential threat from her side.

The German government did not immediately agree to recognize the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, and the rest of the countries tried to revise it on the most favorable terms for themselves. Therefore, before the signing, many secret meetings were held, during which the parties finally managed to more or less agree.

Historical significance of the treaty

The Versailles peace could not become lasting: the representatives of the political elite of the European states understood that Germany would sooner or later try to take revenge. Therefore, some called this peace just a truce. For some time, the contradictions between the states managed to be settled, but it was inevitable. Two decades passed, and it broke out. After all, the Treaty of Versailles, without eliminating the contradictions that existed before between states, added new contradictions - between the winners and the vanquished.

Versailles is not peace, it is a truce for twenty years
Ferdinand Foch

The Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919 was signed on June 28. This document officially ended the First World War, which for 4 long years was the worst nightmare for all Europeans. This treaty got its name from the place where it was signed: in France in the Palace of Versailles. The signing of the Treaty of Versailles between the countries participating in the Entente and Germany, which officially recognized its defeat in the war. The terms of the agreement were so humiliating and cruel in relation to the losing side that they simply had no analogues in history, and all politicians of that era spoke more about a truce than about peace.

In this material, we will consider the main conditions of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919, as well as the events that preceded the signing of this document. You will see on concrete historical facts how tough the demands on Germany turned out to be. In fact, this document shaped relations in Europe for two decades, and also created the prerequisites for the formation of the Third Reich.

Treaty of Versailles 1919 - terms of peace

The text of the Treaty of Versailles is quite lengthy and covers a huge number of aspects. This is also surprising from the point of view that never before have peace agreements spelled out in such detail the points that have nothing to do with it. We will cite only the most significant conditions of Versailles, which made this treaty so enslaving. We present the Versailles Peace Treaty with Germany, the text of which is presented below.

Germany recognized its responsibility for all the damage caused to all countries participating in the First World War. The losing party will have to pay for this damage.
Wilhelm 2, the emperor of the country, was recognized as an international war criminal and demanded to be brought to the tribunal (Article 227)
Clear boundaries were established between the countries of Europe.
The German state was forbidden to have a regular army (Article 173)
All fortresses and fortified areas west of the Rhine must be completely destroyed (Article 180)
Germany was obliged to pay reparations to the victorious countries, but the specific amounts are not specified in the documents, but there are rather vague wordings that allow these amounts of reparations to be assigned at the discretion of the Entente countries (Article 235)
The territories west of the Rhine would be occupied by the Allied forces in order to enforce the terms of the treaty (Article 428).

This is not a complete list of the main provisions that the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919 contains, but they are quite enough to assess how this document was signed and how it could be executed.

Prerequisites for signing the agreement

On October 3, 1918, Max of Baden became Chancellor of the Empire. This historical character had a tremendous impact on the outcome of the First World War. By the end of October, all participants in the war were looking for ways to get out of it. No one could continue the protracted war.

On November 1, 1918, an event occurred that is not described in Russian history. Max Badensky caught a cold, took sleeping pills and fell asleep. His sleep lasted 36 hours. When the chancellor woke up on November 3, all the allies left the war, and Germany itself was engulfed in revolution. Is it possible to believe that the chancellor simply slept through such events, and no one woke him up? When he woke up, the country was almost destroyed. Meanwhile, Lloyd George, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, describes this event in some detail in his biography.

On November 3, 1918, Max Badensky woke up and first of all issued a decree prohibiting the use of weapons against revolutionaries. Germany was on the verge of collapse. Then the chancellor turned to the German Kaiser Wilhelm with a request to abdicate the throne. On November 9, he announced the abdication of the Kaiser from the throne. But there was no renunciation! Wilhelm abdicated only after 3 weeks! After the German chancellor virtually single-handedly lost the war and also lied about relinquishing Wilhelm's power, he himself resigned, leaving behind Ebert's successor, an ardent social democrat.

