- The Armistice was signed around 5:12 - 5:20am on the 11th of November 1918, in a railway carriage in Compiegne, France. Guns stopped 6 hours later at 11am, on 11/11/1918.
- When the Armistice was signed on 11th November 1918, it was agreed that there would be a Peace Conference held in Paris in 1919 to discuss what would happen to the defeated powers.
- The Treaty of Versailles dealt with Germany.
Treaty of Versailles
Leaders of 32 states representing about 75% of the world’s population, attended the Treaty of Versailles. However, negotiations were dominated by ‘The Big Three’.
The Big Three were the 3 counties who had the most bargaining power in the Treaty of Versailles. They were:
- Woodrow Wilson - USA
- Lloyd George - Great Britain
- George Clemenceau - France
Terms of the Treaty of Versailles (Land)
- Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France.
- Germany lost land to the recreated Poland, Belgium and Denmark.
- The League of Nations was given control of the SAAR region for 15 years, but France had control over its coal fields.
- All the land taken from Russia in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk had to be returned.
- Germany’s overseas empire was taken away to become mandates controlled by the League of Nations (which effectively meant Britain and France controlled them)
- Germany was forbidden to unite with Austria.
- In total, Germany lost 72,500km² of land and between 6-7 million people from the treaty.
Terms of the Treaty of Versailles (Military)
- The army was limited to 100,000 men.
- Conscription was banned.
- Germany was not allowed tanks, submarines, or military aircraft.
- The navy could only have 6 battleships.
- The Rhineland had to become a demilitarised zone (DMZ). This meant no German troops were allowed near the French border. The Allies were allowed to keep an army of occupation there for 15 years.
Terms of the Treaty of Versailles (Reparations)
- Germany had to pay for the damage caused by the war. These payments were called reparations (These were not a new idea: Germany had forced France to pay £200 million for a year-long war in 1871).
- The sum was set in 1921 at £6,600 million. Germany had to pay a set amount each year,
War Guilt & League of Nations
- The War Guilt clause (Clause 231) forced Germany to accept responsibility for the war. This provided the reason for punishing Germany so harshly in the treaty.
- A League of Nations was set up to keep the peace. Germany was not allowed to join.