The First World War, once known as the war that ended all wars. It was the first time people saw the war of the industrial era, and fear and fear filled everyone's heart. But why, why was the Paris Peace Conference, which was supposed to end the war, become a meeting that laid the fuse of World War II?
1. The meeting of each pregnant ghost fetus
At the Paris Peace Conference, britain, France and the United States had very different attitudes.
France was hurt by the war and the humiliation of several German aggressions against France in history, especially the Franco-Prussian War, so French Prime Minister Clemenceau advocated the most severe punishment for Germany.
If you can, it's best to wipe it out in one go.
If not, germany must be weakened as much as possible so that it can no longer pose a threat to France.
That is to say, the toughest of them is France, as the victor, France, very much wants to get a posture that they think the victor should have.
The attitude of the United States is the opposite, after the United States entered the war in 1917, the country began to prevail isolationism, thinking that it should be early to get out of European affairs
。 As the United States gained a trade surplus of billions of dollars through trade during World War I, and thus became a creditor country from a debtor country, the government tended to appease Germany and guarantee equal trade opportunities and successfully recover war debts.
And the people, after learning of the tragedy of the war, also hope that the next world war will not break out.
In view of this, US President Wilson hoped that there would be no overly harsh terms, so as not to cause German retaliation and thus trigger the next world war.
Britain's attitude was ambiguous, on the one hand British Prime Minister Lloyd George advocated punishing Germany, but on the other hand he also knew that if the conditions were really harsh, then the next war would be only a matter of time.
At the same time, Britain is well aware that because the war is over, the situation in Europe is bound to reshuffle.
If France is indeed allowed to fulfill all their wishes, then France will inevitably become a new threat to Britain. Moreover, Germany is Britain's second-largest trading partner after all, and weakening Germany too much will weaken Britain itself.
Therefore, at this meeting, Britain still wants to maintain its policy of continental balance of power.
Therefore, at this meeting, the three parties looked at each other and were actually pregnant with ghosts. Each came with a different purpose, but how much of their respective purpose could be achieved depended on how well they could negotiate between the three parties.
But considering the purpose of the three parties, the original intentions are completely different, so what will happen to the Paris Peace Conference is still unknown.
Second, meetings that are difficult to negotiate
In fact, the French moved quickly, and as soon as the war ended, the French army immediately took control of the important cities in the Ruhr industrial area and drove out the Germans in these cities, with a very bad impact.
At this time, the French came with a completely predatory mentality, and the coal produced in the area was returned to France by rail, and the German railway workers protested, but they were suppressed by the French and more than 200 people were publicly executed.
Naturally, this kind of bad thing spread to the Paris Peace Conference.
But in the eyes of a French official, mainly Clemenceau, this is nothing. They thought the victors would not be blamed, and France had simply taken some reparations from Germany earlier.
Clemenceau's demands were very demanding, basically with the intention of abolishing Germany forever.
He demanded that Germany compensate France for all losses and that the German Emperor Wilhelm II, who had been exiled to the Netherlands, be executed.
And in addition to taking back Alsace-Lorraine, a Republic of the Rhine was to be established as a buffer zone between France and Germany, and at least a Demilitarized Zone in Rhineland.
The German army must also impose strict restrictions, even if he hopes to be able to control the German coastline so that France can control Germany's imports and exports, so that Germany can never turn over.
But this condition was naturally unacceptable, and Wilson immediately rebuked Clemenceau for his actions, accusing him of preparing for the next great war.
Wilson believed that an international coalition should be formed to maintain the international order.
Countries can reduce their armaments under the premise of protecting weak countries from aggression by powerful countries with an international order. At the same time, all countries, especially those that have just become independent, should abide by "national self-determination" and avoid the existence of secret military alliances and secret agreements.
But Wilson's proposal was opposed by British Prime Minister Lloyd George. Lloyd George wanted to find a middle ground between Wilson's idealism and Clemenceau's strategy of punishment, but his political position was very delicate.
First of all, there are indeed calls to punish Germany in the UNITED Kingdom, especially the Conservative Party's demand that Germany be severely punished so that it no longer poses a threat to Britain.