After the announcement of Ebert as Chancellor of Germany, miracles continued. Just one hour after his appointment, he declared Germany a Republic, although he did not have such powers. In fact, immediately after this, negotiations began on an armistice between Germany and the Entente countries.

The Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919 just as clearly shows us how Badensky and Ebert betrayed their homeland. Armistice negotiations began on 7 November. The agreement was signed on 11 November. To ratify this agreement, on the part of Germany, it had to be signed by the ruler, the Kaiser, who would never agree to the conditions that the signed agreement carried in itself. Now do you understand why Max of Baden on November 9 lied about the fact that Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated?

Results of the Treaty of Versailles

Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was obliged to transfer to the Entente countries: the entire fleet, all airships, as well as almost all locomotives, wagons and trucks. In addition, Germany was forbidden to have a regular army, to engage in the production of weapons and military equipment. It was forbidden to have a fleet and aviation. In fact, Ebert signed not a truce, but an unconditional surrender. Moreover, Germany had no grounds for this. The Allies did not bomb German cities and not a single enemy soldier was on German territory. The Kaiser's army successfully conducted military operations. Ebert was well aware that the German people would not approve of such a peace treaty and would want to continue the war. Therefore, another trick was invented. The treaty was called a truce (this a priori told the Germans that the war was simply ending without any concessions), but it was signed only after Ebert and his government laid down their arms. Germany, even before the signing of the "truce", transferred the fleet, aviation and all weapons to the Entente countries. After that, the resistance of the German people to the Treaty of Versailles was impossible. In addition to the loss of the army and navy, Germany was forced to cede a significant part of its territory.

The Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919 was humiliating for Germany. Most politicians later said that it was not peace, but simply a truce before a new war. And so it happened.

VERSAILLES PEACE TREATY of 1919, the treaty that officially ended the First World War of 1914-18. It was developed at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919-20. Consisted of 440 articles, united in 15 sections. Signed on June 28 at Versailles (France) by the United States, the British Empire, France, Italy and Japan, as well as Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hijaz, Honduras, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland , Portugal, Romania, the Serbo-Croat-Slovenian state, Siam, Czechoslovakia and Uruguay, on the one hand, and capitulated Germany, on the other. Soviet Russia was not invited to participate in the development and signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty. China, which took part in the Paris Peace Conference, did not sign the treaty. Of the states that signed the Versailles Peace Treaty, the United States, Hijaz and Ecuador subsequently refused to ratify it. The US Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles due to its unwillingness to bind the United States of America by participation in the work of the League of Nations, the charter of which was an integral part of the Treaty of Versailles. On August 25, 1921, the United States concluded a separate treaty with Germany, almost identical to the Treaty of Versailles, which, however, did not contain articles about the League of Nations and Germany's responsibility for starting the war.

The Treaty of Versailles entered into force on January 10, 1920, after it was ratified by Germany and the four main allied powers - Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan.

The Treaty of Versailles was intended to fix the fact of the military defeat of Germany and its responsibility for the outbreak of war, to redistribute the world in favor of the victorious powers by liquidating the German colonial empire, to consolidate territorial changes in Europe, including by transferring the lands of Germany and the former Russian Empire to others. states, to create a system that would ensure Germany's compliance with the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty and guarantee the victorious powers for a long time the role of undisputed world leaders.

Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany transferred to France the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine, Belgium - the districts of Malmedy and Eupen, as well as Neutral Morena and Prus. Morena; Poland - Poznan, parts of Pomerania and other territories of West Prussia; the city of Danzig (Gdansk) was declared a "free city"; Memel (Klaipeda) was transferred to the jurisdiction of the victorious powers (in February 1923 it was annexed to Lithuania). The question of the nationality of Schleswig, the southern part of East Prussia and Upper Silesia was to be decided by holding a plebiscite (as a result, part of Schleswig passed in 1920 to Denmark, part of Upper Silesia in 1921 to Poland, the southern part of East Prussia remained with Germany); Czechoslovakia received a small part of the Silesian territory. The coal mines of the Saar were transferred to French ownership. The Saarland itself came under the control of the League of Nations for 15 years, and after 15 years its fate was also to be decided by a plebiscite. Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany renounced the Anschluss, undertook to strictly observe the sovereignty of Austria, and also recognized the full independence of Poland and Czechoslovakia. The entire German part of the left bank of the Rhine and a strip of the right bank 50 km wide were subject to demilitarization. The left bank of the Rhine, in order to guarantee Germany's fulfillment of its obligations, was occupied by Allied forces for up to 15 years from the entry into force of the Versailles Peace Treaty.

