1920 in Germany - Overview

Overview

Consider first the territorial changes which had been brought about by the Treaty of Versailles (and also certain internal territorial rearrangements which had taken place as the result of the revolution). By the Treaty of Versailles provinces had been severed from Germany in almost all directions.

The two most important cessions of territory were the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to France and of a large stretch of territory in West Prussia, Posen, and Upper Silesia to Poland. Of these, the territory ceded to Poland amounted to nearly 20,000 square miles (50,000 km2), and, coupled with the establishment of Danzig as an independent state, which was also imposed upon Germany, this loss had the effect of cutting off East Prussia from the main territory of Germany.

Danzig and Memel were to be ceded to the Allies, their fate to be subsequently decided. A portion of Silesia was to be ceded to Czechoslovakia. Also, apart from the actual cessions of territory, the treaty arranged that plebiscites should be held in certain areas to decide the destinies of the districts concerned. Certain districts of East Prussia and West Prussia were to poll to decide whether they should belong to Germany or to Poland. A third portion of Silesia, which was in dispute between Germany and Poland, was to exercise the right of self-determination. The small districts of Eupen and Malmedy were to decide whether they would belong to Belgium or to Germany. The middle and southern districts of the province of Schleswig, which had been annexed to Prussia in 1866, were to decide their own destinies. Finally, the coal-producing valley of the Saarland, which had been provisionally separated from Germany, was to be the subject of a referendum after the lapse of fifteen years.

The Allied and Associated governments had assumed the task of revising territorial changes and arrangements dating back to the latter half of the 18th century. The conference cancelled completely the expansion of Germany over the past 150 years; but did not cancel the schism in Germany - the exclusion of Austria - which had been incidental to that expansion.