What Effect Did The Treaty Of Versailles Have On Germany
World War I was triggered by several philosophies including nationalism, militarism, and secret alliances. On the eve of World War I, many European countries and nations of people without a state held nationalistic beliefs in the supremacy and superiority of their own nation. This, combined with the belief that a strong country had a strong military, led to deep tensions throughout Europe that were only intensified by the many secret alliances and treaties formed to ensure mutual support if attacked. The results of these principles culminated on July 28th, 1914, when nineteen-year-old Gavrilo Princip, member of Slavic terrorist organization The Black Hand, assassinated Austrian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. The assassination prompted Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia, which then provoked Russia to start mobilizing. Germany,
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who had assured support for Austria-Hungary if Russia mobilized, then declared war on Russia, France, and Belgium, and thus began the Great War. Many things changed once the war broke out. For one, many new military advancements were made, including the use of airplanes, tanks, guns (especially machine guns), submarines, gas, trains, and automobiles. These new technologies allowed for more destruction and new battle tactics. Planes could be used not only for scouting but also bombing and mounting newly invented machine guns on. Trains and automobiles were used as military transport and sometimes armed with machine guns, like planes. The unrestricted use of submarine warfare by the Germans eventually brought the U.S. into the war. Chlorine gas, which was previously considered an uncivilized tactic, became a widely feared weapon. Finally, tanks were used to break stalemates in trench warfare, which WWI brought about the widespread use of. This technique of warfare was introduced as a protection mechanism during short battles, but ended up becoming the cause of a long stalemate between the two sides. In between the trench lines was No Man’s Land, which was very dangerous and left soldiers vulnerable to artillery fire. Even in the trenches, soldiers were susceptible to diseases such as Trench Foot, Trench Fever, Trench Nephritis, and Gangrene. All of these were caused by the unsanitary conditions of the trenches, which were muddy, waterlogged, and infested with lice and rats. Battles with trench warfare were gruelling. Germany prevailed over Russia in one of the first major battles, the Battle of Tannenberg, but were forced to retreat from France and end the Schlieffen plan later in the First Battle of the Marne. This battle also marked the first time reconnaissance aircraft was used majorly. Then the Germans again had to call off the fighting in the Battle of Verdun, the longest battle of the war which lasted nine months. Twice more they admitted defeat in the Battle of the Somme and the Second Battle of the Marne, during which they lost around 630,000 soldiers in the Somme alone. Soon after these losses, the Central Powers were defeated with about four million total casualties. With the horrors of trench warfare came a change in how people viewed the war and sacrifice. Art and poetry during this time reflected the experiences of soldiers in the trenches instead of previously peaceful and nature-centric pieces. It was also used as a propaganda tool to show how heroic and brave the soldiers were. On the other hand, many publications such as newspapers, books, and other opinionated pieces were censored to prevent skepticism and criticism of the war and promote the war effort on both the home front and on the battlefield. Once the war was over, many things changed. Overall, around nine million soldiers died serving their cause, along with countless civilian casualties, among them the victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 which was carried out by the Turkish government. Another outcome of the war was a new condition dubbed ‘shellshock.’ Although thought to be a physical nerve condition, around two percent of the remaining soldiers would suffer from this early diagnosis of PTSD from constant bombings in the trenches. Aside from shellshock and other conditions derived from the trenches, American soldiers brought the Spanish Influenza with them to France in 1918, which killed more people than the Great War itself. Even though the war brought great loss, it was also a large step in overcoming some outdated ways. Women, who had taken over many jobs not normally available to them while the men were away fighting such as factory workers, truck drivers, etc., had proven they could be as trustworthy as men and deserved to be treated more equally as members of society. They could now hold jobs (although they were not paid as much as men), own apartments, and later gained the right to vote. The war’s lasting effect was a change in how people viewed women, government, sacrifice, and war in general. After the war ended and these changes came into effect, the Allies wanted revenge. Georges Clemenceau, who represented France, wanted to cripple Germany so they could not recover. Lloyd George, Britain’s Prime Minister, wanted justice, but less harsh than France. Woodrow Wilson of the U.S. wanted fair peace and his ‘Fourteen Points’(Spielvogel 544). Once the Treaty of Versailles was formed, Germans deemed it too harsh because it would greatly weaken Germany’s economy, make Germany’s population hungry, and foster resentment of the Allies. One of the harsh requirements in the Treaty was that Germany had to hand over its navy. This would have a very large impact on German importation of goods