Posted on 06/28/2005 5:15:05 AM PDT by liberallarry
"A solemn undertaking" by the Allies Monday June 30, 1919
The Guardian
The formal end of the world-war was reached at twelve minutes pat three on Saturday afternoon, when the German delegates signed the Peace Treaty in the splendid Hall of Mirrors, where the German Empire was proclaimed.
The German delegates, led by Herr Hermann Muller, the Foreign Minister, signed first on the invitation of M. Clemenceau, and were followed by the representatives of 26 Allied and Associated nations in alphabetical order.
The Chinese alone among the belligerent Powers withheld their signature from the treaty. Their request that the question of Shantung should be left open was renewed on Saturday morning without success. China's delegates accordingly did not go to Versailles.
In the face of the assumption in many quarters of "mental reservations" on the part of the Germans in accepting the treaty, it is memorable that the two German signatories made a joint statement at Versaille contradicting this imputation. "We are signing," they said, "without mental reservation, and what we are signing we will carry out."
The blockade
The blockade will be raised immediately after the ratification of the treaty by Germany. President Wilson, in a message to the American people, describes the treaty as the "great charter of the new order of affairs, giving ground for deep satisfaction and universal reassurance."
A notable manifesto has been issued by General Smuts, one of the signatories to the treaty. The promise of the new era, he declares, is not written in the treaty, but will lie in the Christian spirit modifying its provisions. The treaty, however, recorded two great achievements: the destruction of Prussian militarism and the foundation of the League of Nations.
REALLY? You could have fooled me.
A the saying goes "A Peace to End All Peace"
The treaty of Versailles was an unmitigated disaster.
A bit of a stray from the topic, but get this...
My grandmother passed away in late May, and while going through the stuff in her house, we came across a large framed front page from the newspaper from November 11, 1918.
ARMISTICE SIGNED!
It's now hanging up in my place. It was so cool reading through all the columns! We later found the rest of the paper in a file folder, still folded up.
June 30, 1919
The formal end of the world-war was reached at twelve minutes pat three on Saturday afternoon, when the German delegates signed the Peace Treaty in the splendid Hall of Mirrors, where the German Empire was proclaimed.
WTF?
Armistice Day is Nov 11th
Armistice Day is the anniversary of the official end of World War I, November 11, 1918. It commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning — the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month."Wait Ollie, I think have it - this article is about the Eastern Front. Sheesh, ya think they could have clarified it.
an aside, as #4 said, the Treaty of Versailles was an utter disaster and in some respects is when WWII started. As if it wasn't for the economic rape of Germany by France as delineated in the treaty, we'd have never heard of ole Adolf.
Another triumph of liberalism and the global harmony crowd.
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