What if the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were softer. Why the Treaty of Versailles was the main mistake of the Allies

Germany after the Treaty of Versailles

On January 18, 1919, a peace conference of 27 allied and affiliated states opened in Paris, believing that the end of the First World War should be formalized. The winners decided the future fate of Germany without her participation. German representatives were invited only at the end of the meetings to present them with the text of the treaty, which Germany could either accept or reject. Before this, the Weimar government, since Germany had become a democratic republic, was counting on a peace treaty with some territorial losses and moderate indemnity.

The illusions were dispelled when the winners announced their terms on May 7. The Germans were preparing for the worst, but no one expected this. The required territorial concessions exceeded the most pessimistic assumptions. Germany lost all its colonial possessions. Alsace-Lorraine returned to France, Northern Schleswig to Denmark (after a plebiscite). Belgium received the districts of Eupen and Malmedy and the Morenet region, where 80% of the population was German. The new Polish state received the bulk of the province of Poznań and West Prussia, as well as small territories in Pomerania, East Prussia and Upper Silesia. To provide Poland with access to the sea, a corridor was created near the mouth of the Vistula River, separating East Prussia from the rest of Germany. German Danzig was declared a "free city" under the supreme control of the League of Nations, and the coal mines of the Saar region were temporarily transferred to France. The left bank of the Rhine was occupied by Entente troops, and a demilitarized zone 50 kilometers wide was created on the right bank.

In general, Germany lost 13.5% of its territory (73.5 thousand square kilometers) with a population of 7.3 million people, of which 3.5 million people were Germans. These losses deprived Germany of 10% of its production capacity, 20% of its coal production, 75% of its iron ore reserves and 26% of its iron smelting. The rivers Rhine, Elbe and Oder were declared free for the passage of foreign ships. Germany was obliged to transfer to the winners almost the entire military and merchant marine fleet, 800 steam locomotives and 232 thousand railway cars. The total amount of reparations was later to be determined by a special commission, but for now Germany was obliged to pay the Entente countries an indemnity in the amount of 20 billion gold marks, mainly in the form of coal, livestock (including 140 thousand dairy cows), various products of the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, including dyes. The severity of the terms of the agreement was figuratively explained by the French Prime Minister J. Clemenceau, who promised his people that “the Boches will pay every last penny.” At the same time, British Minister W. Churchill caustically remarked that “the economic articles of the treaty were malicious and stupid to such an extent that they became clearly meaningless.”

The Treaty of Versailles practically disarmed Germany. Its army was not to exceed 100 thousand volunteers enlisted for long-term service, and its navy was not to exceed 16 thousand people. Germany was prohibited from having aircraft, airships, tanks, submarines and ships with a displacement of more than 10 thousand tons. Its fleet could include 6 light battleships, 6 light cruisers, as well as 12 destroyers and torpedo boats. Such an army was suitable for police actions, but not for the defense of the country. In addition, 895 German officers, led by the Kaiser himself, were declared war criminals subject to extradition. However, the Allies did not particularly insist on fulfilling this demand, fully aware of its unreality, since this had never happened in history.

Finally, Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles placed full and sole responsibility for the outbreak of the First World War on Germany and its allies.

The German side unanimously rejected these harsh conditions. Reich Chancellor F. Scheidemann officially announced his refusal to sign the treaty unless significant changes were made to it. But the Allies insisted on the unconditional fulfillment of their demands. Stating that “let the hand that signed such an agreement wither,” Scheidemann resigned. Representatives from the German Democratic Party (NDP) also left the Cabinet of Ministers. The new government was formed by the Social Democrat G. Bauer, who previously held the post of Minister of Labor.

In the context of the ongoing blockade of the country and under pressure from the threat from the victors that they would resume hostilities if Germany did not accept the proposed conditions, the majority of deputies of the National Assembly agreed to sign the treaty.

On June 28, two plenipotentiary representatives of Germany arrived in Versailles - Foreign Minister G. Müller (SPD) and Minister of Posts and Transport I. Bell (Center Party). The signing ceremony of the treaty took place in the same Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, where the German Empire was proclaimed in January 1871. Both then and now, Versailles has become a symbol of the triumph of the winner and the humiliation of the vanquished, who must not only pay, but also grovel before the winner. The famous philosopher and historian E. Troeltsch noted that “The Treaty of Versailles is the embodiment of the sadistic-poisonous hatred of the French, the pharisaical capitalist spirit of the British and the deep indifference of the Americans.”

But despite the severity of the economic consequences of the Treaty of Versailles, it was not they that influenced the further fate of the Weimar Republic, but the fact that a feeling of humiliation prevailed in Germany, which contributed to the emergence of sentiments of nationalism and revanchism. At Versailles, British Prime Minister D. Lloyd George prophetically stated that the main danger of the treaty being concluded was that “we are pushing the masses into the arms of extremists.”

Among the winners there were different opinions regarding the future of Germany. France, and above all its generals, demanded that Germany be divided again into many small states and supported any separatist actions. The Americans were inclined to recognize the democratic Weimar Republic without any reservations. But a third path was chosen, which was actually destructive. According to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany remained a single state, but militarily helpless, economically ruined, and politically humiliated. This decision was not far-sighted. In order to destroy Germany, the treaty was too soft, in order to simply punish her it was too humiliating.

From the German point of view, the treaty was the "Versailles diktat" of the victors. The majority of the population perceived democracy as a foreign order imposed by Western countries. It was fatal that the struggle against Versailles also meant a struggle against democracy. Politicians who called for restraint and compromise with the West were immediately accused of shameful weakness, and even betrayal. This was the soil on which the totalitarian and aggressive Nazi regime eventually grew.

On July 9, 1919, the National Assembly ratified the Treaty of Versailles (208 votes were cast in favor, 115 were against), and on January 10, 1920 it came into force.

In the second half of 1919, it seemed that the Weimar Republic had strengthened its position. The wave of revolutionary uprisings subsided, some economic recovery began, the number of unemployed decreased, and hunger was “mitigated” by American food supplies. But the republic was now threatened not from the left, but from the right. The humiliating burden of Versailles, unresolved economic problems, and joyless everyday life led to serious changes in the mood of the people, who listened more and more attentively to the agitation of the nationalists.

