The basis of the Versailles-Washington system of international relations was the Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919 in the Palace of Versailles (France). The subjects of this agreement were: Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, etc. The Treaty of Versailles officially ended the First World War (1914-1918), summed up its results and thus laid the foundations of the post-war world order.
The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were worked out (after lengthy secret meetings) at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919-1920. The treaty entered into force on January 10, 1920, after ratification by Germany and the four major allied powers - Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan. The US Senate refused ratification due to the US unwillingness to commit itself to participation in the League of Nations (where the influence of Great Britain and France prevailed), the charter of which was an integral part of the Treaty of Versailles. Instead of this treaty, the United States concluded with Germany in August 1921 a special treaty, almost identical to that of Versailles, but without articles on the League of Nations.
The Treaty of Versailles was intended to consolidate the redistribution of the world in favor of the victorious powers. According to it, Germany returned to France Alsace - Lorraine (within the borders of 1870); handed over to Belgium the districts of Malmedia and Eupen, as well as the so-called neutral and Prussian parts of Morena; Poland - Posen (Poznan), parts of Pomerania (Pomerania) and other territories of West Prussia; The city of Danzig (Gdansk) and its district was declared a "free city"; the Memel (Klaipeda) region (Memelland) was transferred to the control of the victorious powers (in February 1923 it was annexed to Lithuania).
The question of the nationality of Schleswig, the southern part of East Prussia and Upper Silesia was to be decided by a plebiscite. As a result, part of Schleswig passed in 1920 to Denmark, part of Upper Silesia in 1921 to Poland, the southern part of East Prussia remained with Germany; Czechoslovakia received a small part of the Silesian territory.
The lands on the right bank of the Oder, Lower Silesia, most of Upper Silesia and others remained with Germany. Saar passed for 15 years under the control of the League of Nations, and after 15 years the fate of Saar was to be decided by a plebiscite. The coal mines of the Saar were transferred to French ownership.
Under the treaty, Germany recognized and pledged to strictly observe the independence of Austria, and also recognized the full independence of Poland and Czechoslovakia. The entire German part of the left bank of the Rhine and a strip of the right bank 50 km wide were subject to demilitarization.
Germany was deprived of all her colonies, which were later divided among the main victorious powers on the basis of the League of Nations mandate system.
The redistribution of the German colonies was carried out as follows. In Africa, Tanganyika became a British mandate, the Rwanda-Urundi region became a Belgian mandate, the Kyong Triangle (Southeast Africa) was transferred to Portugal (the named territories previously constituted German East Africa), Togo and Cameroon were divided by Great Britain and France; South Africa received a mandate for South West Africa. In the Pacific Ocean
As mandated territories, the German islands north of the equator belonged to Japan, German New Guinea to the Australian Union, and the islands of Western Samoa to New Zealand.
Germany, under the Treaty of Versailles, renounced all concessions and privileges in China, from the rights of consular jurisdiction and from any property in Siam, from all treaties and agreements with Liberia, recognized the protectorate of France over Morocco and Great Britain over Egypt. Germany's rights in relation to Jiaozhou and the entire Shandong Province of China went to Japan (as a result, the Treaty of Versailles was not signed by China).
According to the Treaty of Versailles, the armed forces of Germany were to be limited to a 100,000-strong land army; compulsory military service was abolished, the main part of the surviving navy was to be transferred to the winners, and severe restrictions were also imposed on the construction of new warships. Germany was forbidden to have many modern types of weapons - combat aircraft, armored vehicles (with the exception of a small number of obsolete vehicles - armored vehicles for the needs of the police). Germany was obliged to compensate in the form of reparations the losses incurred by the governments and individual citizens of the Entente countries as a result of military operations (the determination of the amount of reparations was entrusted to a special Reparation Commission).
According to Article 116 of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany recognized "the independence of all territories that were part of the former Russian Empire by August 1, 1914", as well as the abolition of the Brest Peace of 1918 and all other agreements concluded by it with the Bolshevik government. Article 117 of the Treaty of Versailles called into question the legitimacy of the Bolshevik regime in Russia and obliged Germany to recognize all treaties and agreements of the Allied and Associated Powers with states that "formed or are being formed on all or part of the territories of the former Russian Empire."
War Guilt clauses), disarm, make significant territorial concessions and pay large reparations to the countries that formed the bloc of Entente states. The total cost of these reparations was estimated at 132 billion marks (in 1921 $31.4 billion or 6600000000), which is roughly equivalent to $442 billion or 284 billion in 2012, an amount that many economists at the time in particular, John Maynard Keynes, considered excessive and counterproductive, since Germany had to pay before 1988.Ultimately, the last payments were made on October 4, 2010 on the 20th anniversary of German reunification, and some 92 years after the end of the war for which they were designated. The treaty was undermined by a series of events as early as 1932 and was widely violated until the mid-1930s.
1. Negotiations
Salle de l "Horloge, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Negotiations between the Allied Powers began on 18 January at Salle de l "Horloge Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris. At first, 70 delegates from 27 countries took part in the negotiations. Germany, Austria and Hungary, which were defeated, were excluded from the negotiations. Russia was also excluded because it concluded a separate agreement with Germany in 1918, according to which Germany received most of Russia's territory and resources.As the participants in the negotiations at Versailles later noted, the terms of this treaty were extremely harsh.Earlier, a separate treaty was also concluded between the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Central Powers.
Until March 1919, the regular meetings of the "Council of Ten", which included the heads of government and foreign ministers of the five main winners (United Kingdom, France, USA, Italy and Japan), played a crucial role in negotiating difficult and difficult peace conditions. This unusual formation turned out to be too cumbersome and formal for effective decision-making, Japan and most of the negotiations - foreign ministers - left the main meetings, which means only the "Big Four" remained. After Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando's territorial claims regarding Fiume (today Rijeka) were rejected, he left the negotiations and only returned for the signing of the treaty in June.
The final terms were determined by the leaders of the "Big Three" countries: British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, and American President Woodrow Wilson. The result has been called "an unfortunate compromise" (Eng. unhappy compromise ) .
1.1. UK position
The devastation in Britain during the war was comparatively small, so Prime Minister David Lloyd George supported reparations to a lesser degree than the French. Britain was beginning to look to a rebuilt Germany as an important trading partner and worried about the impact of the refund on the British economy as well. Lloyd George was also concerned about Woodrow Wilson's proposal for "Self-Determination" and, like the French, wanted to maintain his country's imperial status. Like the French, Lloyd George supported secret treaties and naval blockades. Lloyd George succeeded in increasing the total amount of reparations and the share of Great Britain by demanding compensation for the huge number of widows, orphans and men who became invalids of the war and were unable to work.
1.2. US position
There was a strong anti-interventionist sentiment in the United States, and after the US entered the war in April 1917, many Americans sought to free themselves from European affairs as soon as possible. The US took a more conciliatory stance on the issue of German reparations. By the end of the war, President Woodrow Wilson, along with other American officials including Edward Gauss, put forward the Fourteen Points, which he presented in his speech at the Paris Peace Conference. The US also expressed a desire to continue trade with Germany, so they also did not want to be too strict in economic terms.
