HISTORY IGCSE CONTENT - 20TH CENTURY OPTION - FAIRNESS OF THE TREATIES 1919-1923: MAIN TERMS OF THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES

1. MAIN TERMS OF THE
TREATY OF VERSAILLES
IGCSE HISTORY

3. KEY POINTS
1. WAR GUILT CLAUSE (ARTICLE 231): Germany and her allies (Austria-
Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria) had to accept total responsibility
for starting the war.
2. REPARATIONS: Germany had to accept liability for reparations
(amount to be decided by a Reparation Commission, 6.6 bn pounds)
3. DISARMAMENT: Restricting Germany’s ability to start a war:
- German army to be reduced to 100.000 (from 1.000.000) with no conscription.
- No tanks, armoured vehicles or heavy artillery were permitted.
- No military or naval air forces was permitted.
- The navy to be restricted to 6 battleships, 12 destroyers, 6 light cruisers, 12 torpedo boats,
and no submarines.
- Rhineland to become demilitarised, with no German troops or fortifications.
- An Allied army will occupy the west bank of the Rhine for 15 years.

4. KEY POINTS
4. TERRITORY:
Germany was to lose all her colonies in Africa and the Far East
To Britain
- Togoland
- Cameroons
- German South West Africa
- German East Africa
- German New Guinea
To France
- Togoland
- Cameroons
To Japan
- Mariana Islands
- Caroline Islands
- Marshall Islands

5. KEY POINTS
4. TERRITORY cont.
- Alsace-Lorraine was to be returned to France.
- Eupen, Malmedy and Moresnet were to be transferred to Belgium
- North Schleswig was to be transferred to Denmark.
- West Prussia, Posen and parts of Upper Silesia were to be transferred to
Poland.
- Hultschin was to be transferred to Czechoslovakia.
- The Saar Basin was to be administered by the League of Nations for 15
years when a plebiscite will decide if it will go to France, Germany or
remain under the League of Nations (LON) control. During the 15 years,
the profits of the mines were to go to France.

6. PLEBISCITE
A vote on a single issue in the manner of a referendum.
Plebiscites were held after 1918 in areas of uncertain nationality to
establish which country the populations wished to be governed by.

7. KEY POINTS
4. TERRITORY cont.
- Memel was to be transferred to Lithuania.
- Danzig was to become a Free City administered by the LON. Poland
could use the port for the export trade.
- The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was to be cancelled.
- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will be taken away from Germany and set
up as independent states.
- Union between Germany and Austria (Anschluss) was forbidden.

8. KEY POINTS
5. LEAGUE OF NATIONS – THE COVENANT
Germany had to accept the Covenant (Constitution) of the LON even if it
was excluded from the original membership.

9. WHY WAS DANZIG IMPORTANT?
Before the war Danzig was a flourishing German sea port.
With the recreation of Poland, Germany was set to lose West Prussia and
Danzig to the new state.
The population of Danzig was mostly German and transfer to Poland might
have created an unstable situation.
Poland needed a sea port from which to trade with the outside world.
A compromise was reached whereby Danzig was made a Free City and
placed under LON control.