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The protracted First World War was finally over. This war was fought and ended in a vacuum.
The October Revolution withdrew Russia from the war, and it is said that the weakening of the allied side would be more beneficial to the Allies. I did not think that the Allies were even more muddy, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was engaged in national independence movements everywhere, and it was too busy to take care of itself.
The situation in the German Empire, the leading big brother, was also very bad, the class contradictions were very sharp, and the workers' movement was frequent, and it was necessary to learn from the October Revolution in Russia. At the end of October 1918, the "November Revolution" broke out, and on November 9, Kaiser Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate and the German Empire collapsed.
Two days later, on November 11, 1918, Representatives of the German military arrived at the Allied headquarters in the Forest of Compiègne, France, where they had to sign the harsh armistice.
When the news of Germany's surrender came, the French people rejoiced. The old French Prime Minister Clemenceausin was even more tearful: "I have finally waited for this day of revenge!" ”
Clemenceau's revenge refers to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
Clemenceau, 1841-1929
In order to unify Germany, the Kingdom of Prussia did not want a powerful state to rise next to it, so naturally it did everything possible to hinder prussia's cause of unification, and the two countries went to war. The war was essentially a Thucydides trap.
In the end, Prussia won a great victory and unified Germany. In France, a revolution broke out, which led directly to the fall of the Second French Empire.
To the infuriation of the French, King William I of Prussia was crowned emperor at the Palace of Versailles in France, establishing the German Empire. This is, of course, a show-off as a victor to humiliate the loser. This humiliation is absolutely intolerable to the French, who have swept through Europe, and they will surely wait for revenge. (Victory in a battle, revenge with an arrow)
Defeated France also had to sign the humiliating Treaty of Frankfurt, ceding Alsace and eastern Lorraine to Germany.
The "Last Lesson" we learned in elementary school is about the fact that after Alsace and Lorraine were ceded to Germany, Germany did not let the locals teach in French anymore, so Mr. Hammel gave the students one last French lesson, and at the end of the class, he wrote "Long live France!" on the blackboard! ”
The article almost reflects the tragedy of the defeated French for their inability to do anything about the Frankfurt Treaty and their hatred of the Germans.
The Treaty of Frankfurt also provided for France to pay Germany 5 billion francs in reparations, to be paid over three years. During these three years, the Germans remained in France until the reparations had been paid, and the military expenses were borne by France. It's really harsh.
Now that the Germans are defeated, the opportunity for revenge has come.
The Allies' conference to conclude a peace treaty with Germany will be held in Paris, and Clemenceau will take back all that France has lost, and punish Germany fiercely, so that they will never be able to get up!
In January 1919, the Paris Peace Conference was held in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. This was the first step in which France, in turn, humiliated Germany. When King William I of Prussia was crowned Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, germany is once again under the "trial" of the victorious powers.
At the opening ceremony of the Paris Peace Conference, French President Poincaré said: "Forty-eight years ago today, the German Empire was born in this hall. Because it was born of unrighteousness, it deserves to die of shame! ”
Poincaré, 1860-1934
The Paris Peace Conference was attended by twenty-seven victorious Allied countries, representing 1,000 delegates. Russia, the "half-way" Allied power (now a Soviet federation), was excluded from the peace conference, and none of the defeated countries participated. Obviously, this is just a meeting of the victors.
However, the right to speak is not in the hands of all the victors, and the protagonists at the meeting are the five major powers of Britain, France, the United States, Italy, and Japan, and only Britain, France, and the United States can really manipulate the conference. The so-called three giants of the Paris Peace Conference are French Prime Minister Clemenceau, British Prime Minister Lloyd Georges and US President Wilson.
The great powers, each conceiving a ghost, tried to redivide the world according to their own wishes, and the Paris Peace Conference became a conference to divide the spoils.
France became Europe's largest land-based military power through World War I, and in order to ensure its supremacy as a European hegemon, they must guard against Germany's comeback. Clemenceau's opinion was that Germany must be severely sanctioned in an attempt to dismember Germany. An independent Rhine Republic was established on the left bank of the Rhine, which became a buffer zone between France and Germany.
