Rise of Australia

Chapter 465 The Versailles Contract

The terms for the partition of Germany by the four major powers of the Allied Powers were quickly announced, which aroused great repercussions in Europe and even the world.

First of all, the United States and Italy expressed their dissatisfaction with this way of handling, and condemned the four major powers of the agreement country for disregarding the interests of other victorious countries, which violated and endangered the intention of the alliance.

But the opposition of these two countries is nothing more than a clown to the four major powers of the agreement country. Neither Italy nor the United States has the strength to overthrow the rule of the four major powers at this time.

Britain and France were just mobilizing the troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the border, and the Italians immediately shut up in fright, and never mentioned anything against the four major powers.

Although the remaining United States is not afraid of the threat of Britain and France, it also has nothing to do with the high prestige of Britain and France in Europe.

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

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

As long as anyone has the strength to put it into action, no one will choose to condemn this way of forcing himself to save face.

Of course, although there is no means of resistance in the military, this does not mean that American diplomatic resistance does not exist.

In order to resist the grouping behavior of the four major powers, US President Wilson put forward his own theory on forming an international alliance, and proposed to establish an international alliance that can mediate international disputes and maintain world peace.

Such an international alliance is a good thing for small and medium-sized countries, because the current small and medium-sized countries do not have any means of resistance to the great powers.

But the problem is that if the League of Nations does not have strong national support and is just a game between small and medium-sized countries, it is equivalent to empty talk and has no binding force on the great powers.

In order to promote the establishment of the League of Nations, US President Wilson first approached the Italian Prime Minister and proposed that the United States and Italy jointly form 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 in the hands of the United States, but Britain and France.

Sure enough, after President Wilson proposed the League of Nations initiative, the four major powers of the Allied Powers quickly came up with countermeasures, publicly declaring at the Paris Peace Conference that they would expand the Allied Powers and form a World League.

The countermeasures of the four major powers are completely aimed at the League of Nations, because apart from the different names, the World League and the League of Nations have exactly the same purpose, organization and even purpose, but the sponsoring countries are different.

Compared with the United States, the four major powers of the Allied Powers are obviously more popular in Europe.Based on Britain and France, it also represents the four major powers of the Allied Powers representing the old European powers.

The blessings of Russia and Australasia, coupled with the recent defeat of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, made the four major powers of the agreement countries the most powerful group in Europe and even the world.

On March 1918, 3, a peace treaty to limit Germany was officially announced.This peace treaty has a total of 7 major clauses and 19 minor clauses, which restrict Germany in various aspects.

German Foreign Minister Blankdorf led the German delegation to sign the peace treaty with the delegation of the Allied Powers at the Palace of Versailles. Because it was signed at the Palace of Versailles, this peace treaty is also called the Peace Treaty of Versailles or the Peace Treaty of Paris.

Of course, the signing of the peace treaty was not so smooth.After Germany learned of the specific content of the peace treaty, large-scale demonstrations broke out immediately, calling on the government to reject the treaty.

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

Even the representative of France, Clemenceau, declared directly: "The attitude of the Germans to this treaty can only be completely accepted or completely rejected. If there is no reply within five days, or if they choose to reject it completely, the Allied Powers will declare the end of the treaty." period of truce, and to implement all the above provisions by force."

This is an aboveboard threat, and if the Germans don't agree to the harsh terms, then let the war decide who should listen to whom.

Facing enormous pressure from France and the Allied Powers, the German government was in a panic at this time.

Because Wilhelm II had taken refuge in the Netherlands, it was Hindenburg and the military government that decided everything.

However, the prestige of the military government in Germany has been greatly reduced, and even the major states in southern Germany have become de facto independent.

Agreeing or refusing is 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 peace conference that it was willing to sign the peace treaty.

But the German government also has its own requirements. Germany does not recognize that the German government and people should bear the responsibility for the war, and opposes Germany as the sole culprit of this super war.

After all, Germany was not the first to declare war. Germany only fulfilled its obligations to its allies. How could it become the chief culprit of this war?
But to designate the Germans as the culprits of this war is actually one of the goals of the French.

Only by establishing the Germans as the chief culprit in this war can France oppress Germany justifiably.

Therefore, Clemenceau rejected the German request and stated that the Allies would not accept any concessions or amendments to the peace treaty.

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

No matter how much confidence the Germans had before the war, at this moment, the Germans really understood the truth that a defeated general cannot speak bravely.

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

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

Poland, which was originally supposed to be independent in history, was also completely annexed by Russia. After all, Russia was still under the control of the bourgeois government of the constitutional monarchy at this time, and it was regarded as one of its own by European countries.

If the Workers' Union came to power, the attitude of the Allied Powers would be quite different.First of all, Britain and Australasia will not support Russia, and whether the French-Russian alliance can continue is also a question.

Under the precautions of many countries, it is not bad for Russia to hold its own territory, let alone annex such a huge Poland.

All the Polish corridors originally assigned to Poland were annexed by Russia, which also led to Russia turning East Prussia into a German enclave although it did not take it away.

It is worth mentioning that the result of the game between the four major powers of the Allied Powers can also be seen in the treaty restricting Germany.

The Entente imposed a large number of restrictions on Germany's military strength, changed Germany's military service system, and restricted the total number of Germany's army to no more than 15, and German soldiers to serve no more than two years.

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

Airplanes, submarines and other advanced offensive weapons, as well as tanks, artillery and machine guns, are not allowed to be owned and produced by the German army.

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

Basically all military installations in Germany will be dismantled, but some areas are exceptions, such as some areas on the Russian border.

Nominally, these areas are guarding against the Workers' Union in the Moscow region, but in fact they are 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 you do not retain a little German military power, East Prussia will be annexed by Russia sooner or later, and the Rhine region on the western front will also be eroded by the French sooner or later.

There is 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 will not be subject to any prohibition or restriction on exporting or importing goods from Germany. Foreign warships and merchant ships can freely enter and leave the Kiel Canal and all canals in Germany. All costs are also paid by the German government.

This also means that Germany will become a dumping ground for industrial products from the Allied countries, which is not a good thing for the development of German local industries.

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 of German industry recovering in a short period of time.

This also means that Germany is about to usher in a long darkness, because it is impossible for the Allied Powers to actively stop the exploitation of Germany.

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

After the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the British Prime Minister Lloyd George did not smile, but said to Clemenceau with a worried face: "You can take all of Germany's colonies and reduce his army to only enough to build an army. The strength of the police force, the reduction of his navy to the status of a fifth-rate nation, will ultimately mean nothing. If Germany finds the peace unjust, then he will find the means to exact revenge on the victorious powers."

It's a pity that such advanced words were not valued by Clemenceau, but were ridiculed by Clemenceau, thinking that the mighty British Empire was already afraid of the defeated Germany. How could the victorious countries fear the defeated ones?
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(End of this chapter)