and merchant marine, which Germany relied heavily on to sustain the population. The cost of importing goods would skyrocket while the chances of importing those goods would decline. Furthermore, people who worked in the navy would not be able to find work or food, or even immigrate out of the country to look elsewhere (Brockdorff-Rantzau). This would repress Germany economically and foster deep resentment of the Allies. Another requirement was for Germany to give up a large amount of territory. In the East, Germany would lose an important region for producing potatoes and wheat, the equivalent of twenty-one percent of the total harvest for potatoes and wheat. It would also lose almost a third of its coal fields, three-quarters of ore, and three-fifths of zinc (Brockdorff-Rantzau). These losses would greatly decrease agricultural, coal, ore and zinc production, thus putting the population in a possible food crisis and continuing the hatred of the Allies. Finally, control over German colonies would be given to the British and French. Germany would not be able to import resources from the colonies anymore, furthering a possible food crisis (Brockdorff-Rantzau). It would also further more animosity towards the Allies, since having colonies was considered a matter of national pride. All of these requirements would cripple Germany economically and bring only more division between a still-recovering Europe.
This could have been fixed by allowing Germany to negotiate more with the Allies, but instead the Allies did not even allow them to be present to discuss the conditions. This abuse of power resulted in resentment from Germany and a rift in the delicate balance of power in Europe that would lead to cultural discontent, eventually attracting people to the emerging fascist ideology and Hitler (Keynes). Despite Germany’s best efforts, the Treaty of Versailles came into effect and Germany took a great hit. The German people’s pride was bruised after having lost the war, its colonies, military, and land. Still not satisfied, France was demanding harsh enforcement of the Treaty and even sent troops to occupy Germany’s chief industrial center, the Ruhr Valley (Spielvogel 555). Germany began to plunge into a financial crisis after being forced to pay reparations they could not afford and overproduction of printed money, thus resulting in massive hyperinflation and rapid change throughout the
country. Germany printed more and more money in order to pay salaries of those who had gone on strike to passively protest the occupation of the Ruhr Valley by the French, who were stationed there to collect reparations through the mines and factories there (Spielvogel 555). This only added to the inflation. In 1914, 4.2 Deutsch marks were worth one U.S. dollar. By the end of November 1923, it took 4.2 trillion marks to equal the dollar (Spielvogel 556) and “cost more to print a note than the note was worth” (Jonge 261). Life in Germany changed drastically. Since foreigners found they were suddenly rich in Germany, the country became swarmed with them until eventually they respond with a “double pricing system. Shops would mark their prices up for foreigners…some shops simply declined to sell to foreigners at all” (Jonge 266). German behavior and morality also changed a great deal. A German woman told an American writer that “a whole generation had simply lost its taste for life” (Jonge 266). Many young people joined extremist groups or simply wandered the country, because they “felt that they had no prospects and no hope” (Jonge 266). Other young people adopted new ways of dealing with the crisis. Traditional values such as marriage disappeared because “love was old-fashioned, sex was modern” (Jonge 267). Prostitution become very common, especially among young boys, who worked as gigolos or disguised themselves as female prostitutes. Cocaine also became “an integral part of the social life of Berlin” (Jonge 269). It was also during this time that deep anti-semitism emerged, since Jewish people seemed to be much better off in these hard times. With anti-Semitism and capitalism’s failure came National Socialism, the Nazi party. To escape the economic crisis, the Dawes Plan was formed to reduce the reparations that Germany had to pay, and coordinated the payments with Germany’s ability to pay. It also loaned Germany $200 million to recover. From 1924 until 1929, the economy improved, but the collapse of the American stock market and subsequent worldwide Great Depression threw it back into chaos (Spielvogel 556). Since the American stock market had crashed, Germany could not pay back reparations using U.S. loans from investors, who had pulled their money out to reinvest in the stock market. This triggered the Great Depression, the worst economic collapse the world had ever seen. For Germany, around 5.5 million German labor force workers were unemployed, around thirty percent of the force (Spielvogel 557). Trade slowed and industrial exportation fell by forty percent. By 1932, the total unemployment rate was forty percent. The depression resulted in an increase of government activity in the economy, renewed interest in Marxism, and dictatorial leaders that came into power because they offered simple solutions. In the end, WWI, the Treaty of Versailles, and German inflation changed the lives of every German and the surrounding region of Europe’s population. People became desperate for progress and new leadership, which culminated ideas such as National Socialism (fascism) that would later change the face of the world in WWII. Traditional moral values declined in popularity, and anti-Semitism emerged along with power-seeking dictators, thus setting the course for Germany’s eventual revenge.
