On the peace settlement, **What really happened at Paris, by American delegates, ed., E. M. House and C. Seymour, N. Y., 1921, is well-informed and represents the American position with regard to points at issue better than any other book. C. H. Haskins and R. H. Lord, **Some problems of the Peace Conference, Cambridge, Harvard Univ. Press, 1920, is restricted to territorial questions. I. Bowman, **The new world, Yonkers, 1921, treats particularly the problems in political geography arising from the settlement, but pays due attention to historical and economic factors, and includes many valuable maps; the book is indispensable.
On the subject of reparations the best brief account is that by Lamont and Young. Bernard M. Baruch, *The making of the reparation and economic sections of the treaty, N. Y., 1920, is more extensive; it reprints all clauses of the Versailles treaty which are of economic interest. Further material will be found in the elaborate History of the Peace Conference, ed. H. W. V. Temperley, of which five volumes had been published in 1921.
André Tardieu, The truth about the treaty, Indianapolis, 1921, is an eloquent plea for French claims in their entirety; J. M. Keynes, The economic consequences of the peace, N. Y., 1920, condemns the reparations settlement as too severe. Either book may mislead an uncritical reader.
Convenient sources of information on the changing conditions of the time will be found in Current History, a review published monthly by the N. Y. Times, and in Economic Review of the Foreign Press, published weekly in London.
CHAPTER LVII
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE, 1914-1920
754. Territorial losses of Germany.—By the terms of peace Germany ceded territory in the west to France and Belgium, in the north to Denmark, in the east to Poland. The most serious losses were comprised in the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, and in part of the province of Silesia. Upper Silesia contained mineral deposits, particularly coal, which the Germans asserted to be indispensable to the industrial development of their country, and the contest over the rights involved delayed a decision for more than two years after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The final award, rendered by a commission of the League of Nations, divided between Germany and Poland the territory in dispute but arranged that for a period of fifteen years the whole area be kept under the control of a commission which should recognize the mixture of interests and should maintain free economic intercourse.
The total losses of Germany, measured in area, population, agricultural and industrial resources, ranged from 10 to 15 per cent. Losses in particular resources of great industrial importance were still more serious. The country was obliged to abandon mines supplying about one-quarter of the annual output of coal, three-quarters of the iron output, even a higher proportion of the output of zinc.
755. Internal losses of the country.—These losses fixed by the terms of peace were added to the loss which Germany had already suffered in the course of the war. The population in 1914 was 68,000,000. Deaths in the army amounted to 1,800,000, and the number of wounded was over 4,000,000. In the civilian population, also, the mortality in the latter part of the war had been very high and the vitality of survivors was impaired. An indication of the extent and character of the losses is provided by some statistics of Prussia, which show a decline in population, 1914-1919, in every province but three, and show a serious decline in the proportion of males. In 1914 there were 102 women to 100 men; in 1919 the proportion was 109 to 100.
Germany emerged from the war not only short in man power, but also weakened by the depreciation of capital and in serious need of some of the most important raw materials. The demands of the army had taken precedence over any other consideration, and had in the four years of war stripped the country almost bare.
756. Effects of the blockade.—The weakening of German resistance and the final surrender were due in large measure to the inexorable blockade maintained by the allies of the Entente. Germany made an extraordinarily effective use of what resources she had. Her scientists produced nitrates from atmospheric nitrogen and so freed her from dependence on imports from South America for her explosives. Her manufacturers made clothing for the people from paper and nettle fibers. Her officials scoured the country for copper and brass implements, when the stock of copper for munitions was depleted, and gleaned a surprising amount of metal for military use. Her military leaders systematically looted the districts which they occupied. There are limits, however, to the achievements of the most scientific synthetic chemistry, or of the most unscrupulous and efficient administration. A substitute (Ersatz) was provided for almost everything, as the supply of the original good ran low. However successfully the substitute might imitate the original in appearance it rarely proved to have the same efficiency in action. German locomotives deteriorated because they were lubricated with substitute oils and grease; the German people ran down in vigor and power of resistance because they were fed and clothed with substitutes.