Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

▪ Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

1) War Guilt Clause (Article 231)

• • Germany had to accept complete blame for causing World War 1.
• • Once Germany admitted its guilt under this clause, the Allies would have the legal right to force Germany pay for its war reparations.

2) Territorial Reductions

• Much of the land that belonged to Germany and Austria before the war was redistributed amongst the Allied Powers.
• Germany lost all overseas colonies in Africa and the Asia Pacific.
• Her colonies in Africa were divided between France and Britain while Japan took most of Germany’s colonies in the Asia-Pacific.
• Germany lost Alsace-Lorraine and the Saar coal region to France. The industrial region of Saar remained German but it was to be run by the League of Nations till 1934, in which any profits made by the industries were to be given to France.
• Germany had to give up the land between Germany and East Prussia to form the ‘Polish Corridor’ to give Poland independent access to the sea.
• Germany was not allowed to unite with Austria.

3) Armed Forces and Naval Restrictions

• Germany’s army was reduced to 100,000 men; conscription was not allowed.
• Germany’s navy was limited to only 15,000 men, six battleships, six cruisers and twelve destroyers. Submarines and naval aircraft were not permitted.
• Germany was not allowed to have an air force, tanks or armoured vehicles.
• Rhineland became a demilitarised zone – Germany could not have troops there and would not have been able to defend its borders with France.

4) War Reparations

• Germany had to pay compensation for all the damage caused in the war.
• The reparations demanded in 1921 amounted to 269 billion gold Reichsmarks, the German currency then, or 6,600 million pounds (worth 96.41 million kg of fine gold).
• The reparations were to be paid through ongoing payments to the Allies and through surrender of coal and other resources.

5) Self-Determination

• Under the principle of Self-Determination, this clause called for the creation of independent nation-states for the various ethnic groups within Central Europe.
• People previously belonging to Austria-Hungary in Central Europe with a common identity were given the right to govern themselves.
• Nine new states – Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland – were created in Europe.
• This clause was however difficult to put in place as the different ethnic groups were so intermingled that it was impossible to form states in which just one ethnic group lived in.

6) Formation of League of Nations

• • A League of Nations was to be set up to maintain world peace.
• • It would provide opportunities for countries to resolve their disputes peacefully.