document_title: Treaty of Versailles

question_text: who was the german leader who signed the treaty of versailles

text: Treaty of Versailles

text: Background

text: World War I

text: The First World War (1914–1918) was fought across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Countries beyond the war zones were also affected by the disruption of international trade, finance and diplomatic pressures from the belligerents.[9] In 1917, two revolutions occurred within the Russian Empire, which led to the collapse of the Imperial Government and the rise of the Bolshevik Party led by Vladimir Lenin.[10]

text: Fourteen Points

text: On 6 April 1917, the United States entered the war against the Central Powers due to German submarine warfare against merchant ships trading with France and Britain, which led to the sinking of the RMS Lusitania and the loss of 128 American lives, as well as the interception of the Zimmerman Telegram, sent by the Empire of Germany to Mexico, urging for a declaration of war against the United States. The American war aim was to detach the war from nationalistic disputes and ambitions after the Bolshevik disclosure of secret treaties between the Allies. The existence of these treaties tended to discredit Allied claims that Germany was the sole power with aggressive ambitions.[11]

text: On 8 January 1918, United States President Woodrow Wilson issued a statement that became known as the Fourteen Points. This speech outlined a policy of free trade, open agreements, democracy and self-determination. It also called for a diplomatic end to the war, international disarmament, the withdrawal of the Central Powers from occupied territories, the creation of a Polish state, the redrawing of Europe's borders along ethnic lines, and the formation of a League of Nations to afford "mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike".[12][13] Wilson's speech also responded to Vladimir Lenin's Decree on Peace of November 1917, which proposed an immediate withdrawal of Russia from the war and called for a just and democratic peace uncompromised by territorial annexations. The Fourteen Points were based on the research of the Inquiry, a team of about 150 advisors led by foreign-policy advisor Edward M. House, into the topics likely to arise in the anticipated peace conference. Europeans generally welcomed Wilson's intervention, but Allied colleagues Georges Clemenceau of France, David Lloyd George of the United Kingdom and Vittorio Emanuele Orlando of Italy were sceptical of Wilsonian idealism.[14]

text: Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, 1918

text: After the Central Powers launched Operation Faustschlag on the Eastern Front, the new Soviet Government of Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany on 3 March 1918.[15] This treaty ended the war between Russia and the Central powers and annexed 1,300,000 square miles (3,400,000 km2) of territory and 62 million people.[16] This loss equated to a third of the Russian population, a quarter of its territory, around a third of the country's arable land, three-quarters of its coal and iron, a third of its factories (totalling 54 percent of the nation's industrial capacity), and a quarter of its railroads.[16][17]

text: Armistice

text: During the autumn of 1918, the Central Powers began to collapse.[18] Desertion rates within the German army began to increase, and civilian strikes drastically reduced war production.[19][20] On the Western Front, the Allied forces launched the Hundred Days Offensive and decisively defeated the German western armies.[21] Sailors of the Imperial German Navy at Kiel mutinied, which prompted uprisings in Germany, which became known as the German Revolution.[22][23] The German government tried to obtain a peace settlement based on the Fourteen Points, and maintained it was on this basis that they surrendered. Following negotiations, the Allied powers and Germany signed an armistice, which came into effect on 11 November while German forces were still positioned in France and Belgium.[24][25][26]

text: Occupation

text: The terms of the armistice called for an immediate evacuation of German troops from occupied Belgium, France, and Luxembourg within fifteen days.[27] In addition, it established that Allied forces would occupy the Rhineland. In late 1918, Allied troops entered Germany and began the occupation.[28]

text: Blockade

text: Both the German Empire and Great Britain were dependent on imports of food and raw materials, primarily from the Americas, which had to be shipped across the Atlantic Ocean. The Blockade of Germany (1914–1919) was a naval operation conducted by the Allied Powers to stop the supply of raw materials and foodstuffs reaching the Central Powers. The German Kaiserliche Marine was mainly restricted to the German Bight and used commerce raiders and unrestricted submarine warfare for a counter-blockade. The German Board of Public Health in December 1918 stated that 763,000 German civilians had died during the Allied blockade, although an academic study in 1928 put the death toll at 424,000 people.[29]

text: Polish uprising

text: In late 1918, a Polish government was formed and an independent Poland proclaimed. In December, Poles launched an uprising within the German province of Posen. Fighting lasted until February, when an armistice was signed that left the province in Polish hands, but technically still a German possession.[30]

text: Negotiations

text: Negotiations between the Allied powers started on 18 January in the Salle de l'Horloge at the French Foreign Ministry on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris. Initially, 70 delegates from 27 nations participated in the negotiations.[31] The defeated nations of Germany, Austria, and Hungary were excluded from the negotiations. Russia was also excluded because it had negotiated a separate peace (the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk) with Germany in 1918. The terms of this treaty awarded Germany a large proportion of Russia's land and resources. Its terms were extremely harsh, as the negotiators at Versailles later pointed out.

text: At first a "Council of Ten" comprising two delegates each from Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Japan met officially to decide the peace terms. It became the "Big Four" when Japan dropped out and the top person from each of the other four nations met in 145 closed sessions to make all the major decisions to be ratified by the entire assembly. Apart from Italian issues, the main conditions were determined at personal meetings among the leaders of the "Big Three" nations: British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, and American President Woodrow Wilson.

text: The minor nations attended a weekly "Plenary Conference" that discussed issues in a general forum, but made no decisions. These members formed over 50 commissions that made various recommendations, many of which were incorporated into the final treaty.[32][33]

text: French aims

text: As the only major allied power sharing a land border with Germany, France was chiefly concerned with weakening Germany as much as possible. The French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau described France's position best by telling Wilson: "America is far away, protected by the ocean. Not even Napoleon himself could touch England. You are both sheltered; we are not." [34] Clemenceau and his colleagues hoped at the very least to have Allied troops occupy bridges over the Rhine and proposed a plan to create a buffer state in the Rhineland in order to create a barrier between a revitalized Germany and France. However, their demands would not be met by the treaty. Instead, France obtained the demilitarization of the Rhineland, a mandate over the Saar and promises of Anglo-American support in case of a new German aggression (a commitment that could not be relied on after the United States failed to ratify the treaty).[35] Clemenceau's inability to procure the Rhineland state led to fierce criticism of him in France and contributed to his subsequent fall from power.[36]

text: British economist John Maynard Keynes argued,

text: So far as possible, therefore, it was the policy of France to set the clock back and undo what, since 1870, the progress of Germany had accomplished. By loss of territory and other measures her population was to be curtailed; but chiefly the economic system, upon which she depended for her new strength, the vast fabric built upon iron, coal, and transport must be destroyed. If France could seize, even in part, what Germany was compelled to drop, the inequality of strength between the two rivals for European hegemony might be remedied for generations.[37]

text: France, which suffered significant destruction in its northern territories (the worst damage sustained in areas that formed a so-called Red Zone) and the second heaviest (after the Russian empire) human losses among allies (see main article World War I casualties), was adamant on the payment of reparations. The failure of the government of the Weimar Republic to pay these reparations led to the Occupation of the Ruhr by French and Belgian forces.

text: British aims

text: Britain had suffered little land devastation during the war and Prime Minister David Lloyd George supported reparations to a lesser extent than the French. Britain began to look on a restored Germany as an important trading partner and worried about the effect of reparations on the British economy.[38]

text: American aims

text: Before the end of the war, President Woodrow Wilson put forward his Fourteen Points, which represented the liberal position at the Conference and helped shape world opinion. Wilson was concerned with rebuilding the European economy, encouraging self-determination, promoting free trade, creating appropriate mandates for former colonies, and above all, creating a powerful League of Nations that would ensure the peace. He opposed harsh treatment of Germany but was outmaneuvered by Britain and France. He brought along top intellectuals as advisors, but his refusal to include prominent Republicans in the American delegation made his efforts seem partisan, and it contributed to a risk of political defeat at home.[39]

text: Treaty

text: In June 1919, the Allies declared that war would resume if the German government did not sign the treaty they had agreed to among themselves. The government headed by Philipp Scheidemann was unable to agree on a common position, and Scheidemann himself resigned rather than agree to sign the treaty. Gustav Bauer, the head of the new government, sent a telegram stating his intention to sign the treaty if certain articles were withdrawn, including Articles 227, 230 and 231.[nb 1] In response, the Allies issued an ultimatum stating that Germany would have to accept the treaty or face an invasion of Allied forces across the Rhine within 24 hours. On 23 June, Bauer capitulated and sent a second telegram with a confirmation that a German delegation would arrive shortly to sign the treaty.[40] On 28 June 1919, the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the immediate impetus for the war), the peace treaty was signed.[2] The treaty had clauses ranging from war crimes, the prohibition on the merging of Austria with Germany without the consent of the League of Nations, freedom of navigation on major European rivers, to the returning of a Koran to the king of Hedjaz.[41][42][43][44]

text: Territorial changes

text: The treaty stripped Germany of 25,000 square miles (65,000 km2) of territory and 7 million people. It also required Germany to give up the gains made via the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and grant independence to the protectorates that had been established.[17] In Western Europe Germany was required to recognize Belgian sovereignty over Moresnet and cede control of the Eupen-Malmedy area. Within six months of the transfer, Belgium was required to conduct a plebiscite on whether the citizens of the region wanted to remain under Belgian sovereignty or return to German control, communicate the results to the League of Nations and abide by the League's decision.[45] To compensate for the destruction of French coal mines, Germany was to cede the output of the Saar coalmines to France and control of the Saar to the League of Nations for 15 years; a plebiscite would then be held to decide sovereignty.[46] The treaty "restored" the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine to France by rescinding the treaties of Versailles and Frankfurt of 1871 as they pertained to this issue.[47] The sovereignty of Schleswig-Holstein was to be resolved by a plebiscite to be held at a future time (see Schleswig Plebiscites).[48]

