When was treaty of versailles

Lloyd George did not want Germany treated with lenience but he knew that Germany would be the only country in central Europe that could stop the spread of communism if it burst over the frontiers of Russia. Germany had to be punished but not to the extent that it left her destitute. However, it would have been political suicide to have gone public with these views. Georges Clemenceau of France had one very simple belief — Germany should be brought to its knees so that she could never start a war again.

This reflected the views of the French public but it was also what Clemenceau himself believed in. He had seen the north-east corner of France destroyed and he determined that Germany should never be allowed to do this again.

Woodrow Wilson of America had been genuinely stunned by the savagery of the Great War. He could not understand how an advanced civilisation could have reduced itself so that it had created so much devastation.

In America , there was a growing desire for the government to adopt a policy of isolation and leave Europe to its own devices.

In failing health, Wilson wanted America to concentrate on itself and, despite developing the idea of a League of Nations , he wanted an American input into Europe to be kept to a minimum. He believed that Germany should be punished but in a way that would lead to European reconciliation as opposed to revenge.

The main points in this document were:. He was frequently left on the sidelines when the important negotiations took place despite Italy fighting on the side of the Allies. Why was Italy treated in this manner? Also Italy had not played an overwhelming part in the war. Her army had been beaten at the battles of Caporetto. Her strategic importance to central Europe was minimal whilst Britain dominated the Mediterranean with naval bases in Malta and Gibraltar.

Therefore, the three main nations in the lead up to the treaty were far from united on how Germany should be treated. The eventual treaty seemed to satisfy everyone on the sides of the Allies. The treaty can be divided into a number of sections; territorial, military, financial and general. The Saar, Danzig and Memel were put under the control of the League of Nations and the people of these regions would be allowed to vote to stay in Germany or not in a future referendum.

Germany had to return to Russia land taken in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Some of this land was made into new states : Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. An enlarged Poland also received some of this land.

She was not allowed an airforce. She was allowed only 6 capital naval ships and no submarines. No German soldier or weapon was allowed into this zone. The Allies were to keep an army of occupation on the west bank of the Rhine for 15 years. Central Powers. World War I. More Dates in History January. Media Credits The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.

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Interactives Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. Related Resources. Conflict and Cooperation. View Collection. View Article. These promises helped some average voters to overlook the more radical tenets of Nazi ideology. The reparations and a general inflationary period in Europe in the s caused spiraling hyperinflation of the German Reichsmark by This hyperinflationary period combined with the effects of the Great Depression beginning in to undermine the stability of the German economy.

These conditions wiped out the personal savings of the middle class and led to massive unemployment. Such economic chaos contributed to social unrest and the instability of the fragile Weimar Republic. Finally, the efforts of the Western European powers to marginalize Germany through the Versailles Treaty undermined and isolated German democratic leaders. They recalled only that the German Left—commonly seen as Socialists, Communists, and Jews—had surrendered German honor to a shameful peace.

This Dolchstosslegende stab-in-the-back legend helped to discredit the German socialist and liberal circles who were most committed to Germany's fragile democratic experiment. The difficulties caused by social and economic unrest in the aftermath of World War I and its peace undermined democratic solutions in Weimar Germany.

German voters ultimately found this kind of leadership in Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party. Boemeke, Manfred F. Henig, Ruth B. Versailles and After, — London: Routledge, MacMillan, Margaret.

New York: Random House, We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia.

View the list of all donors. Trending keywords:. Featured Content. Tags Find topics of interest and explore encyclopedia content related to those topics. The conference was called to establish the terms of the peace after World War I.

The Treaty of Versailles articulated the compromises reached at the conference. It included the planned formation of the League of Nations , which would serve both as an international forum and an international collective security arrangement. President Woodrow Wilson was a strong advocate of the League as he believed it would prevent future wars. Negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference were complicated. While it fought alongside the Allies, the United States was not bound to honor pre-existing agreements among the Allied Powers.

These agreements focused on postwar redistribution of territories.