Wynn Las Vegas Donation Request, 5th Battalion Cameron Highlanders Ww2, St Davids Volunteer High School, Articles P

On 12 June 1919, the Chinese cabinet was forced to resign and the government instructed its delegation at Versailles not to sign the treaty. Article 156 of the treaty transferred German concessions in Shandong, China, to Japan, not to China. 21] Prominent economists such as John Maynard Keynes declared the treaty too harshstyling it as a "Carthaginian peace"and said the reparations were excessive and counter-productive. The largest bloc, led by Senator Lodge,[93] comprised a majority of the Republicans. Germany was not allowed to participate in the negotiationsit was forced to sign the final result. After six months of negotiations, which took place at the Paris Peace Conference (1919), the treaty formalized the armistice signed with Germany in November 1918 in the . The commission was required to "give to the German Government a just opportunity to be heard", and to submit its conclusions by 1 May 1921. Machray concludes that given the aggressive anti-Polish campaign conducted by local authorities and German volunteers, "the results were far from being an objective reflection of the true desires of the oppressed people". The three western districts of Falkenberg (Niemodlin), Grottkau (Grodkw) and Neisse (Nysa), though part of Regierungsbezirk Oppeln, were not included in the plebiscite area, as they were almost entirely populated by Germans. The number of officers and warrant officers was not allowed to exceed 1,500 men.[n. There was a 90% turn out with 99.3% of the population wishing to remain with Germany. The treaty's terms against Germany resulted in economic collapse and bitter resentment which powered the rise of the Nazi Party, and eventually the outbreak of a second World War. No plebiscite was actually ever conducted in Danzig. Consequently, passive resistance was called off in late 1923. the return of Alsace and Lorraine to France, and that Germany had agreed to pay reparations. British economist and Versailles negotiator John Maynard Keynes summarized this position as attempting to "set the clock back and undo what, since 1870, the progress of Germany had accomplished. France had also been more physically damaged than any other nation (the so-called zone rouge (Red Zone); the most industrialized region and the source of most coal and iron ore in the north-east had been devastated and in the final days of the war mines had been flooded and railways, bridges and factories destroyed. By 1920, the BAOR consisted of only 40,594 men and the following year had been further reduced to 12,421. 9] President Woodrow Wilson speaking on the League of Nations to a luncheon audience in Portland OR. info), English: Annexation of Austria ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 12 March 1938. [14][15][16], The terms of the armistice called for an immediate evacuation of German troops from occupied Belgium, France, and Luxembourg within fifteen days. In 1917, the new Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic under Vladimir Lenin in March 1918 signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, amounting to a surrender that was highly favourable to Germany. Treaty of Versailles. [95], The closest the treaty came to passage was on 19 November 1919, as Lodge and his Republicans formed a coalition with the pro-treaty Democrats, and were close to a two-thirds majority for a Treaty with reservations, but Wilson rejected this compromise and enough Democrats followed his lead to end the chances of ratification permanently. This action was directly against the terms which Germany had accepted after the First World War. [5] At the same time, he effectively abandoned his second line, as the population of Central Schleswig remained pro-German, and as he considered it vital that the future border should be based on the self-determination of the local populace. [xii] These sharpening ethnic conflicts would lead to public demands to reattach the annexed territory in 1938 and become a pretext for Hitler's annexations of Czechoslovakia and parts of Poland. The German Board of Public Health in December 1918 stated that 763,000 German civilians had died during the Allied blockade, although an academic study in 1928 put the death toll at 424,000 people. [5]:2425. [116], Memel remained under the authority of the League of Nations, with a French Armed Forces garrison, until January 1923. The senators were divided into multiple positions on the Versailles question. The plebiscite was set for 20 March 1921. Part XIII organized the establishment of the International Labour Office, to regulate hours of work, including a maximum working day and week; the regulation of the labour supply; the prevention of unemployment; the provision of a living wage; the protection of the worker against sickness, disease and injury arising out of his employment; the protection of children, young persons and women; provision for old age and injury; protection of the interests of workers when employed abroad; recognition of the principle of freedom of association; the organization of vocational and technical education and other measures.