What did the Treaty of Versailles do to Austria
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Paris Peace Conference, 1919-1920 During the course of the Paris Peace Conference, three treaties were signed with members of the former Central Powers, with two additional treaties finalized after the official closing of the conference in January 1920. The first, and most significant, was the Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919. Despite the multitude of issues to address and the lack
of a clear agenda, the “Big Four” saw Germany as the top priority; prevailing sentiment perceived Germany as initiating war in 1914. It was clear, however, that different desired outcomes existed, especially as Clemenceau insisted Germany be geographically and militarily dismembered so to never again pose a threat to France. The most contentious issue, and most remembered today, was the question of reparations. Ultimately, Germany and its allies were assigned responsibility for all
war damages but exact payment amounts were left unspecified. The German delegates following Mr. Brockdorff-Rantzau, leaving the house where the Peace Treaty was handed to them in Versailles, 1919. The German delegation, not present throughout any of the discussions, was presented with the draft of the treaty in May 1919. After trying and failing to negotiate some of the more severe
terms and facing threats of resumed war should they not sign, the German delegates signed the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919 in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. Map of territory lost by Germany. (Click to enlarge.) Having concluded terms
of peace with Germany, the Allies turned their attention to the remaining former Central Powers. The Treaty of Saint-Germain, signed on September 10, 1919, formally dissolved the Austro-Hungarian Empire and forced the new Republic of Austria to accept the independence of over 60 percent of its former territory. This territory included the new nations of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, as well as part of Poland. Bulgaria signed the Treaty of Neuilly a
couple of months later, losing territory to the new Yugoslavia and all access to the Aegean Sea. Hungary, now an independent state following its separation from Austria less than a month before the Armistice, lost two-thirds of its former territory and 58 percent of its population in the Treaty of Trianon, signed on June 4, 1920. Mehmed V, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire until his death in July 1918, c.
1914-1915. The final treaty of the Paris Peace Conference, The Treaty of Sevres, was signed in August of 1920 between the Allies and the former Ottoman Empire. Although accepted by Sultan Mehmed VI, it was rejected by Mustafa Kemal, a Turk nationalist then leading a war for independence. Negotiations between Kemal’s representatives and the Allies finally resulted in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which recognized the new nation of Turkey. This
proved the longest-lasting of all the Paris treaties, a testament to equal negotiations between participants and the acceptance of compromise. A view of Smyrna (now in modern day Turkey) taken from the USS Arizona in 1919. Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (French: Traité de Saint-Germain-en-Laye) was signed on 10 September 1919 by the victorious Allies of World War I on the one hand and by the Republic of German-Austria on the other. Like the Treaty of Trianon with Hungary and the Treaty of Versailles with Germany, it contained the Covenant of the League of Nations and as a result was not ratified by the United States but was followed by the US–Austrian Peace Treaty of 1921. The treaty signing ceremony took place at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.[1] Background[edit]As a preamble, on 21 October 1918, 208 German-speaking delegates of the Austrian Imperial Council had convened in a "provisional national assembly of German-Austria" at the Lower Austrian Landtag. When the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Army culminated at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, the Social Democrat Karl Renner was elected German-Austrian State Chancellor on 30 October. In the course of the Aster Revolution on 31 October, the newly established Hungarian People's Republic under Minister President Mihály Károlyi declared the real union with Austria terminated. With the Armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918, the fate of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was sealed. On 11 November 1918 Emperor Charles I of Austria officially declared to "relinquish every participation in the administration", one day later the provisional assembly declared German-Austria a democratic republic and part of the German Republic. However, on the territory of the Cisleithanian ("Austrian") half of the former empire, the newly established states of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Yugoslav Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (the "successor states") had been proclaimed. Moreover, South Tyrol and Trentino were occupied by Italian forces and Yugoslav troops entered the former Duchy of Carinthia, leading to violent fights. An Austrian Constitutional Assembly election was held on 16 February 1919. The Assembly re-elected Karl Renner state chancellor and