One hundred years ago, on June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed, which officially ended the First World War.
This is the most important result of Paris Peace Conference, which was held after its completion in the period from 18 January 1919 to 21 January 1920. In the autumn of 1918, the allies of Germany — Bulgaria, Turkey, the disintegrating Austere -Hungarian Empire - one after the other began to conclude a truce. After that Germany concluded the Consensual Truce in November 1918. The final document was signed by the Entente countries on the one hand (USA, Japan, British Empire, France, Italy) and Germany on the other hand. Although the word “surrender” was not used anywhere, the conditions of the truce were so strict that many people compared the provisions with it.
Expectations from the war
Since the end of the First World War, people in different countries have been expecting quite different things.
For example, for Japan, which fought on the side of the Entente, the Pacific region was important - and Japan received German island territories north of the equator and the right to the Chinese province of Shandong, which was previously "leased" by Germany.
Italy, which had the ambition to become a great power, was often called "defeated in the winning camp" at that time: the economic state was exhausted and heavily dependent on other allies. Italy's interests were seldom considered, which exacerbated the political crisis in the country.!!!!!!!!
Thus, there were three contracting parties: Great Britain, France and the United States of America. They had different views on the fate of the world and of Germany in particular.
U.S. position
The United States of America initially remained neutral during the war. In 1916, President Wilson was re-elected because he positioned himself as a man who had kept the United States from entering the war. However, there have been cases in which the re-elected president has gained a greater degree of freedom. In 1917, under the influence of various factors, the United States of America entered the First World War on the side of the Entente.
It was important for Wilson to convince both American people and world public opinion that the war was a just one that was being waged for the sake of the victory of democracy and the new international order. This idea was reflected in Wilson's Fourteen Points - the principles of the peace treaty he developed. An additional factor that made us think in this direction was the debate about a world without annexations and contributions that the Russian revolution had put forward even before the Bolshevik Peace Decree was adopted. These ideas were reflected by Wilson in a form acceptable to people with democratic views. In particular, he awakened hope for the right of peoples to self-determination. In this way, he became prevalent all over the world. It also allowed Wilson to mobilize politically on the domestic front in America and weaken unity in Germany. Many Germans began to think that they should come out of the war and hoped that the principles of democratic peace would be applied to them as well.!!!!!!!!! Although American President Woodrow Wilson signed the Versailles Peace Treaty, there was resentment in the United States.
The outcome of the war was not as promised. In the United States, isolationist sentiments were growing: people wanted to distance themselves from European politics. As a result, the United States signed a treaty similar to the Treaty of Versailles, but without a provision for the League of Nations (an international organization whose purpose is the peaceful settlement of issues and disarmament), which the United States did not join, although Wilson himself was the initiator of its creation.
Position of France and the United Kingdom
France - to a greater extent — and the United Kingdom did not share the interests of the United States: it wanted to preserve its colonial empires. Formally agreeing with Wilson, they lobbied harder for their interests and offered a tougher stance towards Germany. This is particularly true of France, which was very concerned about how relations with a more populous and economically developed country would develop after the war. France, in particular, insisted that Germany compensate it for all the destruction and economic losses caused by the war: “Let the Germans pay for everything,” said the slogan put forward by French influential politicians.
Thus, one of the major problems for the signing of the treaty was the disagreement in the winning camp. After all, the situation in the post-war world was difficult both economically and socially and politically. Epidemics in some countries have claimed much more lives than military action. And in such a difficult, unstable environment, the Paris Peace Conference was held. It should not be forgotten that at the same time there was a civil war in Russia, which affected, one way or another, all the surrounding territories.
Terms of Versailles peace for Germany!!!!!! The agreement was not beneficial to Germany, and many believed that it could not be signed. However, this had to be done.