What restrictions was imposed upon the natives of alasce and lorriene
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:
Hamel on the basis of your study of the story, „The Last Lesson‟. The Last Lesson by Alphonse Daudet centers on a French teacher, M. Hamel, who has been asked to leave. An order from Berlin banned the teaching of French in Alsace and Lorraine.
In January 1919, two months after the fighting in World War I ceased, a conference was convened at Versailles, the former country estate of the French monarchy outside Paris, to work out the terms of a peace treaty to officially end the conflict.
Though representatives of nearly 30 nations attended, the peace terms essentially were written by the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and the United States, who along with Italy, formed the “Big Four” that dominated the proceedings. The defeated countries—Germany and allies Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria—weren’t invited to participate.
In the end the Allies agreed that they would punish Germany and attempt to weaken that nation so much that it wouldn’t pose a future threat. Germany’s representatives had no real choice but to accept the terms.
Treaty of Versailles
Italian Premier Vittorio Orlando, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, French Premier Georges Clemenceau & U.S. President Woodrow Wilson meeting at Wilson's Paris home prior to the signing of the Versailles Treaty.
Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
The text of the treaty signed in Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors on June 28, 1919 amounted to 240 pages and contained 440 separate articles. The treaty lacked long-term enforcement mechanisms and was further weakened when, despite U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s efforts, the U.S. Congress refused to ratify it in November 1919.
Some have argued that the treaty’s harsh terms actually contributed to conditions that led to Europe plunging into another war just 20 years later.
Here are some of the key provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.
Hand Over Territories and Colonies
Articles 45-40 compelled Germany to turn over its coal mines in the Saar Basin to France, although they technically were under control of the League of Nations.
“After a 15-year period, there was supposed to be a plebiscite and residents could choose whether to be German or French,” explains Karl Qualls, a professor of history at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. When the election finally was held in 1935, 90 percent of them voted to be part of Germany.
Article 51 took the territory of Alsace-Lorraine, which Germany had seized during the 1871 and gave it back to France.
Articles 42-44 and Article 180 forced the Germans to dismantle their fortifications along the Rhine river. Demilitarization of the Rhineland “was a big initiative of France,” says Qualls. “They were trying to prevent Germany from being an aggressive power again, and also weakening them by allowing for an invasion by France as well.”
Article 80 required Germany to respect the independence of Austria.
Treaty of Versailles with signatures of Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson, Andrew Bonar Law and James Balfour.
Treaty of Versailles with signatures of Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson, Andrew Bonar Law and James Balfour.
Universal History Archive/UIG/Getty images
Articles 81-86 compelled Germany to renounce territorial claims and recognize the independence of Czechoslovakia, a new nation formed from several provinces of former German ally Austria-Hungary, whose western portion had a sizable minority of ethnic Germans.
Articles 87-93 gave what had been German West Prussia and other territory with ethnic German inhabitants to newly-independent Poland.
Article 119 stripped Germany of its colonies in China and Africa, which Qualls explains was a particularly humbling provision. Prior to the war, “if you were going to be a European power, you had to have colonial possessions,” he says.
Limits on Arms, Forces and Equipment
Articles 159-163 reduced the size of the German army, which had reached 1.9 million troops during World War I, to just 100,000, and mandated that the force “shall be devoted exclusively to the maintenance of order within the territory and to the control of the frontiers.”
It even specified strict limits on the number of infantry, artillery and engineers, and limited the officer corps to 4,000. The German military was just neutered, basically,” Qualls says.
Articles 164-172 disarmed the German military, limiting the number of weapons and even how much ammunition it could possess. Smaller artillery pieces, for example, were allotted 1,500 rounds, while bigger guns got just 500 shells. Germany could only manufacture new war materiel in a few factories approved by the Allies. The Germans had to turn over vast amounts of equipment, from tanks and machine guns to telephones.
Articles 181-197 reduced Germany’s naval forces to a skeleton force that included just six battleships, six light cruisers, 12 destroyers and 12 torpedo boats, and totally eliminated the submarine fleet that had terrorized ships in the Atlantic.