[n. He stated: "I believe that the campaign for securing out of Germany the general costs of the war was one of the most serious acts of political unwisdom for which our statesmen have ever been responsible. The Upper Silesia plebiscite was a plebiscite mandated by the Versailles Treaty and carried out on 20 March 1921 to determine ownership of the province of Upper Silesia between Weimar Germany and Poland. But rather than inform Ebert himself, he had Groener inform the government that the army would be in an untenable position in the event of renewed hostilities. The major figure of the campaign was Wojciech Korfanty, a pro-Polish politician. Poland appeared so close to collapse that even Polish voters had cast their ballots for Germany". Plebiscites in post-Versailles Europe In most of the territories where plebiscites were held, despite the borders being set out according to their results, political conflicts did not end The defeat of Germany in World War I was a triumph of an alliance of five superpowers; Great Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Japan. The plebiscite's entire Zone I was transferred to Denmark on 15 June 1920,[9][10] and the territory was officially named the South Jutlandic districts, more commonly Southern Jutland, although the latter name is also the historiographical name for the entire Schleswig region. [127] [34] Russia was excluded due to their signing of a separate peace (the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk) and early withdrawal from the war. Both Poles and Germans were allowed to organize campaigns. The proposed frontier would have incorporated Tnder/Tondern, Hjer/Hoyer, Tinglev/Tingleff and neighbouring areas and also some parts north from Flensburg the so-called Tiedje Belt[7] and would have created almost equal minorities on both sides of the frontier instead of 30,000 to 35,000 Germans in Denmark and 6,000 to 8,000 Danes in Germany.[8]. Germans won the vote by a measure of 59.4% to 40.6%. [53], Lloyd George also intended to maintain a European balance of power to thwart a French attempt to establish itself as the dominant European power. All offices and every industry was controlled by the German population, who exerted an overwhelming pressure on Poles to vote for Germany, and they "frequently exceeded their lawful powers and supported many forms of anti-Polish activities". [iii] In response, the Allies issued an ultimatum stating that Germany would have to accept the treaty or face an invasion of Allied forces across the Rhine within 24 hours. The Treaty of Versailles Punished Defeated Germany With These - HISTORY [134], The French Army of the Rhine was initially 250,000 men strong, including at a peak 40,000 African colonial troops (Troupes coloniales). Other countries entered as fighting raged widely across Europe, as well as the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Updated on February 06, 2019. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2020), Tooley, T. Hunt. The Province of Posen (now Pozna), which had come under Polish control during the Greater Poland Uprising, was also to be ceded to Poland. Article 5 of the Austro-Prussian Peace of Prague (1866) stipulated that a plebiscite should be held within the ensuing six years in order to give the people of the northern part of Schleswig the possibility of voting for the region's future allegiance by allowing regions voting for Danish rule to be restored to Danish administration. [47] Germans viewed the treaty as a humiliation and eagerly listened to Hitler's oratory which blamed the treaty for Germany's ills. In January 1927, following the withdrawal of the Allied disarmament committee, Krupps ramped up production of armor plate and artillery. Hitler's aims in foreign policy Hitler's main three aims To make Germany into a great power again To unite all German speaking people under his rule He also wanted to expand eastward to create more 'lebensraum' (living space) for the Germans It was the first step toward the creation . Key Facts 1 The Anschluss was the Nazi German regime's first act of territorial aggression and expansion. 17], The treaty was comprehensive and complex in the restrictions imposed upon the post-war German armed forces (the Reichswehr). Allenstein was an independent city within the German Empire. France, along with the British Dominions and Belgium, opposed League of Nations mandates and favored annexation of former German colonies. Sensing victory before the American Expeditionary Forces could be ready, Germany now shifted forces to the Western Front and tried to overwhelm the Allies. [141], In 1920, the head of the Reichswehr Hans von Seeckt clandestinely re-established the General Staff, by expanding the Truppenamt (Troop Office); purportedly a human resources section of the army. The Treaty of Versailles was a major contributing factor in the outbreak of the Second World War. It was signed into law by President Harding on 2 July 1921. After ten years, the bridgehead at Coblenz and the territories to the north would be evacuated and after fifteen years remaining Allied forces would be withdrawn.[n. In conjunction, Germany was forbidden to manufacture or import aircraft or related material for a period of six months following the signing of the treaty.