The reduction of armed forces demanded by the Allies primarily concerned the Freikorps, who fought stubbornly in Silesia against the Poles, and in Latvia against the Soviet Red Army. Now, not without reason, they believed that the republican government they despised had simply betrayed them by ordering the disbandment of the Freikorps.

In response, the Freikorists began to prepare a military coup, which was led by the large East Prussian landowner W. Kapp, who played a prominent role in the Fatherland Party in 1917. Among the leaders of the conspiracy, called the Kapp Putsch, were also the commander of the Berlin military district, General W. Luttwitz, the former head of the Berlin police T. Jagow and Captain W. Pabst, the organizer of the murder of K. Liebknecht and R. Luxemburg. General E. Ludendorff maintained close contact with them, but he preferred to remain in the shadows. Behind the Kappites were also large Rhine-Westphalian industrialists and bankers.

On March 10, 1920, Luttwitz presented President F. Ebert with an ultimatum, demanding the dissolution of the National Assembly, re-election of the president, refusal to reduce the army, and the transfer of weapons to the Entente. Luttwitz motivated the demands by saying that the army and Freikorps were necessary to fight against Bolshevism. Ebert rejected the ultimatum and invited the general to voluntarily resign. But when three days later the government decided to arrest the conspirators, it turned out that it had no forces at its disposal capable of carrying out such an order.

Although the commander of the Reichswehr, General W. Reinhardt, stood on the side of the government, the troops obeyed not his orders, but the orders of the head of the combined arms department, and in fact the chief of staff of the Reichswehr, General X. Seeckt, who had great authority among the military. Seeckt openly told the president that “soldiers will not shoot at soldiers,” and the government should look for other defenders. The President and the Cabinet of Ministers had no choice but to flee first to Dresden, and from there to Stuttgart.

In the gloomy early morning of March 13, 1920, the main striking force of the putschists - the naval brigade of Captain 2nd Rank G. Erhard - entered Berlin. The helmets of the soldiers of this unit had a swastika on them. Having encountered no resistance, the brigade camped in the center of the capital, at the Brandenburg Gate. Here Erhard was greeted by Kapp, Luttwitz and Ludendorff, who came out to “breathe fresh air" The putschists announced the creation of a new government headed by Kapp, introduced a state of siege and closed all opposition newspapers.

The President and the government, together with the trade unions, called on the population to defend the republic and a general strike. After some hesitation, the communists also supported them. The strike, which involved more than 12 million people, paralyzed the entire country. Transport, industrial enterprises, power plants, and utilities did not work, all educational institutions and most shops were closed, and newspapers stopped publishing. Berlin officials secretly sabotaged the orders of the coup leaders, who, moreover, simply did not know what to do next.

When Kapp received information that dissatisfaction with the mutiny was brewing in a number of parts of the Berlin garrison, the head of government, frightened, abandoned his comrades to the mercy of fate and fled to Sweden on March 17. General Luttwitz hastily left for Hungary, where he hid for five years. The putsch was a complete failure.

But it did have one significant consequence. The general strike became so widespread that it awakened the communists' hope for a new revolutionary upsurge. The Red Army created in the Ruhr, which numbered up to 80 thousand armed workers, having defeated the putschists, took control of the area east of Düsseldorf.

To take control of the situation, Ebert was forced to call for help exactly those people who had refused to protect him a week earlier. General Seeckt, now commander of the army, is given dictatorial powers and tasked with restoring order. The Freikorps units that took part in the Kapp adventure were brought into the Ruhr. Now they had someone to take out their anger on. At the beginning of April 1920, the uprising was suppressed.

Even before the end of the fighting in the Ruhr, Ebert replaced the Bauer government, which had compromised itself with helplessness, and on March 27 appointed G. Müller as Reich Chancellor. Unable to keep General Luttwitz under his control, G. Noske left the government. O. Gessler, a representative of the right wing of the NDP, became the new Minister of War.

It seemed that the Weimar Republic had excellent chances for consolidation. But the elections to the Reichstag on June 6, 1920 were a disaster for her. All three parties of the Weimar coalition suffered devastating losses. First of all, the PDP suffered a complete defeat, the helplessness of whose leaders was not in vain for the party. Now only 2.33 million voters voted for her, and therefore the Democrats had only 36 seats in parliament. The Center Party received 64 seats in the Reichstag. About half of the voters were lost by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), which now had 102 seats. Its former supporters joined the ranks of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (NSPD), which increased the number of its representatives in the Reichstag to 84. Just over half a million voters cast their votes for the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), which received 4 mandates.

The general shift of sentiment to the right reflected the success of the Bavarian People's Party (BNP), the German People's Party (DPP) and the German National People's Party (DNPP). The Bavarians, having received more than 1 million votes, acquired 21 parliamentary seats in parliament. The number of NPP voters increased to 3.9 million people, which brought the party 65 seats. The nationalists brought 71 deputies into parliament and became the strongest bourgeois faction.

In a situation where the Weimar coalition received 205 parliamentary seats out of 452, the SPD went into opposition, giving way to the first purely bourgeois government (it also included ministers from the PNP and nationalists) led by the leader of the Center Party, K. Fehrenbach.

After the elections of 1920, the Republican parties never managed to win a majority of seats in the Reichstag. They were left with two options - either enter into a coalition with anti-democratic parties, or create a minority government that would depend on the position of their opponents in parliament.

After much calculation and negotiation, the reparations problem was finally resolved. The initial fabulous bill of 265 billion gold marks presented to Germany by the victors was gradually reduced to 200 billion marks.

On March 1, 1921, in London, German Foreign Minister V. Simone demanded to establish total amount reparations of 30 billion marks. He stated that the country had already transferred property worth 21 billion marks to the allies. But the reparations commission, in which France set the tone, valued this property at only 8 billion marks. Berlin agreed to pay 30 billion marks over 30 years, subject to the provision international loan 8 billion marks, an end to the inflated taxation of German exports and the return to Germany of Upper Silesia, occupied at that time by French troops.

Sharply rejecting Simons' proposals, the Allies demanded that Germany accept their terms by March 7. Since the German government did not respond to the ultimatum within the prescribed period, on March 8, Entente troops occupied Duisburg, Düsseldorf and the river port of Ruhrort, and also established their customs posts on the Rhine, imposing a tax on German exports of 50% of their value.