enacted the Habsburg Law concerning the banishment of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. When Chancellor Renner arrived at Saint-Germain in May 1919, he and the Austrian delegation found themselves excluded from the negotiations led by French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau. Upon an Allied ultimatum, Renner signed the treaty on 10 September. The Treaty of Trianon in June 1920 between Hungary and the Allies completed the disposition of the former Dual Monarchy. Provisions[edit]Ratification certificate of Treaty of Saint Germain The treaty declared that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was to be dissolved. According to article 177 Austria, along with the other Central Powers, accepted responsibility for starting the war. The new Republic of Austria, consisting of most of the German-speaking Danubian and Alpine provinces in former Cisleithania, recognized the independence of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The treaty included 'war reparations' of large sums of money, directed towards the Allies (however the exact amount has never been defined and collected from Austria). Territory[edit]Cisleithanian Austria had to face significant territorial losses, amounting to over 60 percent of the prewar Austrian Empire's territory: Dissolution of Austria-Hungary
The Allies had explicitly committed themselves to the cause of the minority peoples of Austria-Hungary late in the war. Indeed, U. S. Secretary of State Robert Lansing had effectively ended what slim chance existed for Austria-Hungary to survive the war when he told Vienna that since the Allies were now committed to the Czechs, Slovaks and South Slavs, autonomy for the nationalities–the tenth of the Fourteen Points–was no longer enough. Reflecting this, the Allies not only allowed the minority peoples to help create new states (Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia), recreate former states (Poland), or join their ethnic brethren in existing nation-states (Romania, Italy), but allowed the successor states to absorb significant blocks of German-inhabited territory. In addition the negotiators on the Allied side, particularly Wilson, did not understand when speaking of self-determination that no convenient line could be drawn to separate intermingled nationalities, and that in further cases, irredentists would claim that some German or Hungarian-inhabited territories had actually been theirs. This was as well rendered by the fact that in just a few cases were plebiscites allowed regarding the disputed territories to ascertain the wishes of the local populaces. Politics and military[edit]Article 88 of the treaty required Austria to refrain from directly or indirectly compromising its independence, which meant that Austria could not enter into political or economic union with the German Reich without the agreement of the council of the League of Nations. Accordingly, the new republic's initial self-chosen name of German-Austria (German: Deutschösterreich) had to be changed to Austria. Many Austrians would come to find this term harsh (especially among the Austrian Germans being a vast majority who would support a single German nation state), due to Austria's later economic weakness, which was caused by loss of land. Because of all these reasons, Austria would later lead to support for the idea of Anschluss (political union) with Nazi Germany. Conscription was abolished and the Austrian Army was limited to a force of 30,000 volunteers. There were numerous provisions dealing with Danubian navigation, the transfer of railways, and other details involved in the breakup of a great empire into several small independent states. The vast reduction of population, territory and resources of the new Austria relative to the old empire wreaked havoc on the economy of the old nation, most notably in Vienna, an imperial capital now without an empire to support it. For a time, the country's very unity was called into question. See also[edit]
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What happened to Austria after the Treaty of Versailles?Although Austria was made liable for reparations, no money was ever actually paid. Austrian officials protested the violation of the principle of self-determination in the treaty, the placement of so many ethnic Germans under Czechoslovak and Italian rule, and the forbiddance of unity with Germany.
What did the Treaty of Versailles do to Germany and Austria?The Treaty of Versailles held Germany responsible for starting the war and imposed harsh penalties on the Germans, including loss of territory, massive reparations payments and demilitarization.
Did the Treaty of Versailles split AustriaAnswer and Explanation: The Treaty of Versailles split Austria-Hungary into two separate nations (Hungary and Austria). More than that, Austria-Hungary was forced to both give land to and recognize the independence of the following nations: Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia.
What did the Treaty of Versailles say about a union with Austria?The Anschluss was the union of Germany and Austria to create a "Greater Germany." This was explicitly banned by the Treaty of Versailles (the settlement at the end of World War I between Germany and its opponents), but Hitler drove it through despite this on March 13, 1938.
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