Versailles, Treaty of, any of several treaties signed in the palace of Versailles, France. For the Treaty of Versailles of 1783, which ended the
American Revolution American Revolution, 1775–83, struggle by which the Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic seaboard of North America won independence from Great Britain and became the United States. It is also called the American War of Independence.
..... Click the link for more information. , see
Paris, Treaty of Paris, Treaty of, any of several important treaties, signed at or near Paris, France.
The Treaty of 1763
The Treaty of Paris of Feb. 10, 1763, was signed by Great Britain, France, and Spain.
..... Click the link for more information. , 1783.
In the Franco-Prussian War
The Preliminary Treaty of Versailles of 1871 was signed at the end of the Franco-Prussian War Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, 1870–71, conflict between France and Prussia that signaled the rise of German military power and imperialism.
..... Click the link for more information. by Otto von Bismarck Bismarck, Otto von (bĭz`märk, Ger.
..... Click the link for more information. for Germany and by Adolphe Thiers Thiers, Adolphe (ädôlf` tyĕr), 1797–1877, French statesman, journalist, and historian.
..... Click the link for more information. for France. It was ratified (1871) in the Treaty of Frankfurt. France ceded Alsace Alsace-Lorraine, held in common by all the German states. Many Alsatians emigrated to France rather than submit to a policy of Germanization. Clamor for the return of Alsace-Lorraine became the chief rallying force for French nationalism and was a major cause of the armaments race
..... Click the link for more information. (except the Territory of Belfort Belfort, Territory of, department (1990 pop. 134,400), E France, in Alsace, on the Swiss border. The city of Belfort is the capital.
..... Click the link for more information. ) and part of Lorraine Lorraine (lôrĕn`), Ger.
..... Click the link for more information. , including Metz, to Germany and agreed to pay an indemnity of 5 billion francs ($1 billion). German occupation troops were to remain until payment had been completed (only until 1873, it turned out, because of prompt French payment).
In World War I
The most important treaty signed at Versailles (in the Hall of Mirrors) was that of 1919. It was the chief among the five peace treaties that terminated World War I. The other four (for which see separate articles) were Saint-Germain 1 The Treaty of Saint-Germain of 1570 terminated the first phase of the French religious wars (see Religion, Wars of ).
2 The Treaty of Saint-Germain of 1679 made peace between France and the elector of Brandenburg at the end of the third of the Dutch Wars.
..... Click the link for more information. , for Austria; Trianon Trianon, Treaty of, 1920, agreement following World War I in which the Allies disposed of Hungarian territories. The internal chaos in Hungary that followed the dissolution (1918) of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy delayed the signing of a peace treaty with the Allies
..... Click the link for more information. , for Hungary; Neuilly Neuilly, Treaty of (nöyē`), 1919, peace treaty concluded between the Allies and Bulgaria after World War I.
..... Click the link for more information. , for Bulgaria; and Sèvres Sèvres, Treaty of, 1920, peace treaty concluded after World War I at Sèvres, France, between the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), on the one hand, and the Allies (excluding Russia and the United States) on the other.
..... Click the link for more information. , for Turkey. Signed on June 28, 1919, by Germany on the one hand and by the Allies (save Russia) on the other, the Treaty of Versailles embodied the results of the long and often bitter negotiations of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.
The outstanding figures in the negotiations leading to the treaty were Woodrow Wilson Wilson, Woodrow (Thomas Woodrow Wilson), 1856–1924, 28th President of the United States (1913–21), b. Staunton, Va.
Educator
He graduated from Princeton in 1879 and studied law at the Univ. of Virginia.
..... Click the link for more information. for the United States, Georges Clemenceau Clemenceau, Georges (zhôrzh klāmäNsō`)
..... Click the link for more information. for France, David Lloyd George Lloyd George, David, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor
..... Click the link for more information. for England, and Vittorio Emanuele Orlando Orlando, Vittorio Emanuele (vēt-tô`rēō āmänwĕ`lā ōrlän`dō)
..... Click the link for more information. for Italy—the so-called Big Four. Germany, as the defeated power, was not included in the consultation. Among the chief causes of Allied dissension was Wilson's refusal to recognize the secret agreements reached by the Allies in the course of the war; Italy's refusal to forgo the territorial gains promised (1915) by the secret Treaty of London; and French insistence on the harsh treatment of Germany. Wilson's Fourteen Points Fourteen Points, formulation of a peace program, presented at the end of World War I by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in an address before both houses of Congress on Jan. 8, 1918.
