Treaty of Versailles: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia


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{{Short description|One of the treaties that ended World War I}}

{{see also|Rue Nitot|Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920)|Diplomatic history of World War I}}

{{About|the Treaty of Versailles of 28 June 1919, at the end of World War I|other uses|Treaty of Versailles (disambiguation)}}

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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}

{{Infobox treaty

| name = Treaty of Versailles

| long_name = Treaty of Peace between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany<ref name="Preamble" group=n.>[[s:Treaty of Versailles/Preamble|Preamble]]</ref>

| image = Treaty of Versailles, English version.jpg

| image_size = 180px

| caption = Cover of the English version

| type = =

| date_drafted = =

| date_signed = {{start date and = age|28 June 1919}}{{sfn|Slavicek|2010|p=114}}

| location_signed = [[Hall of Mirrors]] in the [[Palace of Versailles]], [[ParisVersailles]], France{{sfn|Slavicek|2010|p=107}}

| date_sealed = =

| date_effective = 10 January 1920{{sfn|Boyer|Clark|Hawley|Kett|2009|p=153}}

| condition_effective = [[Ratification]] by Germany and three Principal Allied and Associate Powers<ref name="Signatures and Protocol" group=n.>[[s:Treaty of Versailles/Protocol|Signatures and Protocol]]</ref>

| date_expiration =

| signatories = =

| parties = {{Collapsible list | titlestyle = font-weight:normal;background:transparent;text-align:left; | title = '''Principal Allied and Associated Powers'''<ref name="Preamble" group=n. />

<!-- Named as such in the treaty. The following are in the order as presented in the preamble of the treaty. Any reordering or rewording, without consensus, will be reverted. -->

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----<!-- While the German Reich is the correct name for the period and historians refer to the German Government of this period as the Weimar Republic, the treaty refers to the nation as Germany and thus so does the article here. -->{{flag|Weimar Republic|name=Germany}}<ref name="Preamble" group=n. />

| languages depositor = [[French language|French]] and [[English language|English]]Government<ref name="Signatures and Protocol" group=n. />▼

}}▼

| depositorlanguages = [[French language|French]] and [[English = French Governmentlanguage|English]]<ref name="Signatures and Protocol" group=n. />

| website = =▼

▲ | languages = [[French language|French]] and [[English language|English]]<ref name="Signatures and Protocol" group=n. />

| wikisource = Treaty of Versailles▼

▲ | website =

▲ | wikisource = Treaty of Versailles

}}

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{{Events leading to World War II}}

The '''Treaty of Versailles'''{{efn-lr|{{lang-fr|Traité de Versailles}}; {{lang-de|Versailler Vertrag}}, {{IPA-|de|vɛʁˈzaɪ̯ɐ fɛɐ̯ˈtʁaːk|pron|De-Versailler Vertrag.ogg}}}} was a [[peace treaty]] signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of [[World War&nbsp;I]], it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the [[Allies of World War I|Allied Powers]]. It was signed in the [[Palace of Versailles]], exactly five years after the [[assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand]], which led to the war. The other [[Central Powers]] on the German side signed separate treaties.{{efn-lr|[[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)]] with Austria; [[Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine]] with Bulgaria; [[Treaty of Trianon]] with Hungary; [[Treaty of Sèvres]] with the Ottoman Empire {{harvcol|Davis|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gsM1JiXAMJEC 49]}}.}} Although the [[Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)|armistice]] of 11 November 1918 ended the actual fighting, and agreed certain principles and conditions including the payment of reparations, it took six months of Allied negotiations at the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] to conclude the peace treaty. Germany was not allowed to participate in the negotiations before signing the treaty.

The treaty [[German disarmament|required Germany to disarm]], make territorial concessions, extradite alleged war criminals, agree to Kaiser Wilhelm being put on trial, recognise the independence of states whose territory had previously been part of the German Empire, and pay [[World War I reparations|reparations]] to the Entente powers. The most critical and controversial provision in the treaty was: "The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies." The other members of the Central Powers signed treaties containing similar articles. This article, [[Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles|Article 231]], became known as the "War Guilt" clause.