1.3. French position
The French delegation in Paris, led by Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, was determined to restore French hegemony on the European continent. From 1870 to 1914, Germany made a great economic and demographic breakthrough, surpassing France in influence on the continent. Thus, Clemenceau used the conference as a means to restore France's position as a great power in Europe.
| " | As far as possible, the policy of France was to turn back the clock and cancel what progress had been made in Germany since 1870. By loss of territory and other measures, its population was to be limited, but above all, the economic system on which its new strength was based was to be destroyed, many factories focused on the production of iron, coal and transport were to be destroyed. If France can accept, even partially, what Germany is forced to refuse, the disparity of power between the two rivals in the struggle for European hegemony can be eliminated in a generation. | " |
| Quote in original |
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So far as possible, therefore, it was the policy of France to set the clock back and undo what, since 1870, the progress of Germany had been accomplished. By loss of territory and other measures her population was to be curtailed; but chiefly the economic system, upon which the depended for her new strength, the vast fabric built upon iron, coal, and transport must be destroyed. If France could seize, even in part, what Germany was compelled to drop, the inequality of strength between the two rivals for European hegemony might be remedied for generations. |
2. Terms of the contract
Cover of the English edition of the Treaty
The terms of the agreement were drawn up at the Paris Peace Conference - the agreement entered into force on January 10, 1920 after ratification by Germany and the four main allied powers - Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan. Of the states that signed the Versailles Peace Treaty, the United States, Hijaz and Ecuador refused to ratify it. The US Senate refused ratification due to the US unwillingness to commit itself to participation in the League of Nations (where the influence of Great Britain and France prevailed), the charter of which was an integral part of the Treaty of Versailles. Instead of this treaty, the United States concluded a special treaty with Germany in August 1921, almost identical to that of Versailles, but without articles on the League of Nations.
2.1. Territorial changes in Europe
The borders of Germany in the 1919 model were drawn almost 50 years ago when the country was officially created in 1871. Territories and cities in this region have repeatedly passed from one country to another over the centuries, including, at different times, some of them were owned by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kingdom of Sweden, Poland and the Commonwealth. However, Germany claimed these lands and cities, which he regarded as historically "German" during the centuries of Germany's establishment as a state in 1871. Other countries disputed German claims to the territory. In a peace treaty, Germany agreed to return disputed lands and cities to different countries.
Germany was forced to cede control of its colonies, as well as lose a number of European territories. West Prussia was ceded to Poland, thus giving her access to the Baltic Sea through the "Polish Corridor", which Prussia annexed during the Partitions of Poland. This turned East Prussia into an exclave, separated from the German mainland.
2.2. Repartition of the German colonies
The redistribution of the German colonies was carried out as follows. In Africa, Tanganyika became a British mandated territory, the Ruanda-Urundi region became a Belgian mandate, the "Kiong Triangle" (Southeast Africa) was transferred to Portugal (the named territories previously constituted German East Africa), Great Britain and France divided Togo and Cameroon; PAS received a mandate for South West Africa. In the Pacific Ocean, the islands belonging to Germany north of the equator, to the Australian Union - German New Guinea, in New Zealand - the islands of Western Samoa, departed as mandated territories in Japan.
Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany renounced all concessions and privileges in China, from the rights of consular jurisdiction and from any property in Siam, from all treaties and agreements with Liberia, recognized the protectorate of France over Morocco and Great Britain over Egypt. The rights of Germany in Jiaozhou and the entire Shandong province of China went to Japan (as a result, the Treaty of Versailles was not signed by China). And also the League of Nations of lust to take away and share a part of Radyanskaya Russia. [ ]
2.3. Reparations
Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles attributed blame for the war to Germany, much of the rest of the Treaty described reparations that Germany would pay to the Allies. The total amount of reparations, according to the decision of the Inter-Allied Reparations Commission, amounted to about 226 billion marks. In 1921 this amount was reduced to 132 billion marks, which at the time was $31.4 billion ($442 billion in 2012), or 6.6 billion (284 billion in 2012).
It can be argued that the imposition of indemnities at Versailles was in part a response to the indemnities imposed by Germany on France, in 1871 by the Treaty of Frankfurt signed after the French-Prussian War; critics of the treaty claimed that France managed to pay reparations (5 billion francs) within three years, while the Young Plan of 1929 provided that German reparations would be paid for another 59 years, until 1988. The indemnifications of the Treaty of Frankfurt were, in turn, calculated on the basis of population, as the exact equivalent of the indemnities imposed by Napoleon I on Prussia in 1807.
Versailles reparations took many forms, including coal, steel, intellectual property (such as the brand name aspirin), and agricultural products, in large part due to the fact that foreign exchange reparations of this size could lead to hyperinflation, which actually happened in post-war Germany ( Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic), and could reduce the benefits of France and Great Britain.
Reparations in the form of coal played a big role in punishing Germany. The Treaty of Versailles confirmed that Germany was responsible for the destruction of coal mines in northern France and parts of Belgium, parts of Italy. France thus gained temporary full ownership of Germany's Saar coal basin. In addition, Germany was forced to transfer to France, Belgium, Italy a million tons of coal within 10 years. However, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, Germany stopped supplying coal for several years, thus violating the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
Germany ended paying reparations only in 2010.
2.4. Restrictions on the armed forces
According to the treaty, the armed forces of Germany were to be limited to 100,000 men. land army; compulsory military service was abolished, the main part of the surviving navy was to be transferred to the winners, severe restrictions were also imposed on the construction of new warships. Germany was forbidden to have many modern types of weapons - combat aircraft, armored vehicles (with the exception of a small number of obsolete vehicles - armored vehicles for the needs of the police).
2.5. Creation of international organizations
Part I of the treaty was the League of Nations Pact. Covenant of the League of Nations ), which provided for the creation of the League of Nations, an organization whose purpose was to arbitrate in international disputes in order to thus avoid future wars. Part XIII postulates the creation of the International Labor Organization, to promote "the regulation of working hours, including the establishment of a maximum working day and week, the regulation of labor resources, the prevention of unemployment, the provision of an adequate living wage, the protection of workers from illness and injury arising from their employment, the protection of children, adolescents and women, provision for old age and cases of injury, protection of the interests of workers working in other (than their own) countries, recognition of the principle of freedom of association, organization of vocational education and other measures. In addition, according to Part XII, an international commission for the administrative control of the Elbe, Odra, Neman and Danube were to be established.
3. Consequences
William Orpen. The signing of peace in the Mirror Hall of the Palace of Versailles on June 28, 1919. Imperial War Museum. London
The terms of the Treaty of Versailles are traditionally considered to be exceptionally humiliating and cruel towards Germany. It is believed that this is what led to extreme social instability within the country (after the start of the global economic crisis in 1929), the emergence of ultra-right forces and the Nazis coming to power (in 1933).
However, the severe restrictions imposed on Germany were not properly controlled by the European powers, or their violations were deliberately gotten away with by Germany, including: Remilitarization of the Rhineland, Anschluss of Austria, secession of the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia and the subsequent occupation of the Czech Republic and Moravia.
| Recipient States | Area, km | Population, thousand people |
|---|---|---|
| Poland | 43 600 | 2950 |
| France | 14 520 | 1820 |
| Denmark | 3900 | 160 |
| Lithuania | 2400 | 140 |
| Free City of Danzig | 1900 | 325 |
| Belgium | 990 | 65 |
| Czechoslovakia | 320 | 40 |
| Total | 67 630 | 5500 |
In 1935, Hitler refused to comply with the Treaty of Versailles.