text: In Eastern Europe, Germany was to recognize the independence of Czechoslovakia and cede parts of the province of Upper Silesia.[49] Germany had to recognize the independence of Poland and renounce "all rights and title over the territory". Portions of Upper Silesia were to be ceded to Poland, with the future of the rest of the province to be decided by plebiscite. The border would be fixed with regard to the vote and to the geographical and economic conditions of each locality.[50] The province of Posen (now Poznan), which had come under Polish control during the Greater Poland Uprising, was also to be ceded to Poland.[30][51] Pomerelia (Eastern Pomerania), on historical and ethnic grounds, was transferred to Poland so that the new state could have access to the sea and became known as the Polish Corridor.[52] The sovereignty of part of southern East Prussia was to be decided via plebiscite while the East Prussian Soldau area, which was astride the rail line between Warsaw and Danzig, was transferred to Poland outright without plebiscite.[53][54] An area of 51,800 square kilometres (20,000 square miles) was granted to Poland at the expense of Germany.[55] Memel was to be ceded to the Allied and Associated powers, for disposal according to their wishes.[56] Germany was to cede the city of Danzig and its hinterland, including the delta of the Vistula River on the Baltic Sea, for the League of Nations to establish the Free City of Danzig.[57]

text: Mandates

text: Article 119 of the treaty required Germany to renounce sovereignty over former colonies and Article 22 converted the territories into League of Nations mandates under the control of Allied states.[58] Togoland and German Kamerun (Cameroon) were transferred to France. Ruanda and Urundi were allocated to Belgium, whereas German South-West Africa went to South Africa and the United Kingdom obtained German East Africa.[59][60][61] As compensation for the German invasion of Portuguese Africa, Portugal was granted the Kionga Triangle, a sliver of German East Africa in northern Mozambique.[62] Article 156 of the treaty transferred German concessions in Shandong, China, to Japan, not to China. Japan was granted all German possessions in the Pacific north of the equator and those south of the equator went to Australia, except for German Samoa, which was taken by New Zealand.[60][63]

text: Military restrictions

text: The treaty was comprehensive and complex in the restrictions imposed upon the post-war German armed forces (the Reichswehr). The provisions were intended to make the Reichswehr incapable of offensive action and to encourage international disarmament.[64][65] Germany was to demobilize sufficient soldiers by 31 March 1920 to leave an army of no more than 100,000 men in a maximum of seven infantry and three cavalry divisions. The treaty laid down the organisation of the divisions and support units, and the General Staff was to be dissolved.[66] Military schools for officer training were limited to three, one school per arm, and conscription was abolished. Private soldiers and Non-commissioned officers were to be retained for at least twelve years and officers for a minimum of 25 years, with former officers being forbidden to attend military exercises. To prevent Germany from building up a large cadre of trained men, the number of men allowed to leave early was limited.[67]

text: The number of civilian staff supporting the army was reduced and the police force was reduced to its pre-war size, with increases limited to population increases; paramilitary forces were forbidden.[68] The Rhineland was to be demilitarized, all fortifications in the Rhineland and 50 kilometres (31 miles) east of the river were to be demolished and new construction was forbidden.[69] Military structures and fortifications on the islands of Heligoland and Düne were to be destroyed.[70] Germany was prohibited from the arms trade, limits were imposed on the type and quantity of weapons and prohibited from the manufacture or stockpile of chemical weapons, armoured cars, tanks and military aircraft.[71] The German navy was allowed six pre-dreadnought battleships and was limited to a maximum of six light cruisers (not exceeding 6,000 long tons (6,100 t)), twelve destroyers (not exceeding 800 long tons (810 t)) and twelve torpedo boats (not exceeding 200 long tons (200 t)) and was forbidden submarines.[72] The manpower of the navy was not to exceed 15,000 men, including manning for the fleet, coast defences, signal stations, administration, other land services, officers and men of all grades and corps. The number of officers and warrant officers was not allowed to exceed 1,500 men.[73] Germany surrendered eight battleships, eight light cruisers, forty-two destroyers, and fifty torpedo boats for decommissioning. Thirty-two auxiliary ships were to be disarmed and converted to merchant use.[74] Article 198 prohibited Germany from having an air force, including naval air forces, and required Germany to hand over all aerial related materials. In conjunction, Germany was forbidden to manufacture or import aircraft or related material for a period of six months following the signing of the treaty.[75]

text: Reparations

text: In Article 231 Germany accepted responsibility for the losses and damages caused by the war "as a consequence of the ... aggression of Germany and her allies."[76][nb 2] The treaty required Germany to compensate the Allied powers, and it also established an Allied "Reparation Commission" to determine the exact amount which Germany would pay and the form that such payment would take. The commission was required to "give to the German Government a just opportunity to be heard", and to submit its conclusions by 1 May 1921. In the interim, the treaty required Germany to pay an equivalent of 20 billion gold marks ($5 billion) in gold, commodities, ships, securities or other forms. The money would help to pay for Allied occupation costs and buy food and raw materials for Germany.[81][82]

text: Guarantees

text: To ensure compliance, the Rhineland and bridgeheads east of the Rhine were to be occupied by Allied troops for fifteen years.[83] If Germany had not committed aggression, a staged withdrawal would take place; after five years, the Cologne bridgehead and the territory north of a line along the Ruhr would be evacuated. After ten years, the bridgehead at Coblenz and the territories to the north would be evacuated and after fifteen years remaining Allied forces would be withdrawn.[84] If Germany reneged on the treaty obligations, the bridgeheads would be reoccupied immediately.[85]

text: International organizations

text: Part I of the treaty, as per all the treaties signed during the Paris Peace Conference,[nb 3] was the Covenant of the League of Nations, which provided for the creation of the League, an organization for the arbitration of international disputes.[86] Part XIII organized the establishment of the International Labour Officer, to regulate hours of work, including a maximum working day and week; the regulation of the labour supply; the prevention of unemployment; the provision of a living wage; the protection of the worker against sickness, disease and injury arising out of his employment; the protection of children, young persons and women; provision for old age and injury; protection of the interests of workers when employed abroad; recognition of the principle of freedom of association; the organization of vocational and technical education and other measures.[87] The treaty also called for the signatories to sign or ratify the International Opium Convention.[88]

text: Reactions

text: Among the allies

text: Britain

text: The surrender of the German High Seas Fleet following the Armistice and its internment (and eventual scuttling) in Scapa Flow meant that Britain had already accomplished her primary war goal even before the Paris Peace Conference opened. With the German naval threat removed, Britain began focusing on Germany as a bulwark against the threat posed by the new Soviet Union.

text: Thus, British policy towards Germany began diverging from France's almost from the moment the guns fell silent. British officials at the conference declared French policy to be "greedy" and "vindictive," with Ramsay MacDonald later announcing, after Hitler's re-militarisation of the Rhineland in 1936, that he was "pleased" that the treaty was "vanishing", expressing his hope that the French had been taught a "severe lesson".[89] In 1938, Lloyd George published a massive two-volume memoir titled The Truth About the Peace Treaties, in which he effectively repudiated the terms of the treaty that bore his signature.[90]

text: France

text: France signed the treaty and was active in the League. The French people rejoiced that Alsace and Lorraine had been returned to France and that Germany had agreed to pay reparations. But the perception that Clemenceau had failed to achieve all of France's demands damaged him politically. When he stood for election as President of France in January 1920, he was defeated. Through much of the 1920s, France was the most vigorous of the wartime Allies in seeking to enforce the treaty's harsher terms, especially with regard to reparations. Without strong British support, however, she was largely unsuccessful. French Marshal Ferdinand Foch—who felt the restrictions on Germany were too lenient—prophetically predicted that "this (treaty) is not peace. It is an Armistice for twenty years."[91]

text: Italy

text: Reaction in Italy to the treaty was extremely negative. The country had suffered high casualties, yet failed to achieve most of its major war goals, notably gaining control of the Dalmatian coast and Fiume. President Wilson rejected Italy's claims on the basis of "national self-determination." For their part, Britain and France—who had been forced in the war's latter stages to divert their own troops to the Italian front to stave off collapse—were disinclined to support Italy's position at the peace conference. Differences in negotiating strategy between Premier Vittorio Orlando and Foreign Minister Sidney Sonnino further undermined Italy's position at the conference. A furious Vittorio Orlando suffered a nervous collapse and at one point walked out of the conference (though he later returned). He lost his position as prime minister just a week before the treaty was scheduled to be signed, effectively ending his active political career. Anger and dismay over the treaty's provisions helped pave the way for the establishment of Benito Mussolini's dictatorship three years later.

