Spa Conference of 1920

[2] The attendees included British and French Prime Ministers David Lloyd George and Alexandre Millerand, German Chancellor Constantin Fehrenbach.

[3] Contrary to German expectations the conference did not focus on the issue of war reparations but was initially dominated by the topic of disarmament, also part of the Treaty of Versailles.

On 16 July, Fehrenbach and foreign minister Walter Simons signed the Spa coal protocol as drawn up by the Allies.

In exchange for the Allied right to insist on the delivery of specifics types or quality of coal, Germany was granted 5 Goldmark per ton to purchase food for the miners.

[4] There was no settlement of the total sum of German reparations, but the shares of the recipients were fixed: France 52%, UK 22%, Italy 10%, Belgium 8% with the remainder (8%) distributed among the other Allied nations.

The German side arrived with the negotiation goal of a 200,000-man army and the intent to keep the police units, while possibly making concessions on their equipment.

[6] Fehrenbach contacted Berlin and on the morning of 9 July his cabinet agreed, but instructed the delegation not to sign the sanction threat the protocol contained.

After the conference, on 28 July 1920, the territory was divided between the states leaving Trans-Olza with a sizable Polish minority on the Czech side of the border.