Treaty of Versailles and the outcome of the First World War

The Treaty of Versailles, the agreement that concluded the First World War, was signed on June 28, 1919 in a suburb of Paris, in the former royal residence.

Truce, the actual put an end tobloody war, was concluded on November 11, 1918, but the heads of the belligerent states took about half a year to work out the main provisions of the peace treaty.

The Treaty of Versailles was concluded betweenthe winner countries (USA, France, Great Britain) and defeated Germany. Russia, which was also a member of the coalition of anti-German states, had previously concluded a separate peace with Germany in 1918 (according to the Brest Peace Treaty), and therefore did not participate either in the Paris Peace Conference or in the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. It is for this reason that Russia, which suffered huge human losses in the First World War, not only received no compensation (indemnities), but also lost part of its ancestral territory (some regions of Ukraine and Belarus).

Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

The main provision of the Versailles Treaty -Unconditional recognition of Germany's guilt in "causing war". In other words, the overall responsibility for fomenting the global European conflict fell on Germany. As a result of this, unprecedented sanctions were imposed. The sum of the cumulative contributions paid by the German side to the victorious powers amounted to 132 million marks in gold (at the prices of 1919).

The last payments were made in 2010, so Germany was able to fully pay off the "debts" of the First World War only 92 years later.

Germany suffered very painfulterritorial losses. All German colonies were divided between the countries of the Entente (the anti-German coalition). Some of the original continental German lands were also lost: Lorraine and Alsace moved to France, East Prussia to Poland, Gdansk (Danzig) was recognized as a free city.

The Treaty of Versailles contained detailedrequirements aimed at demilitarizing Germany, preventing the re-fomenting of a military conflict. The German army significantly decreased (to 100,000 people). The German military industry actually had to cease to exist. In addition, the demand for the demilitarization of the Rhine Zone was separately registered-Germany was forbidden to concentrate troops and military equipment there. The Treaty of Versailles included an item on the establishment of the League of Nations, an international organization similar in function to the modern United Nations.

The influence of the Versailles Treaty on the German economy and society

The terms of the Treaty of Versailles wereunjustifiably harsh and severe, the German economy was unable to withstand them. A direct consequence of the fulfillment of the draconian demands of the treaty was the total destruction of the German industry, total impoverishment of the population and monstrous hyperinflation.

In addition, an abusive peace agreementtouched such a sensitive, albeit insubstantial substance, as a national identity. The Germans felt themselves not only devastated and generalized, but also wounded, unjustly punished and offended. German society readily accepted the most extreme nationalist and revanchist ideas; in this - one of the reasons that the country, only 20 years ago, with grief in half, ended one global military conflict, easily got involved in the next. But the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, which was supposed to prevent potential conflicts, not only failed to fulfill its mission, but also to some extent contributed to the incitement of World War II.

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