text: Portugal

text: Portugal entered the war on the Allied side in 1916 primarily to ensure the security of its African colonies, which were threatened with seizure by both Britain and Germany. To this extent, she succeeded in her war aims. The treaty recognized Portuguese sovereignty over these areas and awarded her small portions of Germany's bordering overseas colonies. Otherwise, however, Portugal obtained little at the peace conference. Her promised share of German reparations never materialized, and a seat she coveted on the executive council of the new League of Nations went instead to Spain—which had remained neutral in the war. In the end, Portugal ratified the treaty, but got little out of the war, which cost more than 8,000 Portuguese troops and as many as 100,000 of her African colonial subjects their lives.[92]

text: United States

text: After the Versailles conference, Democratic President Woodrow Wilson claimed that "at last the world knows America as the savior of the world!"[93] However, the Republican Party, led by Henry Cabot Lodge, controlled the US Senate after the election of 1918, and the senators were divided into multiple positions on the Versailles question. It proved possible to build a majority coalition, but impossible to build a two-thirds coalition that was needed to pass a treaty.[94]

text: A discontent bloc of 12–18 "Irreconcilables", mostly Republicans but also representatives of the Irish and German Democrats, fiercely opposed the treaty. One block of Democrats strongly supported the Versailles Treaty, even with reservations added by Lodge. A second group of Democrats supported the treaty but followed Wilson in opposing any amendments or reservations. The largest bloc, led by Senator Lodge,[95] comprised a majority of the Republicans. They wanted a treaty with reservations, especially on Article 10, which involved the power of the League of Nations to make war without a vote by the US Congress.[96] All of the Irreconcilables were bitter enemies of President Wilson, and he launched a nationwide speaking tour in the summer of 1919 to refute them. However, Wilson collapsed midway with a serious stroke that effectively ruined his leadership skills.[97]

text: The closest the treaty came to passage was on 19 November 1919, as Lodge and his Republicans formed a coalition with the pro-Treaty Democrats, and were close to a two-thirds majority for a Treaty with reservations, but Wilson rejected this compromise and enough Democrats followed his lead to permanently end the chances for ratification. Among the American public as a whole, the Irish Catholics and the German Americans were intensely opposed to the treaty, saying it favored the British.[98]

text: After Wilson's presidency, his successor Republican President Warren G. Harding continued American opposition to the formation of the League of Nations. Congress subsequently passed the Knox–Porter Resolution bringing a formal end to hostilities between the United States and the Central Powers. It was signed into law by President Harding on 2 July 1921.[99][100] Soon after, the US–German Peace Treaty of 1921 was signed in Berlin on 25 August 1921, the US–Austrian Peace Treaty of 1921 was signed in Vienna on 24 August 1921, and the US–Hungarian Peace Treaty of 1921 was signed in Budapest on 29 August 1921.

text: China

text: China felt betrayed as the German territory in China was handed to Japan. The sense of betrayal led to great demonstrations in China and the fall of the nascent Chinese Republic's government and poisoned relations with the West. [101][102]

text: House's views

text: Wilson's former friend Edward Mandell House, present at the negotiations, wrote in his diary on 29 June 1919:

text: I am leaving Paris, after eight fateful months, with conflicting emotions. Looking at the conference in retrospect, there is much to approve and yet much to regret. It is easy to say what should have been done, but more difficult to have found a way of doing it. To those who are saying that the treaty is bad and should never have been made and that it will involve Europe in infinite difficulties in its enforcement, I feel like admitting it. But I would also say in reply that empires cannot be shattered, and new states raised upon their ruins without disturbance. To create new boundaries is to create new troubles. The one follows the other. While I should have preferred a different peace, I doubt very much whether it could have been made, for the ingredients required for such a peace as I would have were lacking at Paris.[103]

text: In Germany

text: On 29 April, the German delegation under the leadership of the Foreign Minister Ulrich Graf von Brockdorff-Rantzau arrived in Versailles. On 7 May, when faced with the conditions dictated by the victors, including the so-called "War Guilt Clause", von Brockdorff-Rantzau replied to Clemenceau, Wilson and Lloyd George: "We know the full brunt of hate that confronts us here. You demand from us to confess we were the only guilty party of war; such a confession in my mouth would be a lie."[104] Because Germany was not allowed to take part in the negotiations, the German government issued a protest against what it considered to be unfair demands, and a "violation of honour",[105] soon afterwards withdrawing from the proceedings of the peace conference.

text: Germans of all political shades denounced the treaty—particularly the provision that blamed Germany for starting the war—as an insult to the nation's honor. They referred to the treaty as "the Diktat" since its terms were presented to Germany on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. Germany′s first democratically elected head of government, Philipp Scheidemann, resigned rather than sign the treaty. In a passionate speech before the National Assembly on 21 March 1919, he called the treaty a "murderous plan" and exclaimed,

text: Which hand, trying to put us in chains like these, would not wither? The treaty is unacceptable.[106]

text: After Scheidemann′s resignation, a new coalition government was formed under Gustav Bauer. President Friedrich Ebert knew that Germany was in an impossible situation. Although he shared his countrymen's disgust with the treaty, he was sober enough to consider the possibility that the government would not be in a position to reject it. He believed that if Germany refused to sign the treaty, the Allies would invade Germany from the west—and there was no guarantee that the army would be able to make a stand in the event of an invasion. With this in mind, he asked Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg if the army was capable of any meaningful resistance in the event the Allies resumed the war. If there was even the slightest chance that the army could hold out, Ebert intended to recommend against ratifying the treaty. Hindenburg—after prodding from his chief of staff, Wilhelm Groener—concluded the army could not resume the war even on a limited scale. However, rather than inform Ebert himself, he had Groener inform the government that the army would be in an untenable position in the event of renewed hostilities. Upon receiving this, the new government recommended signing the treaty. The National Assembly voted in favour of signing the treaty by 237 to 138, with five abstentions (there were 421 delegates in total). This result was wired to Clemenceau just hours before the deadline. Foreign minister Hermann Müller and colonial minister Johannes Bell travelled to Versailles to sign the treaty on behalf of Germany. The treaty was signed on 28 June 1919 and ratified by the National Assembly on 9 July by a vote of 209 to 116.[107]

text: Conservatives, nationalists and ex-military leaders condemned the treaty. Politicians of the Weimar Republic who supported the treaty, socialists, communists, and Jews were viewed with suspicion as persons of questionable loyalty.[citation needed] It was rumored that Jews had not supported the war and had played a role in selling Germany out to its enemies. Those who seemed to benefit from a weakened Germany and the newly formed Weimar Republic were regarded as having "stabbed Germany in the back". Those who instigated unrest and strikes in the critical military industries on the home front or who opposed German nationalism were seen to have contributed to Germany's defeat.[citation needed] These theories were given credence by the fact that when Germany surrendered in November 1918, its armies were still on French and Belgian territory. Furthermore, on the Eastern Front, Germany had already won the war against Russia and concluded the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. In the West, Germany had seemed to have come close to winning the war with the Spring Offensive earlier in 1918.[citation needed] Its failure was blamed on strikes in the arms industry at a critical moment of the offensive, leaving soldiers with an inadequate supply of materiel. The strikes were regarded by nationalists as having been instigated by traitors, with the Jews taking most of the blame.[citation needed]

text: Violations

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text: The German economy was so weak that only a small percentage of reparations was paid in hard currency.[citation needed] Nonetheless, even the payment of this small percentage of the original reparations (132 billion gold marks) still placed a significant burden on the German economy.[citation needed] Although the causes of the devastating post-war hyperinflation are complex and disputed, Germans blamed the near-collapse of their economy on the treaty, and some economists estimated that the reparations accounted for as much as one-third of the hyper-inflation.[citation needed]

text: In March 1921, French and Belgian troops occupied Duisburg, which formed part of the demilitarized Rhineland, according to the Treaty of Versailles.[citation needed] In January 1923, French and Belgian forces occupied the rest of the Ruhr area as a reprisal after Germany failed to fulfill reparation payments demanded by the Versailles Treaty. The German government answered with "passive resistance", which meant that coal miners and railway workers refused to obey any instructions by the occupation forces.[citation needed] Production and transportation came to a standstill, but the financial consequences contributed to German hyperinflation and completely ruined public finances in Germany. Consequently, passive resistance was called off in late 1923.[citation needed] The end of passive resistance in the Ruhr allowed Germany to undertake a currency reform and to negotiate the Dawes Plan, which led to the withdrawal of French and Belgian troops from the Ruhr Area in 1925.[citation needed]

text: Some significant violations of the provisions of the treaty were:

text:
At the time of signing in 1919, the dissolution of the General Staff according to Article 160 appeared to happen; however, the core of the General Staff was reestablished and hidden in the Truppenamt.[108][109]
March 1935, under the government of Adolf Hitler, Germany violated the Part V of the Treaty of Versailles by introducing compulsory military conscription in Germany and rebuilding the armed forces.[110][111]
March 1936, Germany violated Article 43 of the treaty by reoccupying the demilitarized zone in the Rhineland.[69][112]
March 1938, Germany violated Article 80 of the treaty by annexing Austria in the Anschluss.[113][114]

text: Historical assessments

text: According to David Stevenson, since the opening of French archives, most commentators have remarked on French restraint and reasonableness at the conference, though Stevenson notes that "[t]he jury is still out", and that "there have been signs that the pendulum of judgement is swinging back the other way."[115]

text: In his book The Economic Consequences of the Peace, John Maynard Keynes referred to the Treaty of Versailles as a "Carthaginian peace", a misguided attempt to destroy Germany on behalf of French revanchism, rather than to follow the fairer principles for a lasting peace set out in President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, which Germany had accepted at the armistice. He stated: "I believe that the campaign for securing out of Germany the general costs of the war was one of the most serious acts of political unwisdom for which our statesmen have ever been responsible."[116] Keynes had been the principal representative of the British Treasury at the Paris Peace Conference, and used in his passionate book arguments that he and others (including some US officials) had used at Paris.[117] He believed the sums being asked of Germany in reparations were many times more than it was possible for Germany to pay, and that these would produce drastic instability.[118]

text: French economist Étienne Mantoux disputed that analysis. During the 1940s, Mantoux wrote a posthumously published book titled The Carthaginian Peace, or the Economic Consequences of Mr. Keynes in an attempt to rebut Keynes' claims. More recently economists have argued that the restriction of Germany to a small army saved it so much money it could afford the reparations payments.[119]

text: It has been argued (for instance by historian Gerhard Weinberg in his book A World At Arms[120]) that the treaty was in fact quite advantageous to Germany. The Bismarckian Reich was maintained as a political unit instead of being broken up, and Germany largely escaped post-war military occupation (in contrast to the situation following World War II). In a 1995 essay, Weinberg noted that with the disappearance of Austria-Hungary and with Russia withdrawn from Europe, that Germany was now the dominant power in Eastern Europe.[121]

text: The British military historian Correlli Barnett claimed that the Treaty of Versailles was "extremely lenient in comparison with the peace terms that Germany herself, when she was expecting to win the war, had had in mind to impose on the Allies". Furthermore, he claimed, it was "hardly a slap on the wrist" when contrasted with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that Germany had imposed on a defeated Russia in March 1918, which had taken away a third of Russia's population (albeit of non-Russian ethnicity), one-half of Russia's industrial undertakings and nine-tenths of Russia's coal mines, coupled with an indemnity of six billion marks.[122] Eventually, even under the "cruel" terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany′s economy had been restored to its pre-war status.

