Treaty of Versailles Summary

Europe was the center of World War 1. Most of the biggest powers were fighting the war against one another. There were two opposing camps in the war, namely the Allied Powers and the Central Powers. The Allied Powers were also known as the Triple Entente. As many as 70 million personnel were a part of the war. More than 9 million personnel were killed in it. It can be attributed to the great technological advances, owing to which it is said to be the second deadliest war fought in the world. The immediate cause of World War 1 was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28th June 1914. He was the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. There was an ultimatum given to Serbia. The World War I timeline starts on 28th July 1914 with the invasion of Serbia. Germany went to war with Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Russia. The World War I causes trenches and timeline kept changing owing to a number of powers joining the war and a number of powers withdrawing from the war for different reasons. The war came to an end five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand with the signing of the treaty of Versailles on 28th June 1919.

What was the Treaty of Versailles?

There were many peace treaties signed at the end of the World War I. One of them was the treaty of Versailles. It was with this treaty that the war between Germany and the Allied Power ended. For the other powers involved in the war on the side of Germany, different treaties were signed. The war actually ended on 11th November 1918 after the signing of the armistice. The negotiations took as long as 6 months. It was Paris Peace Conference, which did the negotiations. This brings us to the question, who signed this treaty, which ended the World War I. It was the Foreign Minister of Germany Herr. Hermann Muller. The Colonial Minister Herr. Johannes Bell who traveled with the Foreign Minister to Versailles to sign the treaty. The other signatories of this treaty signed at Versailles were the British Empire, France, Italy, Japan and the United States of America.

What were the Provisions of the Treaty of Versailles?

The provisions of the treaty makes up for an important part of the treaty of Versailles. The most controversial and the most important provision asked Germany to accept the whole and sole responsibility for the war. However, Germany refused to accept the provision. The Foreign Minister at that time Herr. Ulrich Graf von Brockdorff Rantzau replied saying, "We know the full brunt of hate that confronts us here. You demand from us to confess we were the only guilty party of war; such a confession in my mouth would be a lie". This clause was called War Guilt clause. The provisions of the treaty also asked Germany to disarm itself. Germany had to concede a number of territories. At the same time a huge amount of money had to be given by Germany to the Entente powers as cost of reparations. This treaty has an important place in the World War history. It is often said to be the cause of World War II.

Accepted Provisions of Treaty of Versailles Summary

The provinces of Alsace and Lorraine were to be returned to France. An important coal mine in Germany, the Saar was to be handed over to France for a period of 15 years. After the said period of time, a plebiscite was to be conducted to decide about the ownership. An independent country called Poland was created, it was given access to the sea by dividing Germany into two. Danzig, an important port in Germany was placed under international rule. German and Turkish provinces were taken away and placed under the Allied rule. The provinces of Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Czechoslovakia were made independent provinces. The countries of Austria and Hungary were divided and Yugoslavia was carved out.

The provinces located on the left bank of Rhine were to put under Allied rule, while the provinces on the right bank were to be demilitarized. The German army would consist of 100,000 men only. The navy was to have 36 ships. No submarines were to be in possession of Germany. There was no Air Force in Germany. All the weapons used during the war were to be scrapped. Germany and Austria could not be partners or form any union.

After the treaty of Versailles was signed the League of Nations was created. The Secretariat of the League of Nations registered the treaty on 21st October 1919. It was after the signing of the treaty of Versailles that the map of Europe was redrawn, which gave rise to a number of conflicts, especially in the Balkan region. The conflicts exist to this day. The Germans felt humiliated and it was said to have caused the second World War.