'.-President
Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points
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8 January, 1918:
President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points
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(Delivered in Joint Session, Jan-
8, 1 9 1 8)
Gentlemen of the Congress:
Once more, as repeatedly before, the spokesmen of the Central Empires have indicated their desire to
discuss the objects of the war and the possible basis of a general peace. Parleys have been in progress at
Brest-Li tovsk between Russsian representatives and representatives of the Central Powers to which the
attention of a11 the belligerents have been invited for the purpose of ascertaining whether it may be
possible to extend these parleys into a general conference with regard to terms of peace and settIement.
The Russian representatives presented not only a perfectly definite statement of the principles upon
which they would be willing to conclude peace but also an equally definite program of the concrete
application of those principles. The representatives of the Central Powers, on their part, presented an
outline of settlement which, if runch less definite, seemed susceptible of liberal interpretation until their
specific program of practical terms was added. That program proposed no concessions at all either to the
sovereignty of Russia or to the preferences of the populations with whose fortunes it dealt, but meant, in
a word, that the Central Empires were to keep every foot of territory their armed forces had occupied -every province, every city, every point of vantage -- as a permanent addition to their territories and their
power.
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It is a reasonable conjecture that the general principles of settlement which they at first suggested
originated with the more liberal statesmen of Germany and Austria, the men who have begun to feel the
force of their own people's thought and purpose, while the concrete terms of actual settlement came
from the military leaders who have no thought but to keep what they have got. The negotiations have
been broken off. The Russian representatives were sincere and in earnest. They cannot entertain such
proposals of conquest and domination.
The whole incident is full of signifiances. It is also full of perplexity. With whom are the Russian
representatives dealing? For whom are the representatives of the Central Empires @ng?
Are they
speaking for the majorities of their respective parliaments or for the minority parties, that military and
imperialistic minority which has so far dominated their whole poIicy and controlled the affairsof Turkey
and of the Balkan states which have felt obliged to become their associates in this war?
The Russian ~presentativeshave insisted, very justly, very wisely, and in the true spirit o f modern
demmracy,that the conferences they have been holding with the Teutonic and Turkish statesmen should
be held within open not closed, doors, and all the world has been audience, as was desired. To whom
have we been listening, then? To those who speak the spirit and intention of the resolutions of the
German Reichstag of the 9th of July last, the spirit and intention of the Liberal leaders and parties of
Germany, or to those who resist and defy that spirit and intention and insist upon conquest and
subjugation? Or are we Listening, in fact, to both, unreconciled and in open and hopeless contradiction?
These are very serious and pregnant questions. Upon the answer to them depends the peace of the world.
But, whatever the results of the parleys at Brest-Litovsk, whatever the confusions of counsel and of
purpose in the utterances of the spokesmen of the Central Empires, they have again attempted to
acquaint the world with their objects in the war and have again challenged their adversaries to say what
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'president Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points
their objects are and what sort of settlement they would deem just and satisfactory. There is no good
reason why that challenge should not be responded to, and responded to with the utmost candor. We did
not wait for it. Not once, but again and again, we have laid our whole thought and purpose kfore the
world, not in general terms only, but each time with sufficient definition to make it clear what sort of
definite terms of settlement must necessarily spring out of them.Within the last week Mr. Lloyd George
has spoken with admirable candor and in admirable spirit for the people and Government of Great
Britain.
There is no confusion of counsel among the adversaries of the Central Powers, no uncertainty of
principle, no vagueness of detail, The only secrecy of counsel, the only lack of fearless frankness, the
only failure to make definite statement of the objects of the war, lies with Germany and her allies. The
issues of life and death hang upon these definitions. No statesman who has the least conception of his
responsibility ought for a moment to perrnit himself to continue this tragical and appalling outpouring of
blood and treasure unless he is sure k y o n d a peradventure that the objects of the vital sacrifice are part
and parcel of the very life of Society and that the people for whom he speaks think them right and
imperative a s he does.
There is, moreover, a voice calling for these definitions of principle and of purpose which is, it ssems to
me, more thrilling and more compelling than any of the many moving voices with which the troubled air
of the world is filled. It is the voice of the Russian people. They are prostrate and all but hopeless, it
would seem, before the grim power of Germany, which has hitherto known no relenting and no pity.
