Treaty of Versailles

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Treaty of Versailles

• Interwar Period

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Thomas Woodrow WilsonFourteen Points

• The idealism expressed in them was widely
  acclaimed
• Gave Wilson a position of moral leadership among
  the Allied leaders
• In order to secure support of his 14th, and most
  important, point, which called for the creating
  of an "association of nations," Wilson was
  compelled to abandon his insistence upon the
  acceptance of his full program

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Thomas Woodrow WilsonFourteen Points

• 14 Points were for political and economic
  reconstruction
• abolition of secret diplomacy by open convenants
• freedom of the seas in peace and war
• removal of international trade barriers wherever
  possible and establishment of an equality of
  trade conditions
• reduction of armaments
• adjustment of colonial disputes consistent with
  the interests of both the controlling government
  and the colonial population
• evacuation of Russian territory, with
  self-determination

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• 7. evacuation and restoration of Belgium
• 8. evacuation and restoration of French
  territory, including Alsace-Lorraine
• 9. readjustment of Italian frontiers along
  clearly recognizable lines of nationality
• 10. autonomy for the peoples of Austria-Hungary
• 11.
• 12.
• 13.
• 14.

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Treaty of Versailles

• Peace treaty signed (June 28, 1918) at the end of
  World War I between Germany and the Allies
• Paris Peace Conference was the making of the
  Treaty of Versailles, which opened on Jan. 18,
  1919
• Represented were 27 countries, including the U.
  S., Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan
• Neither the German Republic, which had replaced
  the imperial German government at the end of the
  war, nor Soviet Russia was invited to attend the
  conference
• Germany signed only under duress
• The U.S. signed but failed to ratify the treaty,
  negotiating instead the separate Treaty of Berlin
  with Germany (signed on Aug. 25, 1921)

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Treaty of Versailles

• Germany also lost its entire colonial empire
• Germany lost some 71,000 sq km or 13 percent of
  its European domain
• Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France
• Saar Basin was placed under a League of Nations
  commission for 15 years
• recognized Danzig as a free city administered
  under the League of Nations but subject to Polish
  jurisdiction in regard to customs and foreign
  relations

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• Germany was required to abolish compulsory
  military service
• to reduce its army to 100,000
• to demilitarize all the territory on the left
  bank of the Rhine River
• to stop all importation, exportation, and nearly
  all production of war material
• to limit its navy to 24 ships, with no
  submarines, the naval personnel not to exceed
  15,000
• to abandon all military and naval aviation by
  Oct. 1, 1919

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• Germany was required to make extensive financial
  reparation
• Difficulty arose in collecting payment which was
  made in the form of
• Money, Ships, trains, livestock, and natural
  resources
• War-guilt clause stating that Germany accepted
  sole responsibility for causing the war
• This aroused intense nationalist bitterness in
  Germany
• The treaty also required provisional payments in
  kind and cash of 20 billion gold marks (5
  billion)
• The Reparations Commission subsequently made a
  total assessment of 132 billion gold marks (33
  billion), which the Germans accepted only under
  duress

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The Versailles Treaty Negatives /
Positives

• A dictated peace (diktat).
• Reparations were exorbitant (33 B).
• Artificial boundaries separating German people.
• Polish corridor.
• Took away colonies/resources
• Some nationalities became forcefully separated

• Germany was able to pay the amount asked needed
  access to foreign markets.
• Created new states that did reflect national
  autonomy.
• Rebirth of Poland.
• International body The League of Nations
• Captive peoples were freed. No other treaty ever
  released so many subject races from domination of
  oppressive empires
• Major weapons were eliminated in defeated nations

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Estimated Costs of the First World War (in US
Dollars)
Total for the Allied Nations 125 690 500 000
Total for the Central Powers 60 644 000 000
Grand Total 186 300 500 000
This total equals to costs approximately 125
000 000 for each day of the war and only includes
the direct costs of conducting the war.
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• Germany was required by the Treaty of Versailles
  to pay reparations due its moral guilt in
  initiating the First World War. The commission
  established by the terms of the treaty set the
  total payment of reparations at
• 33 000 000 000 (US)
• The commission also determined that this amount
  of money was to be divided among the victorious
  Allied nations as follows

