The Treaties of World War 1

After 4 years of war on the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month of 1918, the guns fell silent in battle fields around the country, do to a German cease-fire. The problems of war were now replaced by the equally pressing problems of peace.

Treaty of Versailles

On June 28th in 1919 the Germans signed the Treaty of Versailles on the terms of

• Germany was responsible for the starting of world war 1, 

• Germany was to make massive payments to Belgium and France for the evastation brought about by her aggression ,

• Germany was to limit her army to 100 000 soldiers, abolish her air force,drastically reduce her navy and all her submarines were to be destroyed and

• Germany was to hand over all her colonies to the allies. Alsace and Lorraine to be returned to France. The coal-producing Saar was to be administered by France for 15 years. 

The Allies wanted to see Germany never go to war again by the signing of the peace treaty but, Hitler later exploited this resentment during the rise to power by promising to return Germany to her former greatness.

The treaty of Versailles was not the first or the last treaty to be signed for world war 1 though. The Allies signed subsequent treaties elsewhere in Paris with Austria in September 1919, Bulgaria in November 1919, Turkey in April 1920 and Hungary in June 1920. By now, a new map of Europe had formed.



The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk



The Treaty of Versailles might have stopped the war for most of the nation's in World War 1, but for Russia the war ended with the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The peace treaty was signed on March 3rd, 1918 between her and the Central Powers.

The treaty of Brest-Litovsk provided relief to the Bolsheviks, who were tied up in the Russian civil war and affirmed the independence of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuana. In Poland the peace treaty caused riots, protests and an end to support to the Central Powers.