Their power, apparently, is shattered. And yet their soul is not subservient. They will not yield either in
principle or in action, Their conception of what is right, of what is humane and honorable for them to
accept, has been stated with a hnkness, a largeness of view, a generosity of spirit, and a universal
human sympathy which must challenge the admiration of every fiiend of mankind; and they have
refused to compound their ideals or desert others that they themselves may be safe.
p
They call to us to say what it is that we desire, in what, if in anything, our purpose and our spirit differ
from theirs; and I believe that the people of the United States would wish me to respond, with utter
simplicity and frankness. Whether their present leaders believe it or not, it is our heartfelt desire and
hope that some way may be opened whereby we may be privileged to assist the people of Russia to
attain their utmost hope of liberty and ordered peace.
It will k our wish and purpose that the processes of peace, when they are begun, shall be absolukly
open and that they shall involve and permit henceforth no secret understandings of any kind. The day of
conquest and aggrandizement is gone by; so is also the day of secret covenants entered into in the
interest of particular governments and likely at some unlooked-for moment to upset the peace of the
world. It is this happy fact, now clear to the view of every public man whose thoughts do not still linger
in an age that is dead and gone, which makes it possible for every nation whose purposes are consistent
with justice and the peace of the world to avow nor or at any other time the objects it has in view.
)
We entered this war because violations of right had occurred which touched us to the quick and made
the life of our own people impossible unless they were corr6cted and the world secure once for all
against their recumnce. What we demand in this war, therefore, is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is
that the world k made fit and safe to live in; and particularly that it be made safe for every peace-loving
.
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nation which, like our own, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of
i u s m d fair dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force and selfish aggression. AH the
peoples of the world are in effect parlners in this interest, and for our own part we see very ctearly that
unless justice be done to others it will not be done to us. The program of the world's peace,herefore,is
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our program; and that program, the only possi b ie program, as we see it, is thih :
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President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points
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I. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international
understandings of any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.
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11. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war,
except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of
international covenants.
111. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade
conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance.
IV. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments wilt be reduced to the lowest point
consistent with domestic safety.
V. A free, open-minded, and absoluteIy impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict
observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the
populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title
is to be determined.
VI. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a d e m e n t of all questions affecting Russia as will
secure the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an
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unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the independent determination of her own political
development and national policy and assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations
under institutions of her own choosing; and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she
may need and may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to
come will be the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of her needs as distinguished from
their own interests, and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy.
VII. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without my attempt to limit
the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all other free nations. No other single act will serve as
this will serve to restore confidence among the nations in the laws which they have themselves set and
determined for the government of their relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole
structure and validity of international law is forever impaired.
VII 1. All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions restored, and the wrong done to
France by Pnrssia in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world
for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more k made secure in the
interest of dl.
IX. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognimble lines of
nationality.
X. The p p l e s of Austria-Hungary, whose pIace among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and
assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development.
XI. Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated; occupied territories restored; Serbia
accord4 free and secure access to the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan states to one another
determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines of allegiance and nationality; and
international guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the
several Balkan states should be entered into.
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President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points
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XII. The Turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire shodd be assured a secure sovereignty, but the
other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and
an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the DardaneUes should be
permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international
guarantees.
XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by
indisputably Polish populations, which should tx assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose
political and economic independence and territorial integrity shodd be guaranteed by international
covenant.
XIV. A general association of nations must I
x formed under specific covenants for the purpose of
affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states
alike.
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In regard to these essential rectifications of wrong and assertions of right we feel ourselves to be
intimate partners of all the goveraments and peoples associated together against the Imperialists. We
cannot be separated in interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until the end. For such
arrangements and covenants we are willing to fight and to continue to fight until they are achieved; but
only because we ,sh the right to prevail and desire a just and stable peace such as can be secured only
by removing the chief provocations to war, which this program does remove. We have no jealousy of
German greatness, and there is nothing in this program that impairs it. We grudge her no achievement or
distinction of Ieaming or of paci fic enterprise such as have made her record very bright and very
enviable. We do not wish to injure her or to block in any way her legitimate influence or power. We do
not wish to fight her either with arms or with hostile arrangements of tmde if she is willing to associate
herself with us and the other peace- loving nations of the world in covenants of justice and law and fair
dealing. We wish her only to accept a place of quality among the peoples of the world, - the new world
in which we now live, -- instead of a place of mastery.