It was not just European nations that were affected by WWI. During the war, several agreements were made involving the British, Middle Eastern countries, and other European countries. The British secretly negotiated with these countries and promised each something different, which were conflicting in some cases. These secret agreements resulted in some of the tensions that still remain today, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and relationship to the West.
One of these agreements was between the British and governor of Makkah, Sharif Hussein bin Ali. The British wanted to defeat the massive Ottoman Empire, but they needed the help of the tribes to unite together and rebel. They promised Sharif Hussein bin Ali weapons and funding to help the rebels, and to recognize the independence of the Arab states in the Ottoman Empire. Hussein agreed and the British provided support in the form of soldiers, weapons, money, and advisors such as the famed Lawrence of Arabia. This was also known as the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence (Alkhateeb).
The McMahon-Hussein agreement presented a major problem, since the British also made a secret promise to the French. This agreement, also known as the Sykes-Picot agreement, divided the Middle East between the French and the British. The French would take Syria and Lebanon, while the British would receive Iraq and Palestine. These countries were part of the mandate system, which meant a nation governed by another as a mandate (acquired territory) on behalf of the League of Nations. Zionists were also taken into account with Palestine.
Zionists, who advocated for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, also made an agreement with the British. The increasing anti-Semitism in Europe forced Jews to migrate towards Palestine, and the Zionist movement began to grow. Britain’s foreign secretary, Arthur James Balfour, sent a letter to Lord Rothschild, a Jewish leader in Britain, in an effort to gain Jewish support for the Allies. The letter, called the Balfour Declaration, expressed Britain’s support of the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. It also addressed his concerns that he did not want to infringe upon the Palestinians already living there. After the Declaration and rise of the Nazi party, Jews fled to Palestine, and tensions arose between them and the Muslim residents. In 1939, the British attempted to stop the violence by restricting the amount of Jewish immigrants to 75,000 over the next five years, but this only increased tensions and number of illegal immigrants.
Many—if not all—of these secret agreements were in direct violation of Wilson’s Point V of his Fourteen Points, which stated that self-determination would be granted to the colonies (Wilson). Only European countries received this ability, while the Middle East and other Asian countries such as Vietnam were ignored or lied to in order to gain support, illustrating the amount of racism and unfair treatment of non-Europeans prevalent in the Western powers. In modern society, the lines that Europeans created on the maps still cause tension and conflict, especially between Jews and Palestinians due to the Balfour Declaration, and between the rest of the Middle East and West. These broken promises and inequalities formed a deep mistrust of the West, which is only furthered by the instability caused by recent political unrest and the West’s desire for resources in the Middle East such as oil.
