Treaty of Versailles
The First World War was a global conflict occurred between 1914 and 1918 in Europe, involving the major powers of the time: Germany, England, France, Russia, United States, Italy and Austria.
In early 1918, Germany was via weakened, isolated and without means to keep fighting.Thus, on November 11 the same year, the German government signed the peace agreement, a major disadvantage. Under the agreement, Germany agreed, for example, to withdraw its troops from all areas occupied during the war, return materials, weapons and submarines opponents, and compensate them for the occupied territories.
After the surrender of the German government, several conferences were held in the palace of Versailles (France), attended by the representatives of the winning countries of the war. Such conferences were led by representatives of the United States, France and England, and from them created theTreaty of Versailles , a peace treaty that officially ended the First World War.
The Treaty of Versailles was signed by the European powers on June 28, 1919, imposing strict obligations to the Germans. According to the treaty, Germany should:
- Returning to France the territory of Alsace-Lorraine - Alsace-Lorraine was a region rich in coal and minerals iron , which was ceded by France to the Germans because of the defeat in the Franco-Prussian war in 1870.
- Recognize and respect the independence of Austria .
- Skip the province of Saarland into the realm of the League of Nations for 15 years - the League of Nations was a company formed by member countries from all continents, whose mission was tointervene in international conflicts, trying to preserve world peace.
- Ceder other regions Denmark, Belgium and Poland - all rights in the overseas colonies should be waived by Germany.
- Reduce the military strength of their armies, being prohibited the construction of military aviation - a stretch of the treaty said that the German army could not have more than seven divisions of infantry and three cavalry divisions.
- Not to manufacture or import tanks, armored cars or other machinery that could serve as an instrument of war.
- Abolish all military and compulsory universal service - from that date, the German army could only be constituted and recruited by means of voluntary enlistment.
- Deliver most of its merchant ships to England, France and Belgium.
- Pay a huge compensation in money to the winning nations as a way to repair all the damage done to its civilian population.
The Treaty of Versailles caused great indignation in the German population, who thought unfair and humiliating all the impositions of the agreement. Payment of astronomical compensation made Germany's economy fall to the ground and the next two decades were marked by a huge crisis in the country: unemployment, inflation, currency devaluation.
This economic crisis, political and moral brought back German nationalism, which later would make the country faced another armed conflict: the Second World War .
references
COTRIM, Gilberto. Global History - Brazil and General - single volume. São Paulo: Saraiva, 2005.
Janotti, Maria Loudes. The First World War - the clash of imperialism. Sao Paulo: Current 1992.
MARQUES, Adhemar Martins. Contemporary history - documents and texts. Sao Paulo: Context, 1999.
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