Terms of the Armistice 1918

[qprdave]

As 11th November is not too far away. I thought that I would post the Terms of the Armistice, which I had never seen.

From The Times Archive 12th November 1918

[JarrowDave]

Imagine if the powers that be were writing that today, 50 million lawyers drafting 50 billion pages!

JD

[jainso31]

The terms of the Great War Armistice in 1919, were punitive in the extreme,
thanks to the Americans.It is widely thought that the reaction to the terms
bred Super Nationalism (Nazi) and the burning desire for revenge and of course Liebensraum for the German populace.

jainso31

[Egypt]

Careful Jainso31- don't go confusing the terms of the Armistice with that of the eventual peace agreement - the Versailles Settlement.

Also, I think it’s grossly unfair to lay entire blame on the Americans for the subsequent rise of Nazism and the outbreak of Part Two of the Great War (aka WW2).

In Nov. 1918, the German military and political leadership was quite keen to conclude a peace based upon Wilson's earlier communicated Fourteen Points (and in any case, they weren’t in any sort of position to bargain).

However America’s Allies (i.e Britain, France & Italy) had their own national interests and made objections to some of Wilson’s proposed peace terms. Britain disliked the idea of the freedom of the seas, France was intent on imposing swinging reparations on the beaten foe and the Italians were nervous about any subsequent readjustment of their frontier.

The Armistice brought to an end hostilities in 1918 however the war had solved few of the problems that created it in the first place. As it happened, the Versailles Settlement signed in June 1919 was heavily influenced by Clemenceau's desire to 'make Germany pay' and personally, I would lay more blame on this particular objective than any other weakness in the ultimate peace settlement.

The economic hardships created by the Versailles Settlement ensured that the Weimar Republic was too weak to withstand the global economic downturn that followed in the wake of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. As the Great Depression deepened during the early half of the 1930’s, most ordinary Germans families had lost more or less everything. National Socialism then came along and promoted the notion of a third way - a managed economy that was neither capitalist nor communist and for many at the time, this seemed to provide some of the answers that they were looking for, and a way forward that other democratic parties at the time were just not able to furnish.

France also had an opportunity to nip Nazism in the bud, before it grew too strong - however when the Rhineland was reoccupied in 1936 it simply sat back and did nothing.

I personally tend to blame France more than America for the re-emergence of a belligerent Germany. However (and above all), The Third Reich and the other Axis nations that attached themselves to it must take their own sizeable share of guilt for what subsequently transpired on the world stage.

[jainso31]

Yes Egypt I have got the Armistice muddled with the Treaty of Versailles,
with the result that my answer is null and void; as the question was posed about the terms of the Armistice.I apologise for lousing up the thread!!

[qprdave]

"I apologise for lousing up the thread!!"

Join the club Jainso. You are not a full member until you make a bit of a fool of yourself:)

I should know!!!!!!!

Dave

[jainso31]

Dave it was so good to see what you wrote-I did feel a bit crushed but I'm OK now.THANKS!!!
Yours Aye
jainso31

[Egypt]

Yes Egypt I have got the Armistice muddled with the Treaty of Versailles,
with the result that my answer is null and void; as the question was posed about the terms of the Armistice.I apologise for lousing up the thread!!

Never mind, you're still a good messmate - and sorry, I didn't mean to shoot you down. It's just that I live in Germany and did a History degree, so I just had to pull the trigger.

[qprdave]

Don't apologise, Egypt.

We want our threads to be right. Unfortunately it may go against a fellow member but if you know that a post is not factually correct then post your view. It may cause a debate but in the end we will have the true facts.

Dave

[jainso31]

On carefully reading the Terms of the Armistice offered to the Germans in 1918-I thought they were rigorous but thorough- as one might expect after the hellish war that the Allies had been subjected to-here I mean Britain and France particularly.
PS Yours Aye Egypt.
jainso31

[John Odom]

An interesting read. I had read about them, but had never actually read them.

I was puzzled by the mention of specific numbers of things Guns, locomotives, battleships etc. It seems that a better wording would have been "All."

[Teuchter]

Thank you for posting the Armistice terms Dave - I found it very interesting.

As to "blame" for the rise of the "Third Reich" then as Egypt says this must fall mainly on the shoulders of the then population of Germany - albeit that they were very cunningly led by evil men and at that particular time were bound to be very susceptible to any percieved "fix" for the all the troubles they were undoubtedly suffering.

In my view however they were a tad too willing to overlook and by & large support the acts of discrimination and terror carried out against the Jews and other non Arian peoples of Germany long before the outbreak of WW2 with its ensuing atrocities carried out in the name of the "Fatherland"

[jainso31]

[QUOTE=Teuchter;147692]

"As to "blame" for the rise of the "Third Reich" then as Egypt says this must fall mainly on the shoulders of the then population of Germany - albeit that they were very cunningly led by evil men and at that particular time were bound to be very susceptible to any percieved "fix" for the all the troubles they were undoubtedly suffering."

This says it all about the the aftermath of the Peace Agreement; which followed the Armistice


jainso31