The Treaty of Versailles is an official document that ended the First World War on June 28, 1919. This is the most important result of the Paris Peace Conference, in which most countries of the world discussed issues of cooperation and concluded truces. When signing the armistice, many German leaders believed that the “Fourteen Points” would form the basis of a future peace treaty. However, when the heads of government of the United States, Great Britain, France, and Italy met in Paris to discuss the terms of the agreement, the European contingent of the “Big Four” had a completely different plan. Considering Germany as the main initiator of the conflict, the European Allied Powers eventually imposed stricter contractual obligations on defeated Germany. Although the word “surrender” was not used anywhere, but the terms of the truce were quite strict and, in some way, unfair. The Versailles peace settlement is a fundamentally erroneous agreement of the superpowers, which unfairly punished Germany and its citizens.
After the official end of the First World War, Germany became the sole culprit of its unleashing with all the ensuing consequences. The Entente countries and their allies, who conducted preliminary negotiations in Paris without the Germans’ participation, agreed that the treaty should discuss several essential aspects. These aspects include the payment of reparations, the cession of part of the territory, the limitation of armed forces, and the acceptance of responsibility for the war (Kiger, 2019).
This also included other conditions to prevent a repeat of what happened in 1914-1918. Perhaps the most humiliating part of the treaty for defeated Germany was Article 231, known as the “War Guilty Clause” (Gozzi, 2019, p. 160). This article forced Germany to take full responsibility for initiating the First World War. Hence, the defeated country had to admit guilt for starting the war and compensate for the damage done to other countries.
All privileges concerned only the countries included in the treaty, and Germany’s rights were severely curtailed. Accordingly, there was no benefit to the country from humiliation. The German delegation initially refused to sign the peace treaty because, according to the Germans, it was of an ultimatum nature (Neiberg, 2017, p. 27). Germany proposed to make several significant modifications to the document. The Entente countries subsequently rejected all changes, except only a few minor points, such as holding a referendum in Upper Silesia. In response to the refusal of the Germans to sign the treaty, they threatened to occupy the whole of Germany, giving the Germans five days to think (Desai and Desai, 2020, p. 203).
The threat was real, and the population was also starving due to a severe food crisis. In this situation, the Weimar National Assembly had to accept an ultimatum after a sharp debate (Desai and Desai, 2020, pp. 203-204). Although the Germans signed the treaty, they simultaneously expressed their protests and disagreements.
The Treaty of Versailles dictated very difficult conditions for Germany, and it was no accident that most Germans considered it humiliating and enslaving. These provisions were soon skillfully used by Nazi propaganda. Germany, together with its allies, was declared the only aggressor, through whose fault the First World War began (Blakemore, 2019). However, many historians and scientists agree that this guilt should not be regarded unambiguously (Blakemore, 2019). The First World War was caused by more complex and difficult reasons than just the militarism of Kaiser (World War I, 2021). Thus, the guilt of Germany was unjustifiably measured not only from the point of view of morality but within the framework of preconceived beliefs.
Germany was “circumcised” by the victors from all sides, lost its overseas colonies, and strong restrictions were imposed on the size of its army. According to the treaty, the German armed forces were limited to a 100-thousandth land army, and compulsory military service was canceled (O’Neill, 2020).
The main part of the navy was subject to transfer to the winners. Strict restrictions were also imposed on constructing new warships; it was forbidden to have many modern types of weapons, such as combat aircraft and armored vehicles. In addition, Germany was forbidden to have planes, airships, tanks, submarines, and vessels with a displacement of more than 10 thousand tons (Treaty of Versailles). The country’s fleet could include six light battleships, six light cruisers, as well as 12 destroyers and torpedo boats, such a tiny army was already unsuitable for the defense of the country.
Germans were charged with all material responsibility for the damage caused by the war. The amount of reparations that the winning countries demanded from the Weimar Republic was initially estimated at about 20 billion gold marks (Mulder, 2020, p. 513). Soon, this figure grew as much as 269 billion gold marks (Fischer, 2019, p. 402). In addition, Germany was obliged to give up 90 percent of its merchant fleet, which also hit the economy of the young Weimar Republic very hard. German foreign assets in the amount of $7 billion were seized. Within ten years, Germany has pledged to supply France with up to 140 million tons of coal, 80 million tons to Belgium, and 77 million tons to Italy.
