The Treaty of Versailles and Its Consequences

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The Treaty of Versailles and Its Consequences

• Unit 8 Day 2

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The Course of the War

• World War I lasts for 5 years, 1914-1919
• During the War all nations mobilize for Total War
• All aspects of life subsumed by war effort
• During the course of the war Russia undergoes the
  socialist, Bolshevik Revolution (1917) which
  overthrows the tzar, takes Russians out of the
  war
• In April 1917, America enters the war tipping the
  balance against Germany
• November 9, 1918 German emperor abdicates,
  republic declared led by socialists
• November 11, 1918 Armistice signed ending
  hostilities

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The Treaty of Versailles

• January June 1919 heads of France, Britain
  and US hammer out treaty, signed by German
  representatives at the Palace of Versailles
• Terms
• Territory
• Alsace-Lorraine to France gains for Poland
• Germany army limited to 100,000 soldiers,
  creation of Rhineland demilitarized zone (DMZ)
• Vague references to reparations not specified
• Peace to be maintained by a League of Nations
• International body to maintain diplomatic
  relations
• Idea proposed by US president Woodrow Wilson
• U.S. fails to ratify treaty, does not join League
  
• Opposed by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge on grounds
  that it violated Congresss right to declare war
• France agrees to treaty out of promises of mutual
  defense
• Gives up demands for buffer state on the
  French/German border
• Forced to take steps to build up defenses

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The Treaty of Versailles
From left, UK Prime Minister Lloyd George,
Italian Prime Minister Orlando, French Prime
Minister Clemenceau, and US President Wilson
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The Treaty of Versailles

• Territorial Concessions
• Article 42 Germany is forbidden to maintain or
  construct any fortifications either on the left
  bank of the Rhine or on the right bank to the
  west of a line drawn 50km to the east of the
  Rhine
• Article 45 The High Contracting Parties,
  recognizing the moral obligation to redress the
  wrong done by Germany in 1871 both to the rights
  of France and to the wishes of the population of
  Alsace and Lorraine agree upon the following
  articles treaty goes on to return
  Alsace-Lorraine to France.
• Articles 84, 87 Independence granted to
  Czechoslovakia and Poland.
• Article 119 Germany renounces all imperial
  possessions

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Treaty of Versailles
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The Treaty of Versailles

• Military Reductions
• Article 159 The German military forces shall be
  demobilized and reduced.
• Article 160 By March 31, 1920, the German Army
  must not comprise more than seven divisions of
  infantry and three divisions of cavalry. After
  that date the total number of effectives in
  Germany must not exceed one hundred thousand men.
  
• Article 180 All fortified works, fortresses, and
  field works situated in German territory to the
  west of a line drawn 50km to the east of the
  Rhine shall be disarmed and dismantled.
• Article 181 After two months the German naval
  forces must not exceed 6 battleships .. 6 light
  cruisers, 12 destroyers, 12 torpedo boats No
  submarines are to be included.
• Article 198 The armed forces of Germany must not
  include any military or naval air forces.

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The Treaty of Versailles

• Reparations
• Article 231 The Allied and Associated
  Governments affirm and Germany accepts the
  responsibility of Germany and her allies for
  causing all the loss and damage to which the
  Allies and their nationals have been subjected
  as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by
  the aggression of Germany and her allies.
• Article 232 The Allies recognize that the
  resources of Germany are not adequate to make
  complete reparation for all such loss and damage.
  The Allies, however, require and Germany
  undertakes, that she will make compensation for
  all damage doent ot he civilian population and
  to their property
• Article 233 The amount of the above damage for
  which compensation is to be made by Germany shall
  be determined by an Inter-Allied Commission, to
  be called the Reparation Commission. The
  findings of the Commission as to the amount of
  damage shall be concluded and notified to the
  German Government on or before May 1, 1921.

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Reparations

• April 1921- Reparations Commission sets the
  amount to be repaid at 132 billion gold marks
  (33 billion)
• Germany was to make reparations in annual
  installments of 2.5 billion marks
• The new German republic (Weimar Republic) is
  only able to make the first payment in 1921.
• When Germany failed to make its second payment in
  1922 French and Belgian armies seized the rich
  coal deposits and industries of the Ruhr valley
• Leads to international crisis
• 1924 - Dawes Plan
• Germanys ability to make payments assessed on a
  yearly basis
• US agrees to make large loans to stimulate the
  German economy
• This settlement along with other political
  agreements creates a sense of cautious political
  optimism in the late 1920s

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The Lost Generation

• The scale of slaughter
• Battle of the Somme (July 1-18, 1916)
• British and French 600,000 casualties
• German 500,000 casualties
• Total 1.1 million casualties
• Total gain 125 square miles
• Battle of Verdun (February 21 December 18,
  1916)
• British and French 700,000 casualties
• German 700,000 casualties
• Total 1.4 million casualties

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The Lost Generation

• WWI had profound social and cultural consequences
  for the 20th century
• Nearly 10 million young men killed, 20 million
  permanently wounded physically or psychologically
• Total of 30 million young men become casualties
  of war
• Psychological effects of trench warfare, shell
  shock devastating
• Survivors profoundly affected by the failure of
  liberal democracy, capitalism - the fruits of the
  Enlightenment to prevent Global War

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The Lost Generation

• The Hollow Men (1925)
• We are the hollow men
• We are the stuffed men
• Leaning together
• Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
• Our dried voice, when
• We whisper together
• Are quiet and meaningless
• As wind in dry grass
• Or rats feet over broken glass
• In our dry cellar
• Shape without form, shade without colour,
• Paralysed force, gesture without motion
• Those who have crossed

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The Lost Generation

• The Second Coming (1919)
• TURNING and turning in the widening gyreThe
  falcon cannot hear the falconerThings fall
  apart the centre cannot holdMere anarchy is
  loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is
  loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence
  is drownedThe best lack all conviction, while
  the worstAre full of passionate
  intensity. W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)

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The Lost Generation
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The Lost Generation
Otto Dix, Stormtroops Advancing Under Gas
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The Lost Generation
Otto Dix, Flanders
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The Lost Generation
Otto Dix, Triptych on War
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Dada
Hannah Höch, Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife
through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch
in Germany, 1919,
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Dada
Raoul Hausmann, Dada Siegt, 1920
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Dada
Marcel Duchamps, Mona Lisa, 1919
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Dada
Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917
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Surrealism
Max Ernst, The Elephant Celebes, 1921