First steps at Versailles: Ian McGibbon notes the centenary of New Zealand's emergence on the international stage at the peace conference that formally ended the Great War.

• Author: McGibbon, Ian
• Position: ANNIVERSARY

On 28 June 1919--the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo--New Zealand Prime Minister William Massey signed the Treaty of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, near Paris, that formally ended the war with Germany sparked by that slaying. Capping the first significant New Zealand involvement on the international diplomatic stage, this marked an important milestone on New Zealand's path to independence. Despite the momentous occasion, Massey did not tarry to observe the conclusion of the ceremony. He had a boat to catch: even before the last of the 27 Allied and Associated Powers' representatives and two German delegates had signed, he was on his way to Havre where a waiting British warship would take him out to join the ship that would bring him home to New Zealand.

The treaty Massey signed was a victor's peace. Since the conference opened on 18 January 1919, with 32 states represented (including the Dominions and India), the delegates had focused on the terms to be imposed on Germany. Contrary to expectations raised by President Wilson's Fourteen Points, Germany was not given the opportunity to negotiate the terms of the settlement. Instead they were shocked to be presented with non-negotiable terms on 7 May 1919. Despite the truculence with which the German delegates greeted this development, the German government had no choice but to accept the Allied diktat.

The Treaty of Versailles' 440 articles covered a wide range, from territorial issues to reparations. In retrospect, the treaty was not harsh enough, for, unlike the post-1945 situation, Germany was left territorially intact and capable of a resurgence should the terms be ignored. Moreover, the settlement was not harsher than that the Germans themselves had imposed on Russia in the 1917 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. From the outset, however, the Germans railed against the treaty, especially the clause that held them responsible for the aggression and provided the justification for the vast reparations imposed on them. This drumbeat of criticism would in time facilitate the rise of Hider and the Nazi Party but, contrary to a common perception, it was not the primary cause of their assumption of power and thus of the Second World War --worldwide economic depression, not hostility to the Treaty of Versailles, opened the way for the Nazis and the eventual cataclysm.

That New Zealand for the first time played an active part in an international...