The West, mostly the United States, also desired to contain the spread of Communism in Asia. Communism came about after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917. Before the Bolshevik Revolution, Russia was not prepared for WWI. Not only did they have weak generals, subpar transport, and poor equipment, but also low morale, dwindling food supplies, and high inflation. Many soldiers mutinied or deserted, and anger over the food shortages sparked riots in St. Petersburg. Soon Czar Nicholas II was forced to step down while Vladimir Lenin and the Russian Marxist group called the Bolsheviks took control. They ordered farmland to be distributed to the peasants, gave factory control to the workers, and eventually the U.S.S.R. and the Communist Party—which the Bolsheviks later renamed themselves to—were born. After the Bolsheviks took control, Lenin addressed some of the Western European governments in a speech where he stated, “We shall offer peace to the peoples of all the warring countries upon the basis of the Soviet terms—no annexations, no indemnities, and the right to self-determination of peoples…This proposal of peace will meet with resistance on the part of the imperialist governments…But we hope that revolution will soon break out in all the warring countries. This is why we address ourselves especially to the workers of France, England, and Germany.” Lenin also formed the Communist International, or Comintern, to spread the word of communism. This move threatened the Western governments, including the U.S., which lead them to believe that Communism was hostile and aggressively expansive. Lenin’s foreign policy and the Comintern also lead to a Communist party in the majority of colonies in Asia, including Vietnam. Vietnam had been controlled by the French since before WWI, which prompted them to ask for self-determination at the Paris Peace Conference. Ho Chi Minh, who had been trained in Moscow, attempted to deliver U.S. President Woodrow Wilson a list of Vietnam’s grievances, but was ignored and pushed aside in favor of European countries that received self-determination, such as former Russian territories. This went against Point V of Wilson’s Fourteen Points in which he stated that “A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.” However, self determination is defined as ‘a process by which a country forms its own statehood, alliances, government, economy, etc.’ This contradiction, along with Wilson’s inattentiveness to non-European colonies, lessened the allure of democratic- capitalism for colonized people.
In response to Wilson’s ignorance, Ho Chi Minh became drawn to Communism and eventually joined. He said that, “The reason for my joining the French Socialist Party was that these ‘ladies and gentlemen’…had shown sympathy toward me—toward the struggle of the oppressed peoples.” In 1929 he formed the the Indochinese Communist Party and later became president of Vietnam and won independence from the French. The U.S. and other Western governments now feared the expanse of communism and revolution to other countries, including their colonies or even their own countries.
Vietnam, which remains Communist, still has conflicts with Democratic-Capitalist countries. The Vietnam War with the U.S. during the Cold War lasted until 1975 and resulted in the reunification of Vietnam. Another conflict was the Korean War, which concluded with the split between North and South Korea. The tension between these two countries lingers on to the present day, showing how the Treaty of Versailles still impacts us.
who had assured support for Austria-Hungary if Russia mobilized, then declared war on Russia, France, and Belgium, and thus began the Great War. Many things changed once the war broke out. For one, many new military advancements were made, including the use of airplanes, tanks, guns (especially machine guns), submarines, gas, trains, and automobiles. These new technologies allowed for more destruction and new battle tactics. Planes could be used not only for scouting but also bombing and mounting newly invented machine guns on. Trains and automobiles were used as military transport and sometimes armed with machine guns, like planes. The unrestricted use of submarine warfare by the Germans eventually brought the U.S. into the war. Chlorine gas, which was previously considered an uncivilized tactic, became a widely feared weapon. Finally, tanks were used to break stalemates in trench warfare, which WWI brought about the widespread use of. This technique of warfare was introduced as a protection mechanism during short battles, but ended up becoming the cause of a long stalemate between the two sides. In between the trench lines was No Man’s Land, which was very dangerous and left soldiers vulnerable to artillery fire. Even in the trenches, soldiers were susceptible to diseases such as Trench Foot, Trench Fever, Trench Nephritis, and Gangrene. All of these were caused by the unsanitary conditions of the trenches, which were muddy, waterlogged, and infested with lice and rats. Battles with trench warfare were gruelling. Germany prevailed over Russia in one of the first major battles, the Battle of Tannenberg, but were forced to retreat from France and end the Schlieffen plan later in the First Battle of the Marne. This battle also marked the first time reconnaissance aircraft was used majorly. Then the Germans again had to call off the fighting in the Battle of Verdun, the longest battle of the war which lasted nine months. Twice more they admitted defeat in the Battle of the Somme and the Second Battle of the Marne, during which they lost around 630,000 soldiers in the Somme alone. Soon after these losses, the Central Powers were defeated with about four million total casualties. With