Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles

Article 231, commonly known as the "Guilt Clause" or the "War Guilt Clause", is the first article in Part VIII, "Reparations

World War I reparations

World War I reparations refers to the payments and transfers of property and equipment that Germany was forced to make under the Treaty of Versailles following its defeat during World War I...

" of the Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...

. Apart from "Article 231", there is no title for this article in the treaty itself. The names "Guilt Clause" and "War Guilt Clause" were assigned in later commentaries.

Text of the article

The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany 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 by the aggression of Germany and her allies.

The same clause, only replacing the name 'Germany' with 'Austria' and 'Hungary', respectively, was part of the peace treaty of Austria (article 177 of the Treaty of Saint-Germain) and part of the peace treaty of Hungary (article Article 161 of the Treaty of Trianon

Treaty of Trianon

The Treaty of Trianon was the peace agreement signed in 1920, at the end of World War I, between the Allies of World War I and Hungary . The treaty greatly redefined and reduced Hungary's borders. From its borders before World War I, it lost 72% of its territory, which was reduced from to...

); neither the Austrian or Hungarian governments viewing these clauses as implying "war guilt".

Significance

The article, in which Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

was assigned the responsibility for damages caused by World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, serves as a justification for the obligations put upon Germany

Germany

in the remainder (Articles 233 through 247) of Part VIII, which was concerned with reparations. The article was written by US diplomats Norman Davis

Norman Davis

Norman H. Davis , was a U.S. diplomat. He was born in Bedford, Tennessee. He served as President Wilson's Assistant Secretary of Treasury and later as Undersecretary of State....

and John Foster Dulles

John Foster Dulles

John Foster Dulles served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959. He was a significant figure in the early Cold War era, advocating an aggressive stance against communism throughout the world...

who by writing Article 231 had created what President Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

's biographer Arthur Walworth

Arthur Walworth

Arthur Walworth is most noted as a biographer of Woodrow Wilson. He was born in Newton, Massachusetts. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for Woodrow Wilson, Volume I: American Prophet....

called a "psychological sop".

They had Germany sign the war guilt clause in exchange for acknowledging that Germany could never repay the whole amount of damage it did in the war. Article 232 also stated that the Allies would only seek reparations for specific civilian damages inflicted by Germany.

The British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...

commented that:
By arguably blaming only Germany for causing the war, Article 231 has been cited as one of the causes that led to the rise of national socialism in Germany. At least one historian, Margaret MacMillan

Margaret MacMillan

Margaret Olwen MacMillan, OC is a historian and professor at the University of Oxford, where she is Warden of St. Antony's College. She is former provost of Trinity College and professor of history at the University of Toronto and previously, at Ryerson University...

, argues that this long held notion is fundamentally erroneous. However, it must be noted that MacMillan states that Germany in fact never paid monetary reparations, and in that sense, it is false to state that Germany's impoverishment as a result of payment of reparations caused the rise of national socialism. That is not to say, however, that the German public's interpretation of Article 231 as unequivocally ascribing the fault for the war to Germany and her allies may not have engendered an outrage and humiliation which may have, at least in part, abetted the rise of a nationalistic socialism in the German people.

At the time, the various Allied delegations naively regarded Article 231 as not a problematic clause given that the intention was to limit German liability with regard to reparations, and were most surprised at the violent reaction it generated with the Germans when the German delegation read the peace terms in June 1919.

Sally Marks, an American historian, maintains that the claim that Article 231 implies "war guilt" was the work of various German politicians and apologists who misinterpreted Article 231 as saying that as a way of gaining international sympathy.

She argues that the clause says no such thing, and all that the clause does say is "the responsibility of Germany 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 by the aggression of Germany and her allies." Exactly how the quoted passage does not imply war guilt on the part of Germany is not entirely clear.

Marks also points out that the next article, Article 232 of the Versailles treaty limits German responsibility to pay only for civilian damages, and that when a conference was called in London in 1921 to determine how much Germany should pay, the Allies calculated on the basis of what Germany could pay, not on their needs.

Text of the article

Significance

See also