4. Historical estimates
In his book The Economic Consequences of the World, The Economic Consequences of the Peace ), Keynes called the Treaty of Versailles the "Peace of Carthage" (synonymous with the imposition of very harsh peace terms), a false attempt by French revanchism to destroy Germany, instead of following the principles of just lasting peace outlined in Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, Germany accepted during the armistice. He stated: "I believe that the campaign to secure payment by Germany of the total losses in the war was one of the most serious acts of political stupidity for which our statesmen have never been held responsible." Keynes was the chief spokesman for the British Treasury at the Paris Peace Conference, and used arguments in his impassioned books that he and others (including US officials) had used in Paris. He believed that the amounts required from Germany as reparations exceeded her capabilities by many, which would cause severe instability (see quote). Economist Étienne Mantoux associated with the French resistance movement Tienne Mantoux) challenged this approach. Written by Mantoux in the 1940s and published posthumously, The Treaty of Carthage, or the Economic Consequences of Mr. Keynes, is an attempt to refute Keynes' claims.
In later studies (for example, in the book "World At Arms" by the historian Gerhard Weinberg), the thesis was put forward that the treaty was indeed very beneficial for Germany. Bismarck's Reich did not disintegrate but was retained as a political entity, Germany largely avoided a post-war military occupation (in contrast to the situation after World War II). In a 1995 essay, Weinberg noted that with the disappearance of Austria-Hungary and the push of Russia out of Europe, Germany is now the dominant power in Eastern Europe. Weinberg writes that, given that already 21 years after Versailles, Germany received more land than it did in 1914, it casts doubt that Versailles was as harsh and unbearable as the Germans claimed.
See also
Notes
- Saint-Germain Peace Treaty 1919 with Austria; New peace treaty with Bulgaria; Treaty of Trianon with Hungary; Treaty of Sevres with the Sultan's government of Turkey; US Foreign Policy and National Security: Chronology and Index for the 20th Century.- Santa Barbara, California: Praeger Security International, 2010. .
- The West Encounters and Transformations. Atlas Ed. Vol. II. New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007. p. 806 (given according to the English Wikipedia)
- Timothy W. Guinnane (January 2004). "Vergangenheitsbewltigung: the 1953 London Debt Agreement" - www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp880.pdf (PDF). Center Discussion Paper no. 880. Economic Growth Center, Yale University . http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp880.pdf - www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp880.pdf. Retrieved March 10, 2012. "At the pre-World War I parities, $1 gold = 4.2 gold Marks. One Mark was worth one shilling sterling.(English) at Wikisource. (English)
- The Economic Consequences of the Peace - www.gutenberg.org/etext/15776 John Maynard Keynes , is on Project Gutenberg.
- Markwell, Donald John Maynard Keynes and International Relations: Economic Paths to War and Peace.- Oxford University Press, 2006. (Courtesy of English Wikipedia)
- Keynes The Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1919 "The Treaty includes no provisions for the economic rehabilitation of Europe-nothing to make the defeated Central Empires into good neighbors, nothing to stabilize the new States of Europe, nothing to reclaim Russia; nor does it promote in any way a compact of economic solidarity among the Allies themselves; no arrangement was reached at Paris for restoring the disordered finances of France and Italy, or to adjust the systems of the Old World and the New. The Council of Four paid no attention to these issues, being preoccupied with others -Clemenceau to crush the economic life of his enemy, Lloyd George to do a deal and bring home something which would pass muster for a week, the President to do nothing that was not just and right. problems of a Europe starving and disintegrating before their eyes, was the one question in which it was impossible to arouse the interest of the Four. , of electoral chicane, from every point of view except that of the economic future of the States whose destiny they were handling. (quoted from the English Wikipedia).
- Reynolds, David. (February 20, 1994). - query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html? res = 9903EED81438F933A15751C0A962958260 Review of: "A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II ," by Gerhard L. Weinberg. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Weinberg, Gerard Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995 page 16. (Courtesy of English Wikipedia)
- Weinberg, Gerard Germany, Hitler And World War II, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995 page 11.
On June 28, 1919, at the Palace of Versailles, Foreign Minister Müller and German Minister of Justice Bell signed a peace treaty with the victors on behalf of their government.
Large in volume, contained articles of an economic, political and financial nature and was for the Germans the cause that gave rise to revanchism.
Germany returned Alsace and Lorraine with all the bridges over the Rhine. The mines of the Saar coal basin passed to France, and the Saar region - under the control of the League of Nations for 15 years; after the expiration of the term - the question of their ownership. The right bank of the Rhine was occupied by the Entente for 15 years + the territory 50 km east of the Rhine d.b. demilitarized. The districts of Einen and Malmedy went to Belgium, Schleswig and Holstein to Denmark.
Germany recognized the independence of Czechoslovakia and Poland. In favor of Czechoslovakia in Upper Silesia, the Gulginsky district was transferred, and a number of regions of Pomerania were transferred to Poland.
Danzig (Kdansk) was transferred to the League of Nations, which undertook to make it a free city, including the Polish customs system. Poland received the right to control the railway and river routes of the Danqing corridor.
In total, 1/8 of its territory was taken from Germany, 1/12 of the population that lived in this territory.
The colonies of England and France divided Cameroon and Togo among themselves, African ...
Germany d.b. give away all merchant ships with a displacement of over 1600 tons, half of over 1000 tons, 25% of all fishing vessels, 20% of the river fleet.
At their shipyards, within 5 years, build ships for the winners with a total displacement of 200,000 tons per year. Within 10 years Germany d.b. supply France with 140 million tons of coal a year; Belgium - 80 million tons, Italy - 77 million tons; d.b. transfer 50% of all dyes, until 1925 to supply 25% of the produced chemical products and dyes. Germany renounced economic rights and advantages in China, Siam, Liberia, Morocco, Egypt and transferred these rights to France and Great Britain.
Germany pledged in advance to recognize the treaties to be concluded with Turkey and Bulgaria; rejection of the Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest peace. Art. 116 of the Treaty of Versailles recognized Russia's right to receive reparations, but after a single national government. Germany undertook to leave troops in the Baltics until the special order of the winners, i.e. Germany is a participant in the intervention in Russia.
The treaty was predatory, humiliating and insulting.
The winners started negotiations with Austria, Bulgaria and Turkey. On September 10, 1919, a peace treaty with Austria was signed at the Saint-Germain Palace in Paris, but it was prescribed separately, because. The Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed. Austria d.b. transfer part of the provinces to Italy - Extreme and Corinthia, South Tyrol and Kostunland. Kingdom of Croats, Slovenes and Slovaks(Yugoslavia) received Dalmatia, South Styria, southeastern Corinthia, part of Krajina.
In order to drive a wedge between Austria and Hungary, the Burgenland region was taken from Hungary, which was transferred to Austria. Bukovina region ceded to Romania; Czechoslovakia included Bohemia and Moravia.
Austria was forbidden to unite with Germany, the entire merchant and navy of Austria was transferred to the winners. Austria ceased to exist in a serious sense.
Germany to have a regular army, and its contract army is not more than 30 thousand people.
On November 27, 1919, an agreement was signed in Neuilly with Bulgaria, which also suffered territorial losses: Dobruja - Romania, part of the territories of Yugoslavia, Thrace - under the control of the Entente. Bulgaria gave its entire fleet to the victors and pledged to pay 2.5 billion francs in gold; army - contract, no more than 20 thousand.
Agreement with Hungary the latest - June 4, 1920 in Versailles in the large Trianon Palace. Slovakia and Carpathian Rus of Czechoslovakia; Croatia and Slovenia - Yugoslavia; Romania - Transylvania. The Hungarian army became contract, up to 30 thousand people. As a result of territorial losses, she was left without access to the sea; lost 70% of the territory and 50% of the population. In economic terms, collapsed to the bottom of wealth: "The country of seven million beggars."
The signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty radically changed the political map of Europe and the balance of power on the continent. Although the treaty formally proclaimed the beginning of a new era - “an era without wars. Violence and robbery”, “Versailles” laid the causal basis for a new war. The basis - a combination of the conditions on which the peace treaties were concluded - is imperialistic in nature and aimed at obtaining the greatest advantages at the expense of the vanquished, who looked like an elementary robbery.
The Versailles system created a situation where new state borders often passed through the "body of the ethnos", which led to the settlement of Nars in two or even more states - the German and Hungarian people. All these reasons and conditions immediately introduced an element of fragility and revanchism into the system of the Versailles treaties, dooming it to a quick collapse.
In 1918, Germany realized that the war had been lost. All efforts were aimed at making peace, not capitulation. In October, a truce is signed for 36 days: the development of peace conditions, but they were tough. They were dictated by the French. Peace was not signed. The truce was extended 5 times. There was no unity in the Allied camp. France held the first position. She was greatly weakened by the war, both economically and financially. She came out with demands for the payment of colossal reparations, as she sought to crush the German economy. She demanded the division of Germany, but England opposed this.
In October 1918, the German government approached US President Woodrow Wilson with a proposal to conclude a truce on all fronts. This move was an indication that Germany had agreed to Wilson's Fourteen Points, the document that served as the basis for a just world. Nevertheless, the countries of Atlanta demanded from Germany full compensation for the damage caused to the civilian population and the economy of these countries. In addition to demands for restitution, negotiations were complicated by territorial claims and secret agreements made by England, France and Italy with each other and with Greece and Romania in the last year of the war.
June 28, 1919 - Signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which put an end to World War I. The peace treaty between Germany and the countries of the Entente was signed in the Mirror Hall of the Palace of Versailles in the suburbs of Paris. The date of its signing went down in history as the day the World War I ended, despite the fact that the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles came into force only on January 10, 1920.
27 countries participated in it. It was an agreement between the winners and Germany. Germany's allies did not take part in the conference. The text of the peace treaty was created during the Paris Peace Conference in the spring of 1919. In fact, the conditions were dictated by the leaders of the Big Four represented by British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, French President Georges Clemenceau, American President Woodrow Wilson and Italian leader Vittorio Orlando. The German delegation was shocked by the harsh terms of the treaty and the apparent contradictions between the armistice agreements and the provisions of the future world. The vanquished were especially indignant at the wording of German war crimes and the incredible amount of her reparations.
The legal basis for Germany's reparations was accusations of her war crimes. It was unrealistic to calculate the real damage caused by the war to Europe (especially France and Belgium), but the approximate amount was $ 33,000,000,000. Despite the statements of world experts that Germany would never be able to pay such reparations without pressure from the Entente countries, the text The peace treaty contained provisions that allowed for certain measures of influence on Germany. Among the opponents of the recovery of reparations was John Maynard Keynes, who, on the day of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, said that Germany's huge debt would lead to a world economic crisis in the future. His prediction, unfortunately, came true: in 1929, the United States and other countries suffered the Great Depression. By the way, it was Keynes who stood at the origins of the creation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The leaders of the Entente, in particular, Georges Clemenceau, were interested in excluding any possibility of Germany starting a new world war. To this end, the treaty included provisions according to which the German army was to be reduced to 100,000 personnel, military and chemical production in Germany was prohibited. The entire territory of the country east of the Rhine and 50 km to the west was declared a demilitarized zone.
From the very signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the Germans declared that "the Entente imposed a peace treaty on them." In the future, the rigid provisions of the treaty were relaxed in favor of Germany. However, the shock that the German people experienced after the signing of this shameful peace remained in memory for a long time, and Germany harbored hatred for the rest of the states of Europe. In the early 1930s, in the wake of revanchist ideas, Adolf Hitler managed to come to power in an absolutely legal way.
Germany's capitulation allowed Soviet Russia to denounce the provisions of the Brest-Litovsk Separate Peace, concluded between Germany and Russia in March 1918, and return its western territories.
Germany has lost a lot. Alsace and Lorraine went to France, and northern Schleswick to Denmark. Germany lost more territories that were given to Holland. But France failed to achieve a border along the Rhine. Germany was forced to recognize the independence of Austria. Unification with Austria was forbidden. In general, a colossal number of different prohibitions were imposed on Germany: a ban on creating a large army and having many types of weapons. Germany was forced to pay reparations. But the issue of quantity has not been resolved. A special commission was created, which practically dealt only with the fact that appointed the amount of reparations for the next year. Germany was deprived of all her colonies.
Austria-Hungary split into Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. From Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Southern Hungary, at the end of the war, the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian state was formed, which later became known as Yugoslavia. They looked like Versailles. Austria lost a number of its territories and army. Italy received South Tyrol, Trieste, Istria with adjacent areas. The Slavic lands of Czech Republic and Moravia, which for a long time were part of Austria-Hungary, became the basis of the Czechoslovak Republic that was formed. Part of Silesia also passed to her. The Austro-Hungarian naval and Danube fleets were placed at the disposal of the victorious countries. Austria had the right to keep an army of 30 thousand people on its territory. Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine were transferred to Czechoslovakia, Croatia and Slovenia were included in Yugoslavia, Transylvania, Bukovina and most of Banat-Romania. The number of the Vegerian army was determined at 35 thousand people.
It came to Turkey. Under the Treaty of Sèvres, she lost about 80% of her former lands. England received Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq. France - Syria and Lebanon. Smyrna and the surrounding areas, as well as the islands in the Aegean Sea, were to pass to Greece. In addition, Masuk went to England, Alexandretta, Killikia and a strip of territories along the Syrian border to France. The creation of independent states - Armenia and Kurdistan - in the east of Anatolia was envisaged. The British wanted to turn these countries into a springboard for the fight against the Bolshevik threat. Türkiye was limited to the territory of Asia Minor and Constantinople with a narrow strip of European land. The straits were entirely in the hands of the victorious countries. Turkey officially renounced its previously lost rights to Egypt, Sudan and Cyprus in favor of England, Morocco and Tunisia - in favor of France, Libya - in favor of Italy. The army was reduced to 35 thousand people, but it could be increased to suppress anti-government protests. In Turkey, the colonial regime of the victorious countries was established. But because of the beginning of the national liberation movement in Turkey, this treaty was not ratified and then annulled.
The United States left the Versailles conference dissatisfied. It has not been ratified by the US Congress. It was her diplomatic defeat. Italy was also not happy: it did not get what it wanted. England was forced to reduce the fleet. It's expensive to maintain. She had a difficult financial situation, a large debt to the United States, and they put pressure on her. In February 1922, the 9-Power Treaty on China was signed in Washington. He did not sign the Treaty of Versailles, as it was planned to give some territory of German China to Japan. The division into spheres of influence in China was eliminated, there were no colonies left there. This treaty gave rise to another discontent in Japan. This is how the Versailles-Washington system was formed, which lasted until the mid-1930s.
The Versailles Peace Treaty, which officially ended the First World War of 1914-18, was signed on June 28, 1919 in Versailles (France) by the United States of America, the British Empire (Lloyd George David - Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1916-1922), France (Clemenceau Georges) , Italy (Vittorio Emanuele Orlando - Italian politician, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Italy in 1917-1919.) and Japan, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hijaz, Honduras, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Serbo-Croat-Slovenian state, Siam, Czechoslovakia and Uruguay, on the one hand, and capitulated Germany, on the other. It entered into force on January 10, 1920, after being ratified by Germany and the four major allied powers - Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan.
