The Versaille Peace Treaty
I. Wilson (American President) proposed a just peace: Wilson’s 14 points:
The main points of Wilson’s 14 points:
- No secret diplomacy, opened peace negotiations
- Freedom of the sea
- Free trade
- Peaceful negotiations about colonial claims
- Reduction of armament
- Evacuation of troops
- Borders along clearly recognizable lines of nationality
- Self-determination to choose the form of government
- Independence of Poland
- Establishment of the League of Nations
The peace conference was opened on January 18, 1919 (the date of the proclamation of the German Empire on Jan 18, 1871).
- 27 state were present at the negotiations – the losers were not invited.
- The important persons were the ’Big Four’:
- Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France
- Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Great Britain
- Wilson, President of the USA
- Orlando, Prime Minister of Italy
- The five important questions were:
- Germany
- Austria-Hungary
- Russia
- The German colonies
- Turkish Empire
Aim of
- England: to get the colonies of Germany, abolish its sea power and to prevent France from gaining too much power.
- France: weak Germany
- Italy: territories from Austria-Hungary, control of the Adriatic Sea.
- USA: interests in East Asia, South America and Siberian lands.
Germany Versailles, July 28, 1919
- Elsace Loraine was given to France
- Saar Basin was put under international control for 15 years
- Rhine Valley was demilitarized
- Danzig (Gdansk) became a free town
- The German army could contain no more than 100,000 people, recruitment was banned
- The navy was taken from Germany
- Germany had to pay reparations
Austria - Saint Germain, September 10, 1919
- Abolishment of the Monarchy
- Austria lost Trieste, South Tirol and Istria
- Restraints on military
- Prohibition of its unification with Germany (Anschluss)
Russia was not considered as a victorious country and the soviet government was not regarded as a democratic government. Russia was not invited to the peace negotiations.
Turkey - Sévres, August 10, 1920
Its land was divided and the straits were put under international control.
New States
- Poland became an independent country. It got territories from the German Empire and Russia, Galicia, parts of Bukovina.
- Czechoslovakia got Upper Hungary, the Sudetenland and Sub-Carpathia.
- Yugoslavia fom 1929.
- Romania got large territories, eg. Transylvania, Bukovina, Bessarabia.
Megjegyzés küldése