Germany's Settlement Terms in the Versailles Treaty of WWI

Germany’s Settlement Terms in the Versailles Treaty of the WWI
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Germany’s Settlement Terms in the Versailles Treaty of the WWI
Introduction
The Treaty of Versailles refers to a peace agreement that was signed by Germany and the Allies immediately after the end of World War I (Slavicek, 2010). The treaty was signed on 28 June 1919 after an armistice or a truce to end the war was reached between Germany and the Allied Powers. There was approximately six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference before the agreement was concluded. This treaty was then registered through the Secretariat of the League of Nations on the 21st of October 1919. One of the notable things about the Treaty of Versailles is that it came out too harsh towards Germany and this brought discontent among the Germans (Slavicek, 2010). It was evident that the Treaty of the Versailles was not fair to Germany given the massive reparations that Germany was expected to pay to the Allied Powers that affected the country’s pride, economy, military operations, and their territories while the other countries like France received favorable terms from the treaty.
Background
The World War I (WWI) took place between 1914 and 1918 and was fought across Europe and stretching to the Middle East, the African Continent, and also in Asia (Hochschild, 2011). The Central Powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). The Central Powers suffered defeat from the Allied Powers comprising of French, British Empire, Russian Empire, Italy, Japan and later the United States declared it was at war with Germany in April of 1917 making it an “associated power” to the Allied Powers (Hochschild, 2011). The United States had entered the war on the 6th of April 1917 because of the German submarine combat against the U.S. merchant ships that were trading with Britain and France. The U.S. had aimed to detach itself from the war because it was avoiding national disputes and also because of the Bolshevik exposure of the secret treaties that occurred between the Allies. The U.S. President Woodrow Wilson gave a statement in January 8 1918 that is referred to as the “Fourteen Points.” The speech focused on free trade, promoting the essence of open agreements, democracy, and pushed for self-determination. These “Fourteen Points” were proposed so that they could be included in the negotiations of the Treaty of Versailles (Hochschild, 2011).
On November 4 1918, Austria-Hungary, after suffering losses because of inner nationalist movements within its diverse groups, called for armistice or a truce (Thompson, 2007, p. 32). Germany realizing that it is facing diminishing resources at the battle and the surrender of all its allies was also forced to seek the armistice on November 11 of 1918 and this led to the end of World War 1. The demands of the armistice required German troops to evacuate immediately the regions they occupied including France, Luxembourg, and also Belgium. Further, the terms required that Allied forces could occupy the Rhineland. In May of 1919, negotiations for a treaty began in Paris Peace Conference but the defeated countries which were Germany, Austria, and Hungary were excluded from taking part in the negotiations. The principal negotiators of the treaty included France, Britain, and the United States (Thompson, 2007, p. 32).
The Treaty of Versailles
According to Thorpe and Thorpe (2011, p. 102), in June 1919, the Allied Powers affirmed that war with Germany would resume if the German government refused to the terms of the treaty, which they had settled among themselves. It is apparent that the Treaty of Versailles was unfair to Germany because Germany did not get to participate in the negotiations. Thorpe and Thorpe (2011) note that the German government could not come to a common agreement about their position on the treaty and instead the head of government, Philipp Scheidemann, opted to resign rather than sign the treaty. In trying to get the Allied Powers to hear their plight, the new head of government, Gustav Bauer sent a telegram indicating that Germany was ready to sign the treaty but if certain articles were removed including articles 227, 239, and article 231. The Allied Powers responded by giving an ultimatum that German should sign the treaty or face retaliation as the Allies threatened to invade Germany from the Rhine within 24 hours. In this way, on June 23 Bauer yielded to the pressure and sent another telegram indicating that the German delegation would be arriving there in a short time and sign the treaty. Cabanes (2014) notes that the treaty was signed on June 28 1919, which marked the fifth anniversary since the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand whose death is cited as the root and motivation of WWI.
Cabanes (2014) declares that what made the Treaty of Versailles unfair to Germany is the clauses that it included. In regards to the treaty, all the blame for the war fell squarely on Germany as the aggressors. Cabanes (2014, p. 67) argues that article 231 was the most humiliating to the Germans and it was the opening part of the reparations section. Article 231 that is commonly known as the “War Guilt Clause” required Germany and all her allies to take responsibility of the loss and destruction that was caused by the war. This caused many German politicians to become vocal in opposing the article as a way of gaining international sympathy and, further, Germany historians used this article to undermine the treaty (Cabanes, 2014). Boemeke and Feldman (1998, p. 358) note that although Germany had a responsibility in the war, the country could not be wholly blamed for the WWI. There were simmering conflicts and the intertwining alliances occurring across European powers contributed to this tension. This means that many nations were at fault in ensuring that the war began and so the whole blame cannot be placed on Germany. Despite the fact that Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany remained an aggressive leader, he did not start the war (Boemeke & Feldman, 1998). Germany had created an alliance with Italy, as well as Austria-Hungary and so many historians have stated that these alliances formed a basis of preparations for a great conflict. Germany remained an antagonist in the war, but did not begin it and it can be said with surety that Serbia began the war (Cabanes, 2014). A Serbian terrorists assassinated Franz Ferdinand and when Austria-Hungary declared war, they had the support of the Germans.
The articles 1-30 of the Treaty of Versailles focused on the League of Nations. The League of Nations was a body whose aim would be to ensure that war could never ever break up again given the horrors that were seen in WWI in the part of the world that believed itself to be civilized. This League was a way of ensuring that peace and stability could be realized in the entire world. This international body would be tasked with ensuring that world peace would be achieved and international disputes could be resolved when they occurred (Dawley, 2013, p. 255). The treaty excluded Germany from the League of Nations in 1919. According to the treaty, Germany had started the war and so one of the punishments would be that she could not be included as a member of an international body and so Germany did not receive an invitation to join (Dawley, 2013). Germany could not be part of the league until it proved to the other European powers that it was a peace-loving nation. According to Dawley (2013, p. 255), failing to include Germany in the League of Nations was not a fair move because it created resentment among Germans. Further, if the League was meant to create peace, why not include a country that was seen as an aggressor to ensure that it all the moves it made were watched. Dawley (2013) claims that excluding Germany from the League was irrational and biased because it went contrary to what it was preaching - world peace.
Territorial Losses
The Treaty of Versailles caused further losses to Germany and this was not a welcomed move in Germany. It was unfair because the treaty stripped Germany of all its colonies and it lost a lot of its territories given that some were ancestral lands. In essence, 10 percent of Germany land was lost as per the terms of the treaty which was approximately 25,000 square miles and also about 7,000,000 of German people. According to Collier and Pedley (2000, p. 14), Germany was required to give up all the gains that came from the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and give independence to the colonies it had created. In the Western Europe, the treaty declared that Germany had to recognize Belgian independence over Moresnet and relinquish control of the Eupen-Malmedy region. Belgium was given the mandate to conduct a vote or referendum within six months to the people to determine if they wanted to be under Belgian or under the Germany control (Collier & Pedley, 2000). Collier and Pedley (2000, p. 14) argues that in order for to compensate French for the damage of its coal mines, Germany was expected to surrender all the output of the Saar coal mines to France. Additionally, the administration of Saar was given to the League of Nations for approximately 15 years and then a vote would be conducted to determine the sovereignty. France was given back the regions of Alsace-Lorraine while the independence of Schleswig-Holstein would be determined at a later date (Collier & Pedley, 2000).
In the Eastern Europe, Germany had to recognize Czechoslovakia as a sovereign nation and also surrender the upper regions of Silesia. The treaty called also upon Germany to cede control of Poland and renoun...