The US representative at Versailles was Wilson Thomas Woodrow.
Wilson Thomas Woodrow (1856-1924). Born December 28, 1856 in the town of Stanton, Virginia, in the family of pastor Joseph Rugles Wilson, was the third child. In honor of his grandfather, the son was named Thomas. Due to poor health, the boy received his primary education at home. Thomas only entered school at the age of 13. He did not shine with success. The boy's favorite pastime was playing baseball. At the end of 1873, Joseph Wilson sent his son to study at Davidson College (North Carolina), which trained ministers of the Presbyterian church. In the summer of 1874, Wilson left college due to illness and returned to his family. He attended church and listened to his father's sermons in a rich parish. In 1875, Wilson entered Princeton College, where he paid special attention to state studies. In 1879, Wilson continued his education at the University of Virginia Law School. But at the end of the next year, he fell ill and returned to Wilmington, where he studied independently for three years, studying law, history, and the political life of the United States and England. While attending the University of Virginia, Wilson fell in love with his cousin Henrietta Woodrow. However, Henrietta, citing her close relationship with Wilson, refused to marry him. In memory of his first novel, the young man adopted the name Woodrow in 1882. In the summer of 1882, he arrived in Atlanta, where he soon successfully passed the exam for the right to practice law.
Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States (1913-1921) from the Democratic Party. Initiator of the US entry into the First World War. Professor of History and Political Economy. In 1910 he was elected governor of one of the States. In 1912, he ran for president as a candidate of the Democratic Party. Since the beginning of the World War, when neutral America has been making billions of dollars on military orders, Wilson has been an apostle of pacifism. This did not prevent him from entering the war on the side of the Entente in 1917, when the unrestricted submarine war declared by Germany threatened American trade with Europe. On January 18, 1918, Wilson puts forward his peace program, formulated in the famous 14 points, which speak of a democratic peace without annexations and indemnities, etc., and also comes up with the project of the League of Nations, which supposedly should pacify the world. How hypocritical his program was is shown by the fact that the government of the United States itself refused to join the League of Nations.
Fourteen Points of US President W. Wilson
1. Open peace treaties, openly discussed, after which there will be no secret international agreements of any kind, and diplomacy will always act frankly and in front of everyone.
2. Absolute freedom of navigation on the seas outside territorial waters, both in peacetime and in wartime, except in cases where certain seas are partially or completely closed internationally for the execution of international treaties.
3. Removal, as far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of equal conditions for trade of all nations standing for peace and uniting their efforts to maintain it.
4. Fair assurances that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest possible level consistent with national security.
5. A free, frank and absolutely impartial settlement of all colonial disputes, based on the strict observance of the principle that, in all matters of sovereignty, the interests of the population must have equal weight over the just demands of the government whose rights are to be determined.
6. The liberation of all Russian territories and such a solution to all questions affecting Russia that guarantees her the most complete and free assistance from other nations in obtaining a full and unhindered opportunity to take an independent decision regarding her own political development, her national policy and ensuring her a welcoming acceptance in the community of free nations, under the form of government that she chooses for herself. And more than a welcome, also all kinds of support in everything she needs and wants for herself. The attitude towards Russia on the part of the nations, her sisters, in the coming months will be the touchstone of their good feelings, their understanding of her needs and the ability to separate them from their own interests, as well as an indicator of their wisdom and the unselfishness of their sympathies.
7. Belgium - the whole world will agree - must be evacuated and restored, without attempting to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys on an equal footing with all other free nations. No other action can more than this serve to restore confidence among peoples in those laws which they themselves have established and determined as the guide for their mutual relations. Without this healing act, the entire structure and operation of international law will be forever shattered.
8. The whole French territory must be liberated and the occupied parts returned, and the evil inflicted on France by Prussia in 1871 against Alsace-Lorraine, which disturbed the peace of the world for almost 50 years, must be corrected so that peaceful relations can again be established in the interests of everyone.
9. The correction of Italy's frontiers must be made on the basis of clearly distinguishable national frontiers.
10. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place in the League of Nations we want to see protected and secured, must be given the widest possible opportunity for autonomous development.
11. Romania, Serbia and Montenegro must be evacuated. Occupied territories must be returned. Serbia must be given free and secure access to the sea. The mutual relations of the various Balkan states must be determined in a friendly way in accordance with the historically established principles of belonging and nationality. International guarantees for the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the various Balkan states must be established.
12. The Turkish parts of the Ottoman Empire, in its present composition, should receive secured and lasting sovereignty, but other nationalities now under the rule of the Turks should receive an unequivocal guarantee of existence and absolutely inviolable conditions for autonomous development. The Dardanelles must be permanently open to the free passage of ships and trade of all nations under international guarantees.
13. An independent Polish state must be created, which must include all territories with an undeniably Polish population, which must be provided with free and reliable access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence, as well as territorial integrity, must be guaranteed by international treaty .
14. A general association of nations must be formed on the basis of special statutes in order to create a mutual guarantee of the political independence and territorial integrity of both large and small states.
Wilson's speech caused a mixed reaction, both in the United States itself and among its allies. France wanted reparations from Germany, since French industry and agriculture had been destroyed by the war, and Great Britain, as the most powerful naval power, did not want freedom of navigation. Wilson made compromises with Clemenceau, Lloyd George and other European leaders during the Paris peace negotiations, trying to ensure that the fourteenth point was still fulfilled and the League of Nations was created. In the end, the agreement on the League of Nations was defeated by the Congress, and in Europe only 4 of the 14 theses were put into practice.
The purpose of the Treaty of Versailles was,
firstly, the redistribution of the world in favor of the victorious powers
secondly, the prevention of a possible future military threat from Germany. In general, the articles of the treaty can be divided into several groups.
1. Germany lost part of its lands in Europe:
Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France (within the borders of 1870);
Belgium - the districts of Malmedy and Eupen, as well as the so-called neutral and Prussian parts of Morena;
Poland - Poznan, part of Pomerania and other territories of West Prussia;
G. Danzig (Gdansk) and its district was declared a "free city";
Memel (Klaipeda) was transferred to the jurisdiction of the victorious powers (in February 1923 it was annexed to Lithuania).
The state affiliation of Schleswig, the southern part of East Prussia and Upper Silesia was to be determined by a plebiscite (from Latin plebiscitum: plebs - common people + scitum - decision, resolution - one of the types of popular vote, in international relations it is used when polling the population of a territory about its belonging to one state or another).
Part of Schleswig passed to Denmark (1920);
Part of Upper Silesia - to Poland (1921);
Also, a small section of the Silesian territory went to Czechoslovakia;
The southern part of East Prussia remained with Germany.
Germany also had original Polish lands - on the right bank of the Oder, Lower Silesia, most of Upper Silesia, etc. Saar passed for 15 years under the control of the League of Nations, after this period the fate of the Saar was also to be decided by a plebiscite. For this period, the coal mines of the Saar (the richest coal basin in Europe) were transferred to the ownership of France.
2. Germany was deprived of all its colonies, which were later divided among the main victorious powers. The redistribution of the German colonies was carried out as follows:
In Africa:
Tanganyika became a British mandate;
Ruanda-Urundi region - mandated territory of Belgium;
- "Kionga Triangle" (S.-E. Africa) was transferred to Portugal (the named territories previously constituted German East Africa); -Great Britain and France divided Togo and Cameroon; -South Africa received a mandate for South West Africa;
France received a protectorate over Morocco;
Germany renounced all treaties and agreements with Liberia;
On the Pacific:
The islands north of the equator that belonged to Germany were transferred to Japan as mandated territories;
To the Australian Union - German New Guinea; - to New Zealand - the islands of Samoa.