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[[File:Western front 1918 allied.jpg|thumb|alt=|Map showing the Western Front as it stood on 11 November 1918. The German frontier of 1914 had been crossed in the vicinities of [[Mulhouse]], [[Château-Salins]], and [[Marieulles]] in Alsace-Lorraine. The post-war bridgeheads over the Rhine are also shown.]]

During the autumn of 1918, the Central Powers began to collapse.{{sfn|Beller|2007|pp=182–195}} Desertion rates within the German army began to increase, and civilian strikes drastically reduced war production.{{sfn|Bessel|1993|pp=47–48}}{{sfn|Hardach|1987|pp=183–184}} On the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], the [[Allies of World War I|Allied forces]] launched the [[Hundred Days Offensive]] and decisively defeated the German western armies.{{sfn|Simkins|2002|p=71}} Sailors of the [[Imperial German Navy]] at Kiel [[Kiel mutiny|mutinied]] in response to the [[naval order of 24 October 1918]], which prompted uprisings in Germany, which became known as the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919|German Revolution]].{{sfn|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=638}}{{sfn|Schmitt|1960|p=101}} The German government tried to obtain a peace settlement based on the Fourteen Points, and maintained it was on this basis that they surrendered. Following negotiations, the Allied powers and Germany [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|signed an armistice]], which came into effect on 11 November while German forces were still positioned in [[French Third Republic|France]] and [[Belgium in World War I|Belgium]].{{sfn|Schmitt|1960|p=102}}{{sfn|Weinberg|1994|p=8}}{{sfn|Boyer|Clark|Hawley|Kett|2009|p=526}}

During the autumn of 1918, the Central Powers began to collapse.{{sfn|Beller|2007|pp=182–195}}

Desertion rates within the German army began to increase, and civilian strikes drastically reduced war production.{{sfn|Bessel|1993|pp=47–48}}{{sfn|Hardach|1987|pp=183–184}}

On the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], the [[Allies of World War I|Allied forces]] launched the [[Hundred Days Offensive]] and decisively defeated the German western armies.{{sfn|Simkins|2002|p=71}}

Sailors of the [[Imperial German Navy]] at Kiel [[Kiel mutiny|mutinied]], which prompted uprisings in Germany, which became known as the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919|German Revolution]].{{sfn|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=638}}{{sfn|Schmitt|1960|p=101}}

The German government tried to obtain a peace settlement based on the Fourteen Points, and maintained it was on this basis that they surrendered. Following negotiations, the Allied powers and Germany [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|signed an armistice]], which came into effect on 11 November while German forces were still positioned in [[French Third Republic|France]] and [[Belgium in World War I|Belgium]].{{sfn|Schmitt|1960|p=102}}{{sfn|Weinberg|1994|p=8}}{{sfn|Boyer|Clark|Hawley|Kett|2009|p=526}}

Many aspects of the Versailles treaty that were later criticised were agreed first in the 11 November armistice agreement, whilst the war was still ongoing. These included the German evacuation of [[German occupation of northern France during World War I|German-occupied France]], [[German occupation of Belgium during World War I|Belgium]], [[German occupation of Luxembourg during World War I|Luxembourg]], Alsace-Lorraine, and the [[Left Bank of the Rhine|left bank of the Rhine]] (all of which were to be administered by the Allies under the armistice agreement), the surrender of a large quantity of war materiel, and the agreed payment of "reparation for damage done".{{sfn|Gilbert|1974|pp=270–273}}

German forces evacuated occupied France, Belgium, and Luxembourg within the fifteen days required by the armistice agreement.{{sfn|Edmonds|1943|p=1}} By late 1918, Allied troops had entered Germany and began the occupation of the Rhineland under the agreement, in the process establishing bridgeheads across the Rhine in case of renewed fighting at Cologne, Koblenz, and Mainz. Allied and German forces were additionally to be separated by a 10km10&nbsp;km-wide demilitarised zone.{{sfn|Martel|1999|p=18}}{{sfn|Barnes|Ebertowski|2011|p=14}}