..... Click the link for more information. were, to a large extent, sacrificed, but his main objectives, the creation of states based on the principle of national self-determination and the formation of the League of Nations League of Nations, former international organization, established by the peace treaties that ended World War I. Like its successor, the United Nations , its purpose was the promotion of international peace and security.
..... Click the link for more information. , were embodied in the treaty. However, the U.S. Senate refused to ratify the treaty, and the United States merely declared the war with Germany at an end in 1921.
The treaty formally placed the responsibility for the war on Germany and its allies and imposed on Germany the burden of the reparations reparations, payments or other compensation offered as an indemnity for loss or damage. Although the term is used to cover payments made to Holocaust survivors and to Japanese Americans interned during World War II in so-called relocation camps (and used as well to
..... Click the link for more information. payments. The chief territorial clauses were those restoring Alsace and Lorraine to France; placing the former German colonies under League of Nations mandates mandates, system of trusteeships established by Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations for the administration of former Turkish territories and of former German colonies.
..... Click the link for more information. ; awarding most of West Prussia, including Poznan and the Polish Corridor Polish Corridor, strip of German territory awarded to newly independent Poland by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The strip, 20 to 70 mi (32–112 km) wide, gave Poland access to the Baltic Sea.
..... Click the link for more information. , to Poland; establishing Danzig (see Gdańsk Gdańsk (gədänsk`), formerly Danzig
..... Click the link for more information. ) as a free city; and providing for plebiscites, which resulted in the transfer of Eupen and Malmédy to Belgium, of N Schleswig to Denmark, and of parts of Upper Silesia to Poland. The Saar Territory (see Saarland Saarland (zär`länt), state (1994 pop.
..... Click the link for more information. ) was placed under French administration for 15 years; the Rhineland Rhineland (rīn`lănd'), Ger. Rheinland, region of W Germany, along the Rhine River.
..... Click the link for more information. was to be occupied by the Allies for an equal period; and the right bank of the Rhine was to be permanently demilitarized. The German army was reduced to a maximum of 100,000 soldiers, the German navy was similarly reduced, and Germany was forbidden to build major weapons of aggression. Germany, after futile protests, accepted the treaty, which became effective in Jan., 1920.
Later German dissatisfaction with the terms of the treaty traditionally has been thought to have played an important part in the rise of National Socialism National Socialism or Nazism, doctrines and policies of the National Socialist German Workers' party, which ruled Germany under Adolf Hitler from 1933 to 1945.
..... Click the link for more information. , or the Nazi movement. While Gustav Stresemann Stresemann, Gustav (g
..... Click the link for more information. was German foreign minister, Germany by a policy of fulfillment succeeded in having some of the treaty terms eased. Reparations payments, the most ruinous part of the treaty, were suspended in 1931 and were never resumed. In 1935 Chancellor Adolf Hitler Hitler, Adolf (ä`dôlf hĭt`lər)
..... Click the link for more information. unilaterally canceled the military clauses of the treaty, which in practice became a dead letter; in 1936 he began the remilitarization of the Rhineland. A vast literature has been written on the Paris Peace Conference and on the Treaty of Versailles, and controversy continues as to whether the treaty was just, too harsh, or not harsh enough.
Bibliography
See J. M. Keynes, Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919, repr. 1971); H. W. V. Temperley, ed., A History of the Peace Conference of Paris (6 vol., 1920–24); H. Nicolson, Peacemaking, 1919 (1933, repr. 1965); Lord Riddell et al., The Treaty of Versailles and After (1935); W. E. Stephens, Revisions of the Treaty of Versailles (1939); F. S. Marston, The Peace Conference of 1919 (1944); M. Dockerill and J. D. Gould, Peace without Promise: Britain and the Peace Conferences, 1919–1923 (1981); M. MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World (2002).