Germany's rights in relation to Jiaozhou and the entire Shandong province of China went to Japan (as a result of which the Treaty of Versailles was not signed by China);
Germany also renounced all concessions and privileges in China, from the rights of consular jurisdiction and from all property in Siam.
Germany recognized the independence of all territories that were part of the former Russian Empire by August 1, 1914, as well as the cancellation of all agreements concluded by it with the Soviet government (including the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918). Germany undertook to recognize all treaties and agreements of the allied and united powers with the states that have been formed or are being formed on all or part of the territories of the former Russian Empire.
3. Germany recognized and pledged to strictly observe the independence of Austria, and also recognized the full independence of Poland and Czechoslovakia. The entire German part of the left bank of the Rhine and a strip of the right bank 50 km wide were subject to demilitarization, creating the so-called Rhine demilitarized zone.
4. The armed forces of Germany were limited to 100 thousand. land army; compulsory military service was abolished, the main part of the surviving navy was to be transferred to the winners. Germany was obliged to compensate in the form of reparations the losses incurred by the governments and individual citizens of the Entente countries as a result of hostilities (the determination of the amount of reparations was assigned to a special Reparation Commission).
5. Articles relating to the establishment of the League of Nations
Of the states that signed the treaty, the United States, Hejaz, and Ecuador refused to ratify it. In particular, the United States Senate refused to do so because of its unwillingness to commit itself to participation in the League of Nations, the charter of which was an integral part of the Treaty of Versailles. Instead, the United States concluded a special treaty with Germany in August 1921, almost identical to that of Versailles, but without articles on the League of Nations.
The refusal of the American Congress to ratify the Treaty of Versailles actually meant the return of the United States to the policy of isolationism. At that time, there was strong opposition in the United States to the policies of the Democratic Party and personally to President Wilson. American conservatives believed that the adoption of serious political and military obligations to European countries dooms the United States to unjustified financial costs and (in the event of war) to human losses. The benefits of intervention in European problems (facilitated access to the markets of European countries and the mandated territories of Africa and Asia, recognition of the United States as the leading world power, etc.) did not seem obvious and sufficient to Wilson's opponents.
The isolationist opposition was led by the leadership of the US Republican Party. The President was accused of the fact that the Charter of the League of Nations in some way limits Congress in the field of foreign policy. Particularly irritating was the provision on the adoption of collective measures in cases of aggression. The League's opponents called it a "commitment", an attack on American independence, a dictate of Britain and France.
The debate in Congress on the Treaty of Versailles began on July 10, 1919, and continued for more than eight months. After the introduction of 48 amendments and 4 reservations by the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, the changes made to the treaty turned out to be so serious that they actually began to contradict the agreements reached in Paris. But even this did not change the situation: on March 19, 1920, despite all the amendments made, the Senate rejected the resolution on the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. Thus, the United States, which was turning into the strongest country in the world, found itself legally and in many ways actually outside the Versailles order. This circumstance could not but affect the prospects for international development.
Paris Peace Conference
On January 18, 1919, the Paris Peace Conference opened in Paris, convened by the victorious powers to work out and sign peace treaties with the states defeated in the First World War of 1914-18. It took place (with some interruptions) until January 21, 1920. Great Britain, France, the USA, Italy, Japan, Belgium, Brazil, the British dominions (Australia, Canada, the Union of South Africa, New Zealand) and India, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hijaz, Honduras, China, Cuba, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbo-Croat-Slovenian state, Siam, Czechoslovakia, as well as states that were in a state of breaking off diplomatic relations with the German bloc (Ecuador , Peru, Bolivia and Uruguay). Germany and its former allies were admitted to the Paris Peace Conference only after the draft peace treaties with them had been worked out. Soviet Russia was not invited to the conference. The leading role was played by Great Britain, France and the USA, the main representatives of which were D. Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson - in the course of secret negotiations decided the main issues of the conference. As a result, we prepared:
Also at the Paris Peace Conference, it was decided to create the League of Nations and approved its Charter, which was included as an integral part of the above-mentioned peace treaties.
Treaty of Saint Germain
It was signed on September 10, 1919. in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (near Paris) by the Allied and Associated Powers, on the one hand, and Austria, on the other, ratified by the Austrian Constituent Assembly on October 17, 1919 and entered into force on July 16, 1920. This treaty stated the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire , which occurred after the capitulation of Austria-Hungary on October 27, 1918, as a result of which the following states were formed on its territory:
Republic of Austria;
Hungary;
Czechoslovakia;
Serbo-Croat-Slovenian state (since October 1929 - Yugoslavia).
A special article was included in the treaty, stipulating the prohibition of violating the independence of Austria.
The territory of Austria with an area of approximately 84 thousand square meters. km from now on were Upper and Lower Austria, Salzburg, Carinthia, part of Styria, Vorarlberg, North Tyrol and Burgenland, formerly part of the Kingdom of Hungary. In the area of Klagenfurt (Slovenian Carinthia), a plebiscite was envisaged, after which the area became part of Austria in 1920.
As for other lands that previously made up the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they were divided among neighboring states as follows:
Italy received South Tyrol and part of other territories of the former Austria-Hungary (the border of Italy with the Serbo-Croat-Slovenian state was determined by the Rapallo Treaty of 1920);
Romania was joined by part of the former Duchy of Bukovina; -the borders of Bukovina were to be established later (at the same time, the demand of the Bukovina People's Council of November 3, 1918 on the annexation of Northern Bukovina to Soviet Ukraine was ignored). Austria is committed to:
Recognize the full force of the peace treaties and supplementary conventions which have been or will be concluded by the Allied and Associated Powers with the Powers that fought on the side of the former Austria-Hungary;
Recognize the borders of Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Serbo-Croat-Slovenian state and Czechoslovakia in the form in which they will be established by the main Allied and Associated Powers;
Renounce all rights and privileges in territories outside its borders.
Demobilize the army, not have military aviation and a navy, the number of Austrian armed forces could be no more than 30 thousand people;
Pay reparations.
Treaty of Neuilly
It was signed on November 27, 1919. in Neuilly-sur-Seine (near Paris) by Bulgaria, on the one hand, and by the Allied and Associated Powers, on the other. The treaty entered into force on August 9, 1920. Since Bulgaria was a member of the bloc of the Central Powers that was defeated in the 1st World War of 1914-18, it also lost some territories:
Four districts with a total area of 2566 sq. km with the cities of Tsaribrod, Bosilegrad and Strumica went to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (since 1929 - Yugoslavia);
The border with Romania, established by the Bucharest Peace Treaty of 1913, was confirmed (Southern Dobruja remained with Romania); - Western Thrace (8.5 thousand sq. Km) - and with it access to the Aegean Sea - passed to the disposal of Great Britain, Italy, France, the USA and Japan, who pledged to guarantee the freedom of Bulgaria's economic access to the Aegean Sea (however, the transfer of Western Thrace Greece in 1920 this obligation was violated).
Bulgaria is committed to:
Pay reparations of 2.25 billion gold francs;
Limit various types of weapons and the size of the army (no more than 20 thousand people), police and gendarmerie.
Its economy and finances were placed under the control of the Inter-Allied Commission from representatives of Great Britain, France and Italy.
