Six Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

[Memory word: GARGLE]

By clause 231 of the treaty, Germany had to accept the blame ‘for causing all the loss and damage’ of the war.

The Treaty restricted German armed forces to:

	only 100,000 men in the army
	conscription was banned – soldiers had to be volunteers
	no submarines or aeroplanes
	only six battleships
	the Rhineland had to be de-militarised

Germany had to pay for all the damage of the war – a sum was eventually set at £6,600 million – in installments, until 1984.

	Alsace-Lorraine was given back to France
	The Saar coalfields were given to France for 15 years
	Malmedy was given to Belgium
	North Schleswig was given to Denmark (after a plebiscite)
	West Prussia (including the ‘Polish corridor’) and Upper Silesia were given to Poland.
	Danzig was made a ‘free city’.
	Memel was given to Lithuania.
	German colonies were made ‘mandates’ of the League of Nations, to be looked after by France (Cameroons), Britain (Tanganyika), Japan (islands in the Pacific), Australia (New Guinea) and New Zealand (Samoa)

was set up as an international forum to settle disputes by discussion, not war.

In addition, the Treaty:

	forbade Anschluss (union) between Germany and Austria.
	made Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania independent states.

In all, Germany lost:

	10% of its land
	all its colonies
	12% of its population
	16% of its coalfields
	half its iron and steel industry
	most of its army and navy
	all its airforce.