Neither do we presume to suggest to her any alteration or modificationof her institutions. But it is
necesmy ,we must frankly say, and necessary as a preliminary to any intelligent dealings with her on
our part, that we should b o w whom her spokesmen speak for when they speak to us, whether for the
Reichstag majority or for the military party and the men whose creed is imperial domination.
We have spoken now, surely, in terms too concrete to admit of any further doubt or question. An evident
principle runs through the whole program I have outlined. It is the principle of justice to d1 peoples and
nationalities, and their right to live on equal terms of I i h i y and safety with one another, whether they
be strong or weak.
Unless this principle be made its foundation no part of the structure of international justice can stand.
The people of the United States could act upon no other principle; and to the vindication of this principle
they are ready to devote their lives, their honor, and everything they possess. The moral climax of this
the culminating and find war for hurnan liberty has come, and they are ready to put their own strength,
their own highest purpose, their own integrity and devotion to the test.
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EXCERPTS FROM TREATY OF VERSAILLES
SEC'TIOY I11 LEFT BANK OF THE RHINE.
-the
ARTICLE 42. Germany is forbidden to maintain or construct any fortifications either on the left bank of the Rhine or on the right bank to
west of a line drawn 50 kilometres to the East of the Rhine.
ARTICLE 43 In the area defined above the maintenance and the assembly of armed forces, either permanently or temporarily, and
military maneuvers of any h n d . as well as the upkeep of all permanent works for mobilization, are in the same way forbidden.
ARTICLE 44 In case Germany violares in my manner whatever the provisions of Articles 42 and 43, she shall be regarded as
commitling a hosrile act agalnst the Powers signatory of the present Treaty and as calculated to disturb the peace of the world.
SECTION I V . SAAR BASlN.
ARTICLE 45 As compensation for the destruction of the coal-mines in the north of France and as pan payment towards the total
reparation due from Germany for the damage resulting from the war, Germany cedes to France in full and absolute possession, with
excbstve rights of exploitation. unencumbered and free from all debts and charges of any kind,the coal-mines situated in the Saar Basin
as defit~ed1t1 Article 48.
ARTICLE 46. In order to assure the righb and welfare of the population and to guarantee to France complete freedom in workmg Ihe
mines, Germany agrees to the prov~sionsof Chapters I and I1 of the Annex hereto.
AR T I C E 4 7. h order to make in due time permanent provision for the government of the Saar Basin in accordance wlth the wishes of
the populations, France and Germany agree to the provisions of Chapter I11 of the Annex hereto.
ARTICLE 48. The boundaries of the territory of the Saar Basin, as dealt with in the present stipulations, will be fixed as follows: On the
south and south-west: by the frontier of France BS fixed by the present Treaty. On the north-west and north: by a line tbllowing the
northern administrative boundary of the Kreis of Merzig from the point where it leaves the French frontier to the point where it meets the
administrative boundary separating the commune of Saarholzbach from the commune of Britten; following this communal boundary
,-.southwards and reaching the administrativeboundary of the canton of Merzig so as to include h the temmry of the Saar Basin the
.anton of Mettlach, with the exception of the commune of Britten; following successively the northern boundaries of the cantons of
Merzig and Haustedt, which are incorporated in the aforesaid Saar Basin, then successively the administrative boundaries separating the
Kreise of Sarrelouis. Ottweiler, and Saint-Wendel from the Kreise of Merzig, Treves (Trier), and the Principality of Birkenfeld as far as
a point situated about 500 metres no& of the village of Furschweiler (viz., the hghest point of the Metzelberg). On the north-eut and
east: from the last point defined above to a poin~about 3 112 lulornetres east- north-east of Saint-Wendel: a line to be iixed on the ground
passing east of Fuschweiler, west of Roschberg, east of points 4 18, 329 (south of Roschberg) west of Leitersweiler, north-east of point
464, and following the line of the crest southwards to its junction with the administrative boundary of the Kreis of Kusel thence in a
southerly direction the boundary of the h i s of Kusel. then the boundary of the Kreis of Homburg towards the south-south- east to a
point situated about 1000 metres west of Dumweiler: thence to a point about 1 kilornetre south of Hornbach- a line to be fixed on the
ground passing through point 424 (about 1000 metres south-east oFDunzweiler), point 363 (Fuchs-Berg), point 322 (south-west of
Waldmohr). then east of Jagersburg and Erbach, then encircling Homburg,passing through the points 361 (about 2-1/2 lulornetres northeast by east of that town), 342 (about 2 kilomewes south-east ofthat town), 347 (Schreiners-Berg), 356,350 (about 1-1!2 kilometres
