Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

Question 1

Contained 440 articles, the most significant were:

Answer 1

• Article 231: War Guilt Clause
• Economic Provisions
• Military Provisions
• Territorial Provisions

Question 2

What was the War Guilt Clause?

Answer 2

• Germany must accept responsibility for starting the war
• Germany saw this as a national humiliation and combined with other provisions, was considered ‘diktat’ or ‘slave treaty’

Question 3

What were the Economic Provisions?

Answer 3

• Reparations of 6.6 billion pounds had to be paid
• Locomotives and machinery had to be handed over to France and Belgium
• Coal (millions of tonnes) had to be given to France for 15 years and Belgium and Italy for 10 years

Question 4

What were the Military Provisions?

Answer 4

• German army limited to 100,000
• All volunteers, no conscription
• No tanks or heavy artillery, no air force and surrendered weapons
• Naval forces restricted to small number of battleships, light cruisers, destroyers and torpedo boats
• Naval base at Heligoland was destroyed

Question 5

What were the Territorial Provisions?

Answer 5

• Alsace Lorraine region returned to France
• Other territory returned to Belgium, Lithuania, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Poland
• Rhineland region demilitarised with west bank occupied by Allied military forces for 15 years
• Saar region (industrial region) handed to the League of Nations
• Danzig under international control
• All german overseas possessions handed over (e.g. Australia took New Guinea and Japan took parts of China)
• Anschluss with Austria was forbidden (Clause 80)