[n. Central to this was belief in the stab-in-the-back myth, which held that the German army had not lost the war and had been betrayed by the Weimar Republic, who negotiated an unnecessary surrender. Since many of the expelled pro-Danish "optants" had emigrated to the United States, the net result of this extension was a slight increase for the German results, and it was much more likely for a pro-German emigrant living in Germany to return to the region for the plebiscite than for a pro-Danish expellee who had emigrated to the United States to do the same. Cartier asserts that, out of 1,058,000 Germans in Posen-West Prussia in 1921, 758,867 fled their homelands within five years due to Polish harassment. As part of the 1929 negotiations that would become the Young Plan, Gustav Stresemann, and Aristide Briand negotiated the early withdrawal of Allied forces from the Rhineland. France was able to make the claim that the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine were indeed part of France and not part of Germany by disclosing a letter sent from the Prussian King to the Empress Eugnie that Eugnie provided, in which William I wrote that the territories of Alsace-Lorraine were requested by Germany for the sole purpose of national defense and not to expand the German territory. The northern Danish-speaking area voted for Denmark while the southern German-speaking area voted for Germany, resulting in the province being partitioned. Because the Allied Supreme Council was unable to come to an agreement on the partition of the Upper Silesian territory on the basis of the confusing plebiscite results, a solution was found by turning the question over to the Council of the League of Nations. Instead, the Allies won decisively on the battlefield and forced an armistice in November 1918 that resembled a surrender. [154], In October 1933, following the rise of Adolf Hitler and the founding of the Nazi regime, Germany withdrew from the League of Nations and the World Disarmament Conference. In this smaller Zone II, each town or, in the rural areas, each parish was to decide its own allegiance. [126] An estimated 500800 Rhineland Bastards were born as a result of fraternization between colonial troops and German women, and who would later be persecuted. Wilson's former friend Edward Mandell House, present at the negotiations, wrote in his diary on 29 June 1919: I am leaving Paris, after eight fateful months, with conflicting emotions. [17] The Interallied Commission deliberated, but the British proposed a more easterly border than the French, which would have given much less of the Industrial Triangle to Poland. The Poles carried out two uprisings during the campaign, in August 1919 and August 1920. By 314 to 7 we voted us home to Denmark". These four men met in 145 closed sessions to make all the major decisions, which were later ratified by the entire assembly. For example, a 1921 German Government memo detailed 300 acts of violence from colonial troops, which included 65 murders and 170 sexual offenses. On 5 May 1921, the reparation Commission established the London Schedule of Payments and a final reparation sum of 132billion gold marks to be demanded of all the Central Powers. On 30 June 1930, after speeches and the lowering of flags, the last troops of the Anglo-French-Belgian occupation force withdrew from Germany. Lloyd George also wanted to neutralize the German navy to keep the Royal Navy as the greatest naval power in the world; dismantle the German colonial empire with several of its territorial possessions ceded to Britain and others being established as League of Nations mandates, a position opposed by the Dominions. [39][40], According to Robert Machray, 192,408 of all plebiscite voters were migrants, making up 16% of the total electorate. Each side developed secret paramilitary forcesboth financed from the opposing capitals, Warsaw and Berlin. Simultaneously with these events, the Interallied Commission pronounced a general amnesty for the illegal actions committed during the recent violence, with the exception of acts of revenge and cruelty. During the 1940s, Mantoux wrote a posthumously published book titled The Carthaginian Peace, or the Economic Consequences of Mr. Keynes in an attempt to rebut Keynes' claims. It consists of three administrative cantons around the towns of Eupen, Malmedy, and Sankt Vith which encompass some 730 square kilometres (280 sq mi). Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. To prevent Germany from building up a large cadre of trained men, the number of men allowed to leave early was limited.[n. The promoted idea called for the major powers to act as disinterested trustees over a region, aiding the native populations until they could govern themselves. In November 1918, the Republican Party won the Senate election by a slim margin. A reinterpretation of the Deutschlandlied. [86], While France ratified the treaty and was active in the League, the jubilant mood soon gave way to a political backlash for Clemenceau. [81] Schmitt argued "had the four Allies remained united, they could have forced Germany really to disarm, and the German will and capacity to resist other provisions of the treaty would have correspondingly diminished. The Allied Powers had offered to include this region in the plebiscite, but the Danish government had expressly asked for Zone III to be excluded. It is an extraordinary fact that the fundamental economic 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. The Effects Polish immigration from Galicia, Congress Poland and Prussian provinces into Upper Silesia during the 19th century was a major factor in their increasing numbers.