===Blockade===

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The blockade was maintained for eight months after the Armistice in November 1918, into the following year of 1919. Foodstuffs imports into Germany were controlled by the Allies after the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|Armistice with Germany]] until Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919.{{sfn|Mowat|1968|p=213}} In March 1919, Churchill informed the House of Commons, that the ongoing blockade was a success and "Germany is very near starvation."{{sfn|Fuller|1993}} From January 1919 to March 1919, Germany refused to agree to Allied demands that Germany surrender its merchant ships to Allied ports to transport food supplies. Some Germans considered the armistice to be a temporary cessation of the war and knew, if fighting broke out again, their ships would be seized.{{sfn|Marks|2013|p=650}} Over the winter of 1919, the situation became desperate and Germany finally agreed to surrender its fleet in March.{{sfn|March 1919 Brussels agreement}} The Allies then allowed for the import of 270,000 tons of foodstuffs.{{sfn|March 1919 Brussels agreement}}

Both German and non-German observers have argued that these were the most devastating months of the blockade for German civilians,{{sfn|Paul|1985|p=145}} though disagreement persists as to the extent and who is truly at fault.{{sfn|Marks|2013|p=651}}{{sfn|''Proceedings of the National Assembly''|1919|pp=631–635}}{{sfn|''Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung''|1919}}{{sfn|Roerkohl|1991|p=348}}{{sfn|Rudloff|1998|p=184}} According to [[Max Rubner]] 100,000 German civilians died due to the continuation blockade after the armistice.{{sfn|Rubner|1919|p=15}} In the UK, [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] member and anti-war activist [[Robert Smillie]] issued a statement in June 1919 condemning continuation of the blockade, claiming 100,000 German civilians had died as a result.<ref>''Common Sense'' (London) 5 July 1919.</ref>{{sfn|Bane|1942|p=791}}

==Negotiations==

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The French were willing to accept a smaller amount of [[World War&nbsp;I reparations]] than the Americans would concede and Clemenceau was willing to discuss German capacity to pay with the German delegation, before the final settlement was drafted. In April and May 1919, the French and Germans held separate talks, on mutually acceptable arrangements on issues like reparation, reconstruction and industrial collaboration. France, along with the British Dominions and Belgium, opposed [[League of Nations mandate]]s and favored annexation of former [[German colonial empire|German colonies]].{{sfn|Trachtenberg|1982|p=499}}

The French, who had suffered significantly in the areas occupied by Germany during the war, were in favour of trying German war criminals, including the Kaiser. In the face of American objections that there was no applicable existing law under which the Kaiser could be tried, Clemenceau took the view that the "law of responsibility" overuledoverruled all other laws and that putting the Kaiser on trial offered the opportunity to establish this as an international precedent.{{sfn|Bassiouni|2002|p=269}}

===British aims===

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After the Versailles conference, Democratic President Woodrow Wilson claimed that "at last the world knows America as the savior of the world!"{{efn-lr|President Woodrow Wilson speaking on the League of Nations to a luncheon audience in Portland OR. 66th Cong., 1st sess. Senate Documents: Addresses of President Wilson (May–November 1919), vol. 11, no. 120, p. 206.}} However, Wilson had refused to bring any leading members of the Republican party, led by [[Henry Cabot Lodge]], into the talks. The Republicans controlled the [[United States Senate]] after the election of 1918, and were outraged by Wilson's refusal to discuss the war with them. The senators were divided into multiple positions on the Versailles question. It proved possible to build a majority coalition, but impossible to build a two-thirds coalition that was needed to pass a treaty.{{sfn|Bailey|1945}}

A discontent bloc of 12–18 "[[Irreconcilables]]", mostly Republicans but also representatives of the Irish and German Democrats, fiercely opposed the treaty. One bloc of Democrats strongly supported the Versailles Treaty, even with reservations added by Lodge. A second group of Democrats supported the treaty but followed Wilson in opposing any amendments or reservations. The largest bloc, led by Senator Lodge,{{sfn|Widenor|1980}} comprised a majority of the Republicans. They wanted a treaty with "reservations", especially on Article 10, whichso involvedthat the powerLeague of theNations Leaguecould ofnot Nationsdraw tothe makeUS into war without athe vote byof the US Congress.{{sfn|Stone|1973}} All of the Irreconcilables were bitter enemies of President Wilson, and he launched a nationwide speaking tour in the summer of 1919 to refute them. But Wilson collapsed midway with a serious stroke that effectively ruined his leadership skills.{{sfn|Cooper|2011|loc=ch 22–23}}

