The peace treaty, which became known as the Treaty of Versailles, was presented to the Germans in June 1919. They were not allowed take part in the negotiations. The Germans were very angry at the Treaty’s contents. Initially they refused to sign it but were forced into doing so on 28 June 1919. Its contents included the following: 1. The Germans had to accept the War Guilt Clause. This meant that they acknowledged that the war had been entirely their fault. They were forced to pay reparations (i.e. they had to pay for the cost of the war). The amount that was decided was £6.6 billion (which would be almost €300 billion in today's money).
2. Large amounts of land were taken from Germany. Land was lost to France (Alsace-Lorraine which had been taken by Germany in 1871), Poland (Silesia and Posen) and Denmark (Schleswig). Germany also lost all its colonies in Africa.
3. The German army was limited to 100,000 men and it was not allowed to have an airforce, any tanks or submarines. The German navy was limited to 24 ships and 24,000 naval personnel.
4. To stop Germany launching any surprise attacks on France, Germany was not allowed to station any troops in the Rhineland – the area that bordered on France.
5. The Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires
were broken different countries. 6. A new organisation called countries in the
League of Nations was set up. It was hoped that
the
League would discuss any future disagreements in a peaceful manner.
UK up into DENMARK Polish Corridor to Denmark
NETHERLANDS BELGIUM
Alsace-Lorraine to France
FRANCE SWITZ. to Italy ITALY AUSTRIA HUNGARY YUGOSLAVIA SERBIA ALBANIA GREECE TURKEY
Fig 13.4 A map of Europe with post-World War I changes, 1919. Compare the map to the one on page 333.
336
ROMANIA BULGARIA
GERMANY POLAND to Poland EAST PRUSSIA RUSSIA
Territory lost by Germany Territory lost by Russia Formerly Austria-Hungary Demilitarised area