Treaty of Trianon
It was signed on June 4, 1920. in the Great Trianon (Trianon) Palace of Versailles by Hungary, on the one hand, and by the Allied and Associated Powers, on the other, and entered into force on July 26, 1921. In fact, this treaty was the legal registration of the situation that developed as a result of the war in the Danube basin.
Hungary, as part of the defeated Austro-Hungarian Empire, suffered the following territorial losses:
Transylvania and the eastern part of the Banat were annexed to Romania;
Croatia, Bačka and the western part of the Banat went to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes;
Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine were annexed to Czechoslovakia (despite the desire expressed by the population of the latter to reunite with Soviet Ukraine);
The province of Burgenland was transferred to Austria.
Hungary renounced the rights to the port of Risku (Fiume), as well as all rights and titles in the territory of the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy, which were not part of Hungary; recognized the independence of the Serbo-Croat-Slovenian state and Czechoslovakia.
Hungary also pledged to respect the independence of all territories that were part of the former Russian Empire by August 1, 1914, recognize the abolition of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and recognize the full force of all treaties and agreements of the Allied and Associated Powers with states that were formed or are being formed on all or part of the territory of the former Russian Empire. empire.
Hungary renounced all rights and titles or privileges in territory outside Europe that might belong to the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy or its allies.
The maximum number of the Hungarian army was determined at 35 thousand people.
Treaty of Sèvres
It was signed on August 10, 1920. in Sevres (near Paris) by the Sultan's government of Turkey and the allied powers-victors in the 1st World War of 1914-18 (Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Belgium, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Hijaz , Czechoslovakia and Dashnak Armenia). By the time the treaty was signed, most of Turkey was occupied by the troops of the victorious powers. Like other states that were defeated in the war, Turkey suffered a number of territorial losses (both lands that were directly part of the state and colonies):
Palestine and Iraq were transferred as mandated territories of Great Britain;
Syria and Lebanon went to France as mandated territories;
Egypt became an English protectorate;
Italy was given the Dodecanese Islands;
Eastern Thrace and Edirne (Adrianople), the Gallipoli peninsula were transferred to Greece.
The zone of the straits (the Bosporus and the Dardanelles) was subject to complete disarmament and came under the control of the International Commission of the Straits created by the Entente.
Turkey renounced all claims to the Arabian Peninsula and the countries of North Africa and recognized the British annexation of Cyprus. The definition of the border between Turkey and Dashnak Armenia was left to the arbitration decision of the US President, who expected to receive a mandate for Armenia.
Kurdistan was separated from Turkey, the borders of which were to be determined by the Anglo-French-Italian commission.
The number of Turkish armed forces was limited to 50 thousand soldiers and officers, which included 35 thousand gendarmerie. The treaty also deprived Turkey of access to the Mediterranean Sea.
In fact, the Treaty of Sevres gave the powers of the Entente the right to interfere in the internal affairs of Turkey, causing such strong indignation among the Turkish people that the government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (created in April 1920) rejected the treaty, and even the Sultan did not dare to ratify it. In fact, a civil war was already going on in the country, during which the Kemalists (supporters of the Ankara government) gradually gained the upper hand. In May 1920, the nationalist government of Kemal was formed in Ankara by the parliament, which did not recognize the Treaty of Sevres and declared that it would fight for the independence of the Turkish state within its ethnic borders.
However, almost immediately after its signing, this treaty ceased to suit some of the victorious powers, since France, as well as Italy and the United States considered that the preservation of the Treaty of Sevres was not in their interests, since Great Britain, using Greece and the Sultan's government, sought to turn Turkey into its dominant zone of influence. Under pressure from these powers, in February-March 1921, a conference was held in London, with the aim of softening the terms of the Treaty of Sevres, but the victorious powers could not agree. This untied the hands of France and Italy. On October 20, 1921, a separate Franco-Turkish treaty was signed in Ankara, according to which France not only recognized the Ankara government and renounced its claims to Cilicia, but also transferred to the Turks the military supplies of the French occupation troops in the amount of 200 million francs.
All this allowed the Kemalists to take the military initiative into their own hands, and in August 1922 the Turkish troops went on the offensive, which ended in the complete defeat of the Greek army. Greece was taken out of the war; King Constantine abdicated, the pro-British government fell, the Greek generals responsible for the defeat were handed over to the court-martial and executed by his verdict.
On October 15, 1922, an armistice agreement was signed, according to which the Greek troops were to leave both the Asian and European parts of Turkey within 30 days. However, the troops of the Entente powers continued to remain in Istanbul and the Straits until the peace conference, which opened in Lausanne (Switzerland) on November 20, 1922, and continued intermittently until July 24, 1923. Great Britain, France, Italy, Greece, and Romania took part in its work. , Yugoslavia, Japan, USA, Turkey. A number of private issues, mainly economic ones, were discussed with the participation of delegates from Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the USSR. The main objectives of the conference were the preparation of a peace treaty with Turkey and the determination of the regime of the Black Sea straits.
Treaty of Lausanne
The Treaty of Lausanne differed significantly from that of Sevres. Turkey abandoned its non-Turkish possessions, retaining mostly its ethnic borders and state sovereignty. All clauses of the Treaty of Sevres relating to the zones of influence of the powers in Anatolia were canceled. Turkey was given back Eastern Thrace on the European side of the Aegean Sea. The Powers renounced their claims to control Turkey's domestic and financial and economic policy. There were no provisions in the text requiring self-determination for the Kurds and the Armenian population of Turkey. All privileges for foreigners in Turkey have been abolished.
Türkiye recognized a part of the old debts of the Sultan's government. She renounced rights to all Arab territories, recognized the protectorate of Great Britain over Egypt, the British annexation of Cyprus and the rights of Italy to the Dodecanese Islands and Libya.
The Charter of the League of Nations was not included in the text of the Lausanne Peace Treaty (accordingly, its obligations did not apply to Turkey). Simultaneously with the peace treaty in Lausanne, the convention on the regime of the Black Sea straits was signed. As in the Treaty of Sevres, the straits zone was subject to demilitarization and fell under the control of a special international commission. In peacetime, merchant and warships of any state could freely pass through it (restrictions were set on their number and total displacement). Any non-Black Sea power had the right to send its fleet to the Black Sea and even permanently keep it there - however, on the condition that the number of ships of non-coastal powers would not exceed the fleet of the strongest of the coastal states. In wartime, the passage through the straits was allowed only for warships of neutral countries. The Straits Convention was signed on July 24, 1923 by Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Turkey. The representative of the USSR signed this convention on August 1, 1923. The government of the USSR, however, did not ratify it, since it provided for free passage through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles not only for merchant ships, but also for military ships.
In 1936, the convention on the regime of the straits was replaced by the convention worked out at the 1936 Montreux conference.
The remaining documents signed at the conference dealt with the return of prisoners, the mutual exchange of the Greek and Turkish population, etc.
The League of nations
The question of the structure and powers of the projected League of Nations caused a lot of controversy at the Paris Conference. The purpose of its creation was the development of international cooperation and the prevention of world tragedies like the World War of 1914-1919. Even during World War I, the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Britain approved the idea of creating an international organization that could prevent the recurrence of world wars.
At the Paris Conference it became clear that there were several projects of the League of Nations.
The French project of the League had an anti-German orientation. Germany itself was not supposed to be part of this organization. Under the League, it was proposed to form an international military force and an international general staff. It turned out to be the only project that provided for the formation of any real mechanisms that could ensure the implementation of the decisions of the organization.
Such a project did not suit either England or the United States - they were both against the creation of international armed forces, since they inevitably fell under the control of France as the strongest land military power. In addition, each of them had their own project.