Behind-the-scenes negotiations to resolve the conflict ended with the final amount of reparations being determined on May 5 in London at 132 billion gold marks, which Germany had to pay over 37 years. She was obliged to deposit the first billion marks in the next 25 days. Otherwise, the Allies threatened to occupy the entire Ruhr region, and France immediately announced partial mobilization.

The German government repaid the assigned amount, throwing 50 billion freshly printed banknotes onto world currency exchanges, which led to a sharp drop in the value of the mark.

Even on the eve of the delivery of the ultimatum, on May 4, 1921, the government of K. Fehrenbach, which was abandoned by ministers from the German People's Party (GPP), resigned. The difficult task of fulfilling Western demands fell on the shoulders of the new cabinet of ministers. It was led by two of the most gifted politicians of the Weimar period. The leader of the left wing of the Center Party, J. Wirth, became the Reich Chancellor, the president of the largest electrical concern AEG, a member of the leadership of the German Democratic Party (NDP), W. Rathenau, after some time took the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. The government also included four Social Democrats, including Vice-Chancellor G. Bauer. Rathenau was well aware that there was no alternative to fulfilling the ultimatum of the Allies, of whose resolve he did not have the slightest doubt, especially since the Prime Minister of France at the beginning of 1922 . became R. Poincaré, distinguished by the rigidity of his policies and ardent hostility towards Germany. He immediately accused the German government of deliberately devaluing the brand, and therefore strict financial controls should be established over Germany.

Knowing Poincare's toughness, Rathenau took a decisive step. When it opened in Genoa in April 1922 international Conference on economics and financial issues, Rathenau accepted, after agreeing with Wirth, the proposal of the Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs G.V. Chicherin to conclude a peace treaty with Russia, providing for the establishment of diplomatic and trade relations and the renunciation of mutual claims. The conclusion of this agreement on April 16 in Rapallo, a resort town near Genoa, worried Western politicians. The Treaty of Rapallo brought Russia and Germany out of international isolation, which were brought together by a boycott by other European states.

The policy of fulfilling Versailles obligations and reconciliation with former enemies, pursued by Wirth and Rathenau, infuriated right-wing extremists, who turned to open terror. On August 26, 1921, two former naval officers who became members of the terrorist organization “Consul” killed M. Erzberger, who signed the Compiegne Armistice, in Griesbach (Black Forest). And when Rathenau became Foreign Minister, one of the right-wing newspapers was indignant that a Jew had been entrusted with defending Germany’s interests on the world stage, whose appointment was “an absolutely unheard-of provocation.”

On the morning of June 24, 1922, when Rathenau was driving to work in an open limousine, he was overtaken by a car with three militants from the Consul. One of the terrorists threw a grenade, and the other shot several times at the minister. Rathenau died a few hours later.

The murder of the foreign minister shocked the country. In all major cities Mass demonstrations took place demanding an active fight against terror. On June 25, Reich Chancellor Wirth delivered a famous speech in the Reichstag, which ended with the words that received wide resonance: “The enemy stands on the right!” On July 18, after a long and fierce debate, the Reichstag passed the Law “On the Defense of the Republic,” which introduced the death penalty for political murders.

After Rathenau's death, the Reich Chancellor tried to save the situation by proposing the creation of a coalition of all major parties. But his plan failed due to the reluctance of the Social Democrats and Nationalists to cooperate with each other. In this atmosphere of hostility and mutual accusations, Wirth resigned on November 14, 1922.

The situation required new leadership and new ideas, but there was no candidate for Reich Chancellor that suited everyone. It took the intervention of President F. Ebert, who on November 22 entrusted the formation of the government to the non-partisan director of the GAPAG shipping company V. Cuno, whose administrative abilities and energy were widely known. This choice of Ebert showed that he had doubts about the viability of the parliamentary system.

Cuno counted on the support of industrialists and bankers, but they did not want to give up even the slightest of their interests and demanded the elimination of all social benefits won by workers during the November Revolution of 1918. The new Reich Chancellor turned out to be not a very competent politician. When it became obvious that, under the pretext of Germany's delay in the supply of timber and coal to pay for reparations, France was preparing to occupy the Ruhr, Cuno decided to appeal to the allies demanding a five-year moratorium on reparation payments. The head of the German government said that his country is ready to pay 20 billion marks if it receives an international loan and France withdraws its troops from the territories it occupied in March 1921.

But it was already too late. As early as December 26, 1922, the reparations commission, under pressure from Paris, recognized that Germany was not fulfilling its obligations. Two weeks later, the governments of France, Italy and Belgium agreed to this, and two days later nine French and Belgian divisions entered the Ruhr region.

The occupation of the Ruhr deprived Germany of 7% of its territory with a population of 3 million people, 70% of coal production, 54% of iron smelting and 53% of steel. The industry of the Ruhr, which employed about a quarter of all industrial workers in Germany, was paralyzed.

The German government did not take any precautions in this case, since Reich Chancellor V. Cuno was convinced until the last minute that some circumstance would stop the actions of R. Poincaré. When the French occupation did begin, the cabinet of ministers, in a meeting attended by President F. Ebert, Reichswehr commander H. Seeckt and the permanent minister-president of Prussia, Social Democrat O. Braun, decided to organize passive resistance. On January 13, 1923, speaking in parliament, the Reich Chancellor announced that Germany would stop reparation payments to France and Belgium, and called on the population of the Ruhr to boycott all orders of the occupation authorities and refuse to pay taxes. As a result, supplies of coal and timber to France and Belgium, which were never able to establish the operation of coal mines, were stopped. In fact, the occupation of the Ruhr was very costly for France, as coal production in the Ruhr basin fell to a minimum. If in 1922 Germany supplied 11.46 million tons of coal and coke as reparations, then in 1923, even under the threat of reprisals, only 2.37 million tons of coal were exported from Germany.

The course of passive resistance was widely supported by parties and trade unions. As for the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), which became a mass party after uniting with the left “independents,” it put forward the slogan “Beat Poincaré and Cuno in the Ruhr and on the Spree!”, which, in fact, split the common national front of resistance to the occupiers.

