What was treaty of versailles

The treaty, which President John F. Kennedy signed The war had begun almost two years earlier, in May , over a territorial dispute involving Texas. The treaty added an additional , square miles to The instability created in Europe by the First World War set the stage for another international conflict—World War II—which broke out two decades later and would prove even more devastating. Rising to power in an economically and politically unstable Germany, Adolf Hitler capitalized on economic woes, popular discontent and political infighting to take absolute power in Germany beginning in Live TV.

This Day In History. History Vault. The Fourteen Points In a speech to Congress in January , Wilson laid out his idealistic vision for the post-war world. Diplomacy should be public, with no secret treaties. All nations should enjoy free navigation of the seas. All countries should reduce arms in the name of public safety. Fair and impartial rulings in colonial claims. Restore Russian territories and freedom. Belgium should be restored to independence.

Alsace-Lorraine should be returned to France and France should be fully liberated. People living in Austria-Hungary should be granted self-determination. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society. Mary Crooks, National Geographic Society. For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher.

They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer.

If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives. Different groups of people often come into conflict when a problem cannot be solved, when values clash, or when there is ambiguity over ownership of land and resources.

Diplomacy, the art of maintaining peaceful relationships without the use of violence, can help turn conflict into cooperation. Share these resources with your students to examine various conflicts around the world and instances of different communities working together successfully. Land had to be handed over the Poland, France, Belgium and Denmark.

This did happen — all the land Germany was required to hand over, was handed over. Territory put under League of Nations control was handed over to the League.

All land taken from Russia had to be handed back to Russia. This did happen though land in the western area became Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in keeping with the belief in national self-determination. On paper this happened. The fact that Germany side-stepped the rule did not mean that she literally broke it — though what she did was a deliberate attempt to break this term. Therefore, Germany never had more than , soldiers serving at any one time though she certainly had substantial reserve soldiers which boosted Hitler when he renounced the clauses of Versailles.

This happened. Germany could not afford battleships in the aftermath of the war and most navies were now moving to smaller by degrees , faster ships that could also carry weapons that carried a punch — such as cruisers.

Aircraft carriers were also being developed with greater commitment. Submariners were trained abroad — Versailles did not cover this, so it did not break the terms of Versailles — only the spirit. No air force was allowed. This happened but as with submariners, potential pilots were trained abroad or using gliders in Germany to educate them in the theory of flying. This did not break Versailles. Western Germany was to be demilitarised.

Germany was forbidden to unite with Austria. The former happened in the sense that Germany signed the Treaty which meant that she accepted this term on paper — if not in fact.

Germany did try and pay reparations when she could do so. She did not refuse to pay in She simply could not produce what was needed that year and this led to the French invasion of the Ruhr. The first instance of refusal to pay reparations came in when Hitler announced that Germany would not pay — and the Allies did nothing.

It was after that there was a systematic breaking of the terms when the Nazis came to power. It is often forgotten that with the energy put into the punishment of Germany, other countries fought on her side and, equally, had to be dealt with. These countries were Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey.

Austria-Hungary had to sign two peace settlements, indicative of the fact that this state was shortly to be divided into two.

Austria and Hungary were treated as two completely new countries after these treaties were signed. Both lost land to neighbouring countries; the new state of Czechoslovakia was effectively created out of this carve-up of land; large blocks of land went to Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia.

Part of Austria went to Italy. Both new countries had to reduce their military capability and both states had to pay reparations for war damage. However, the figures involved were nowhere near as high as the figure imposed on Germany. Bulgaria had to sign the Treaty of Neuilly. Bulgaria lost land to the new state of Yugoslavia, had to reduce her military capability and had to pay reparations. This was a very harsh treaty. Why was Turkey treated this way? Turkey lost most of her land in Europe.

Turkey was left with but a toe-hold on what is considered Europe. The Turkish Straits was put under the control of the League of Nations at a time when it was dominated by Britain and France.