south-east of Schwarzenbach), then passing east of Einod, south-east of points 322 and 333, about 2 krlometres east of Webenheim,
about 2 kilometres east of Mimbach, passing east of the plateau which is traversed by the road horn Mimbach to Bockweiler (so as lo
include this road in the territory of the Saar Basin),passing immediately north of the junction of the roads from Bockweiler and Altheim
situated about 2 kilometres north of AItheim, then passing south of Ringweilerhof and north of point 322, rejoining the frontier of France
at the angle which it makes about I kilometre south of Hornbach (see Map No. 2 scale I / 100,000 annexed to the present treaty). [See
Introduchon ]
A Commission composed of five members, one appointed by France, one by Germany, and three by the Council of the League of
Nations. which will select nationals of other Powers, will be constitutfd within fifteen days horn h e coming into force of the prevent
Treaty, to trace on the spot the frontier line described above. In those parts of the preceding line which do not coincide with
administrative boundaries, the Commission will endeavour to keep lo the line indicated, whle takmg into consideration, so far as is
possible, local economic interests and existing communal boundaries. The decisions of this Commission will be taken by a majority, and
will be binding on the parties concerned.
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1RTICI.E 4Y. Germany renounces in favour of the League of Nations, in the capacity o f trustee. the government of the territory defined
above.
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end at' iit'teen years from the coming into force of the presen! Treaty the inhabitants of the said territory shall be called upon to
.<atethe sovtre~gntyunder which they desire to be placed.
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ARTICLE 50.The stipulations under which the cession of the mines in the Saar Basin shall be carried out, together with the measures
intended to guarantee the nghts and the well-being of the inhabitants and the government of the territory, as well as the conditions In
accordance with which the plebiscite herein before provided for is to be made, are laid down in the Annex hereto. This Annex shall be
:onsidered as an integral part of the present Treaty, and Germany declares her adheretlce to it.
PART VIII. REPARATION.
SECTION 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS.
ARTICLE 231. The Allied and Associated Governments a f f m and Germany accepts the responsibility of Gemlimy and her allies for
causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a
consequence of the war imposed upon them hy the aggression of Germany and her allies.
ARTICLE: 232. The Allied and Associated Governnients recognise that the resources of Germany are not adequate. after taking into
account permanent diminutions of such resources which will result from other provisions of the prevent Treaty, to make complete
reparation fur all such loss and damage. The Allied and Associated Governments, however, require, and Germany undertakes, that she
w ~ l lmake compensation for all damage done to the civilian population of the Allied and Associated Powers and to their property during
he period of the belligerency of each as an Allied or Associated Power againsl Germany by such aggression by land, by sea and from
the air, and in general all damage as defined in Annex 1 hereto. In accordance with Germany's pledges, already given, as to complete
restoration for Belgium, Germany undertakes. in addition to the compensation for damage elsewhere in this Part provided for. as a
conszqutnce of the violation of the Treaty of 1839, to make reimbursement of all sums which Belgium has borrowed from the Allied
and .4ssocinted Governments up to November 1I , 1918, together with interest at the rate of five per cent (5%) per m u m on such sums.
This amount shall be determined by the Reparation Commission, and the German Government undertakes thereupon forthwith to make a
special issue of bearer bonds to an equivalent amount payable in marks gold, on May 1, 1926, or, at the option of the German
Government, on the 1 st of May in any year up to 1926. Subject to the foregoing, the form of such bonds shall be determined by the
Reparation Commission. Such bonds shall be handed over to the Reparation Commission, which has authority to take and acknowledge
receipt thereof on behalf of Belgium.
P I R T I C L E 233. The amount of the abclve damage for whch compensation is to be made by Germany shall be determined by an InterAllied Commission, lo be called the Reparation Commission and constituted in the fonn and with the ppwers set forth hereunder and in
Annexes I1 to VII inclusive hereta.
This Commission shall consider the claims and give to the German Government a jusl oppo-ity
to be heard. The findings of the
Commission as to the amount of damage defined as above shall be concluded and notifled to the German Government on or before May
1, 192 1. as representing the extent of that Government's obligations. , The Commission shall concurrently draw up a schedule of
payments prescribing the time and manner for securing and discharging the entire obligation within a period of thirty years from May I .