The French troops (one-third composed of blacks, which was supposed to further humiliate the Germans) responded to the increase in sabotage and the strike movement with increased repression. On March 31, 1923, French soldiers occupied the Krupp plant in Essen. In response to the workers' demand to leave the plant, the soldiers opened fire. There were dead and wounded. But the occupation authorities blamed the massacre not on the French officers who carried it out, but on the managers and employees of the plant. G. Krupp himself was sentenced in May to a fine of 100 million marks and fifteen years in prison, of which he, however, served only seven months. The French tried to break the resistance of the German railway workers in a different way. In the first half of 1923, more than 5,000 families of workers and employees were evicted from their homes, and more than 4,000 people were expelled from the Ruhr.

The ferocity of the occupation authorities gave right-wing radical forces a reason to move from passive resistance to active opposition. In March and April 1923, a special team carried out a series of explosions on the Ruhr railways. A former lieutenant of the Baltic Freikorps, A. Schlageter, who was part of it, was arrested and executed by sentence of the French military court in Düsseldorf. This outraged the whole of Germany, with the communists making the most strident protests, and a member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Executive Committee of the Comintern, K. Radek, the main Soviet expert on Germany, called Schlageter a “courageous soldier of the counter-revolution” who “deserves every respect.”

Since June 1923, the Cuno government practically no longer controlled the situation in the country. The policy of passive resistance did not live up to the Reich Chancellor's hopes of ending the occupation, and its continuation threatened to collapse the state. With the direct support of France, the Rhine Republic was proclaimed in Aachen and Koblenz, and the Palatinate Republic was proclaimed in Speyer. In the autumn, a customs border was created between the occupied territory and the rest of Germany.

Germany's internal situation became increasingly unstable. In the summer of 1923, a wave of strikes swept across the country. First, 100 thousand Berlin metalworkers stopped working, then major unrest began among rural workers. There was a real threat of a repetition of the events of November 1918. Seeing that the Reich Chancellor was unable to master the situation, on August 11 the faction of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in the Reichstag refused to trust him. This came as a surprise to Ebert, but the president did not want to defend the man to whom he had entrusted the post of head of government just nine months earlier. However, Kuno himself, with relief, chose to return to the calmer world of the GAPAG company.

The man who replaced him was destined to become the main politician in Germany over the next five years and the Germans' last hope for the survival of the republic. At first glance, G. Stresemann did not seem very suitable for this mission. In Kaiser times, he supported the expansionist course of B. Bülow, during the war he was one of the “annexationists” and unconditionally approved the actions of the High Command. Remaining a monarchist, Stresemann sympathized with the Kapp putsch, although the shameful collapse of this action convinced him of the futility of a right-wing coup. He was so shocked by the murders of M. Erzberger and W. Rathenau that he switched to republican positions.

Having become the head of the coalition government on August 13, 1923, Stresemann found the courage to announce on September 26 (the day after the president declared a state of siege in Germany) the end of passive resistance in the Ruhr and the resumption of reparation payments. He also demanded that the government be given emergency powers, which were given to him by the Reichstag on October 13. There was simply no other way out of the crisis.

The dire economic consequences of the war were most clearly evident in the horrific collapse of the German currency. Financial difficulties were revealed already during the war years, when funds for its conduct - 164 billion marks - were obtained mainly not through direct and indirect taxes, but by issuing war loans (93 billion marks), treasury securities (29 billion marks) And paper money(42 billion marks).

After the war, this course was maintained. In 1921, instead of raising taxes significantly on those who were able to pay, the government actually cut them substantially. As a result, by 1923 the budget deficit increased to 5.6 million marks. The authorities began to compensate for the growing costs of reparations, payment of unemployment benefits, employment of demobilized front-line soldiers and support of the population of the occupied Ruhr with the help of the printing press. Already in October 1918, the money supply amounted to 27.7 billion marks, i.e., five times higher than the pre-war one, and by the end of 1919 it increased to 50.1 billion marks. The national debt increased from 5 billion marks in 1913 to 153 billion marks in 1919. Inflation went from creeping to galloping and became uncontrollable. The brand was falling rapidly. If in July 1914 the dollar exchange rate against the mark was 4.2, then in January 1920 - 64.8, in January 1922 - 191.8, and in August 1923 - 4,620,455.0 . The absolute record was set in November 1923, when 1 dollar gave 4.2 trillion. marks.

More than 300 factories produced paper for money. Day and night, in 133 printing houses, trillions of banknotes (usually printed on only one side of a paper sheet) flowed endlessly from under 1,783 presses, which the military then transported in huge boxes to payment sites.

The brand fell in price almost every hour. If in December 1922 a kilogram of bread cost 163 marks, then a year later they paid for it 339 billion marks. Restaurant visitors paid for lunch in advance, because by the end of it the price of lunch could double or triple. It was even cheaper to heat a room with banknotes than with coal. At enterprises and institutions, wages were paid twice a day, after which the staff were released for half an hour so that they had time to buy something. It was a ghostly world in which the face value of a postage stamp was equal to the pre-war cost of a fashionable villa.

But at the same time, inflation was beneficial to owners of material assets. They took out bank loans and invested in industrial enterprises, real estate, etc. Investments brought reliable profits, and the loan was returned in depreciated money. Huge fortunes were made in this way. The richest capitalist of that time was G. Stinnes. He created a gigantic empire of 1,340 enterprises, mines, mines, banks, railway and shipping companies, which employed more than 600 thousand workers in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Romania.

During the period of inflation, thousands of small speculators and swindlers did their own small business, who for next to nothing bought valuable things, paintings, and jewelry from desperate people in order to profitably sell them in Holland or Belgium for hard currency. By buying up food supplies, they then sold them at exorbitant prices on the black market. All this led to an increase in crime, a decline in public morality, and cynicism, which manifested itself in songs, theatrical plays and caricatures. Prostitution has reached unprecedented proportions. The future seemed so hopeless that one had to hurry to enjoy the present, if, of course, there were the means for this.

Inflation led to the terrible impoverishment of the middle strata and petty bourgeoisie, who had not material values, but monetary savings that turned into dust. Compared to 1913, the number of persons receiving social benefit, has tripled. Most of them were old men and widows, who normal conditions could live peacefully on their pensions and savings.

Small traders, merchants and artisans, unlike Stinnes, were not so easy to get a bank loan. They were completely dependent on the development of the local market and were forced to purchase goods, raw materials and tools at fantastically high prices. And since state control over retail prices was introduced in July 1923, small manufacturers lost the opportunity to compensate for costs by increasing prices for their products. In addition, they bore the main burden of taxes. Inflation hit them harder than the war.