text: Barnett also claims that, in strategic terms, Germany was in fact in a superior position following the Treaty than she had been in 1914. Germany′s eastern frontiers faced Russia and Austria, who had both in the past balanced German power. Barnett asserts that its post-war eastern borders were safer, because the former Austrian Empire fractured after the war into smaller, weaker states, Russia was wracked by revolution and civil war, and the newly restored Poland was no match for even a defeated Germany. In the West, Germany was balanced only by France and Belgium, both of which were smaller in population and less economically vibrant than Germany. Barnett concludes by saying that instead of weakening Germany, the treaty "much enhanced" German power.[123] Britain and France should have (according to Barnett) "divided and permanently weakened" Germany by undoing Bismarck's work and partitioning Germany into smaller, weaker states so it could never have disrupted the peace of Europe again.[124] By failing to do this and therefore not solving the problem of German power and restoring the equilibrium of Europe, Britain "had failed in her main purpose in taking part in the Great War".[125]

text: The British historian of modern Germany, Richard J. Evans, wrote that during the war the German right was committed to an annexationist program which aimed at Germany annexing most of Europe and Africa. Consequently, any peace treaty that did not leave Germany as the conqueror would be unacceptable to them.[126] Short of allowing Germany to keep all the conquests of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Evans argued that there was nothing that could have been done to persuade the German right to accept Versailles.[126] Evans further noted that the parties of the Weimar Coalition, namely the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the social liberal German Democratic Party (DDP) and the Christian democratic Centre Party, were all equally opposed to Versailles, and it is false to claim as some historians have that opposition to Versailles also equalled opposition to the Weimar Republic.[126] Finally, Evans argued that it is untrue that Versailles caused the premature end of the Republic, instead contending that it was the Great Depression of the early 1930s that put an end to German democracy. He also argued that Versailles was not the "main cause" of National Socialism and the German economy was "only marginally influenced by the impact of reparations".[126]

text: Ewa Thompson points out that the treaty allowed numerous nations in Central and Eastern Europe to liberate themselves from oppressive German rule, a fact that is often neglected by Western historiography, more interested in understanding the German point of view. In nations that found themselves free as the result of the treaty—such as Poles or Czechs—it is seen as a symbol of recognition of wrongs committed against small nations by their much larger aggressive neighbours.[127]

text: Regardless of modern strategic or economic analysis, resentment caused by the treaty sowed fertile psychological ground for the eventual rise of the Nazi Party.[citation needed] The German historian Detlev Peukert wrote that Versailles was far from the impossible peace that most Germans claimed it was during the interwar period, and though not without flaws was actually quite reasonable to Germany.[128] Rather, Peukert argued that it was widely believed in Germany that Versailles was a totally unreasonable treaty, and it was this "perception" rather than the "reality" of the Versailles treaty that mattered.[128] Peukert noted that because of the "millenarian hopes" created in Germany during World War I when for a time it appeared that Germany was on the verge of conquering all of Europe, any peace treaty the Allies of World War I imposed on the defeated German Reich were bound to create a nationalist backlash, and there was nothing the Allies could have done to avoid that backlash.[128] Having noted that much, Peukert commented that the policy of rapprochement with the Western powers that Gustav Stresemann carried out between 1923 and 1929 were constructive policies that might have allowed Germany to play a more positive role in Europe, and that it was not true that German democracy was doomed to die in 1919 because of Versailles.[128] Finally, Peukert argued that it was the Great Depression and the turn to a nationalist policy of autarky within Germany at the same time that finished off the Weimar Republic, not the Treaty of Versailles.[128]

text: French historian Raymond Cartier states that millions of Germans in the Sudetenland and in Posen-West Prussia were placed under foreign rule in a hostile environment, where harassment and violation of rights by authorities are documented.[129] Cartier asserts that, out of 1,058,000 Germans in Posen-West Prussia in 1921, 758,867 fled their homelands within five years due to Polish harassment.[129] In 1926, the Polish Ministry of the Interior estimated the remaining number of Germans at fewer than 300,000.[citation needed] These sharpening ethnic conflicts would lead to public demands to reattach the annexed territory in 1938 and become a pretext for Hitler′s annexations of Czechoslovakia and parts of Poland.[129]


document_title: Gods and Generals (film)

question_text: who played stonewall jackson in gods and generals

root

text: Gods and Generals (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: Colonel Robert E. Lee resigns from the Union Army as the south secedes from the Union and both sides prepare for war. Major Jackson, who is a professor at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington at the outset of the war, leaves his family behind to do battle at Manassas Junction. Jackson is asked by a retreating General Barnard Bee for assistance against the Federal army who is pursuing them after a brief stand on Matthews Hill. In rallying his shaken troops, Bee launches the name of Stonewall into history and the Confederates rout the Federals at Henry House Hill. Jackson maintains steadfast discipline in his ranks during the battle despite suffering a wound to his left hand from a spent ball.

tag: p

text: Meanwhile, Chamberlain makes his transition from teacher to military officer and practices drilling his soldiers, and is taught military tactics by Col. Adelbert Ames, the commander of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He is called to battle at the Union invasion of Fredericksburg. The Southern forces lead a fighting retreat as the Union army crosses the river and storms the town, and there are scenes of the subsequent looting of Fredricksburg by the Union Army. Outside the city, Lee, James Longstreet and Jackson have prepared an elaborate defense on Marye's Heights outside the town, and the movie focuses on Confederate defenses behind a formidable stone wall. Several Union brigades, including the Irish Brigade, attempt to cross an open field and attack the wall, but are thrown back with heavy losses by Confederate rifle and artillery fire. At one point, two Irish units are forced into battle against one another, to the anguish of a Southern Irishman who believes he is killing his kin. Chamberlain leads an unsuccessful attack against Longstreet's defenses, led by Brig. Gen. Lewis Armistead and finds his unit pinned down in the open field. He survives by shielding himself with a corpse until nightfall; eventually he and surviving members of 20th Maine are ordered to retreat and spend 2 nights on the battlefield, sleeping with the dead. Chamberlain and the defeated Union soldiers depart Fredericksburg. Jackson and Lee return to the city, and Lee is confronted by an angry citizen whose house has been destroyed by Union artillery.

text: Jackson spends the rest of the winter at a local plantation, Moss Neck Manor, where he develops a friendship with a girl who lives there. Later, Jackson discovers the child has died from scarlet fever and he begins to cry. A soldier asks why he weeps for this child but not for the thousands of dead soldiers, and another soldier states that Jackson is weeping for everyone. Jackson is soon reunited with his wife and newborn child just before the Battle of Chancellorsville.

text: Outside Chancellorsville, Lee identifies that the southern army faces an opposing force almost twice their size. Jackson calls upon his chaplain, Beverly Tucker Lacy who knows the area, and asks him to find a route by which the southern forces can infiltrate in secret. Jackson then leads his forces in a surprise attack on an unprepared Union 11th Corps. Although his men initially rout the opponents, they quickly become confused in the melee, and Jackson's attack is stalled. While scouting a path at night, Jackson is caught in no-mans-land between the 2 armies and badly wounded by his own men, who had mistaken him and his staff for Union cavalry. During his evacuation, his litter bearers are targeted by artillery and drop Jackson on the ground. He is then taken to a field hospital where his arm is amputated. Lee remarks that while Jackson has lost his left arm, he (Lee) has lost his right. Jackson dies shortly after, of pneumonia he had contracted during recovery. Jackson's body is returned to Lexington, accompanied by VMI Cadets and covered by the new Confederate flag.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Stephen Lang as Lieutenant General Stonewall Jackson (CSA)
Jeff Daniels as Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (20th Maine, USA)
Robert Duvall as General Robert E. Lee (CSA)
Kevin Conway as Sergeant Buster Kilrain (20th Maine)
C. Thomas Howell as Lieutenant Thomas Chamberlain (20th Maine)
Jeremy London as Captain Alexander "Sandie" Pendleton (CSA)
Matt Letscher as Colonel Adelbert Ames (20th Maine)
Brian Mallon as Major General Winfield Scott Hancock (USA)
Bo Brinkman as Major Walter H. Taylor (CSA)
Bruce Boxleitner as Lieutenant General James Longstreet (CSA)
William Sanderson as Major General A.P. Hill (CSA)
Billy Campbell as Major General George Pickett (CSA)
Alex Hyde-White as Major General Ambrose E. Burnside (USA)
Joseph Fuqua as Major General J.E.B. Stuart (CSA)
John Prosky as Brigadier General Lewis A. Armistead (CSA)
Royce D. Applegate as Brigadier General James L. Kemper (CSA)
Patrick Gorman as Major General John Hood (CSA)
W. Morgan Sheppard as Major General Isaac R. Trimble (CSA)
James Patrick Stuart as Colonel Edward Porter Alexander (CSA)
Jonathon Demers as Brigadier General Richard S. Ewell (CSA)
Andrew Prine as Brigadier General Richard B. Garnett (CSA)
James Garrett as Brigadier General John C. Caldwell (USA)
J. Scott Watkins as Brigadier General Raleigh E. Colston (CSA)
Fred Griffith as Brigadier General Robert Rodes (CSA)
Tim O'Hare as Colonel St. Clair Augustine Mulholland (USA)
John Castle as Brigadier General William N. Pendleton (CSA)
Matt Lindquist as Prussian Lieutenant Colonel Heros von Borcke (CSA)
Ted Turner as Lieutenant Colonel Waller T. Patton (CSA)
Lester Kinsolving as Brigadier General William Barksdale (CSA)
Cooper Huckabee as Henry Thomas Harrison
Mira Sorvino as Fanny Chamberlain
Kali Rocha as Anna Jackson
Donzaleigh Abernathy as Martha
Karen Hochstetter as Roberta Corbin
Martin Clark as Dr. George Junkin
Christie Lynn Smith as Catherine Corbin

