Friedrich Ebert by Harry Harmer

Author:Harry Harmer [Harmer, Harry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Europe, Germany, Biography & Autobiography, Presidents & Heads of State, Military, World War I
ISBN: 9781907822315
Google: RVcrDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Haus Publishing
Published: 2009-02-01T16:17:15+00:00

The five-strong German delegation, led by Brockdorff-Rantzau, left Berlin on 28 April, accompanied by 180 civil servants, interpreters, typists and messengers in three trains. The trains crossed the border, passing through the areas of greatest devastation in Belgium and northern France. A German journalist accompanying the party later wrote, ‘We were being rehearsed in the penitential roles for which we had already been cast.’15 Arriving at Versailles station, the delegates were taken by car to the Hôtel des Réservoirs, where their luggage was piled in the courtyard. A French officer ordered soldiers escorting them not to help them shift the bags. The delegates presented their credentials in a brief ceremony at the Trianon Palace on 1 May. ‘Brockdorff-Rantzau was pale and nervous – trembling in every limb,’ a British diplomat noted in his diary.16

It was not until Brockdorff-Rantzau read the agenda for the 7 May session of the conference that he finally understood there was to be no discussion of the terms. Germany’s representatives would be expected, the agenda said, to present written observations in English and French within 15 days. There were already misgivings about the treaty among some in the British and American parties. Wilson told a journalist on 6 May, ‘If I were a German, I think I should never sign it.’ Robert Lansing, the American Secretary of State who had been in Paris throughout, noted, ‘The terms of peace appear immeasurably harsh and humiliating, while many of them seem to me impossible of performance.’17

The German delegation entered the already full conference hall at the Trianon Palace at 3 p.m. on 7 May, taking their seats at a table opposite the Allied representatives. Clemenceau directly faced the Germans, the Americans to his right, the British to his left. The French prime minister opened the proceedings, presented the treaty and explained the procedure in few words, abrupt and to the point (see Preface). Brockdorff-Rantzau had taken two speeches to the palace, one long and one short, unsure of which to deliver. Clemenceau’s attitude decided him to deliver the longer and more defiant. He denied that Germany had been guilty of causing the war, accepted many unjust things had occurred in its course, though Germany had not been alone in that. He said the delegation would study the document carefully but warned, ‘A peace which cannot be defended before the world as a peace of justice would always evoke new resistance. No one could sign it with a clear conscience, for it could not be carried out.’18

Brockdorff-Rantzau’s performance appalled the Allied leaders. Wilson said shortly after: ‘This is the most tactless speech I have ever heard. It will set the whole world against them.’19 Clemenceau had spoken standing; the German Foreign Minister remained seated. An observer close to the action reported, ‘Clemenceau impatiently tapped the table with an ivory paper-knife. President Wilson impatiently toyed with a pencil. Lloyd George pressed his paper-knife on the table with such vigour that it broke.’20 Brockdorff-Rantzau subsequently explained that he had meant no insult; the document he had to read was lengthy and he found it easier to see sitting down.

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