Workers suffered less from inflation, since at its first stage unemployment was still relatively low, and wages, thanks to the actions of trade unions, grew. But when the mark began to fall from April 1923, their position began to deteriorate, the gap between wages and cost of living. At the end of 1923, among unionized workers, 23.4% were unemployed and 47.3% were underemployed, with a corresponding decrease wages and only 29.3% of workers received full-time pay. Trade unions, deprived of their financial savings, were powerless to prevent the agreement “On Labor Cooperation” concluded in 1918 from sinking into oblivion. In fact, the eight-hour working day was abolished and in most enterprises its duration was ten hours. Workers left the trade unions in droves, the number of which was almost halved in 1923.

But it was the sick who were most vulnerable to inflation. Soaring drug prices and physician fees have made health care unaffordable for millions of people. And this was just at a time when constant malnutrition weakened human body and led to diseases and epidemics, reminiscent of the terrible times of the “rutabaga winter” of 1916/17. Mortality increased in large cities.

The situation for children and teenagers was no better. In Berlin in 1923, in public schools, 22% of boys and 25% of girls were of height and weight well below normal for their age. The number of seriously ill children was constantly increasing. Thus, in the Berlin district of Neukölln before the war, there were 0.5% of children with tuberculosis, and in 1922 - 3.2%; Before the war, 0.8% of schoolchildren in the Berlin-Schöneberg region suffered from rickets, and in 1922 - 8.2%.

The nation was beginning to face extinction. People who had lost hope blamed the republic for everything. But these problems were primarily a consequence of the lost war, the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, and the irresponsible and selfish attitude of large industrialists and farmers, who sharply protested against any attempt to increase property taxes.

To everyone's amazement, Reich Chancellor G. Stresemann managed to suppress the growth of inflation with tough measures, without resorting to foreign loans. On November 15, 1923, a new rent mark was introduced, equal to 1 billion paper banknotes. Since the state did not have sufficient gold reserves, the stability of the new mark was ensured by all industrial and agricultural products. Land ownership, trade, banks and industry were subject to a mortgage of 3.2 billion rent marks. To achieve this, the bank issued 2.4 billion new banknotes, which were used to finance the economy. The experiment was a success, but, in addition to inflation, in 1923 the republic faced other problems and difficulties.

In 1923, the Weimar Republic was on the verge of not only economic collapse, but also political upheaval. At first, the government barely avoided repeating the Kapp putsch. Back in February 1923, in the face of the French threat, it was decided to create a secret reserve army - the “Black Reichswehr”. Officially, these units were called labor teams and underwent military training in various garrisons of the regular army. By September, these teams numbered up to 80 thousand people. Four labor teams were located in Küstrin, near Berlin. They were subordinate to Major B. Buhrucker, who had more energy than sense and was impatient to put his paramilitary units into action.

The gallant major convinced himself that if he marched on Berlin and dispersed the government, the Reichswehr, led by X. Seeckt, would support him, since Buchrucker received information from the army chief’s entourage about the general’s supposedly sympathetic attitude to the conspiracy. However, when on the night of October 1, 1923, Buchrucker's units captured three forts east of Berlin, Seeckt ordered regular army forces to surround the putschists, who quickly surrendered. This mini-coup may not have been worth mentioning, but it was indicative of a generally unstable political situation that was in danger of being blown up by the left rather than the right.

In the autumn of 1922, in the elections to the Landtags of Saxony and Thuringia, the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) achieved significant success, which strengthened its militant mood.

The ultra-left leaders of the Berlin KPD organization R. Fischer and A. Maslov launched a fierce attack on the cautious position of the party leader G. Brandler. They were supported by the leadership of the Comintern, which believed that all conditions for a socialist revolution had been created in Germany.

Events in Saxony and Thuringia seemed to confirm this. In May 1923, the Social Democratic government of Thuringia lost the confidence of the Landtag. The Reich Chancellor assigned responsibility for maintaining public order to the commander of the military district, General W. Reinhardt. But his clumsy attempts to take control of the political situation in Thuringia led to the opposite result - a rapprochement between the Social Democrats and the Communists.

In Saxony the situation was even more tense. There, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), also having suffered a parliamentary defeat, entered into an alliance with the KPD and agreed to introduce workers' control in enterprises, carry out communal reform and begin the formation of armed proletarian detachments (hundreds). On May 21, 1923, left-wing Social Democrat E. Zeigner became prime minister. After the fall of the government of W. Kuno, Saxony chose to actively support the left. On September 9, a parade of proletarian hundreds took place in Dresden, speaking in front of which the speakers predicted an imminent struggle

Terms of the Treaty of Versailles (pp. 161-164)

Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany pledged to return Alsace-Lorraine to France within the 1870 borders with all bridges across the Rhine. The coal mines of the Saar Basin became the property of France, and management of the region was transferred to the League of Nations for 15 years, after which a plebiscite was to finally resolve the issue of ownership of the Saar. The left bank of the Rhine was occupied by the Entente for 15 years. The area 50 km east of the Rhine was completely demilitarized. A plebiscite was envisaged in the districts of Eupen and Malmedy; As a result, they went to Belgium. The same applied to the areas of Schleswig-Holstein: [p. 161] they went over to Denmark. Germany recognized the independence of Czechoslovakia and Poland and refused, in favor of the former, the Gulcin region in the south of Upper Silesia, and in favor of Poland, some areas of Pomerania, Poznan, most of West Prussia and part of East Prussia. The question of Upper Silesia was resolved by plebiscite. Danzig and the region came under the control of the League of Nations, which pledged to make it a free city. It was included in the Polish customs system. Poland received the right to control the railway and river routes of the Danzig corridor. German territory was divided by the Polish Corridor.

See a detailed description of the main articles of the agreement in the Diplomatic Dictionary, vol. 1. M., Gospolitizdat, 1960, pp. 278-282.

The administration of the Saarland was to be carried out by a League of Nations commission headed by a French chairman.

The victorious powers obliged the German government to renounce its claims to Austria and guaranteed its independence. According to Art. 80 of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany pledged to recognize and “strictly respect the independence of Austria within the limits to be established by the treaty concluded between that state and the principal allied and associated powers...” (This provision was implemented by the Treaty of Saint-Germain.)

