Post-WWI Treaties

Post WWI Peace Treaties

World War 1 lasted from 1914-1918. In 1919, the leaders of the victorious powers (Britain, France and the USA / The ‘Big Three’ -> Lloyd George, Clemenceau & Wilson) met in Paris to decide how to deal with the defeated powers. The main treaty drawn up at the Paris Peace Conference was the Treaty of Versailles, which dealt with Germany. It was signed on June 1919.

The ‘Big Three’ were under pressure to deal severely with Germany. (Remember that Italy was involved and they were the ‘Big Four’.)
People of the victorious countries felt strongly that Germany was responsible for the war and should be punished.
There was a strong feeling that Germany should pay for all the damage and destruction caused by the war.
Villages and towns in large areas of Belgium and France had been devastated
Millions of young men had been killed or injured on both sides.
Total British and French casualties amounted to over 9 million
Almost every family had lost a member in the fighting
Ordinary civilians faced shortages of food and medicine.
They had proof of the evil ambitions of the German regime.
Germany treated Russia very harshly in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918. The Allies felt that this was what Germany would have done to them if it had won.

Aims of the leaders:
Clemenceau (France)
Suffered enormous damage to its land, industry, people and self-confidence
Over 2/3 of the men who had served in the French army had been killed or injured
France’s land and industry had been badly damaged and its population was in decline compared to Germany
Wanted a treaty to weaken Germany as much as possible so it wouldn’t attack France again
Wanted Germany broken down into smaller states (weakened)
France suffered the most during the war so Clemenceau was under great pressure from the French to make Germans pay
France had been invaded by Germany before in 1871
Wilson (USA)
Aimed to build a better and more peaceful world (World Peace)
Believed that Germany should be punished, but in a way that would lead to European reconciliation (peace) as opposed to revenge (war).
Aimed to strengthen democracy in the defeated nation so that its people would not let its leaders cause another war
Proposed the setting up of LON that would help and support countries and help to promote world peace
Proposed the right to self-determination, so that people could decide which country they wanted to be governed by
Lloyd George (Britain)
Wanted Germany to be justly punished but not too harshly
Problems with public pressure for a harsh treaty (He wanted public support and had to echo the views to stay as PM)
Wanted Germany to lose its navy and its colonies as these were a threat to Britain’s own navy and empire
Keen for Britain and Germany to begin trading with each other again (Second largest trading partner -> More jobs)
Overall, George did not want to punish Germany too harshly as he did not want Germany seeking revenge in the future

Terms of the Treaty of Versailles:
War Guilt Clause / Article 231 (Blame -> Worst term/Most hated)
Germany had to accept total responsibility for starting WWI
Reparations (Repair)
Germany had to pay reparation fees to the Allies for war damages and other Allied losses (£6600 million)
Helped a little by the establishment of the Young Plan in 1929
Germany’s armed forces (Armed Forces)
Size and power of German army was a major concern of all powers
The army was limited to 100,000 men
Navy was limited to 15,000 sailors
Conscription was banned – soldiers had to be volunteers
Not allowed armoured vehicles, submarines or aircraft
The navy could build only 6 battleships
Forbidden to buy any more weapons and other war material
The Rhineland became a demilitarized zone (no German troops were allowed -> border area between Germany and France -> occupied by an Allied Army for 15 years)
The German sailors sank their fleet, rather than hand it over
German territories and colonies (Territorial Losses)
Germany’s overseas empire was taken away (one of the causes of bad relations between Britain and Germany before the war)
Former German colonies became mandates controlled by the League of Nations -> France and Britain controlled them
Germany was forbidden to join together with its former ally Austria
Alsace-Lorraine given back to France
Saarland run by LON
Lost 13% of its land (hand over 70,000 square km of land)
Lost all of its overseas colonies
Lost 12.5% of its population (6 million)
Lost 16% of its coalfields and almost 50% of its iron and steel industry
League of Nations (LON -> Do not concentrate on this)
Previous methods of keeping peace had failed
Set up as an international ‘police force’

German reactions to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles:
They felt it was a ‘diktat’, that the peace settlement was imposed and unfair
War Guilt and Reparations
Felt that the blame should be shared
It was expected to pay for all damages caused by the war, but the German economy was already in tatters and people had very little food. They feared that the reparations payments would cripple them.
Disarmament
An army of 100,000 was very small for a country of Germany’s size and the army was a symbol of German pride
Despite Wilson’s Fourteen Points calling for disarmament, none of the Allies disarmed to the extent that Germany was disarmed in the 1920s and people found this unfair.
German territories
Major blow to German pride and to its economy
Both the Saar and Upper Silesia were important industrial areas
As Germany was losing land, Britain and France were increasing their empires by taking control of German and Turkish territories in Africa and the Middle East
The Fourteen Points and the League of Nations
German-speaking people were being divided by the terms forbidding Anschluss with Austria or hived off into new countries such as Czechoslovakia to be ruled by non-Germans.
Germany further insulted by not being invited to join LON

