A German poster from 1919 showing 'what we are supposed to lose.'
By Carolyn Yeager
THE 100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE SIGNING OF THE VERSAILLES PEACE TREATY was quietly commemorated this week in Germany. The date of the signing was June 28, 1919.
The treaty was 100% the creation of the Allied victors. No German negotiators were allowed to participate in discussing its content. Thus the peace treaty was a fait accompli which Germans never agreed to but were compelled to sign. It forced the country to pay billions in reparations; to give up its colonies in Africa, Asia and the Pacific region; and to cede almost 20% of its territory to other nations: Alsace-Lorraine became French and most of West Prussia became Polish. The victorious powers — led by the United States, Britain, France and Italy — declared Germany and its allies to be solely responsible for the outbreak of the war that they themselves had turned into a World War. They accused the Germans of having forced them into war (when it was clearly the other way around), thus holding the Reich accountable for "all losses and damages" incurred.
Bookmark/Search this post with
