Elizabeth Reyes French 112 Portfolio

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was a document signed in Paris by both parties, The Allies and Germany, to end the worlds first global conflict, World War 1. The treaty was both written and finalized at the Paris Peace Conference that took place two months after the fighting ended. The Allies was collaboration or French British and American soldiers that fought against the German Army. It was written in Paris between January and June of 1919. The three most influential figures during the debate were Prime Minister David Lloyd George representing the Unites Kingdom, Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau representing France and President Woodrow Wilson representing the United States. The Allies wrote most of the treaty with little participation from Germany. During the makings of the treaty the French wanted Germany to be disassembled in efforts to keep them from every renewing their war with France. The British and American forces wanted to set boundaries for peace. The concluding article was made up of fifteen different parts and one-hundred and forty articles. The fifteen parts stated the limitations that Germany would be stripped to. They would not be included into the new League of Nations until 1926, the country itself would consist of new boundaries, the Saar would be separated from Germany for 15 years, they

would no longer be divided by colonies, their armed forces were reduced to low levels of power, and limited them from processing certain weapons, and financial debt compensating for their damages to the allied countries. These punishments that were required to be met with Germanys signing of the treaty were known as The War Guilt. The United States found the terms Germany was accountable for too harsh and did not sign the treaty but negotiates its own terms in 1921 to be met by Germany. On May 7, 1919 Germany was given the treaty with only three weeks to accept. Herman Muller and Johannes Bell signed the treaty in The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles on June 28, 1919. The document was signed under a lot of protest. Phillip Scheidemann, a German Chancellor, resigned instead of signing it. Germany had no choice but to sign it after exhausting all its military forces and no way to resist. After the signing of the treaty activists and terrorists were responsible for the assassination of several Germany political figures. From then on, The Allies enforced the treated till the French proposed modifications in 1924. Between the years of 1924 and 1929 Germany agreed to paying the debts owed to France until they were led into a depression which ended the Dawes Plan in 1932. Germany was guilty of violating several of the treaties restrictions throughout the 1920s. The treaty itself fueled Hitler campaign and gained his support of aggressive right winged parties with promise of reclaiming German territory. They refused to comply with most of the disarmament restrictions until Hilter abolished their compliance with the treaty altogether in 1935. On September 1st, 1939 Germany attacked Poland and Began World War II.

Work Cited "Treaty of Versailles." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013 "The Versailles Treaty." About.com 20th Century History. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2013.