tag: ul

text: Production[edit]

text: Ted Turner has a cameo in the film as Colonel Waller T. Patton. Colonel Patton, the great uncle of George S. Patton, was mortally wounded at Gettysburg, a scene depicted in the movie Gettysburg. United States Senators George Allen (R-Virginia) and Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) also have cameo roles, both playing Confederate officers, Phil Gramm (R-Texas) appears as a member of the Virginia Legislature early in the film and Congressman Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) also appeared as an Irish Brigade officer. Most of the extras were American Civil War reenactors, who provided their own equipment and worked without pay. In exchange, Ted Turner agreed to donate $500,000 to Civil War battlefield preservation.

text: The movie was filmed in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, western Maryland and in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.[5] Actual historic locations in the film include Virginia Military Institute and Washington & Lee University, known as Washington College during the Civil War.

text: Russell Crowe was the original choice to play Stonewall Jackson, but scheduling conflicts prevented his availability in the summer and fall of 2001 when the movie was filmed. Stephen Lang had begun to reprise his role as George Pickett, but instead was asked to fill in the role of Jackson. Billy Campbell, who had played a 44th New York lieutenant in Gettysburg was called in to hastily replace Lang in the role of Pickett.[6] Although Tom Berenger desired to reprise his Gettysburg role as James Longstreet (which he called his favorite role) he was unavailable because of scheduling difficulties. Bruce Boxleitner was instead cast in the role. Darius N. Couch was portrayed by actor Carsten Norgaard. Martin Sheen was prevented from reprising his role as Lee due to contractual obligations to The West Wing.

text: During post-production, Maxwell, Warner Bros. executives and Turner debated on whether to release the film as two parts over two years or as a single film.[7] Maxwell decided to focus on Stonewall Jackson's history in one film.[7]

text: God and Generals closes with an ending sequence stating that the Civil War story will be concluded with a third film Last Full Measure. As of 2015, there have been no efforts to produce this final feature film.

text: Director's cut[edit]

text: The director's cut was released for Blu-ray Disc on May 24, 2011.[citation needed]

text: Among the footage edited includes a sub-plot which follows John Wilkes Booth, the famous actor who would eventually assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. One scene towards the end of the extended cut of the film features Chamberlain and his wife, Fanny, attending a production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in which Booth plays Marcus Junius Brutus. Chamberlain and his wife have a conversation with Booth and his fellow actors following the end of the play. Another scene cut from the film features a performance in Washington, D.C. in which Booth plays the role of Macbeth, which is being seen by President Lincoln. When he gives the famous "dagger of the mind" soliloquy, he looks directly at Lincoln while reciting it. Later, when Booth is offered the chance to meet with Lincoln, he refuses.

text: A sequence dealing with the Battle of Antietam was removed from the film. The battle was seen mostly from the perspectives of Jackson (who played a major strategic role in the battle) and Chamberlain (whose corps was held in reserve). In the Director's Cut the entire sequence at Antietam is shown; the Antietam battle scenes mostly depict the fighting in Miller's Cornfield, where soldiers from the opposite sides fired at each other from just a few meters away.

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text: In 2003, the film score was composed by John Frizzell, with some minor contributions by Randy Edelman, who composed the score for the previous Gettysburg. The soundtrack is notable for containing a new song commissioned for the movie and written and performed by Bob Dylan, Cross the Green Mountain. The track was later included on the compilation album The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes lists an 8% approval rating while Metacritic lists a score of 30, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[8] The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads, "Filled with two-dimensional characters and pompous self-righteousness, Gods and Generals is a long, tedious sit. Some may also take offense at the pro-Confederate slant."[9] Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars. He described it as "a Civil War movie that Trent Lott might enjoy" and said of its Lost Cause themes, "If World War II were handled this way, there'd be hell to pay." He also faulted the film for its music and "pithy quotations."[10]

text: Historical response[edit]

text: Gods and Generals is widely viewed as championing the Lost Cause ideology by creating a presentation more favorable to the Confederacy.[11][12] Writing in the Journal of American History, historian Steven E. Woodworth derided the movie as a modern-day telling of Lost Cause mythology.[11] Woodworth called the movie "the most pro-Confederate film since Birth of a Nation, a veritable celluloid celebration of slavery and treason." He summed up his reasons for disliking the movie by saying:

text: Gods and Generals brings to the big screen the major themes of Lost Cause mythology that professional historians have been working for half a century to combat. In the world of Gods and Generals, slavery has nothing to do with the Confederate cause. Instead, the Confederates are nobly fighting for, rather than against, freedom, as viewers are reminded again and again by one white southern character after another.[11]

text: Woodworth criticized the portrayal of slaves as being "generally happy" with their condition. He also criticizes the relative lack of attention given to the motivations of Union soldiers fighting in the war. He excoriates the film for allegedly implying, in agreement with Lost Cause mythology, that the South was more "sincerely Christian." Woodworth concludes that the film, through "judicial omission," presents "a distorted view of the Civil War."[11]

text: Historian William B. Feis similarly criticized the director's decision "to champion the more simplistic-and sanitized-interpretations found in post-war "Lost Cause" mythology".[12]

text: Author's response[edit]

text: Author Jeff Shaara originally liked the movie,[13] but his opinion on it has since changed. He said, "It's enormously different, it's radically different from the book. There are characters in the film that do not exist in the book, and a great many characters in the book that never made it to the film. It's just an entirely different story, and I have to tell you, I've heard from literally thousands of people through my website, and I get emails every day and try to be as accessible as I can, and the overwhelming percentage of those that wrote me said, 'How could you let them butcher your book like that?' I have no answer to that because I had no control or power to change what came up on the screen."[14]


document_title: To the nines

question_text: where does the phrase dressed to the nines

text: To the nines

text: "To the nines" is an English idiom meaning "to perfection" or "to the highest degree" or to dress "buoyantly and high class". In modern English usage, the phrase most commonly appears as "dressed to the nines" or "dressed up to the nines".[1][2]

text: Origin[edit]

text: The phrase is said to be Scots in origin.[2] The earliest written example of the phrase is from the 1719 Epistle to Ramsay by the Scottish poet William Hamilton:[3]

text:
The bonny Lines therein thou sent me,
How to the nines they did content me.

text: Robert Burns' "Poem on Pastoral Poetry", published posthumously in 1800, also uses the phrase:[citation needed]

text:
Thou paints auld nature to the nines,
In thy sweet Caledonian lines.

text: The phrase may have originally been associated with the Nine Worthies or the nine Muses. A poem from a 17th century collection of works by John Rawlet contains the following lines:[3]

text:
The learned tribe whose works the World do bless,
Finish those works in some recess;
Both the Philosopher and Divine,
And Poets most who still make their address
In private to the Nine.


document_title: Golden Gate Bridge

question_text: what color is the golden gate bridge in san francisco

text: Golden Gate Bridge

text: History

text: Ferry service

text: Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is now Marin County was by boat across a section of San Francisco Bay. A ferry service began as early as 1820, with a regularly scheduled service beginning in the 1840s for the purpose of transporting water to San Francisco.[9]

text: The Sausalito Land and Ferry Company service, launched in 1867, eventually became the Golden Gate Ferry Company, a Southern Pacific Railroad subsidiary, the largest ferry operation in the world by the late 1920s.[9][10] Once for railroad passengers and customers only, Southern Pacific's automobile ferries became very profitable and important to the regional economy.[11] The ferry crossing between the Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco and Sausalito in Marin County took approximately 20 minutes and cost US$1.00 per vehicle, a price later reduced to compete with the new bridge.[12] The trip from the San Francisco Ferry Building took 27 minutes.