The closest the treaty came to passage was on 19 November 1919, as Lodge and his Republicans formed a coalition with the pro-treaty Democrats, and were close to a two-thirds majority for a Treaty with reservations, but Wilson rejected this compromise and enough Democrats followed his lead to end the chances of ratification permanently. Among the American public as a whole, the Irish Catholics and the [[German Americans]] were intensely opposed to the treaty, saying it favored the British.{{sfn|Duff|1968|pp=582–598}}

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[[File:Mass demonstration in front of the Reichstag against the Treaty of Versailles.jpg|thumb|left|Demonstration against the treaty in front of the [[Reichstag building|''Reichstag'']]]]

After Scheidemann's resignation, a new coalition government was formed under [[Gustav Bauer]]. [[President of Germany (1919–1945)|President]] [[Friedrich Ebert]] knew that Germany was in an impossible situation. Although he shared his countrymen's disgust with the treaty, he was sober enough to consider the possibility that the government would not be in a position to reject it. He believed that if Germany refused to sign the treaty, the Allies would invade Germany from the west—and there was no guarantee that the army would be able to make a stand in the event of an invasion. With this in mind, he asked [[Field Marshal (Germany)|Field Marshal]] [[Paul von Hindenburg]] if the army was capable of any meaningful resistance in the event the Allies resumed the war. If there was even the slightest chance that the army could hold out, Ebert intended to recommend against ratifying the treaty. Hindenburg—after prodding from his chief of staff, [[Wilhelm Groener]]—concluded the army could not resume the war even on a limited scale. But rather than inform Ebert himself, he had Groener inform the government that the army would be in an untenable position in the event of renewed hostilities. Upon receiving this, the new government recommended signing the treaty. The National Assembly voted in favour of signing the treaty by 237 to 138, with five abstentions (there were 421 delegates in total). This result was wired to Clemenceau just hours before the deadline. Foreign minister [[Hermann Müller (politician, born 1876)|Hermann Müller]] and colonial minister [[Johannes Bell]] travelled to Versailles to sign the treaty on behalf of Germany. The treaty was signed on 28 June 1919 and ratified by the National Assembly on 9 July by a vote of 209 to 116.{{sfn|Pinson|1964|pp=397 ff}}

Upon receiving Hindenburg's answer, the Bauer government recommended signing the treaty with the proviso that the "war-guilt" clause and the articles that required the extradition of war criminals and of the former Emperor be excluded. After the Allies refused anything other than full acceptance of the treaty, the National Assembly voted in favour of signing it by 237 to 138, with five abstentions (there were 421 delegates in total). The result was wired to Clemenceau just hours before the deadline. The Bauer government included the following statement with the acceptance:{{sfn|Hirschfeld|Krumeich|2013|pp=288–289}}<blockquote>The honour of the German people will not be affected by an act of violence. After the appalling suffering of the last four years, the German people lack any means to defend it externally. Therefore, yielding to overwhelming force and without abandoning its view of the outrageous injustice of the peace terms, the Government of the German Republic declares that it is prepared to accept and sign the peace terms imposed by the Allied and Associated Governments.</blockquote>

Foreign minister [[Hermann Müller (politician, born 1876)|Hermann Müller]] and colonial minister [[Johannes Bell]] travelled to Versailles to sign the treaty on behalf of Germany. The treaty was signed on 28 June 1919 and ratified by the National Assembly on 9 July by a vote of 209 to 116.{{sfn|Pinson|1964|pp=397 ff}}

===Japan===

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After subsequent negotiation, the list of alleged war criminals submitted by the Allies for trial at Leipzig was reduced to 45, however, this ultimately also ended up being too many for the German authorities, and in the end only 12 officers were put on trial – six from the British list, five from the French one, and one from the Belgian list. The British list included only low-level officers and enlisted men, including a prison-guard accused of beating prisoners of war and two U-Boat commanders who sank hospital ships (the [[HMHS Dover Castle|Dover Castle]] and the [[HMHS Llandovery Castle|Llandovery Castle]]). In contrast the French list were all high-ranking officials, including Lieutenant-General Karl Stenger, who was accused of massacring French prisoners of war. The Belgian case involved a man accused of mistreating and imprisoning Belgian children. However, when the Germans announced that the trial would be under German law, with the German prosecutor being able to exercise [[prosecutorial discretion]], the French and Belgians withdrew from the process in protest. Only half of the cases led to conviction, with [[Superior orders|superior orders being allowed as a defence]] in the Dover Castle case, and in mitigation in the Llandovery Castle case where the officer responsible had massacred seamen in lifeboats. All but one of the people put forward by the French were acquitted, including Karl Stenger, who was showered with flowers by German spectators. The Belgian case was also acquitted.{{sfn|Bassiouni|2002|pp=281–284}}