Germany was deprived of all its colonies, which were later divided among the main victorious powers on the basis of the system of mandates of the League of Nations. In Africa, Tanganyika became a British mandated territory, the Ruanda-Urundi region became a Belgian mandate, the Kionga Triangle (Southeast Africa) was transferred to Portugal (these territories previously constituted German East Africa), Great Britain and France divided Togo and Cameroon, which previously belonged to Germany ; The Union of South Africa received a mandate for South West Africa. In the Pacific Ocean, the German-owned islands north of the equator were assigned to Japan as mandated territories, German New Guinea to the Australian Union, and the Samoa Islands to New Zealand.

Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany renounced all concessions and privileges in China, from the rights of consular jurisdiction and from all property in Siam, from all treaties and agreements with Liberia, recognized the protectorate of France over Morocco and Great Britain over Egypt. Germany's rights over Jiaozhou and the entire Shandong province of China were transferred to Japan.

According to the treaty, the armed forces of Germany were to be limited to a 100,000-strong land army; compulsory military service was abolished, the main part of the surviving Navy was to be transferred to the winners. Germany was forbidden to have a submarine fleet and military aviation. The German General Staff, the military academy were disbanded and could not be restored. The production of weapons (according to a strictly controlled nomenclature) could only be carried out under the control of the allies, most of the fortifications had to be disarmed and destroyed.

Since Germany was held responsible for starting the war, an article was introduced into the treaty providing for compensation for damage to countries that were attacked by it. Subsequently, a special Reparation Commission set the amount of reparations - 132 billion gold marks. The economic articles of the Treaty of Versailles placed Germany in the position of a dependent country. They provided for the removal of all restrictions on the import of goods from the victorious countries, the free flight of aircraft over the territory of Germany and unimpeded landing on it; the rivers Elbe, Oder, Neman and Danube were declared free for navigation within Germany, as well as the Kiel Canal. River navigation in Germany was placed under the control of international commissions.

The Versailles Peace Treaty provided for an international trial of William II and other persons guilty of committing acts "contrary to the laws and customs of war."

According to Art. 116, Germany recognized "... the independence of all territories that were part of the former Russian Empire by August 1, 1914", as well as the abolition of the Brest Peace of 1918 and all other agreements concluded by it with the Soviet government. Article 117 of the Versailles Peace Treaty obligated Germany to recognize all treaties and agreements of allied and united powers with states that "... were formed or are being formed on all or part of the territories of the former Russian Empire."

A number of articles of the Versailles Peace Treaty were devoted to the international regulation of labor issues and the creation of the International Labor Office.

The Treaty of Versailles, discriminatory and predatory in nature, did not contribute to the establishment of a lasting peace in Europe. As the basis of the Versailles-Washington system, it provoked sharp criticism from various political forces. "Versailles dictate" was not recognized by the USSR. The Treaty of Versailles deepened the old and gave rise to many new contradictions, created a fertile ground for the ripening of a new large-scale military conflict. In Germany, his conditions were perceived as "the greatest national humiliation". He stimulated revanchist sentiment and the development of the National Socialist movement. In the 1920s and early 1930s, a number of clauses of the Versailles Peace Treaty were revised or their implementation was terminated without prior notice. The Treaty of Versailles finally lost its legal force after the official refusal of Germany to comply with its terms in 1937.

Publication: Treaty of Versailles. M., 1925.

Lit .: Nicholson G. How the world was made in 1919. M., 1945; Macmillan M. Paris 1919. N. Y., 2002.