The English draft contained only a scheme of arbitration between the major powers, which united in an alliance, the purpose of which was to prevent a sudden attack by one of the members of the alliance on another. The British government believed that this would save its huge colonial empire.
The American project, unlike the English one, did not limit membership in the League to the major powers. The principle of mutual guarantees of territorial integrity and political independence of all members of the League was established. However, the possibility of revising the existing state formations and their boundaries was allowed, provided that three-quarters of the League delegations recognized them as not corresponding to the changed national conditions and principles of self-determination of nations.
Already in Paris, Wilson drew up a new draft charter, including clauses on the transfer of the German colonies and former possessions of the Ottoman Empire to the League, so that it would issue mandates for the administration of these territories to small countries.
By proposing to admit Germany and small countries into the League, the Americans hoped that they would fall into economic dependence on the United States. This, coupled with the interference in territorial disputes provided for by the League's charter, was supposed to weaken the positions of England and France.
Ultimately, the League's charter became a compromise between the English and American projects. The work on the Charter, after lengthy disputes and agreements, was completed on April 11, 1919. On April 28, the Charter was approved by the conference and entered as an integral part of all peace treaties with Germany and its European allies - Versailles, Saint-Germain, Trianon and Neuilly.
The Charter of the League assumed the transformation of the League of Nations into the main instrument for establishing and regulating the new world order. In the introductory part of the Charter, the main principles of international cooperation for the achievement of peace and security were proclaimed:
Opposition to the war;
Development of open and fair relations based on the recognition of the principles of international law, strict respect for and fulfillment of all obligations arising from international treaties.
The first article of the Charter defined membership in the organization. Three types of states were represented in the League.
The first group consisted of the founding states that signed the Charter as part of the peace treaty and were listed in the appendix to the Treaty of Versailles. These were allied and affiliated powers.
The second category consisted of countries that did not participate in the First World War and therefore were not included in the list of signatories of the peace treaties. Six European and six Latin American countries and Persia were invited to join the League of Nations (if they agreed to recognize the Charter).
The third group included all other states. To join the League, they had to go through a special voting procedure and obtain the consent of at least two-thirds of the states represented at the Assembly.
Any states, dominions or "self-governing" territories, including colonies, were eligible to apply for membership in the League (this condition was introduced at the suggestion of Britain specifically to simplify admission to the League of British India.)
The procedure for withdrawing from the League provided for advance (two years) notice of this to all other members of the League. At the same time, the seceding state was obliged during these two years to continue to fulfill all the requirements of the Charter and other international obligations previously accepted to the League.
The main organs of the League of Nations were the Assembly, the Council and the Permanent Secretariat.
The Assembly was an assembly, consisting of representatives of all the members of the League, and was convened, as a rule, once a year, in September, or, if necessary, whenever a threat to peace arose. The Assembly could consider any questions relating to "peace in the world" and the observance of treaties. At meetings of the Assembly, delegations of countries were to have no more than three representatives, and each country had one vote.
The Council of the League consisted of permanent representatives of the initially five major allied and acceding powers (Great Britain, Italy, USA, France, Japan) and four non-permanent representatives elected from among the members.
Leagues in the Assembly. The Council was to meet at least once a year and consider a wide range of issues that were within the competence of the League or that affected the maintenance of world peace and the observance of treaties. Any state member of the League could participate in the meetings of the Council if an issue affecting its interests was discussed. The decision-making rules in the League were regulated by the fifth article of the Charter. Except where otherwise noted, all decisions taken in the Assembly and the Council required consensus, that is, a unanimous vote.
The International Secretariat, according to the sixth article of the Charter, was located in Geneva. It consisted of a general secretary and "such secretaries and staff as may be required." The Council appointed the Secretary General with his subsequent approval by the Assembly.
The member states of the League recognized that the maintenance of peace required the reduction of national armaments to the lowest possible level, which would be consistent with national security and international obligations (Article 8). The arms reduction plan was drawn up by the Council and submitted to the respective governments for consideration. Such plans were to be reviewed every five years. The League members also pledged to exchange "full and honest" information about the levels of armaments, military programs and military production.
One of the key articles was to be the tenth article of the Charter. It stated that the member states of the League assume obligations "to counteract aggression, to respect the territorial integrity and the existing political independence of the members of the League." In case of any aggression or danger of its occurrence, the Council of the League was to determine the means and collective action by which the above obligations could be fulfilled. However, the article did not provide for clear guarantees or procedures for actions in the event of a threat of aggression; the document did not even contain the very definition of aggression.
Any war or its threat against a member of the League or any other country was to be the subject of discussion of the entire international organization, which was to take measures to preserve the peace (Article 11). In the event of such a danger, the Secretary General of the League was obliged to convene the Council at the request of one of the members of the League. Any country - a member of the organization had the right to draw the attention of the Assembly or the Council to any violations of normal international relations that threaten peace and good mutual understanding of peoples.
Members of the League of Nations (Articles 12, 13, 14) were required to refer disputes threatening the outbreak of military conflicts to an international arbitration tribunal or to the consideration of the Council. From the moment the decision of the arbitration bodies was announced to the declaration of war, at least three months should have passed. For its part, the arbitral tribunal had to make decisions as soon as possible, and the Council was obliged, within six months after one or both parties to the conflict addressed it, to study the situation and submit an appropriate report to the Assembly. To resolve conflicts and disputes between states, the International Court of Justice was created in The Hague.
In the event of a war being unleashed by a member state of the League, such actions were to be considered by the rest of the League members as an act of war against all of them. In this case, all states had to stop all relations with the aggressor. The Council had the right to make recommendations to the governments of the states concerned regarding military measures necessary for the implementation of the principles of the Charter of the League.
The same article included a paragraph on the conditions for exclusion from the League of Nations of states that had violated the Charter. The decision to expel required a majority vote of the members of the Council, provided that this decision was subsequently confirmed by all other members of the organization.
The charter (articles 23, 24, 25) for the first time established the rules of international humanitarian cooperation and general standards of labor relations. The members of the League agreed to provide just and humane conditions of work for all men, women and children, both in their own countries and in all other countries and territories to which their industrial and commercial activities extend. To monitor compliance with this obligation, the International Labor Organization (ILO) was created.
In addition, the League of Nations received the right to control the trade in opium and other dangerous drugs, as well as the arms trade with countries in respect of which "such control is necessary in the general interest." Also, the League was supposed to achieve freedom of trade routes and a fair attitude to trade on the part of all members of the organization.
The members of the League pledged to maintain and develop cooperation with national organizations of the Red Cross in the interests of promoting the improvement of health care, the containment of epidemics and the "alleviation of suffering throughout the world."
In the 1920s, the number of League members grew steadily. She did manage to resolve some local disputes. Unfortunately, the League of Nations did not reach a serious international level - its decisions would simply be ignored. The most important activity of the League was the prevention of interstate aggression and the preservation of the post-war order of the world. However, in the 1930s, the countries that suffered from the harsh conditions of the Versailles peace began to recover from the blow and began to build up their military potential, to which there was no serious reaction from the leading states of the world. And since the League of Nations could not do more than the participating countries, its protests were simply ignored.
The agreements adopted in the post-war period were a whole set of agreements aimed at resolving contradictions in Western Europe, Africa, the Middle and Far East and the Pacific Ocean. In this sense, Washington was both a continuation of Versailles and the beginning of its revision. Although the Versailles-Washington system very quickly revealed its incapacity, it nevertheless completed the peace process and contributed, albeit temporarily, but still to stabilization.