text: Many wanted to build a bridge to connect San Francisco to Marin County. San Francisco was the largest American city still served primarily by ferry boats. Because it did not have a permanent link with communities around the bay, the city's growth rate was below the national average.[13] Many experts said that a bridge could not be built across the 6,700 ft (2,042 m) strait, which had strong, swirling tides and currents, with water 372 ft (113 m) deep[14] at the center of the channel, and frequent strong winds. Experts said that ferocious winds and blinding fogs would prevent construction and operation.[13]

text: Conception

text: Although the idea of a bridge spanning the Golden Gate was not new, the proposal that eventually took hold was made in a 1916 San Francisco Bulletin article by former engineering student James Wilkins.[15] San Francisco's City Engineer estimated the cost at $100 million, which would have been $2.12 billion in 2009, and impractical for the time. He asked bridge engineers whether it could be built for less.[9] One who responded, Joseph Strauss, was an ambitious engineer and poet who had, for his graduate thesis, designed a 55-mile-long (89 km) railroad bridge across the Bering Strait.[16] At the time, Strauss had completed some 400 drawbridges—most of which were inland—and nothing on the scale of the new project.[3] Strauss's initial drawings[15] were for a massive cantilever on each side of the strait, connected by a central suspension segment, which Strauss promised could be built for $17 million.[9]

text: Local authorities agreed to proceed only on the assurance that Strauss would alter the design and accept input from several consulting project experts.[citation needed] A suspension-bridge design was considered the most practical, because of recent advances in metallurgy.[9]

text: Strauss spent more than a decade drumming up support in Northern California.[17] The bridge faced opposition, including litigation, from many sources. The Department of War was concerned that the bridge would interfere with ship traffic. The navy feared that a ship collision or sabotage to the bridge could block the entrance to one of its main harbors. Unions demanded guarantees that local workers would be favored for construction jobs. Southern Pacific Railroad, one of the most powerful business interests in California, opposed the bridge as competition to its ferry fleet and filed a lawsuit against the project, leading to a mass boycott of the ferry service.[9]

text: In May 1924, Colonel Herbert Deakyne held the second hearing on the Bridge on behalf of the Secretary of War in a request to use federal land for construction. Deakyne, on behalf of the Secretary of War, approved the transfer of land needed for the bridge structure and leading roads to the "Bridging the Golden Gate Association" and both San Francisco County and Marin County, pending further bridge plans by Strauss.[18] Another ally was the fledgling automobile industry, which supported the development of roads and bridges to increase demand for automobiles.[12]

text: The bridge's name was first used when the project was initially discussed in 1917 by M.M. O'Shaughnessy, city engineer of San Francisco, and Strauss. The name became official with the passage of the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District Act by the state legislature in 1923, creating a special district to design, build and finance the bridge.[19] San Francisco and most of the counties along the North Coast of California joined the Golden Gate Bridge District, with the exception being Humboldt County, whose residents opposed the bridge's construction and the traffic it would generate.[20]

text: Design

text: Strauss was chief engineer in charge of overall design and construction of the bridge project.[13] However, because he had little understanding or experience with cable-suspension designs,[21] responsibility for much of the engineering and architecture fell on other experts. Strauss's initial design proposal (two double cantilever spans linked by a central suspension segment) was unacceptable from a visual standpoint. The final graceful suspension design was conceived and championed by Leon Moisseiff, the engineer of the Manhattan Bridge in New York City.[22]

text: Irving Morrow, a relatively unknown residential architect, designed the overall shape of the bridge towers, the lighting scheme, and Art Deco elements, such as the tower decorations, streetlights, railing, and walkways. The famous International Orange color was originally used as a sealant for the bridge.[23] The US Navy had wanted it to be painted with black and yellow stripes to ensure visibility by passing ships.[13]

text: Senior engineer Charles Alton Ellis, collaborating remotely with Moisseiff, was the principal engineer of the project.[24] Moisseiff produced the basic structural design, introducing his "deflection theory" by which a thin, flexible roadway would flex in the wind, greatly reducing stress by transmitting forces via suspension cables to the bridge towers.[24] Although the Golden Gate Bridge design has proved sound, a later Moisseiff design, the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, collapsed in a strong windstorm soon after it was completed, because of an unexpected aeroelastic flutter.[25] Ellis was also tasked with designing a "bridge within a bridge" in the southern abutment, to avoid the need to demolish Fort Point, a pre–Civil War masonry fortification viewed, even then, as worthy of historic preservation. He penned a graceful steel arch spanning the fort and carrying the roadway to the bridge's southern anchorage.[26]

text: Ellis was a Greek scholar and mathematician who at one time was a University of Illinois professor of engineering despite having no engineering degree. He eventually earned a degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois prior to designing the Golden Gate Bridge and spent the last twelve years of his career as a professor at Purdue University. He became an expert in structural design, writing the standard textbook of the time.[27] Ellis did much of the technical and theoretical work that built the bridge, but he received none of the credit in his lifetime. In November 1931, Strauss fired Ellis and replaced him with a former subordinate, Clifford Paine, ostensibly for wasting too much money sending telegrams back and forth to Moisseiff.[27] Ellis, obsessed with the project and unable to find work elsewhere during the Depression, continued working 70 hours per week on an unpaid basis, eventually turning in ten volumes of hand calculations.[27]

text: With an eye toward self-promotion and posterity, Strauss downplayed the contributions of his collaborators who, despite receiving little recognition or compensation,[21] are largely responsible for the final form of the bridge. He succeeded in having himself credited as the person most responsible for the design and vision of the bridge.[27] Only much later were the contributions of the others on the design team properly appreciated.[27] In May 2007, the Golden Gate Bridge District issued a formal report on 70 years of stewardship of the famous bridge and decided to give Ellis major credit for the design of the bridge.

text: Finance

text: The Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District, authorized by an act of the California Legislature, was incorporated in 1928 as the official entity to design, construct, and finance the Golden Gate Bridge.[13] However, after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the District was unable to raise the construction funds, so it lobbied for a $30 million bond measure. The bonds were approved in November 1930,[16] by votes in the counties affected by the bridge.[28] The construction budget at the time of approval was $27 million. However, the District was unable to sell the bonds until 1932, when Amadeo Giannini, the founder of San Francisco–based Bank of America, agreed on behalf of his bank to buy the entire issue in order to help the local economy.[9]

text: Construction

text: Construction began on January 5, 1933.[9] The project cost more than $35 million,[29] completing ahead of schedule and $1.3 million under budget.[30] The Golden Gate Bridge construction project was carried out by the McClintic-Marshall Construction Co., a subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel Corporation founded by Howard H. McClintic and Charles D. Marshall, both of Lehigh University.

text: Strauss remained head of the project, overseeing day-to-day construction and making some groundbreaking contributions. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati, he placed a brick from his alma mater's demolished McMicken Hall in the south anchorage before the concrete was poured. He innovated the use of movable safety netting beneath the construction site, which saved the lives of many otherwise-unprotected ironworkers. Of eleven men killed from falls during construction, ten were killed on February 17, 1937, when the bridge was near completion when the net failed under the stress of a scaffold that had fallen.[31] According to Travel Channel's Monumental Mysteries, the workers' platform that was attached to a rolling hanger on a track collapsed when the bolts that were connected to the track were too small and the amount of weight was too great to bear. The platform fell into the safety net, but was too heavy and the net gave way. Two out of the twelve workers survived the 200-foot (61 m) fall into the icy waters, including the 37-year-old foreman, Slim Lambert. Nineteen others who were saved by the net over the course of construction became members of their Half Way to Hell Club.[32]

text: The project was finished and opened May 27, 1937. The Bridge Round House diner was then included in the southeastern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, adjacent to the tourist plaza which was renovated in 2012.[33] The Bridge Round House, an Art Deco design by Alfred Finnila completed in 1938, has been popular throughout the years as a starting point for various commercial tours of the bridge and an unofficial gift shop.[34] The diner was renovated in 2012[33] and the gift shop was then removed as a new, official gift shop has been included in the adjacent plaza.[34]

text: During the bridge work, the Assistant Civil Engineer of California Alfred Finnila had overseen the entire iron work of the bridge as well as half of the bridge's road work.[35] With the death of Jack Balestreri in April 2012, all workers involved in the original construction are now deceased.

text: Opening festivities, 50th, and 75th anniversaries

text: The bridge-opening celebration began on May 27, 1937 and lasted for one week. The day before vehicle traffic was allowed, 200,000 people crossed either on foot or on roller skates.[9] On opening day, Mayor Angelo Rossi and other officials rode the ferry to Marin, then crossed the bridge in a motorcade past three ceremonial "barriers", the last a blockade of beauty queens who required Joseph Strauss to present the bridge to the Highway District before allowing him to pass. An official song, "There's a Silver Moon on the Golden Gate", was chosen to commemorate the event. Strauss wrote a poem that is now on the Golden Gate Bridge entitled "The Mighty Task is Done." The next day, President Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington, D.C. signaling the official start of vehicle traffic over the Bridge at noon. As the celebration got out of hand there was a small riot in the uptown Polk Gulch area. Weeks of civil and cultural activities called "the Fiesta" followed. A statue of Strauss was moved in 1955 to a site near the bridge.[15]

text: In May 1987, as part of the 50th anniversary celebration, the Golden Gate Bridge district again closed the bridge to automobile traffic and allowed pedestrians to cross the bridge. However, this celebration attracted 750,000 to 1,000,000 people, and ineffective crowd control meant the bridge became congested with roughly 300,000 people, causing the center span of the bridge to flatten out under the weight.[36] Although the bridge is designed to flex in that way under heavy loads, and was estimated not to have exceeded 40% of the yielding stress of the suspension cables,[37] bridge officials stated that uncontrolled pedestrian access was not being considered as part of the 75th anniversary on Sunday, May 27, 2012,[38][39][40] because of the additional law enforcement costs required "since 9/11".[41]

text:
A pedestrian poses at the old railing on opening day, 1937

Play media

Opening of the Golden Gate Bridge

Official invitation to the opening of the bridge. This copy was sent to the City of Seattle

text: Structural specifications

text: Until 1964, the Golden Gate Bridge had the longest suspension bridge main span in the world, at 4,200 feet (1,300 m). Since 1964 its main span length has been surpassed by ten bridges; it now has the second-longest main span in the United States, after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City. The total length of the Golden Gate Bridge from abutment to abutment is 8,981 feet (2,737 m).