The calculations were based not only on military damage, the cost of destroyed houses, submerged ships, pension payments to war invalids, widows, and orphans. Germany also had to pay reparations for the damage inflicted by the Austro-Hungarian troops on the Entente countries because nothing could be recovered from the Austro-Hungarian monarchy since it no longer existed. The German economy caused by the war and the high level of inflation, even with a very strong desire, could not in any way contribute to the full payment of reparations. In addition, to motivate the “debtor,” French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr region, the main industrial region of Germany, in 1923.
The Weimar Republic has lost huge territories, 80 percent of iron ore reserves and 36 percent of steel production (Jackson, 2019, p. 367). Besides, the country has lost almost a third of coal reserves, 40 percent of all blast furnaces, and more than 15 percent of agricultural land. Moreover, part of the country’s territory was under the administration of the League of Nations. Alsace and Lorraine were ceded to France, West Prussia, and Posen in large part to Poland, the north of Schleswig to Denmark, the Gluchin region of Silesia to Czechoslovakia, and so on.
The Germans considered the humiliating treaty a dictate of the winners. In addition, the majority of the population perceived democracy as an alien order imposed by the victorious countries – the struggle against Versailles began. Politicians who called for restraint and compromise with the West were accused of weakness and betrayal. This prepared the ground on which the totalitarian and aggressive Nazi regime subsequently grew. Exactly twenty years after the end of World War I, Germany unleashed World War II. But Germany did pay reparations, according to the Versailles Treaty. Thus, the treaty can be considered one of the most unsuccessful and controversial documents in world history. In opposition to it, Hitler managed to revive the German Reich in a much worse hypostasis, and the world tragedy was repeated with even greater victims (Hanska, 2020, p. 37). It is not surprising that at first, the sentiments of extremism began to grow among the country’s population, and then fascism altogether.
In conclusion, the Treaty of Versailles brought Germany to its knees, putting forward cruel and merciless conditions. Germany, which lost the war, lost colonies, and parts of its territories in favor of its neighbors and pledged to pay astronomical reparations. The country had the right only to a small army of 100 thousand people for such a state without aviation, armored vehicles, and a fleet. The country found itself at a disadvantage and was forced to concessions to the winning countries. The agreement was unprofitable for Germany, and many believed that it could not be signed, but it still had to be done. Moreover, the Nazis very often referred to 1919 as the starting point of the “humiliation” of Germany and talked about a “stab in the back.” Despite such unequal and unfair demands on the Weimar Republic, the country could withstand the “onslaught from the outside” and did not allow itself to be ruled and pushed around as it pleased.
Reference List
Blakemore, E. (2019) How the Treaty of Versailles ended WWI and started WWII. Web.
Desai, B. H., and Desai, J. B. (2020). ‘On the century of peacemaking at the 1919 Treaty of Versailles: looking back to look ahead. International Studies, 57(3), pp. 201-222. Web.
Fischer, C. (2019). ‘Germany, Versailles, and the limits of nationhood’, Diplomacy & Statecraft, 30(2), pp. 398-420. Web.
Gozzi, G. (2019) Rights and civilizations: a history and philosophy of international law. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Hanska, J. (2020) War of time: managing time and temporality in operational art. Rovaniemi, Finland: Springer International Publishing.
Jackson, P. (2019) ‘Great Britain in French policy conceptions at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919,’ Diplomacy & Statecraft, 30(2), pp. 358-397. Web.
Kiger, P.J. (2019) The Treaty of Versailles punished defeated Germany with these provisions. Web.
Mulder, N. (2020). ‘A retrograde tendency’: the expropriation of German property in the Versailles Treaty’, Journal of the History of International Law/Revue d’histoire du droit international, 22(4), pp. 507-535. Web.
Neiberg, M.S. (2019) The Treaty of Versailles: a very short introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.
O’Neill, A. (2020) German military and navy structures restrictions outlined in the Treaty of Versailles. Web.
Treaty of Versailles (no date). Web.
World War I (2021). Web.