France 52 Belgium 8
British Empire 22 Other Nations 8
Italy 10
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League Of Nations

• International alliance for the preservation of
  peace, with headquarters at Geneva
• League existed from 1920 to 1946
• First meeting was held in Geneva, on Nov. 15,
  1920, with 42 nations represented
• Last meeting was held on April 8, 1946
• During the last meeting, the league was
  superseded by the UN

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• During the league's 26 years, a total of 63
  nations belonged at one time or another
• President Woodrow Wilson presented a plan for a
  general association of nations
• The plan formed the basis of the Covenant of the
  League of Nations, the 26 articles that served as
  operating rules for the league
• The covenant was formulated as part of the Treaty
  of Versailles

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• Although President Wilson was a member of the
  committee that drafted the covenant
• U.S. Senate never ratified the covenant because
  of Article X all members preserve the
  territorial independence of all other members,
  even to joint action against aggression
• During the next two decades, American diplomats
  encouraged the league's activities and attended
  its meetings unofficially, but the U.S. never
  became a member
• The efficacy of the league was considerably
  lessened without USA as a member

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The first meeting of the Assembly in 1920
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• One important activity of the league was
  supervision of the former Germany and Turkey
  colonies/territories
• Territories were awarded to league members in the
  form of mandates
• Mandated territories were given different degrees
  of independence, in accordance with their stage
  of development, their geographic situation, and
  their economic status
• A new world concept had prompted the league's
  inception, that of collective security against
  the "criminal" threat of war

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• Unfortunately for the fate of the world, the
  league rarely implemented its available resources
  to achieve this goal
• League may be credited with certain social
  achievements such as curbing international
  traffic in narcotics and prostitution, aiding
  refugees of World War I, and surveying and
  improving world health and labor conditions
• In the area of preserving peace, the league had
  some minor successes, including settlement of
  disputes between Finland and Sweden over the
  Aland Islands in 1921 and between Greece and
  Bulgaria over their mutual border in 1925

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• Although Germany joined the league in 1926, the
  National Socialist government (Nazi Regime)
  withdrew in 1933
• Japan also withdrew in 1933, after Japanese
  attacks on China were condemned by the league
• The league failed to end the war between Bolivia
  and Paraguay over the Gran Chaco between 1932 and
  1935
• The league failed to stop the Italian conquest
  of Ethiopia begun in 1935

In 1935, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia
condemns the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in his
address to the League.
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• Finally, the league was powerless to prevent the
  events in Europe that led to World War II
• The USSR, a member since 1934, was expelled
  following the Soviet attack on Finland in 1939
• In 1940 the secretariat in Geneva was reduced to
  a skeleton staff, and several small service units
  were moved to Canada and the U.S.
• In 1946 the league voted to effect its own
  dissolution, whereupon much of its property and
  organization were transferred to the UN.

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• Never truly effective as a peacekeeping
  organization
• Lasting importance of the League of Nations it
  provided the groundwork for the UN
• The United Nations formed after World War II, not
  only profited by the mistakes of the League of
  Nations but borrowed much of the organizational
  machinery of the league

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Besides Manchuria Abyssinia, Other L of N
Actions
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L of N Compared/Contrasted to UN
League of Nations
U.N.

• No human rights in L of N
• Leagues Council members had no veto power, but
  unanimity was needed.
• No commission to supervise a free zone in UN

• Contained charters
• Collective Action
• Designed to promote peace
• Assemblies
• Council
• Secretariat
• Mandate commission and Trusteeship commission

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U.N.
League of Nations

• International Courts of Justice are same

• US a member of UN
• UN is more intl
• Headquarters based in New York, L of N was in
  Geneva.