Germany abandoned all its colonies in favor of the Allies. England and France divided Cameroon and Togo between themselves. The German colonies in South West Africa were transferred to the Union of South Africa; Australia received part of New Guinea, and New Zealand received the Samoan Islands. A significant part of the German colonies in East Africa was transferred to Great Britain, part to Belgium, and the Kiong triangle to Portugal. The islands in the Pacific Ocean north of the equator that belonged to Germany, the Kiao-Chao region and the German concessions in Shandong became the possessions of Japan.

The powers that received mandates for these colonies were obliged to observe the “open door” principle here. This was a concession to the United States, which opened up the possibility of penetration of American capital into the territory of former German colonies, as well as Arab countries.

Universal conscription in Germany was abolished. The army, consisting of volunteers, should not have exceeded 100 thousand people, including a contingent of officers not exceeding 4 thousand people. The General Staff was disbanded. The navy was reduced to 6 battleships, 6 light cruisers, 12 counter-destroyers and 12 torpedo boats. Germany was prohibited from having a submarine fleet. The remaining German warships were subject to transfer to the Allies or destruction. Germany was prohibited from having military and naval aviation and any airships. However, Germany was freed from occupation. To monitor the execution of the military [p. 162] of the terms of the treaty, three international control commissions were created.

The German military-economic potential was not eliminated, it was only limited. This also applied to military monopolies. The economic terms of the agreement were as follows. A special reparations commission was supposed to determine by May 1, 1921 the amount of indemnity that Germany was obliged to cover for 30 years. Until May 1, 1921, Germany was obliged to pay the allies 20 billion marks in gold, goods, ships and securities. In addition, Germany had to provide the winners with its merchant ships with a displacement of over 1600 g, half of the ships over 1 thousand tons, one quarter fishing vessels and one fifth of its entire river fleet and within five years to build merchant ships of 200 thousand tons per year for the allies. Over the course of 10 years, Germany was obliged to supply France with up to 140 million tons of coal, Belgium - 80 million, Italy - 77 million tons. Germany was to transfer to the Allied powers half of the total supply of dyes and chemical products and one-fourth of future production until 1925

Germany renounced its rights and advantages in China, Thailand, Liberia, Morocco, Egypt and agreed to the protectorate of France over Morocco and Great Britain over Egypt. Germany had to recognize the treaties that would be concluded with Turkey and Bulgaria. She pledged to renounce the Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest peace treaties and recognize and respect the independence of all territories that were part of the former Russian Empire by August 1, 1914. Art. 116 of the peace treaty recognized Russia’s right to receive the corresponding part of reparations from Germany. According to the secret appendix to Art. 433 Germany left the occupation forces in the east until further notice from the Allies. Thus, Germany was assigned the role of an active participant in foreign armed intervention in Soviet Russia.

On the eastern and southern borders of Germany, its defensive structures were preserved, although western borders they were demolished. “It was considered undesirable,” said the US representative on the military commission, General Degoutte, “to demand their destruction... because they could serve as a defense against Bolshevism.” The issue of German borders was resolved taking into account anti-Soviet plans Western countries. These resolutions of the peace treaty, like the entire course of the work of the Versailles Conference, indicated that the conference in [p. 163] Paris was a kind of headquarters for the armed intervention of the imperialist powers against Soviet Russia. [page 164]

"Foreign Relations... The Paris Peace Conference, 1919", vol. IV, Washington, 1943, p. 300.

According to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany pledged to return Alsace-Lorraine to France within the 1870 borders with all bridges across the Rhine. The coal mines of the Saar Basin became the property of France, and management of the region was transferred to the League of Nations for 15 years, after which a plebiscite was to finally resolve the issue of ownership of the Saar. The left bank of the Rhine was occupied by the Entente for 15 years. The area 50 km east of the Rhine was completely demilitarized. A plebiscite was envisaged in the districts of Eupen and Malmedy, as a result they were transferred to Belgium. The same applied to the areas of Schleswig-Holstein: they passed to Denmark. Germany recognized the independence of Czechoslovakia and Poland and refused, in favor of the former, the Gulchinsky region in the south of Upper Silesia, and in favor of Poland, some areas of Pomerania, Poznan, most of West Prussia and part of East Prussia. The question of Upper Silesia was resolved by plebiscite. Danzig and the region passed to the League of Nations, which pledged to make it a free city. It was included in the Polish customs system. Poland received the right to control the railway and river routes of the Danzig corridor. German territory was divided by the "Polish Corridor".

In total, one eighth of the territory and one twelfth of the population were torn away from Germany. The Allies occupied all German colonies. England and France divided Cameroon and Togo between themselves. The German colonies in South West Africa were transferred to the Union of South Africa. Australia received New Guinea, and New Zealand received the Samoan Islands. A significant part of the German colonies in East Africa was transferred to Great Britain, part to Belgium, and the Kiong triangle to Portugal. The islands in the Pacific Ocean north of the equator that belonged to Germany, the Kiao-Chao region and the German concessions in Shandong became the possessions of Japan.

Universal conscription in Germany was abolished. The army, consisting of volunteers, should not have exceeded 100 thousand people, including a contingent of officers not exceeding 4 thousand people. The General Staff was disbanded. The recruitment period for non-commissioned officers and soldiers was determined to be 12 years, and for newly appointed officers - 25 years. All German fortifications were destroyed, with the exception of the southern and eastern ones.

From March 31, 1920 at the latest, the German army will not have to consist of more than seven infantry divisions and three cavalry divisions.

Each infantry division should consist of 410 officers and 10,830 privates, and a cavalry division - 275 officers and 5,300 privates.

The infantry division's artillery was to consist of twenty-seven 7.7 cm cannons and twelve 10.5 cm howitzers, 9 medium and 27 light mortars. The cavalry division had to make do with only twelve 7.7 cm cannons.

Field units were not supposed to have heavy artillery. The German army was generally prohibited from having anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery, as well as tanks and armored cars.

According to Article 181 of the treaty: “After a period of two months from the date of entry into force of this Treaty, the strength of the German navy shall not exceed in armed vessels:

6 battleships of the "Deutschland" or "Lothringen" type,

6 light cruisers,

12 counter-destroyers,

12 destroyers

or an equal number of replacement vessels constructed as provided in Article 190.

They must not contain any submarines.

All other warships, insofar as there is no provision to the contrary in this Treaty, must be put into reserve or assigned a commercial purpose.”