the horrors of trench warfare came a change in how people viewed the war and sacrifice. Art and poetry during this time reflected the experiences of soldiers in the trenches instead of previously peaceful and nature-centric pieces. It was also used as a propaganda tool to show how heroic and brave the soldiers were. On the other hand, many publications such as newspapers, books, and other opinionated pieces were censored to prevent skepticism and criticism of the war and promote the war effort on both the home front and on the battlefield. Once the war was over, many things changed. Overall, around nine million soldiers died serving their cause, along with countless civilian casualties, among them the victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 which was carried out by the Turkish government. Another outcome of the war was a new condition dubbed ‘shellshock.’ Although thought to be a physical nerve condition, around two percent of the remaining soldiers would suffer from this early diagnosis of PTSD from constant bombings in the trenches. Aside from shellshock and other conditions derived from the trenches, American soldiers brought the Spanish Influenza with them to France in 1918, which killed more people than the Great War itself. Even though the war brought great loss, it was also a large step in overcoming some outdated ways. Women, who had taken over many jobs not normally available to them while the men were away fighting such as factory workers, truck drivers, etc., had proven they could be as trustworthy as men and deserved to be treated more equally as members of society. They could now hold jobs (although they were not paid as much as men), own apartments, and later gained the right to vote. The war’s lasting effect was a change in how people viewed women, government, sacrifice, and war in general. After the war ended and these changes came into effect, the Allies wanted revenge. Georges Clemenceau, who represented France, wanted to cripple Germany so they could not recover. Lloyd George, Britain’s Prime Minister, wanted justice, but less harsh than France. Woodrow Wilson of the U.S. wanted fair peace and his ‘Fourteen Points’(Spielvogel 544). Once the Treaty of Versailles was formed, Germans deemed it too harsh because it would greatly weaken Germany’s economy, make Germany’s population hungry, and foster resentment of the Allies. One of the harsh requirements in the Treaty was that Germany had to hand over its navy. This would have a very large impact on German importation of goods and merchant marine, which Germany relied heavily on to sustain the population. The cost of importing goods would skyrocket while the chances of importing those goods would decline. Furthermore, people who worked in the navy would not be able to find work or food, or even immigrate out of the country to look elsewhere (Brockdorff-Rantzau). This would repress Germany economically and foster deep resentment of the Allies. Another requirement was for Germany to give up a large amount of territory. In the East, Germany would lose an important region for producing potatoes and wheat, the equivalent of twenty-one percent of the total harvest for potatoes and wheat. It would also lose almost a third of its coal fields, three-quarters of ore, and three-fifths of zinc (Brockdorff-Rantzau). These losses would greatly decrease agricultural, coal, ore and zinc production, thus putting the population in a possible food crisis and continuing the hatred of the Allies. Finally, control over German colonies would be given to the British and French. Germany would not be able to import resources from the colonies anymore, furthering a possible food crisis (Brockdorff-Rantzau). It would also further more animosity towards the Allies, since having colonies was considered a matter of national pride. All of these requirements would cripple Germany economically and bring only more division between a still-recovering Europe.
This could have been fixed by allowing Germany to negotiate more with the Allies, but instead the Allies did not even allow them to be present to discuss the conditions. This abuse of power resulted in resentment from Germany and a rift in the delicate balance of power in Europe that would lead to cultural discontent, eventually attracting people to the emerging fascist ideology and Hitler (Keynes). Despite Germany’s best efforts, the Treaty of Versailles came into effect and Germany took a great hit. The German people’s pride was bruised after having lost the war, its colonies, military, and land. Still not satisfied, France was demanding harsh enforcement of the Treaty and even sent troops to occupy Germany’s chief industrial center, the Ruhr Valley (Spielvogel 555). Germany began to plunge into a financial crisis after being forced to pay reparations they could not afford and overproduction of printed money, thus resulting in massive hyperinflation and rapid change throughout the