192 I . If, however, within the period mentioned, Germany fails to discharge her obligations, any balance remaining unpaid may, within
the discretion of the Commission, be postponed fcrr settlement in subsequent years, or may be handled otherwise in such manner as the
Allied and Associated Governments, acting in accordance with the procedure Iaid down in tlus Prtrt of the prcsent Treaty, shall
determine.
.A R T K L E 234. The Reparation Commission shall after May 1 , 192 1, from time to time, consider the resources and capacity of
Germany, and, after giving her representatives a just o p p o m i t y to be heard, shall have discretion to extend the date, and to modify h e
farm of payments, such as are to be provided for in accordance with Article 233; but not to cancel any part, except with the specific
authority of the several Governments represenled upon the Commission.
ARTICLE 235. Tn order to enable the Allied and Associated Power* to proceed at once to the restoration of their industrial and economc
life, pending the full detem~inationof their claims, Germany shall pay in such installments and in such manner (whether in gold,
commodities, ships. securities or otherwise) ay the Reparation Commission may fix, during 1919, 1920 and the first four months Of
192 1 , the equivalent of 20.000,000,000 gold marks. Out of this sum the expenses of the armies of occupation subsequent to the
Armistice of November 1 1. 19 18, shall f m t be met, and such supplies of food and raw materials as may be judged by the Governments
of the Principal Allied d Associated Powers to be essential to enable Germany to meet her obligations for reparation may also, with
the approval of the said Governments, be paid for out of the above sum. The balance shall be reckoned towards liquidation of the
amounts due for reparation. Germany shall further deposit bonds as prescribe3 in paragraph 12 (c) Of Annex I1 hereto.
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The German Reply
Bruckdorft-Rantzaureply memorandum
15 May 1919
AMERICAN COMMISSION TO NEGOTIATE PEACE
CONFIDENTIAL
S-H BULLETIN No. 277 May 15th, 1919
CONTENTS
Communication from Count B&&rff-Ranmu,
relative to the report of the Economic Commission.
Source: Norman H. Davis, Box 44, Paris Peace Conferem, Versailks Treaty, Manuscript Divisim, Library of
Congress
Notes: Indented numbers indicated original pagination.
;;7;
German Peace Delegation
Translation
Versailles, May t 3, 1919
To His Excellency Mr. Clemenceau:
In accordance with my communication of May 9h of this year, I have the honor to present to your Excellency the
report of the Economic Commission charged with the study of the effect of the Peace Terms on the situation of
the German population.
"During the Last two generations, Germany has been transformed from an agricultural state to an industrial state.
While an agricultural state, Genany could nourish forty million inhabitants.
As an industrial State, it can assure the nourishment of a population of sixty-sven million. In 1913, the
impwtation of goods amounted in round fuures to twelve million tons. Before lbe war, a total of f h e n million
persons found an existena in Germany by means of foreign commerm and navigation. either directly, or
indiredy, by using our foreign raw mabrials.
Under the terms of the peace treaty, Germany is to give up her Merchant Marine and vessels now under
construction suitable for foreign commerce. Likewise,for five years, German shipyards are to construct primarily a
tonnage destined for the Allied and Associated Governments.
Moreover, Germany must renounce her Colonies; all her foreign possessions, all her rights and interests in the
Allied and Associated countries, in their Colonies, Dominions or Protectorates are to k-liquidated and credited to
the payment of reparations, and are to be submitted to any other step of economic warfare that the Allied and
Associated Powers may see fit to maintain or to take during the years of peace.
When the territorial clauses of the Peace Treaty go into &ect Germany will lose in the East the most important
regions for the production of wheal and potatoes, and this wuld be equivalent to a loss of twentyae percent of
the total harvest of these fodstuffs.
Moreover the intensiveness of our agricultural production would be greatly decreased. On the one hand, the
importation of certain raw materials indispnsable for the production of fertilizer, such as phosphates, would be
hampered; on the other hand, this industry would like all other industries suffer from the shortage of coal.
For the Peace Treaty provides for the loss of almost a third of the production of our coal fields; in addition to #at
loss, enormous deliveries of coal to various Allied countriesare imposed on us for ten years.
