The Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was drawn up to aid peace after World War 1. Although it had many terms and conditions, a main one was to make Germany accept responsibility for the war and therefore pay reparations to the Allies. In January 1919, the leaders of the victorious powers (Woodrow Wilson- the American president, Georges Clemenceau- the French prime minister and Lloyd George- the British prime minister) met to decide how the defeated powers were to be dealt with. The negotiations went on for 12 months at the Palace of Versailles, just outside of Paris. The treaty was a compromise and was made by the countries involved, and many say that this means they went away unsatisfied by what they received from the Treaty. All of the peacemakers had different aims and attitudes towards the defeated countries, who were not invited to the meeting. It was signed on the 28th of June 1919. The final treaty was over 200 pages long and had over 440 clauses, including the constitution of the League of Nations. Some of these were very general, applying to the whole of Europe, but others were very specific.

One of the main clauses of the treaty held Germany solely responsible for starting the war (the “War Guilt” clause, Article 231 of the treaty), and Germany was forced into accepting it. They had to pay £6,600 million in reparations, a substantial amount of money which Germany could not afford to pay especially when Germany’s economy had been damaged. Initially, Germany was outraged at the fact that they hadn’t been represented at the conferences and they almost refused to sign. However, threats of invasion from France pressured them into it. France and Belgium had received a lot of damage from German forces, who destroyed Northern France’s industrial production. Even during Germany’s retreat they blew up coalmines to increase the damage for their enemies. So this was an important part of the treaty, especially for those who needed to rebuild their countries or wanted revenge for invasion. Therefore I think the treaty did not satisfy Germany as it was extremely hard on them, especially knowing that they were going through a hard time and still made reparations almost impossible to pay back.

France had suffered particularly badly in the war; much of it was fought on French soil leaving many areas destroyed. Clemenceau had one main intention, which was to cripple Germany, both economically and militarily, which would therefore lessen the chances of another attack, however it was probably partly for revenge. During the Franco-Prussian war France had lost Alsace-Lorraine to Germany, and this definitely increased tension between the two countries. Predictably one of Clemenceau’s demands was for this region to be returned to France. France’s aims were probably the simplest, to destroy Germany’s army and economy with the reparations. Continental peace was less of a reason for the treaty, more a chance to protect their country from further attack. Clemenceau also demanded that Germany’s colonies should be taken and handed out to the victors of the war. He thought the demilitarisation of the Rhineland, which would act as a “buffer zone” between France and Germany, would also help secure their safety. Completely dissolving Germany’s military forces was also another idea Clemenceau was very keen on.