Treaty of Versailles – Summary

The Peace Treaty of Versailles, also known as the Versailles Treaty, marked the end of World War I and influenced German history.

It was the result of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, at which the victorious Allied powers negotiated the terms for ending the war in oral negotiations.

In this article, we explain to you what the signatory countries were interested in, what peace provisions the Weimar Republic finally had to agree to, and how the Versailles Treaty was received by the German public.

interests of the winners

At the Paris Peace Conference on January 18, 1919, the 32 victorious countries of the First World War met to discuss the peace regulations. The losing Central Powers Germany and Austria-Hungary could only watch as their future was decided. The victorious powers had different interests, which will be explained next.

France’s interests in the Versailles Treaty

Since France is a direct neighbor of Germany, their main interest at the time was the permanent weakening of Germany. Thus, France wanted to preventively protect its borders from the Germans in the future. France also wanted to assume a leadership role in Europe. Strengthening Poland against Germany and Russia was another French goal at the Paris peace talks.

Treaty of Versailles – United States interests

The USA pursued two major goals in the peace negotiations. For the first time they wanted to secure collective peace for the future. The League of Nations, an association of different nations, was founded for this purpose. But of course the USA also wanted their money back. Toward the end of World War I, the United States financed a large number of Allied operations through war credits. It was important to the USA that these be repaid.

Treaty of Versailles – interests of Great Britain

Britain’s interests were still based on the old enmity between Britain and France. The British only wanted to weaken Germany slightly in order to achieve a balance of power with regard to French supremacy in Europe. Still afraid of deteriorating relations with France, the British wanted to keep France’s power under control. Most recently, the British also wanted to ward off the ever-expanding Bolshevism.

Provisions of the Versailles Treaty

On July 28, 1919, a German delegation led by the new Foreign Minister Hermann Müller arrived at the Palace of Versailles to sign the peace treaty and officially end the First World War.

Here the Germans had to make a number of concessions. The Germans didn’t really have a choice, however, as they wanted to prevent an Allied occupation of the country.

assignments of territory

One of the concessions was the ceding of territories to both France and Poland, the direct neighbors that the Germans had defeated in the war. France received the Alsace-Lorraine region, but also wanted to preserve the Ruhr region. Poland received territories in Pomerania and Prussia from the Germans.

demilitarization

The next concession the Germans had to make was the demilitarization of the German Empire. This included, among other things, the delivery of all “heavy” war material (warships, aircraft, tanks, etc.). In addition, the Reichswehr had to be reduced to a maximum of 100,000 soldiers. Finally, the areas ceded to France and Poland also had to be demilitarized. This means that no soldiers may be stationed in these areas.

reparations

The Germans also had to pay large amounts of compensation to the victorious powers. Among other things, the Germans had to give up many of their raw materials such as coal or cattle as repayment for resources lost by the Allies during the war. But they also had to pay a large amount of money in reparations to fund the loans given by the US to the Allies.

war debt

In the end, the German Reich and the remaining allies of the Central Powers had to take on the complete war debt. This was to justify the reparations payments and other provisions of the Versailles Treaty.

Reactions in Germany to the Versailles Treaty

The Versailles Treaty created a feeling of unfair treatment among the German population. Above all, being forced to accept without having sat at the negotiating table made the Germans feel uneasy, and terms such as “dictated peace” or “shameful peace” spread in Germany.

However, the citizens neglected the positive circumstances in Germany. Thanks to its economic power and large population, it also had a good chance of regaining the country’s old supremacy in the region.

Versailles Treaty – defamation and right-wing propaganda

The circumstances surrounding the signing of the Versailles Treaty, as well as the hugely negative public reaction to the signing, made it fodder for the anti-democratic right.

To them, the Democratic government was responsible for fulfilling the terms of the treaty, and the Democrats failed to convince the public of the inevitability of the treaty.

Nor could they make it clear to the public that the empire’s old elites were to blame for the defeat, and not the new democratic government.

With the spread of the so-called “twin legends”, the rightists tried to get the German population on their side as a result of the signing of the treaty. There was the «war innocence legend» which was a factual denial of the circumstances leading up to World War I and the role of the Germans in it. She insisted that the Germans were not to blame for the outbreak of the war.

The «stab in the back» legend is another conspiracy theory planted by the right. It said that the Germans did not lose the First World War against their enemies, but that the revolutionary democrats with their uprisings destroyed the morale of the German soldiers, which is said to have had the effect of a stab in the back for the soldiers. However, it is skilfully ignored that the uprisings at the beginning were initiated by soldiers and sailors themselves.

The most important things about the Versailles Treaty at a glance!

  • The Treaty of Versailles was signed at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and officially marked the end of the First World War in international law. Only the victorious Allied powers took part in the negotiations, and the Germans had to bow to the Allied terms.
  • Among the terms the Germans had to accept were cessions of territory to France and Poland, demilitarization of the country, reparations to the Allies, and a full admission of guilt for starting World War I.
  • This was not very well received in Germany, one felt forced into the contract. The rising anti-democratic right took advantage of this and began to use propaganda and lies to denigrate the democratic government and cloud the political climate in Germany.

Treaty of Versailles – Extra Fact

Although the United States signed the Versailles Peace Treaty second directly after Germany, the treaty was not ratified in Congress and thus not recognized by the United States.

Therefore, the United States still had to record a separate peace treaty with the Germans, which was concluded in 1921 in the Treaty of Berlin. This is also the reason why the USA never joined the League of Nations either, since it was part of the Versailles Treaty.

Versailles Treaty – The Most Important

Versailles Treaty – The most important things at a glance

– On June 28, 1919, Germany signed the Versailles Treaty

– The aim was to weaken Germany and secure peace in Europe

– Germany had to cede territory to France and Poland, pay reparations and demilitarize

– The war debt was attributed to the German Reich and the Central Powers

– Humiliation of Germany