Permls8lon is granted t o educators t o reproduce thlm workrhoot for cla8eroom use
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The b#War:
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E v d n g Un Tmaly ofV m l k -h Q x J ~ i t e m e n t n e h . g o v M w - k s m - p h . ~ 3 1 8 J 2 4
In addition, ih m f m i t y to the Treaty, Germany will cede to her neighbors almost three-quarters of her ore
production and three-fifths of her production of zinc.
After this privation of her produce, after the economic repression caused by the loss of her Colonies, of her
Merchant Fleet and her foreign possession, Germany will no longer tw in a position to irnmrt raw materials in
sufficient quantities from abroad. As a matter ofcourse an enormws part of German industry wwld thus be
condemned to extindion. At the same time the need to import commodities would considerably increase, while
the possibility of meeting this need m i d diminish to the same extent.
After a very shart time Gerrnany would therefom no longer hin a position to furnish bread and work to her many
millions of persons forced to earn their daily bread by navigation and commerce. These people would have to
emigrate; but this is materially impossible; all the more so, in Rat many countries, and the most important ones
will oppose German immigration. In addition hundreds of thousands of Germans expelled from the territories of
the Powers now at war with Germany, and from the Colonies and Territories which Germany must give up will
m e b c k to their native auntry.
The enkrcement of the Peace Conditions w w l d therefore logically entail the loss of several million persons in
G m a n y . This catastrophe would not be long in occurring, since the health of the population has been broken
during the war by the blockade and during the armistice by the increased vigor of the starvation blockade.
No assistance, however great and of however long duration could prevent these wholesale deaths. The Peacewould impose upon Germany many times the number of human lives cost her by this war of four wars and a half,
(1,750,000 killed by the enemy; almost a million as a r e u l t of the blockade.)
We do not think and we do not believe that the delegates of the Allied and Associated Powers are aware of the
consequences that will
inevitably follow, if Germany, an industrial natim with a very dense population, dosely bound up with the
economic system of the world, and obliged to import enormws quantities of fmd and raw materials, finds herself
and
n
suddenly thrown into a phese of her development corresponding to the period of her economic c o ~ ~ c t i o
the priod when her population was the size it was a half century ago.
Those who sign this treaty, will sign the death sentence of many millions of German men, women and children.
1 blieve that my duty before beginning the disarssion of other details of the treaty, lay in bringing to the attention
of the Allied, and Associated Delegations, this summary of the problem facing the Gemtan people. At y w r
request I hold ready for your excellemcy the statistical prwf.
Kindly acoept, etc.
Signed: BROCKDORFF-RANTZAU.
Perrnlmslon t 1 grentmd to educatoru to reproduce this worksheet for ctarrroom use
Ttm Great War: Evelumtlng ths Treaty of V-l
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Hitler's Speech
Speech on the Treaty ofVersailles (April 17, 1923)
Adolf Hitler
With the armistice begins the humiliation of Germany. If the Republic on the day of its
foundation had appealed to the country: Germans, stand together! Up and resist the fw! The
Fatherland, the Republic expects of yau that you fight to your last breath, then millions who are now
enemies of the Republic would be fanatical Republicans. Today they are the foes of the Republic not
because it is a Republic but because this Republic was founded at the moment when Germany was
humiliated, because it so di scredjted the new flag that men s eyes must turn regrefill y toward the old
flag.
So tong as this Treaty stands there can be no resurrection of the German people; no social reform
of any kind is possible! The Treaty was made in order to bring 20 million Gemans to their deaths and
to ruin the German nation But those who made the Treaty cannot set it aside. As its foundation our
Movement formulated three demands;
1.
2.
3.
Setting aside of the Peace Treaty.
Unification of all Germans.
Land and soil [Gnmd und Boden] to feed our nation.
Our movement could formulate these demands, since it was not our Movement which caused the War, it
has not made the Republic, it did not sign the Peace Treaty.
There is thus one thing which is the fmt task of this Movement: it desires to make the G e m
once more National, that his Fatherland shall stand for him above everything else. It desires to teach our
people to understand afresh the truth of the old saying: He who will not be a hammer must be an anvil.
An anvil we are today, and that anvil will be beaten until out of the anvil we fbhion once more a
hammer, a German sword!
Note: Text of speech from Aspecrs of Western Civilization, Volume II, Perry Rogers, ed.;Prentice Hall
(2000)
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