The Germans hated Clause 231; they said they were not to blame for the war. The soldier sent to sign the Treaty refused to sign it – ‘To say such a thing would be a lie,’ he said. Clause 231 did not physically harm Germany, but it hurt Germany's pride - and it was this, as much as anything else, that made them want to overturn the treaty.
The Germans hated reparations; they said France and Britain were trying to starve their children to death. At first they refused to pay, and only started paying after France and Britain invaded Germany (January 1921).
The Germans hated their tiny army. They said they were helpless against other countries. At first they refused to reduce the army, and the sailors sank the fleet, rather than hand it over to the Allies.
The Germans also hated the loss of territory. Germany lost a tenth of its land - they claimed that the treaty was simply an attempt to destroy their economy. Other nations were given self-determination – but the Treaty forced Germans to live in other countries. Germans were also angry that they could not unite with the Austrian Germans.
However, many felt that the Germans themselves were operating a double standard. They treated Russia extremely harshly in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and Versailles was much less harsh. Germany’s economic problems were also self-inflicted. The Kaiser did not raise taxes to pay for the war, instead he planned to extract reparations from the defeated states.

Impact of TOV:
Ebert’s right-wing opponents could not bear the Treaty and they attempted a revolution against him
The Kapp Putsch was defeated by a general strike by Berlin workers, which paralysed essential services like power and transport.
Germany fell behind on its reparations in 1922, so in 1923 French and Belgian soldiers entered the Ruhr region and simply took what was owed to them in the form of raw materials and goods. This was quite legal under TOV.
The German government ordered the workers to go on strike so that they were not producing anything for the French to take. The strike meant that Germany had no goods to trade and no money to buy things with.
The government solved this problem by simply printing extra money, but caused hyperinflation. The money was virtually worthless so prices shot up -> Middle-class most affected.

Verdicts on TOV:
None of the Big Three who drew up the Treaty was satisfied with it
TOV led to the creation of a cruel regime in Germany and eventually a second world war
However, a more generous treaty would have been totally unacceptable to public opinion in the peace settlement.
Lloyd George thought the treaty was too harsh and that it would start another war in 25 years time.
Clemenceau wanted the treaties to be harsher so that Germany would be brought to its knees and would not be able to start a war again.

TOV:
Made sure that Germany was too weak to start another European War, yet was strong enough to help stop the spread of Communism
Kept French border with Germany safe from future German attacks
Created LON, which could help promote peace and trade globally
Germans thought the financial penalties that the treaty imposed upon their country and her people to be immoral and unjust
Many German citizens felt that they were being punished for the mistakes of the Kaiser and the previous German government who had started the war, as well as the “November Criminals” that signed TOV

The other peace settlements:
Treaty of St Germain, 1919 – dealt with Austria
Separated Austria from Hungary
Confirmed that Austria was no longer a leading power
Forbidden ever to unite with Germany
Territorial losses
Armed forces restricted
Aimed to sort out a chaotic jumble of territories into new states
Treaty of Neuilly, 1919 – dealt with Bulgaria
Territorial losses
Lost access to the Mediterranean
Armed forces restricted
Reparations payments
Treaty of Trianon, 1920 – dealt with Hungary
Substantial territorial losses
Reparations payments
Treaty of Sèvres, 1920 – dealt with Turkey
Territorial losses
Lost control of the straits running into the Black Sea
Countries of the former empire were made independent or were under British or French protection

Treaties led to creation or recreation of Czechoslovakia, Poland & Yugoslavia
Czechoslovakia
The key country in the plans of the Western Allies for the future security of Europe
Formed mostly by land from the Austrian Empire plus additional land from Germany
Included industrial areas from the former empire so as to be economically and politically stable
Wide range of nationalities
Czechoslovakia is a major issue in Hitler’s foreign policy!!!!!
Poland
Western Allies wanted to recreate it so that it could act as a potential watchdog on Germany
Form a barrier against any future threat from the new Communist government in Russia
To have access to sea, Poland was given a strip of German land -> ‘Polish Corridor’ to act as a sea port
Yugoslavia
Formed by land from the former Austria-Hungary Empire
Shows Wilson’s idea of self-determination in action
Stabilizing influence in the turbulent Balkans