According to Article 191: “The construction and acquisition of any submarine vessels, even commercial ones, will be prohibited to Germany.”

Germany was deprived of the right to use long-distance radio communications.

According to Article 197: “During the three months which follow the entry into force of this Treaty, the German high-power radiotelegraph stations at Nauen, Hanover and Berlin shall not be used, without the permission of the Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, for the transmission of messages relating to matters of a naval, military or political nature and of interest to Germany or the powers that were allies of Germany during the war. These stations may transmit commercial telegrams, but only under the control of the named governments, which will determine the length of the waves used.

During the same period, Germany must not build high-power radio-telegraph stations either on its own territory or on the territory of Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria or Turkey."

Neither the army nor the navy were to have any aircraft at all, or even “controllable balloons.”

According to Article 201: “For the six months following the entry into force of this Treaty, the manufacture and importation of aircraft, aircraft parts, as well as aircraft engines and aircraft engine parts shall be prohibited throughout Germany.”

Germany was actually losing sovereignty over its territory. Thus, all its airfields were to be open to Allied aircraft, which could fly anywhere and anytime. The Kiel Canal, passing deep into German territory, was always supposed to be open to trade and military (!) ships of the Allies. The rivers Elbe, Oder, Neman and Danube (from Ulm to the confluence with the Black Sea) were declared international routes.

Three international control commissions were created to monitor the implementation of the military terms of the treaty.

The economic terms of the agreement were as follows. A special reparations commission was supposed to determine by May 1, 1921 the amount of indemnity that Germany was obliged to cover for 30 years. Until May 1, 1921, Germany pledged to pay the Allies 20 billion marks in gold, goods, ships and securities. In exchange for the sunken ships, Germany was to provide all of its merchant ships with a displacement of over 1,600 tons, half of the ships with a displacement of over 1,000 tons, one quarter of the fishing vessels and one fifth of its entire river fleet, and within five years build merchant ships for the allies with a total displacement of 200 thousand tons per year.

The seizure of the German merchant fleet was an open act of piracy. It is curious that the allies did the same with the Russian merchant fleet, however, without any articles of agreement. Now Russian-speaking educated intellectuals are touched by Baron Wrangel, who supposedly preserved the honor of the Russian flag by bringing the Russian fleet to Bizerte under the St. Andrew’s flag. It is curious that Wrangel took 134 pennants from Crimea, one small destroyer sank along the way, but about 15 ships arrived in Bizerte. Rhetorical question: where did the rest go? Yes, the baron “pushed” them at a dumping price, and the money mostly went into the pockets of French admirals and generals. Well, of course, something went to both the baron himself and his entourage. In Bizerte, no one needed worn-out warships. In 1925, Narkomfin valued the Black Sea merchant ships hijacked by Wrangel at 8 million 300 thousand gold rubles.

Similarly, the Whites took away and sold the entire merchant fleet from Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. Admiral Stark took an entire flotilla from Vladivostok to Manila and sold it to the Americans there.

Among other things, Germany, over the course of 10 years, pledged to supply France with up to 140 million tons of coal, Belgium - 80 million, Italy - 77 million. Germany was to transfer to the Allied powers half of the total supply of dyes and chemical products and one-fourth of the future production until 1925 Germany renounced its rights and advantages in China, Siam, Liberia, Morocco, Egypt and agreed to the protectorate of France over Morocco and Great Britain over Egypt.

The articles of the Treaty of Versailles in the section “Russia and Russian States” are very interesting. According to Article 116: “Germany recognizes and undertakes to respect, as permanent and inalienable, the independence of all territories that were part of the former Russian Empire on August 1, 1914.

In accordance with the provisions included in Articles 259 and 292 of Parts IX (Financial Regulations) and X (Economic Regulations) of this Treaty, Germany finally recognizes the abolition of the Brest-Litovsk Treaties, as well as any other treaties, agreements or conventions concluded by it with the Maximalist Government in Russia.

The Allied and Associated Powers formally stipulate the rights of Russia to receive from Germany all restitutions and reparations based on the principles of this Treaty."

The article seems to be quite decent. But already in the first phrase there is boundless arrogance and stupidity of the “wise men of Versailles.”

By June 28, 1919, there was a Civil War, and not only whites fought with reds. The war was waged by dozens of nationalist cliques with the Reds, the Whites and among themselves. There were no borders yet. Even the operatic Estonian and Latvian governments could not agree on a common border, and things came to armed clashes. What “independent” states should Germany have recognized and what borders? As history has shown, there was no unity in recognizing certain borders within the former Russian Empire even among the Western allies themselves.

Article 116 was specifically written by the Allies in order to quarrel between Germany and red or white Russia in advance - it makes no difference.

As for Russia's right to reparations with Germany, this was a mockery of two great nations. On the one hand, Russia in the war of 1914–1918. suffered human and material losses much greater than France, and in fairness should have received large reparations from Germany. But, on the other hand, Germany was physically unable to pay the reparations already imposed on it by France, England and Belgium. So what could Russia get, whether Bolshevik or Denikinist?

Assessing the Treaty of Versailles, Lenin called it predatory and brutal: “He takes coal from Germany, takes dairy cows and places her in conditions of unheard of, unprecedented slavery.”

The phrase became even more accurate: the Treaty of Versailles “is the greatest blow that the capitalists and imperialists... of the victorious countries could inflict on themselves.”

I note that Lenin was not the only one who predicted the collapse of the Treaty of Versailles; dozens of diplomats and politicians from England, the USA, Italy and Germany expressed something similar. The world became only a twenty-year truce.

On June 28, 1919, a peace treaty was signed in Versailles, France, officially ending the First World War. world war.

In January 1919, an international conference met at the Palace of Versailles in France to finalize the outcome of the First World War. Its main task was to develop peace treaties with Germany and other defeated states.

At the conference, which was attended by 27 states, the tone was set by the so-called “Big Three” - British Prime Minister D. Lloyd George, French Prime Minister J. Clemenceau, and US President William Wilson. The defeated countries and Soviet Russia were not invited to the conference.

Until March 1919, all negotiations and development of the terms of the peace treaty took place at regular meetings of the “Council of Ten,” which included the heads of government and foreign ministers of the five main victorious countries: Great Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Japan. Later it turned out that the creation of this coalition turned out to be too cumbersome and formal an event for effective decision-making. Therefore, representatives of Japan and the foreign ministers of most other countries participating in the conference stopped taking part in the main meetings. Thus, during the negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference, only representatives of Italy, Great Britain, France and the United States remained.

