The Treaty of Versailles

The government’s instructions to the German peace delegation that went to Versailles, France, at the end of April 1919 show how wide was the gap between German and Allied opinion. In German eyes, the break with the past was complete, and the Wilsonian program of self-determination and equality of rights as set out in the Fourteen Points was binding on both sides. The fact that the Allied powers refused to permit negotiations and the character of the terms presented on May 7 provoked bitter indignation throughout all classes in Germany.

Germany was called on to cede Alsace-Lorraine to France; the industrial area of Upper Silesia, most of Posen (Poznań), and so-called West Prussia to Poland; North Schleswig to Denmark; and three small frontier districts to Belgium. Danzig (Gdańsk) was to become a free city, independent of Germany; East Prussia was separated from the rest of the Reich by Polish Pomorze; and Memel was placed under French administration before eventually being ceded to Lithuania. In Europe alone (without counting the German colonies, all of which were ceded to the Allies), Germany lost about 27,188 square miles (over 70,000 square km) of territory with a total population of over 7,000,000. The union of Austria with the Reich, which was advocated in both countries, would have compensated for these losses but was expressly forbidden by the treaty.

The left bank of the Rhine was to be occupied by Allied troops for 5 to 15 years to ensure the execution of the treaty’s terms. The left bank, and the right bank to a depth of 31 miles (50 km), were to be permanently demilitarized. Germany was to lose the rich coal fields of the Saar for 15 years, at the end of which a plebiscite was to be held. Until then the Saar was to be governed by the League of Nations and its coal mines administered by France.

A decision on reparations was deferred until 1921, but the Germans were to make a provisional payment of 20 billion marks in gold as well as deliveries in kind. Prewar commercial agreements with foreign countries were canceled. German foreign financial holdings were confiscated, and the German merchant marine was reduced to less than one-tenth of its prewar size. At the same time, the Allies were to enjoy most-favoured-nation rights in the German market for five years.

The German army was to be limited to 100,000 officers and men, and conscription was forbidden. The German general staff was to be dissolved. Great quantities of war matériel were to be handed over, and the future manufacture of munitions was rigidly curtailed. German naval forces were to be reduced to a similar scale, while the possession of military aircraft was forbidden. Inter-Allied control commissions were set up with wide rights of supervision to make sure that the disarmament clauses were carried out. A list of those accused of violating the laws and customs of war was to be prepared, and those named were to be handed over to the Allies for trial. Finally, as justification for their claims to reparations, the Allies inserted the famous war-guilt clause, article 231:

The Allied governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.

All the German political parties united in a solemn protest against these terms. The Allies were declared to have flagrantly violated the principles of a just peace proclaimed by Woodrow Wilson, and the belief that Germany had been tricked into signing the armistice was widespread. The only concession of importance that the German delegation was able to secure was the promise of a plebiscite in Upper Silesia. In June the Allies presented an ultimatum, and the German government had to face the alternatives of signing the peace treaty or submitting to an invasion of their country. Scheidemann, who was personally opposed to acceptance, resigned when his cabinet was unable to agree. He was succeeded by Gustav Bauer, who formed an administration supported by the Social Democrats and the Centre but without the Democrats, most of whom joined the Nationalists (Deutschnationale Volkspartei) and the People’s Party (Deutsche Volkspartei) in opposition. On June 23 a majority of the assembly, persuaded that there was no alternative, voted in favour of acceptance, and the treaty was signed at Versailles on June 28.

The Allies’ insistence that the republic should accept a peace settlement universally regarded in Germany as unjust and humiliating contributed powerfully to weakening the new regime. The republic never succeeded in breaking its association with the capitulation of 1918 and the signature of the peace treaty in 1919. For neither of these could the republic’s leaders justly be held responsible, but the legend that the German army had never been defeated but instead had been stabbed in the back by republicans, socialists, and Jews—“the November criminals”—was assiduously repeated by the enemies of the republic. In the mood of resentment created by the treaty, the claim was readily accepted by many Germans. The republican leaders, to whose sense of responsibility the nation owed the preservation of its unity and the avoidance of far worse disasters in the critical year that followed the request for an armistice, had to endure a campaign of vilification that represented them as traitors to the fatherland.