text: The Golden Gate Bridge's clearance above high water averages 220 feet (67 m) while its towers, at 746 feet (227 m) above the water, were the world's tallest on a suspension bridge until 1998 when bridges in Denmark and Japan were completed.

text: The weight of the roadway is hung from two cables that pass through the two main towers and are fixed in concrete at each end. Each cable is made of 27,572 strands of wire. There are 80,000 miles (130,000 km) of wire in the main cables.[42] The bridge has approximately 1,200,000 total rivets.

text: Aesthetics

text: The color of the bridge is officially an orange vermilion called international orange.[43] The color was selected by consulting architect Irving Morrow[44] because it complements the natural surroundings and enhances the bridge's visibility in fog. Aesthetics was the foremost reason why the first design of Joseph Strauss was rejected. Upon re-submission of his bridge construction plan, he added details, such as lighting, to outline the bridge's cables and towers.[45] In 1999, it was ranked fifth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects.

text: The bridge was originally painted with red lead primer and a lead-based topcoat, which was touched up as required. In the mid-1960s, a program was started to improve corrosion protection by stripping the original paint and repainting the bridge with zinc silicate primer and vinyl topcoats.[46][47] Since 1990, acrylic topcoats have been used instead for air-quality reasons. The program was completed in 1995 and it is now maintained by 38 painters who touch up the paintwork where it becomes seriously corroded.[48]

text:
A view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin Headlands on a foggy morning at sunrise

View of the northern tower of the bridge

text: Traffic

text: Most maps and signage mark the bridge as part of the concurrency between U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1. Although part of the National Highway System, the bridge is not officially part of California's Highway System.[49] For example, under the California Streets and Highways Code § 401, Route 101 ends at "the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge" and then resumes at "a point in Marin County opposite San Francisco". The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District has jurisdiction over the segment of highway that crosses the bridge instead of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).

text: The movable median barrier between the lanes is moved several times daily to conform to traffic patterns. On weekday mornings, traffic flows mostly southbound into the city, so four of the six lanes run southbound. Conversely, on weekday afternoons, four lanes run northbound. During off-peak periods and weekends, traffic is split with three lanes in each direction.[50]

text: From 1968 to 2015, opposing traffic was separated by small, plastic pylons, and during that time, there were 16 fatalities resulting from 128 head-on collisions.[51] To improve safety, the speed limit on the Golden Gate Bridge was reduced from 50 to 45 mph (80 to 72 km/h) on October 1, 1989.[52] Although there had been discussion concerning the installation of a movable barrier since the 1980s, only in March 2005 did the Bridge Board of Directors commit to finding funding to complete the $2 million study required prior to the installation of a movable median barrier.[51] Installation of the resulting barrier was completed on January 11, 2015, following a closure of 45.5 hours to private vehicle traffic, the longest in the bridge's history. The new barrier system, including the zipper trucks, cost approximately $30.3 million to purchase and install.[51][53]

text: Usage and tourism

text: The bridge is popular with pedestrians and bicyclists, and was built with walkways on either side of the six vehicle traffic lanes. Initially, they were separated from the traffic lanes by only a metal curb, but railings between the walkways and the traffic lanes were added in 2003, primarily as a measure to prevent bicyclists from falling into the roadway.[54]

text: The main walkway is on the eastern side, and is open for use by both pedestrians and bicycles in the morning to mid-afternoon during weekdays (5 am to 3:30 pm), and to pedestrians only for the remaining daylight hours (until 6 pm, or 9 pm during DST). The eastern walkway is reserved for pedestrians on weekends (5 am to 6 pm, or 9 pm during DST), and is open exclusively to bicyclists in the evening and overnight, when it is closed to pedestrians. The western walkway is open only for bicyclists and only during the hours when they are not allowed on the eastern walkway.[55]

text: Bus service across the bridge is provided by two public transportation agencies: San Francisco Muni and Golden Gate Transit. Muni offers Saturday and Sunday service on the Marin Headlands Express bus line, and Golden Gate Transit runs numerous bus lines throughout the week.[56][57] The southern end of the bridge, near the toll plaza and parking lot, is also accessible daily from 5:30 a.m. to midnight by Muni line 28.[58] The Marin Airporter, a private company, also offers service across the bridge between Marin County and San Francisco International Airport.[59]

text: A visitor center and gift shop, dubbed the "Bridge Pavilion", is located on the San Francisco side of the bridge, adjacent to the southeast parking lot. It opened in 2012, in time for the bridge's 75th anniversary celebration. A cafe, outdoor exhibits, and restroom facilities are located nearby.[60] On the Marin side of the bridge, only accessible from the northbound lanes, is the H. Dana Bower Rest Area and Vista Point,[61] named after the first landscape architect for the California Division of Highways.[62]

text: Lands and waters under and around the bridge are homes to varieties of wildlife such as bobcats and sea lions.[63][64] Three species of cetaceans that had been absent in the area for many years show recent recoveries/(re)colonizations vicinity to the bridge, and researchers study them to strengthen protections, concerning actions by public and recommending to watch whales either from the bridge and nearby, or to use a local whale watching operator.[65][66][67]

text: Tolls

text: The last of the construction bonds were retired in 1971, with $35 million in principal and nearly $39 million in interest raised entirely from bridge tolls.[68]

text: In November 2006, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District recommended a corporate sponsorship program for the bridge to address its operating deficit, projected at $80 million over five years. The District promised that the proposal, which it called a "partnership program," would not include changing the name of the bridge or placing advertising on the bridge itself. In October 2007, the Board unanimously voted to discontinue the proposal and seek additional revenue through other means, most likely a toll increase.[69][70]

text: In an effort to save $19.2 million over the following 10 years, the Golden Gate District voted in January 2011 to eliminate all toll takers by 2012 and use only open road tolling.[71] Subsequently, this was delayed and toll taker elimination occurred in March 2013. The cost savings have been revised to $19 million over an eight-year period. In addition to the FasTrak electronic toll collection system, the Golden Gate District implemented the use of license plate tolling (branded as "Pay-by-Plate"), and also a one time payment system for drivers to pay before or after their trip on the bridge. Twenty-eight positions were eliminated as part of this plan.[72]

text: On April 7, 2014, the toll for users of FasTrak was increased from $5 to $6, while the toll for drivers using either the license plate tolling or the one time payment system was raised from $6 to $7. Bicycle, pedestrian, and northbound motor vehicle traffic remain toll free. For vehicles with more than two axles, the toll rate is $7 per axle for those using license plate tolling or the one time payment system, and $6 per axle for FasTrak users. During peak traffic hours, carpool vehicles carrying two or more people and motorcycles pay a discounted toll of $4; drivers must have Fastrak to take advantage of this carpool rate.[73] The Golden Gate Transportation District then planned to increase the tolls by 25 cents in July 2015, and then by another 25 cents each of the next three years.[74]

text:
Golden Gate Bridge toll increases (2014–18)[74][75]

Effective date
FasTrak
Toll-by-plate
Carpool
Multi-axle vehicle

April 7, 2014
$6.00
$7.00
$4.00
$7.00 per axle

July 1, 2015
$6.25
$7.25
$4.25
$7.25 per axle

July 1, 2016
$6.50
$7.50
$4.50
$7.50 per axle

July 1, 2017
$6.75
$7.75
$4.75
$7.75 per axle

July 1, 2018
$7.00
$8.00
$5.00
$8.00 per axle

tag: table

text: Congestion pricing

text: In March 2008, the Golden Gate Bridge District board approved a resolution to start congestion pricing at the Golden Gate Bridge, charging higher tolls during the peak hours, but rising and falling depending on traffic levels. This decision allowed the Bay Area to meet the federal requirement to receive $158 million in federal transportation funds from USDOT Urban Partnership grant.[76] As a condition of the grant, the congestion toll was to be in place by September 2009.[77][78]

text: The first results of the study, called the Mobility, Access and Pricing Study (MAPS), showed that a congestion pricing program is feasible.[79] The different pricing scenarios considered were presented in public meetings in December 2008.[80]

text: In August 2008, transportation officials ended the congestion pricing program in favor of varying rates for metered parking along the route to the bridge including on Lombard Street and Van Ness Avenue.[81]

text: Issues

text: Suicides

text: The Golden Gate Bridge is the second-most used suicide site/suicide bridge in the world, after the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge.[82] The deck is about 245 feet (75 m) above the water.[83] After a fall of four seconds, jumpers hit the water at around 75 mph or about 120 km/h. Most of the jumpers die from impact trauma. About 5% of the jumpers survive the initial impact but generally drown or die of hypothermia in the cold water.[84][85]

text: After years of debate and over an estimated 1,500 deaths, suicide barriers began to be installed in April 2017. Construction will take approximately four years at a cost of over $200 million.[86]

text: Wind

text: Since its completion, the Golden Gate Bridge has been closed because of weather conditions only three times: on December 1, 1951, because of gusts of 69 mph (111 km/h); on December 23, 1982, because of winds of 70 mph (113 km/h); and on December 3, 1983, because of wind gusts of 75 mph (121 km/h).[87]

text: An anemometer, placed midway between the two towers on the west side of the bridge, has been used to measure wind speeds. Another anemometer was placed on one of the towers.

