Chapter 465: The Treaty of Versailles

The terms of the four great powers of the Allied Powers for the division of Germany were soon announced, causing a great response in Europe and even the world.

First, the United States and Italy expressed their dissatisfaction with such a handling method, and condemned the four great powers of the Allied Powers for ignoring the interests of other victorious countries, which violated and endangered the intention of the formation of the Allied Powers.

But the opposition of these two countries was just a clown for the four great powers of the Allied Powers. Neither Italy nor the United States had the strength to overthrow the rule of the four great powers at this time.

Britain and France only mobilized the Austro-Hungarian Empire's troops on the border, which immediately frightened the Italians to shut up and never mentioned anything against the four great powers again.

Although the remaining United States was not afraid of the threats from Britain and France, it also had no way to deal with the high reputation of Britain and France in Europe.

It is no exaggeration to say that if Britain and France firmly excluded the United States from the victorious countries, the United States would have no choice but to condemn it verbally.

But verbal condemnation is the weakest and powerless, and to put it bluntly, it is just the helpless wailing of the weak.

As long as there is the strength to take action, no one will choose to condemn this way of forcibly supporting themselves.

Of course, although there is no means of resistance in the military, it does not mean that the Americans do not resist in diplomacy.

In order to resist the behavior of the four major powers, US President Wilson proposed his own theory on the establishment of the League of Nations, and advocated the establishment of an international league that can mediate international disputes and maintain world peace.

Such an international league is a good thing for small and medium-sized countries, because the current small and medium-sized countries have no means of resistance to the powers.

But the problem is that if the League of Nations is not supported by powerful countries and is just a game between small and medium-sized countries, it is equivalent to empty talk and has no binding force on the powerful countries.

In order to promote the establishment of the League of Nations, US President Wilson first found the Italian Prime Minister and proposed that the United States and Italy jointly establish the League of Nations to maintain the new world order.

Although the Italians are very moved by this, Italy also understands that the world order is not decided by the United States, but by Britain and France.

As expected, after President Wilson proposed the League of Nations, the four great powers of the Allied Powers quickly took countermeasures and publicly declared at the Paris Peace Conference that they would expand the Allies and form a world alliance.

The countermeasures of the four great powers were completely aimed at the League of Nations, because except for the different names, the World League and the League of Nations have the same uses, organizations and even purposes, but the initiating countries are different.

Compared with the United States, the four great powers of the Allied Powers are obviously more popular in Europe. With Britain and France as the basis, it means that the four great powers of the Allied Powers represent the old powers in Europe.

The blessing of Russia and Australasia, coupled with the recent defeat of Germany and Austria-Hungary, made the four great powers of the Allied Powers the most powerful group in Europe and even the world, even if the United States and Italy joined forces, they could not shake it.

On March 7, 1918, a peace treaty on restricting Germany was officially released. This peace treaty has a total of 19 major clauses and 344 minor clauses, which restrict Germany in various aspects.

German Foreign Minister Blankdorf led the German delegation to sign the peace treaty with the Allied delegation at the Palace of Versailles. Because the signing place was in the Palace of Versailles, this peace treaty was also called the Treaty of Versailles or the Treaty of Paris.

Of course, the signing of the peace treaty was not so smooth. After learning the specific content of the peace treaty, a large-scale demonstration broke out in Germany, calling on the government to reject the treaty.

The German government also rejected the treaty, but it could not resist the firm attitude of the Allies.

Even the French representative Clemenceau directly announced: "The attitude of the Germans to this treaty can only be full acceptance or full rejection. If there is no response within five days, or if you choose to completely reject it, the Allies will announce the end of the armistice and implement all the above terms by force."

This is a blatant threat. If the Germans do not agree to this harsh clause, then let the war decide who will listen to whom.

Faced with the huge pressure from France and the Allies, the German government was anxious at this time.

Since William II had gone to the Netherlands for refuge, Hindenburg and the military government were the ones who decided everything.

But the military government's reputation in Germany had been greatly reduced, and even the major states in southern Germany were already in de facto independence.

Agreeing or rejecting was not a good thing for the current German government.

On the last day of the five-day deadline given by the French representative Clemenceau, the German government finally notified the conference that it was willing to sign the peace treaty.

But the German government also had its own requirements. Germany did not admit that the German government and people should bear the guilt of the war and opposed Germany as the only culprit of this super war.

