The main terms of the Versailles Treaty were:
(1) the surrender of all German colonies as League of Nations mandates;
(2) the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France;
(3) cession of Eupen-Malmedy to Belgium, Memel to Lithuania, the Hultschin district to Czechoslovakia,
(4) Poznania, parts of East Prussia and Upper Silesia to Poland;
(5) Danzig to become a free city;
(6) plebiscites to be held in northern Schleswig to settle the Danish-German frontier;
(7) occupation and special status for the Saar under French control; (8) demilitarization and a fifteen-year occupation of the Rhineland;
(9) German reparations of £6,600 million;
(10) a ban on the union of Germany and Austria;
(11) an acceptance of Germany's guilt in causing the war;
(11) provision for the trial of the former Kaiser and other war leaders;
(12) limitation of Germany's army to 100,000 men with no conscription, no tanks, no heavy artillery, no poison-gas supplies, no aircraft and no airships;
(13) the limitation of the German Navy to vessels under 100,000 tons, with no submarines;
But Germany was not invited to France to discuss the treaty. At Versailles, it was difficult to decide on a common position because their aims conflicted with one another. The result was said to be a compromise that nobody liked. called the treaty a "brittle compromise agreement between American utopism and European paranoia - too conditional to fulfill the dreams of the former, too tentative to alleviate the fears of the latter."
France had suffered very heavy casualties during the war (some 1.24 million military and 40,000 civilians dead; see ), and much of the war had been fought on French soil. Much of the country was in ruins, with extensive damage to historic and important buildings and resources. Georges Clemenceau of France wanted reparations from Germany to rebuild the war-torn country. In all, approximately 750,000 houses and 23,000 factories had been destroyed, and money was demanded to pay for reconstruction. In 1871, France and Germany had also fought, with Germany recovering an area with a predominantly German-speaking population that had been annexed by France in the 17th century, . Clemenceau also wanted to guard against the possibility of an attack ever coming from Germany again, and demanded a demilitarisation of the in Germany, and Allied troops to patrol the area. This was called a "territorial safety zone". They also wanted to drastically reduce the number of soldiers in the German army to a controllable point. As part of the reparations, France wanted to be given control of many of Germany's factories.
Reactions to the Treaty in Germany were very negative. There were protests in the German Reichstag (Parliament) and out on the streets. It is not hard to see why Germans were outraged. Germany lost 10% of its land, all its overseas colonies, 12.5% of its population, 16% of its coal and 48% of its iron industry. There were also the humiliating terms, which made Germany accept blame for the war, limit their armed forces and pay reparations. They did not see the treaty as fair and just because of the above points and were furious because they weren’t invited to the peace conference to discuss the terms.
The effects on Germany were:
- The German people were horrified - the fact that they had to accept blame for starting the war which lead to the huge reparation bill.
- Germany lost 10% of land, 12.5% population, all overseas colonies, and many raw materials.
- At first Germany refused to sign and sunk ships in protest.
- Economy was in a mess so reparations would cripple people.
- Army was a symbol of pride - it was felt to be unfair that no one else was disarmed.
- Lost money as a result of loss of territories.
- Insulted that it wasn't invited to join the League of Nations.
- Germany felt that it wasn't in keeping with Wilson's 14 Points - self-determination.
- Germany fell behind on reparations in 1922.
- 1923 - French and Belgium troops took what was owed.
- German government ordered strike but French killed 100 workers.
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No goods so government printed more money that led to hyperinflation.
In my opinion from the above points of view I think that the treaty of Versailles was not fair and just because it was overall not fair on Germany because they didn’t start the war because there was a huge amount of people and events that were responsible. So the masses of reparations were not hugely popular because Germany had to rebuild their own country but they couldn’t because of the reparations. So no I do not think the Treaty was a fair and just one because of all the horrible things that it did to Germany when it wasn’t needed.
