The Treaty of Versailles

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The Treaty of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles, France

• The Paris Peace Conference Terms and Conditions
  of German Surrender

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Canada at the Conference

• Prime Minister Robert Borden demanded that
  Canada be represented at this conference as a
  separate nation the world recognized Canadas
  major contribution to the war effort.

Robert Borden
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The Big Four at the Paris Peace Conference
The main decisions were made by France, America,
and Great Britain. The Treaty was designed to
weaken Germany so that it could not wage another
war.
From left to right David Lloyd George (Britain),
Vittorio Orlando (Italy), Georges Clemenceau
(France), and Woodrow Wilson (United States of
America)
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Terms of the Treaty Military

• Germany gave up most of its weapons, ships,
  u-boats, and was forced to limit its army to 100
  000 soldiers.

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Terms Territory

• Germany lost large amounts of territory to
  France, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Austria. The
  map of Europe was re-drawn.

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The War Guilt Clause

• Germany was forced to accept total and sole
  responsibility for causing the war. This was seen
  by the Germans as a national humiliation and made
  them very angry.

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Reparation Payments

• Germany would have to pay 33 billion in
  reparations for the damage the war had done.
• German territory had been totally immune from
  damage, while large areas of France and Belgium
  had been devastated.

• George Edmund Butler's painting Zonnebeke
  (completed about 1918) captures the devastated
  Belgian landscape in the aftermath of the great
  battles of 1917.

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Reactions to the Treaty of Versailles - Germany

• German representatives were shocked, and at
  first refused to sign. The Allies threatened to
  re-start the war, and resume a naval blockade on
  materials entering Germany. So Germany signed
  the treaty but they werent happy about it!

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ReactionsCanada

• Prime Minister Robert Borden admitted the Treaty
  was harsh, but believed it should be harsh.
  Britains general view was the same.

Canadian Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden
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ReactionsAmerica

• President Woodrow Wilson argued for a policy of
  forgiveness toward the defeated nations, but had
  little power because America joined the war so
  late.

American President Woodrow Wilson
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ReactionsFrance

• French negotiators wanted to be sure that
  Germany would never again be a threat they
  wanted an ever tougher treaty.

Georges Clemenceau President of France
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Consequences of the Treaty

• French General in Chief of Allied Armies
  commented on the Treaty
• This is not a peace treaty it is an armistice
  of 20 years.
• He was right Adolf Hitler started World War II
  just 20 years and one month later.
• Source DesRivieres, Denis, et al. Experience
  History Canada Since WWI. Don Mills Oxford
  University Press, 2006.

Adolf Hitler