After all, it was not Germany that first declared war. Germany just fulfilled its obligations to its allies. How could it become the culprit of this war?

But identifying the Germans as the culprits of this war was actually one of the goals of the French.

Only by establishing the Germans as the culprits of this war could France justifiably oppress Germany.

Therefore, Clemenceau rejected Germany's request and stated that the Allies would not accept any concessions or modifications to the peace treaty.

If the Germans could not sign the treaty within two days, the Allied forces would launch another attack on Germany.

No matter how confident the Germans were before the war, at this moment, the Germans truly understood that a defeated general could not be brave.

Under pressure from both home and abroad, the German government finally announced its unconditional acceptance of the entire peace treaty and signed it the next day.

Although it was very different from the original historical trend, the Germans still ceded nearly one-eighth of their territory and reduced one-tenth of their population.

Poland, which should have been independent in history, was also completely annexed by Russia. After all, Russia was still under the control of a constitutional monarchy and bourgeois government at that time, and was considered one of its own in the eyes of European countries.

If the Workers' Union came to power, the attitude of the Allies would be very different. First of all, Britain and Australasia would not support Russia, and whether the Franco-Russian alliance could continue to be maintained was also a question.

Under the defense of many countries, it would be good for Russia to defend its own territory, not to mention annexing such a huge Poland.

The Polish Corridor originally allocated to Poland was completely annexed by Russia, which also resulted in Russia turning East Prussia into a German enclave, although it did not take away East Prussia.

It is worth mentioning that the treaty restricting Germany also shows the result of the game between the four great powers of the Allied Powers.

The Allies imposed a lot of restrictions on Germany's military strength, changed Germany's military service system, and limited the total number of German army to no more than 150,000, and the service time of German soldiers to no more than two years.

The Allies also imposed a lot of restrictions on the size and number of the German Navy, allowing Germany to have only a maximum of 6 cruisers and smaller combat warships, but no more than 15.

Advanced offensive weapons such as aircraft and submarines, as well as tanks, artillery and machine guns, are not allowed to be held and produced by the German army.

The area west of the Rhine is a military restricted area, and no German troops are allowed to enter. All military facilities within 50 kilometers east of the Rhine must be demolished.

Basically, all German military facilities must be demolished, but some areas are exceptions, such as some areas on the Russian border.

In name, these regions were guarding against the workers' union in the Moscow area, but in fact, they were also guarding against the Russian government.

After all, after Russia annexed Poland, Germany or the Austro-Hungarian Empire alone could no longer stop Russia's expansion.

If Germany's military strength was not retained, East Prussia would be annexed by Russia sooner or later, and the Rhine region on the western front would be eroded by the French sooner or later.

There was a big problem for Germany after the defeat, that is, Germany not only lost a large amount of territory and population, but also lost advanced industries and all overseas markets.

According to one of the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, the victorious countries would not be subject to any prohibition or restriction on exporting or importing goods to Germany, foreign warships and merchant ships could freely enter and exit the Kiel Canal and all canals in Germany, and all expenses of the Allied forces stationed in Germany would be paid by the German government.

This also means that Germany will become a dumping ground for the Allied industrial products, which is not a good thing for the development of Germany's domestic industry.

The inability to restrict foreign industrial products means that Germany has lost the ability to collect tariffs.

Without tariff restrictions, coupled with the deprivation of German industry by the victorious countries, there is no hope for the German industry to recover in a short period of time.

This also means that Germany is about to usher in a long darkness, because the exploitation of Germany by the Allies is impossible to stop voluntarily.

From this complete Treaty of Versailles, it can be seen that this is not a contract for the pursuit of peace, nor a plundering treaty that madly deprives the defeated country.

After the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, British Prime Minister Lloyd George did not smile at all, but said to Clemenceau with a worried face: "You can take away all of Germany's colonies, reduce his army to a force that is only enough to establish a police force, and reduce his navy to the status of a fifth-class country, but all this will be meaningless in the end. If Germany thinks this peace treaty is unfair, then it will find a way to retaliate against the victorious countries."

Unfortunately, such advanced words were not taken seriously by Clemenceau, but were ridiculed by Clemenceau, who believed that the great British Empire was already afraid of the defeated Germany, so how could the victorious countries be afraid of the defeated countries?

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