"Some Say that Peace is Never Easy, but this Peace, is hard to swallow for the men we have beaten on the battlefield"
Kaiser Wilhelm II, after the signing of the Treaty of Versallies
Chapter 2: Cont
The Uneasiest of Peaces
The Signing of the Treaty of Versallies
While the war had ended, there still needed to be a Peace signed, over 35 delegates, from nations in both the Triple Entenate, the Central Powers, and neutral observers, would meet in the French Royal Palace in Marsallies, after 5 years of war in the Trenches, the horrors of the Battlefield, Machine Guns, Nerve and Mustard Gas, the stench of dead bodies in the Trenches, most people were just ready for peace, however, this peace would be unlike every other peace before it, it would be a peace, that would unintentionaly, sow the seeds of a new conflict.
The Central Powers win brought about the diffuclt question of what would happen to the powers of the Entenate, each member of the Central Powers had it's own goals in the peace process. through discussions would take place over the course of several months, finaly cultimating in September 1920, when the final peace, albeit however humilating for the Entenate, was hammered out. in general, a few terms were agreed upon, which included
Generallly Agreed Term
-German Colonies under Occupation (Togoland, Kamerun, Sudwestafrika, German New Guinea) were to be returned to German control
Germany's goals were a bit more radical then her other allies, which included the other humilation of her long time foe France, Germany's aims followed the "Septemberprogramm" a plan drawn up in September 1914 about German war goals, which including the following
- <LI sizcache06024167292920577="39 107 13" sizset="false">France shall cede some northern territory, including steel producing Briey and a coastal strip running from Dunkirk to Boulogne-sur-Mer<LI sizcache06024167292920577="39 107 13" sizset="false">to Belgium or Germany. <LI sizcache06024167292920577="39 107 13" sizset="false">Reperations of 10 billion Reichsmarks for France, with further payments to cover veterans' funds and to pay off all Germany's existing national debt, should prevent rearmament. The French economy would be dependent on Germany and all trade with the British Empire will cease. France will partially disarm by demolishing its northern forts. <LI sizcache06024167292920577="39 107 19" sizset="false">Belgium shall become a "vassal state" of Germany, which should cede eastern parts, and the Belgian Congo to Germany and give Germany military and naval bases. <LI sizcache06024167292920577="39 107 20" sizset="false">Luxembourg should become a member state of the German Empire. <LI sizcache06024167292920577="39 107 21" sizset="false">Creation of a Mitteleuropa economic association dominated by Germany but ostensibly egalitarian. Members would include newly-created buffer states carved out of the Russian Empire's west such as Poland, which would remain under German sovereignty "for all time".<LI sizcache06024167292920577="39 107 21" sizset="false">French Lorraine shall fall under German adminstration, until such a time that a referundum will be held about it returning to France or joining Germany.
- France shall assume war guilt for causing the Great War
Germany's terms agaist France were arguably, very harsh. and would end up causing future resentment agaist Berlin, which would lead to some nasty things.
German terms agaist the British were much less harsh. as Germany arguably hadn't defeated Britain, it defeated France and Russia, Britain was forced to cede Kenya and Uganda to Germany, which were attached to German East Africa. through more or less, the British came out of the Great War the same they did as when they came in, they also wern't forced to pay large reperations, just a indeminity of 1 million Reichsmarks. for damaged property in Germany's colonies.
Austro-Hungarian terms were much diffrent then that of her allies. they included the following.
- Serbia shall become a vassal state of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
- Romania shall became a vassal state of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
- Romania shall cede several border areas to Austria-Hungary
- Montenegro shall be annexed into the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
- Venetia shall be occupied for a period of 20 years at the most, when then it will hold a referundum about rejoining Italy, joining Austria, or independence
- Italy shall pay reperations to Austria, and Germany, for violating the Triple Alliance
Terms had already been forced upon Russia in 1917, the Treaty of Brest-Litosvk, through the Ottoman Empire would created a sphere of influence in the Caucauses, along with annexing the rest of Armenia. and re-annexing Cyprus and Kuwait from the British.
Bulgarian terms, the fourth member of the Central Powers. would then follow. and they included the following.
- The Annexation of both Serbian Macedonia and Greek Macedonia into Bulgaria
- The Annexation of disputed territory from Romania
- A Bulgarian friendly regime, is to be set up in Albania.
And thus, the Central Powers imposed her terms upon the Entenate. Britain came out of the talks fairly unscathed. she lost a few colonies, but most of her Empire remained intact, through British national pride was slightly wounded. she still remained a power. Russia had been in internal chaos for the last few years, having pulled out of the war early, and thus, they really had no choice, while France, came out of the war humilated, her national pride had been wounded, and once again, the French had lost to the Germans, revenge sentiment would seem into the French culture. as accusations of being stabbed in the back by the traitors in Paris fell into the minds of French men and women alike. through, the peace was signed, the Uneasiest of Peaces, the Central Powers had won, and Germany had hegemony over the continet, but for how long..?
Next Time:
The Terrible Twenties