This opinion was the first in the UK to jump out against it. Britain's policy of perpetual immutable is to balance the countries of the European continent and not to make the continent a superpower. When Napoleon swept through Europe, Britain decisively formed an anti-French alliance to prevent France from unifying the European continent. In World War I, Britain resolutely joined the Entente to prevent Germany from becoming too strong.
Now Clemenceau's attempt to dismember Germany was a concern for the British, who did not want to bring Germany to stagnant and leave France alone. British Prime Minister Lloyd George is most concerned about how to plunder Germany's overseas colonies, but don't hurt the German homeland.
The United States is a rising capitalist power, they made a lot of windfall during World War I, they entered the war relatively late, and their losses were small.
U.S. President Wilson continued to promote his "Fourteen-Point Plan" at the Paris Peace Conference. Now, Wilson's Fourteen-Point Plan was a good proposal, but it was so idealistic that it ran into a wall in the face of political fritters like Clemenceau and Lloyd George.
Britain and France ostensibly agreed to wilson's "Fourteen-Point Plan" as the basis for the Paris Peace Conference negotiations, but in fact only the formation of the League of Nations was finally achieved, and other plans were not implemented. In the end, the Fourteen-Point Plan failed completely.
The Paris Peace Conference lasted for nearly half a year, and after fierce quarrels and bargaining, the great powers reached a compromise with each other, and on June 28, 1919, the Versailles Treaty was signed in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles.
The contract stipulated that France would take back the Alsace and Lorraine regions, which had been taken by Germany after the Franco-Prussian War, and acquire fifteen years' mining rights to Germany's largest Saar coal mine.
German territory on the left bank of the Rhine was occupied by the Allies for fifteen years, and many of the original border areas were ceded to Denmark, Belgium, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and other countries. Germany lost one-eighth of its territory and twelve percent of its population.
At the same time, Germany banned the production of heavy weapons such as tanks, armored vehicles, submarines, heavy artillery and military aircraft, and only allowed 100,000 troops to be retained.
These harsh terms provided favorable conditions for Hitler's later incitement to populism. The Treaty of Versailles carried the German people with heavy burdens and suppressed anger. When this anger was vented, World War II broke out.
In addition, the three giants of the Paris Peace Conference regarded Bolshevism as a flood beast, and they decided to impose an economic blockade on Soviet Russia.
The Paris Peace Conference also established the "League of Nations", or League of Nations for short. Although the purpose of the League of Nations is to promote international cooperation and maintain world peace, it has in fact become a tool for safeguarding imperialist interests.
The League of Nations delegated the colonies belonging to Germany and the Ottoman Empire to British, French, Belgian, and Japanese rule, respectively. After a reshuffle, the colony was still a colony, but it was just a change of owners.
As one of the twenty-seven victorious powers, China should reclaim all the privileges of Jiaozhou Bay and Germany in Shandong, which was forcibly leased by Germany before the war. But japan took a fancy to this place, and they offered to inherit all German rights and interests in Shandong and withdraw from the peace conference if they were different. Britain, France and the United States agreed. They cannot afford to offend Japan, and it is easy to offend China.
Chinese delegation to the Paris Peace Conference
This incident infuriated the people of Chinese and set off a vigorous anti-imperialist and anti-feudal "May Fourth Movement." Under domestic pressure, Chinese delegates withdrew from the peace conference and refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles.
Interestingly, even though Wilson signed the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, the U.S. Congress voted down Wilson's signature in November 1919.
As one of the three giants of the Paris Peace Conference, the United States originally wanted to use the Paris Peace Conference to achieve the purpose of world leaders, but after a fierce operation, it found that most of their various abacuses were not realized, but Britain and France fished a lot of oil and water.
It can be said that this so-called peace conference has planted a lot of mines, and several major powers in the world are more or less dissatisfied with this conference on sharing the spoils. Another world war is brewing.
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