text: Seismic vulnerability and improvements

text: Modern knowledge of the effect of earthquakes on structures led to a program to retrofit the Golden Gate to better resist seismic events. The proximity of the bridge to the San Andreas Fault places it at risk for a significant earthquake. Once thought to have been able to withstand any magnitude of foreseeable earthquake, the bridge was actually vulnerable to complete structural failure (i.e., collapse) triggered by the failure of supports on the 320-foot (98 m) arch over Fort Point.[88] A $392 million program was initiated to improve the structure's ability to withstand such an event with only minimal (repairable) damage. One challenging undertaking is completing this program without disrupting traffic. A complex electro-hydraulic synchronous lift system was custom built for construction of temporary support towers and a series of intricate lifts, transferring the loads from the existing bridge onto the temporary supports. This was completed with engineers from Balfour Beatty and Enerpac, accomplishing this task without disrupting day-to-day San Francisco commuter traffic.[89][90] The retrofit was planned to be completed in 2012.[91][92]

text: The former elevated approach to the Golden Gate Bridge through the San Francisco Presidio, known as Doyle Drive, dated to 1933 and was named after Frank P. Doyle, President and son of the founder of the Exchange Bank in Santa Rosa, and the man who, more than any other person, made it possible to build the Golden Gate Bridge.[93] The highway carried about 91,000 vehicles each weekday between downtown San Francisco and the North Bay and points north.[94] The road was deemed "vulnerable to earthquake damage", had a problematic 4-lane design, and lacked shoulders, and a San Francisco County Transportation Authority study recommended that it be replaced. Construction on the $1 billion[95] replacement, temporarily known as the Presidio Parkway, began in December 2009.[96] The elevated Doyle Drive was demolished on the weekend of April 27–30, 2012, and traffic used a part of the partially completed Presidio Parkway, until it was switched onto the finished Presidio Parkway on the weekend of July 9–12, 2015. As of May 2012, an official at Caltrans said there is no plan to permanently rename the portion known as Doyle Drive.[97]

text: In popular culture

text: As a prominent American landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge has been used in numerous media which includes books, films and video games.


document_title: Mary, Did You Know?

question_text: who did kenny rogers sing mary did you know with

text: Mary, Did You Know?

text: Kenny Rogers & Wynonna Judd version[edit]

text:
"Mary, Did You Know?"

Single by Kenny Rogers & Wynonna Judd

from the album The Gift

Released
December 1996

Format
CD single

Genre
Country

Length
3:53

Label
Magnatone

Songwriter(s)
Mark Lowry, Buddy Greene

Producer(s)
Brent Maher, Jim McKell

Kenny Rogers singles chronology

"I'll Be There for You"
(1992)
"Mary, Did You Know?"
(1996)
"The Greatest"
(1999)

"I'll Be There for You"
(1992)
"Mary, Did You Know?"
(1996)
"The Greatest"
(1999)

text: A duet version recorded by Wynonna Judd and Kenny Rogers on Rogers' holiday album The Gift peaked at No. 55 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in 1997.[2]

text: Chart positions

text:
Chart (1997)
Peak
position

US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[3]
55

text: Clay Aiken version[edit]

text:
"Mary, Did You Know?"

Single by Clay Aiken

from the album Merry Christmas with Love

Released
2005

Format
Digital download

Recorded
2004

Genre
Contemporary Christian music, Latin Pop

Length
3:21

Label
RCA

Songwriter(s)
Mark Lowry, Buddy Greene

Producer(s)
Walter Afanasieff

Clay Aiken singles chronology

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
(2005)
"Mary, Did You Know?"
(2005)
"Without You"
(2006)

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
(2005)
"Mary, Did You Know?"
(2005)
"Without You"
(2006)

text: "Mary, Did You Know?" is Clay Aiken's fifth single for his Christmas album Merry Christmas with Love. Aiken performed the song on The Tyra Banks Show.[4]

text: Chart positions

text:
Chart (2005)
Peak
position

U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
35

U.S. Billboard Hot Christian Songs
32

text: Cee Lo Green version[edit]

text:
"Mary, Did You Know?"

Song by Cee Lo Green

from the album Cee Lo's Magic Moment

Released
2012

Format
Digital download

Recorded
2012

Genre
R&B

Length
3:54

Label
RCA

Songwriter(s)
Mark Lowry, Buddy Greene

Producer(s)
Adam Anders, Peer Åström

text: "Mary, Did You Know?" is the eleventh track on Cee Lo's Christmas album Cee Lo's Magic Moment. On December 15, 2012 the song appeared on the US R&B Songs chart at number 22. This version is the slowest of all. It also served as the closing credits song to the 2014 20th Century Fox movie Son of God.

text: Chart positions

text:
Chart (2012)
Peak
position

U.S. Billboard R&B Songs[5]
11

U.S. Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs[5]
44

text: Pentatonix version[edit]

text:
"Mary, Did You Know?"

Song by Pentatonix

from the album That's Christmas to Me

Released
October 17, 2014

Format
Digital download

Recorded
2012

Genre
Ambient, a cappella

Length
3:23

Label
RCA

Songwriter(s)
Mark Lowry, Buddy Greene

Music video

"Mary, Did You Know?" on YouTube

text: "Mary, Did You Know?" is the sixth track on Pentatonix's second Christmas album, That's Christmas to Me.[6] The song both debuted and peaked at No. 26 on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending December 6, 2014.

text: Chart positions

text:
Chart (2014)
Peak
position

US Billboard Hot 100[7]
26

text: Other notable versions[edit]

text:
1993: Kathy Mattea on her Christmas album Good News, which won a Grammy Award for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album
1995: Vickie Winans recorded the song for her self-titled album
1997: Gary Chapman on his Christmas album This Gift
1998: Donny Osmond on his album Christmas at Home
1999: Natalie Cole on her album The Magic of Christmas
1999: Reba McEntire on her Christmas album The Secret of Giving
2000: The Gas House Gang on their album Some Children See Him...
2000: Lea Salonga on her album The Christmas Album
2001: Rescue on their album The First Christmas
2001: Hayley Westenra on her second album, My Gift to You, released in New Zealand and Australia, by Universal New Zealand label; also included as a bonus song on a special UK version of her first international album, Pure (2003); and performed it on her 2004 PBS Great Performances special, Live from New Zealand, which was released on DVD.
2004: Glen Campbell recorded the song on his album Love Is the Answer: 24 Songs of Faith, Hope and Love.
2004: The Katinas on their album Family Christmas
2005: Jeff Fenholt on his album "Down from His Glory" ... and more
2006: Stan Whitmire on his album Christmas Around the Piano
2007: Kimberley Locke on her album Christmas
2008: Kutless on BEC Recordings album X Christmas
2008: MC6 A Cappella on their album Christmas
2009: Jerry Douglas on his album Jerry Christmas
2010: Aled Jones on his album Aled's Christmas Gift
2010: Jessica Simpson on her album Happy Christmas
2011: Rascal Flatts released a version of the song as a single, which appears on the 2012 compilation A Very Special Christmas: 25 Years Bringing Joy to the World
2012: Don Moen on his album Christmas: A Season of Hope (a duet with its composer, Buddy Greene)
2012: Jeremy Camp on his album Christmas: God with Us
2012: Scotty McCreery on his album Christmas with Scotty McCreery
2013: Mary J. Blige on her album A Mary Christmas
2013: Linda Eder on her album Christmas Where You Are
2013: The Oak Ridge Boys on their album Christmas Time's A-Comin'
2014: Sanam Puri as solo cover
2014: The slowest version of this song played in the credits of the film Son of God
2015: India.Arie on Christmas with Friends; a duet with Gene Moore, Jr.
2015: Jordan Smith on The Voice's season nine finals. This version debuted and peaked at No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and at No. 2 on the Billboard Holiday 100 chart on the week ending January 2, 2016.
2015: Peter Hollens published a six-voice a cappella version on Youtube[8]
2015: The Braxtons on their album Braxton Family Christmas
2015: Danny Gokey on his album Christmas Is Here
2016: Straight No Chaser (group)[9] on their album I'll Have Another... Christmas Album (Straight No Chaser album)
2016: Voctave on their album The Spirit of the Season (feat. composer Mark Lowry)
2016: Beckah Shae on her album Let It Snow
2017: Zara Larsson on the soundtrack of the CGI-animated Christmas film The Star

text: Musical[edit]

text: The song was also used as the basis for a stage musical, also titled Mary, Did You Know and written by Bruce Greer, that won the 1999 Dove Award for Musical of the Year.[10]

text: Criticism[edit]

text: "Mary, Did You Know?" remains a popular piece of Christmas music, although some criticize it for what they perceive as a lack of Scriptural or theological depth.[11][12] For example, Lutheran writer Holly Scheer, in addressing the rhetorical-question title of the song writes that those familiar with "the biblical account of Christ’s conception and birth shouldn’t need to ask if Mary knew, because the Bible plainly tells us she did."[13] On the other hand the Roman Catholic author Karl Erickson implored people to praise "Mary, Did You Know?" as a "beautiful expression of God’s love for all of us" and responded to criticism of the piece, stating that "Mary, Did You Know is a song and not a theological essay. Even as simple Christmas music, however, it does a fine job conveying the beauty and profound mystery of the Incarnation. Yes, there is some poetic license taken within the lyrics, but much less than is taken within innumerable other songs we are asked to sing regularly—Sing a New Church, for example."[14]