At the same time, he does not want the United States' league of nations to be fully realized, which is tantamount to allowing the military and political forces of the United States to be excessively involved in international affairs.
In this almost contradictory purpose and perspective, the paris peace conference negotiations became unusually slow. In such a big meeting, or a conference to divide the spoils. The three most powerful countries, in a bitter fight, almost brought the entire peace conference to a standstill.
In the face of this situation, if the Paris Peace Conference is to continue, then the three parties must make concessions to each other.
Three or twenty years of truce
In the end, in the compromise of the three parties, the Treaty of Versailles was signed. First of all, with regard to France's demands, in terms of war reparations, to a certain extent, they meet France's demands.
After the decision of the Allied Compensation Commission, Germany was required to compensate 226 billion gold marks. The so-called gold mark is a gold currency in Germany, with 226 billion gold marks, that is, 11.3 billion pounds.
In Germany's current inflationary and weak state, it is obviously impossible to pay such a sum. So the follow-up began to be gradually reduced, but it was indeed set at the time.
Germany, on the other hand, paid war reparations in gold, commodities, ships, stocks, and everything else.
Territorially, Germany had to hand over not only Alsace-Lorraine, but also france, control of the League of Nations, and fifteen years later a referendum to determine ownership.
And its territory was also reduced, recognizing the independence of Czechoslovakia and Poland, and transferring part of its territory,
Poland acquired 51,800 square kilometers of land from Germany.
And Germany's colonies must not only be handed over to the victorious powers,
Danzig and its inland areas on the Baltic coast were also entrusted to the League of Nations and became the free city of Danzig.
The development of the German army after the war, the Wehrmacht, was more detailed and complex.
First of all, the Wehrmacht army cannot exceed one hundred thousand men, and at most there can be seven infantry divisions and three cavalry divisions.
Secondly the Germans could not possess heavy weapons, tanks, chemical weapons and aircraft. The ranks of private and non-commissioned officers will be maintained for at least twelve years and officers for at least 25 years, and former officers shall not participate in military exercises. In order to avoid a large number of trained soldiers in Germany, the number of people allowed to discharge early will be limited.
At the same time, the Soul General Staff of the German army was abolished, the police force was reduced to the size of the station, the level of growth was limited, and the paramilitary organizations were abolished.
The navy was also only allowed to retain only ten thousand officers and men and six former dreadnoughts and six light cruisers, twelve destroyers.
The Rhineland region will be militarized, all fortifications in the whole region and within 50 kilometres of the east side of the Rhine will be dismantled and no new ones will be built, and all military installations and fortifications in the Helgoland Islands will be dismantled.
It can be said that the Treaty of Versailles, completed in a tripartite compromise, to a certain extent neither achieved the purpose of severe punishment nor appeased Germany.
Strictly speaking, it was actually very harsh, but it left Germany with a breathing space.
The Russian Empire to the east of Germany has ceased to exist and has become a nascent Soviet Union, with Poland as a buffer between Germany and the Soviet Union. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was also completely fragmented, unable to stop the future rise of Germany. Germany's peripheral situation was much better than before the war.
But the Treaty of Versailles was indelible for Germany's sense of humiliation. This caused the German representatives to refuse to sign at that time, and the German navy protested by sinking the warship
。 Although Germany eventually signed and gained an advantage in the time that followed, this sense of humiliation lingered.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Allies, Marshal Foch of France, upon seeing the Treaty of Versailles, immediately lamented: "This is not a peace, this is only a twenty-year truce." ”
epilogue
Foch's words became a proverb, and the twenty-year truce was indeed not false, and the war that ended in 1919 was rekindled in 1939. As Lenin put it: "The international system and the international order sustained by the Treaty of Versailles are in fact built on the crater." "This treaty, which neither deterred nor humiliated Germany, ultimately laid the foundation for the Second World War twenty years later.
Reference: Memoirs of the First World War
Treaty of Versailles
The Age of Hindenburg
The Secret History of World War I