On June 28, 1919, at the Palace of Versailles near Paris, they signed a peace treaty with Germany, which officially ended the First World War and became one of the most important international treaties of the entire 20th century.

According to the agreement, the Germans lost all their colonial possessions. This also applied to recent conquests in Europe - Alsace and Lorraine went to France. In addition, Germany also lost part of its ancestral lands: Northern Schleswig went to Denmark, Belgium received the districts of Eupen and Malmedy, as well as the Morena region. The newly formed Polish state included the bulk of the provinces of Poznan and West Prussia, as well as small territories in Pomerania, East Prussia and Upper Silesia.

Near the mouth of the Vistula River, the so-called “Polish Corridor” was created, separating East Prussia from the rest of Germany. German Danzig was declared a “free city” under the supreme control of the League of Nations, and the coal mines of the Saar region were temporarily transferred to France. The left bank of the Rhine was occupied by Entente troops, and a demilitarized zone 50 kilometers wide was created on the right bank. The rivers Rhine, Elbe and Oder were declared free for the passage of foreign ships.

In addition, Germany was prohibited from having aircraft, airships, tanks, submarines and ships with a displacement of more than 10 thousand tons. Its fleet could include 6 light battleships, 6 light cruisers, as well as 12 destroyers and torpedo boats. Such a tiny army was no longer suitable for the defense of the country.

It was the conditions of the Versailles Peace - unbearably difficult and humiliating for Germany - that ultimately led Europe to World War II. The Germans quite rightly considered the humiliating treaty a dictate from the victors. Revanchist sentiments were especially strong among former military men, who were perplexed by the capitulation despite the fact that the German army was not defeated at all. After all, it was from this environment that the figure of Hitler eventually emerged.

The majority of the population perceived democracy as a foreign order imposed by the victorious countries. The idea of ​​revenge became a consolidating factor for German society - the struggle against Versailles began. Politicians who called for restraint and compromise in foreign policy, were accused of weakness and betrayal. This prepared the ground on which the totalitarian and aggressive Nazi regime subsequently grew.

The basis of the Versailles-Washington system of international relations was the Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919 at the Palace of Versailles (France). The subjects of this agreement were: Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, etc. The Treaty of Versailles officially ended the First World War (1914-1918), summed up its results and thus laid the foundations of the post-war world order.

The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were worked out (after lengthy secret meetings) at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919-1920. The treaty came into force on January 10, 1920, following ratification by Germany and the four main Allied powers—Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan. The US Senate refused ratification due to the reluctance of the United States to commit itself to participation in the League of Nations (where the influence of Great Britain and France prevailed), the charter of which was an integral part of the Treaty of Versailles. In exchange for this treaty, the United States concluded a special treaty with Germany in August 1921, almost identical to Versailles, but which did not contain articles on the League of Nations.

The Treaty of Versailles was intended to consolidate the redivision of the world in favor of the victorious powers. According to it, Germany returned Alsace-Lorraine to France (within the borders of 1870); transferred Belgium and the district of Malmedia to Eupen, as well as the so-called neutral and Prussian parts of Morena; Poland–Posen (Poznan), parts of Pomerania (Pomerania) and other territories of West Prussia; The city of Danzig (Gdansk) and its district was declared a “free city”; the Memel (Klaipeda) region (Memelland) was transferred under the control of the victorious powers (in February 1923 annexed to Lithuania).

The question of statehood of Schleswig, southern East Prussia and Upper Silesia was to be decided by plebiscite. As a result, part of Schleswig passed to Denmark in 1920, part of Upper Silesia in 1921 to Poland, the southern part of East Prussia remained with Germany; went to Czechoslovakia small area Silesian territory.

The lands on the right bank of the Oder, Lower Silesia, most of Upper Silesia and others remained with Germany. Saarland came under the control of the League of Nations for 15 years, and after 15 years the fate of Saarland was to be decided by a plebiscite. The coal mines of the Saar were transferred to French ownership.

Under the treaty, Germany recognized and pledged to strictly observe the independence of Austria, and also recognized the full independence of Poland and Czechoslovakia. The entire German part of the left bank of the Rhine and a strip of the right bank 50 km wide were subject to demilitarization.

The redistribution of the German colonies was carried out as follows. In Africa, Tanganyi became a British mandate, the Ruanda-Urundi region became a Belgian mandate, the Kionga Triangle (South-East Africa) was transferred to Portugal (these territories were previously part of the German East Africa), Great Britain and France divided Togo and Cameroon; South Africa received a mandate for South West Africa. In the Pacific Ocean

The German-owned islands north of the equator were assigned to Japan as mandate territories, German New Guinea was assigned to the Australian Union, and the islands of Western Samoa were assigned to New Zealand.

Germany, according to the Treaty of Versailles, renounced all concessions and privileges in China, the right of consular jurisdiction, all property in Siam, all treaties and agreements with Liberia, recognized the protectorate of France over Morocco and Great Britain over Egypt. Germany's rights in relation to Jiaozhou and the entire Shandong province of China were transferred to Japan (as a result of this, the Treaty of Versailles was not signed by China).

According to the Treaty of Versailles armed forces Germany was to be limited to a 100,000-strong land army; compulsory military service was abolished, the bulk of the remaining navy was to be transferred to the victors, and strict restrictions were also imposed on the construction of new warships. Germany was prohibited from having many modern types of weapons - combat aircraft, armored vehicles (with the exception of a small number of outdated vehicles - armored vehicles for police needs). Germany was obliged to compensate in the form of reparations for losses incurred by the governments and individual citizens of the Entente countries as a result of military actions (the determination of the amount of reparations was entrusted to a special Reparations Commission).

According to Article 116 of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany recognized “the independence of all territories that were part of the former Russian Empire on August 1, 1914,” as well as the abolition of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty of 1918 and all other treaties concluded by it with the Bolshevik government. Article 117 of the Treaty of Versailles called into question the legitimacy of the Bolshevik regime in Russia and obliged Germany to recognize all treaties and agreements of the Allied and Associated Powers with states that “were or are being formed in all or part of the territories of the former Russian Empire.”