"(1) Alsace and Lorraine to be returned to France.
"(2) The boundaries will be extended at least to the limits of the former principality of Lorraine, and will be fixed under the direction of the French Government. At the same time strategic demands must be taken into consideration, so as to include within the French territory the whole of the industrial iron basin of Lorraine and the whole of the industrial coal-basin of the Saar."
The Peace Treaty confirmed these provisions, with the exception of the Saar Valley, which is to go to France for 15 years under conditions which will ultimately cause its annexation to France if she desires it. France also gained some slight territorial concessions in Africa. Her real advantage—as a result of the peace—lies in the control of the three provinces with their valuable mineral deposits.
The territorial ambitions of Japan were confined to the Far East. The former Russian Ambassador to Tokio, under date of February 8, 1917, makes the statement that Japan was desirous of securing "the succession to all the rights and privileges possessed by Germany in the Shantung province and for the acquisition of the islands north of the Equator." In a secret treaty with Great Britain, Japan secured a guarantee covering such a division of the German holdings in the Pacific.
These concessions are of great importance to Japan. By the terms of the Treaty one of her rivals for the trade of the East (Germany) is eliminated, and the territory of that rival goes to Japan. With the control of Port Arthur and Korea and Shantung, Japan holds the gateway to the heart of Northern China. The islands gained by Japan as a result of the Treaty give her a barrier extending from the Kurile Islands, near Kamchatka, through the Empire of Japan proper, to Formosa. Farther out in the Pacific, there are the Ladrones, the Carolines and the Pelew Islands, which, in combination, make a series of submarine bases that render attack by sea difficult or impossible, and that lie, incidentally, between the United States and the Philippine Islands. Japan came away from the Peace Conference with the key to the East in her pocket.
4. The Lion's Share
The lion's share of the Peace Conference spoil went to Great Britain. To each of the other participants, certain concessions, agreed upon beforehand, were made. The remainder of the war-spoil was added to the British Empire. This "remainder" comprised at least a million and half square miles of territory, and included some of the most important resources in the world.
The territorial gains of Great Britain cover four areas—the Near East, the Far East, Africa, and the South Pacific.
The gains of Great Britain in the Near East include Hedjez and Yemen, the control of which gives the British possession of virtually all of the territory bordering on the Red Sea. The Persian Gulf is likewise placed under British control, through her holding of Mesopotamia and her control over Persia and Oman. The eastern end of the Mediterranean is held by the British through their control of Palestine.
Thus the gateway to the East,—both by land and by sea, the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, the valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates and the basin of the Red Sea all fall into the hands of the British, who now hold the heart of the Near East. The gains of Great Britain in Africa include Togoland, German Southwest Africa and German East Africa. With these accessions of territory, Great Britain holds a continuous stretch of country from the Cape to Cairo. A British subject can therefore travel on British soil from Cape Town via the Isthmus of Suez, to Siam, covering a distance as the crow flies of something like 10,000 miles.