The Commission of Allied Jurists responded to these proceedings on 22 January 1922 by declaring that the LeizigLeipzig court had failed to carry out its mandate by failing to convict accused who should have been convicted, and by showing excessive leniency even where people had been convicted. The Allied Jurists recommended that extradition of war criminals be requested under Article 228. However, no further extradition request was made, though trials were held in France and Belgium of German war criminals ''[[Trial in absentia|in absentia]]''.{{sfn|Bassiouni|2002|p=285}}

==Historical assessments==

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| year = 1940 | volume = 55 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–24

| doi = 10.2307/2143772 | jstor = 2143772

| issn=0032-3195}}

}}

*{{cite book| chapter = The Peace Treaty of Versailles: The Role of Maps in Reshaping the Balkans in the Aftermath of WWI

| last = Altic | first = Mirela | year = 2016

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| url = https://archive.org/details/versaillesafter10000heni/page/n5/mode/2up | via = [[Internet Archive]]

| isbn = 978-0-415-12710-3

▲ }}

*{{Cite book| title = Deutschland im Ersten Weltkrieg | edition = Kindle

| last1 = Hirschfeld | first1 = Gerhard

| last2 = Krumeich | first2 = Gerd

| year = 2013

| publisher = Fischer E-Books | location = Frankfurt

| isbn = 978-3-104-02489-9

| language = de | trans-title = Germany in the First World War

}}

*{{Cite book| title = The Germans and the East

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| author-link = Christopher Layne

| title = Debating the Democratic Peace

| editor1-last = Brown | editor1-first = Michael E. | editor1-link = Michael E. Brown (academicpolitical scientist)

| editor2-last = Lynn-Jones | editor2-first = Sean M.

| editor3-last = Miller | editor3-first = Steve E.

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*{{cite encyclopedia| title = May Fourth Movement

| encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Britannica

| date = 22 March 2024

| url = https://www.britannica.com/event/May-Fourth-Movement

| ref = {{harvid|EB: May Fourth Movement}}

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}}

*{{cite journal | title = PUNISHING WAR CRIMINALS: Holland Refuses Extradition of ex-Kaiser—Allies Agree to Trial of 890 Others at Leipsic (sic)

| journal = Current History (1916-1940)

| publisher = University of California Press

| date = 18 February 1920 | volume = 11 | issue = 3 | pages = 373–380

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}}

** Published in the US as ''Memoirs of the Peace Conference''

* McKercher, B. J. C., and Erik Goldstein, eds. ''Aspects of British Policy and the Treaty of Versailles'' (Routledge, 2020) [https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003014089/aspects-british-policy-treaty-versailles-mckercher-erik-goldstein?refId=d59ea46a-9e5f-46b6-9f7a-86a3c06d1230&context=ubx online]

*{{cite book| title = Peacemakers

| last = Macmillan | first = Margaret | year = 2001

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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061013203131/http://www.polisci.ucla.edu/faculty/trachtenberg/cv/Ver(ss).doc "Versailles Revisted"] (Review of Manfred Boemeke, [[Gerald Feldman]] and Elisabeth Glaser, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zqj-oHp4KsgC ''The Treaty of Versailles: A Reassessment after 75 Years'']. Cambridge, UK: [[German Historical Institute]], Washington, and Cambridge University Press, 1998), ''Strategic Studies'' 9:2 (Spring 2000), 191–205

* [http://maps.omniatlas.com/europe/19190628/ Map of Europe and the impact of the Versailles Treaty] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316063343/http://maps.omniatlas.com/europe/19190628/ |date=16 March 2015}} at omniatlas.com

* The Signing of the Peace Treaty, silent film (Youtube Premium): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgpNrLVEOIU ''Link'']

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