05-403 (06) Ra-Z.qxd
12/1/05
7:00 AM
Page 195
VIVIANI, RENÉ
• 195
Schleswig, parts of East Prussia, and Upper Silesia, plebiscites would be held. By Parts IV and V, Germany had to give up its foreign rights and its colonies, which would become mandated territories of the League of Nations. Its army had to be reduced to 100,000 men and Allied commissions would supervise its disarmament. Parts VI and VII covered prisoners of war and war criminals. By Part VIII, Germany was found guilty of provoking World War I and therefore had to pay considerable reparations to the Allies. Parts IX to XIV contained further economic and financial clauses. The German delegation sent to Paris to negotiate the peace terms refused to sign the treaty. Instead, it was signed at Versailles by Hermann Müller and Johannes Bell of the new German coalition government. See also PEACE CONFERENCE, PARIS. VIGIER, HENRI (1886–?). The Frenchman Vigier entered the Secretariat as a member of the Information Section. He moved to the Political Section and became its director in May 1931. He played a significant role as drafter of the Council’s resolutions during the Italo–Abyssinian War. VILNA. Both the Polish and Soviet governments claimed this capital of Lithuania after World War I; it changed hands five times in 1920. In 1923 the city was allocated to Poland by the Conference of Ambassadors but remained a source of enmity between Lithuania and Poland. In 1939 when Russian troops put the clauses of the German–Soviet Non-Aggression Pact into effect, Vilna once again fell under Lithuanian sovereignty. See also POLISH–LITHUANIAN DISPUTE OVER VILNA. VIVIANI, RENÉ (1863–1925). Viviani had been prime minister of France at the outbreak of World War I. He represented France in the first Assembly in 1920 and was strongly opposed to Germany’s membership in the League. In 1921 he was asked by the Assembly to chair the Temporary Mixed Commission that was to prepare a Disarmament Conference. He strongly believed in a future for the League of Nations and played a role in the deliberations on Armenia. Viviani held the permanent French Council seat when the occupation of the Ruhr was being discussed.