The Versailles Treaty

The Deal that ended World War I was called the Versailles Treaty. Some of the
conditions of this Treaty were as follows:

Territorial

1. Alsace-Lorraine returned to France.

2. Eupen and Malmedy ceded to Belgium.

3. Northern Schleswig turned over to Denmark.

4. Posen, West Prussia, and part of Upper Silesia (the “Polish Corridor”) given to
the new republic of Poland.

5. Danzig made a “free city.”

6. The Soar Basin transferred to the League of Nations for 15 years, with its coal
mines to be operated by France; in 1935 a plebiscite was to determine its
future status.

7. German colonial possessions in Africa and the Pacific given as mandate to

England, France, Japan and the British dominions.

Military

1. German army limited to 100,000.

2. Conscription abolished, and a 12-year term of service required for all

volunteers.

3. Rhineland demilitarized. Allied army to occupy the Rhineland for 15 years

4. Manufacture of war material banned.

5. Submarines and military airplanes banned.

6. German navy limited in size.

Economic and War Guilt

1. German required paying indemnities for all damages. The total, set at a 1920
conference, was $33 billion.

2. Germany completely blamed for the war.

 Results of the War

Political

1. Nationalism triumphed in the creation of many new independent states –

Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and
Yugoslavia.

2. Democracy spread, with woman suffrage granted in England and the United
States, and constitutional republic created in many of the new countries.

3. Autocratic empires were broken up – the Turkish Empire, and those of the
Hapsburgs in Austria-Hungary, the Romanovs in Russia, the Hohenzollerns in
Germany.

4. New minority problems were created 0 Germans were governed by

Czechoslovakia, Hungarians by Rumania, and Yugoslavs by Italy. These sore
spots created new ill-felling.

5. The United States emerged as an important world power, but her rejection of
the Treaty of Versailles and her unwillingness to join the League of Nations
weakened peace efforts.

6. Dictatorships were established in Poland, Hungary, Russia, Italy, and later

Germany where efforts to solve postwar problems by democratic means
failed.

7. The peace movement was stimulated through the creation of the League of
Nations and the World Court but these organizations failed to maintain peace.

8. Dissatisfaction of many nations with the treaties, even the victorious ones like
France and Italy, and particularly the defeated ones, like Germany.

Economic

1. Severe war damages required heavy taxes to pay for the recovery of Eurpean
nations.

2. German reparations created problems not only for Germany but also for the
Allies, who needed German payments help pay war debts owed to the United
States.

3. Creation of new states increased tariff barriers, with constant upset of world
trade.
4. Postwar depression of 1918-20 created much distress of unemployment.

5. The economic life of countries, under government continued during the war,
helped to promote the idea of communism

Social

1. Loss of life was very high. Nearly 9 million soldiers were killed, and 29 million
more wounded, captured or reported missing. Millions of civilians died, too, as
a result of the hunger and disease.

2. New rivalries and hatreds were created, and old enmities aggravated.

3. Hunger, disease, revolution and warfare did not end.