country. Germany printed more and more money in order to pay salaries of those who had gone on strike to passively protest the occupation of the Ruhr Valley by the French, who were stationed there to collect reparations through the mines and factories there (Spielvogel 555). This only added to the inflation. In 1914, 4.2 Deutsch marks were worth one U.S. dollar. By the end of November 1923, it took 4.2 trillion marks to equal the dollar (Spielvogel 556) and “cost more to print a note than the note was worth” (Jonge 261). Life in Germany changed drastically. Since foreigners found they were suddenly rich in Germany, the country became swarmed with them until eventually they respond with a “double pricing system. Shops would mark their prices up for foreigners…some shops simply declined to sell to foreigners at all” (Jonge 266). German behavior and morality also changed a great deal. A German woman told an American writer that “a whole generation had simply lost its taste for life” (Jonge 266). Many young people joined extremist groups or simply wandered the country, because they “felt that they had no prospects and no hope” (Jonge 266). Other young people adopted new ways of dealing with the crisis. Traditional values such as marriage disappeared because “love was old-fashioned, sex was modern” (Jonge 267). Prostitution become very common, especially among young boys, who worked as gigolos or disguised themselves as female prostitutes. Cocaine also became “an integral part of the social life of Berlin” (Jonge 269). It was also during this time that deep anti-semitism emerged, since Jewish people seemed to be much better off in these hard times. With anti-Semitism and capitalism’s failure came National Socialism, the Nazi party. To escape the economic crisis, the Dawes Plan was formed to reduce the reparations that Germany had to pay, and coordinated the payments with Germany’s ability to pay. It also loaned Germany $200 million to recover. From 1924 until 1929, the economy improved, but the collapse of the American stock market and subsequent worldwide Great Depression threw it back into chaos (Spielvogel 556). Since the American stock market had crashed, Germany could not pay back reparations using U.S. loans from investors, who had pulled their money out to reinvest in the stock market. This triggered the Great Depression, the worst economic collapse the world had ever seen. For Germany, around 5.5 million German labor force workers were unemployed, around thirty percent of the force (Spielvogel 557). Trade slowed and industrial exportation fell by forty percent. By 1932, the total unemployment rate was forty percent. The depression resulted in an increase of government activity in the economy, renewed interest in Marxism, and dictatorial leaders that came into power because they offered simple solutions. In the end, WWI, the Treaty of Versailles, and German inflation changed the lives of every German and the surrounding region of Europe’s population. People became desperate for progress and new leadership, which culminated ideas such as National Socialism (fascism) that would later change the face of the world in WWII. Traditional moral values declined in popularity, and anti-Semitism emerged along with power-seeking dictators, thus setting the course for Germany’s eventual revenge.
It was not just European nations that were affected by WWI. During the war, several agreements were made involving the British, Middle Eastern countries, and other European countries. The British secretly negotiated with these countries and promised each something different, which were conflicting in some cases. These secret agreements resulted in some of the tensions that still remain today, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and relationship to the West.
One of these agreements was between the British and governor of Makkah, Sharif Hussein bin Ali. The British wanted to defeat the massive Ottoman Empire, but they needed the help of the tribes to unite together and rebel. They promised Sharif Hussein bin Ali weapons and funding to help the rebels, and to recognize the independence of the Arab states in the Ottoman Empire. Hussein agreed and the British provided support in the form of soldiers, weapons, money, and advisors such as the famed Lawrence of Arabia. This was also known as the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence (Alkhateeb).
The McMahon-Hussein agreement presented a major problem, since the British also made a secret promise to the French. This agreement, also known as the Sykes-Picot agreement, divided the Middle East between the French and the British. The French would take Syria and Lebanon, while the British would receive Iraq and Palestine. These countries were part of the mandate system, which meant a nation governed by another as a mandate (acquired territory) on behalf of the League of Nations. Zionists were also taken into account with Palestine.
Zionists, who advocated for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, also made an agreement with the British. The increasing anti-Semitism in Europe forced Jews to migrate towards Palestine, and the Zionist movement began to grow. Britain’s foreign secretary, Arthur James Balfour, sent a letter to Lord Rothschild, a Jewish leader in Britain, in an effort to gain Jewish support for the Allies. The letter, called the Balfour Declaration, expressed Britain’s support of the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. It also addressed his concerns that he did not want to infringe upon the Palestinians already living there. After the Declaration and rise of the Nazi party, Jews fled to Palestine, and tensions arose between them and the Muslim residents. In 1939, the British attempted to stop the violence by restricting the amount of Jewish immigrants to 75,000 over the next five years, but this only increased tensions and number of illegal immigrants.
Many—if not all—of these secret agreements were in direct violation of Wilson’s Point V of his Fourteen Points, which stated that self-determination would be granted to the colonies (Wilson). Only European countries received this ability, while the Middle East and other Asian countries such as Vietnam were ignored or lied to in order to gain support, illustrating the amount of racism and unfair treatment of non-Europeans prevalent in the Western powers. In modern society, the lines that Europeans created on the maps still cause tension and conflict, especially between Jews and Palestinians due to the Balfour Declaration, and between the rest of the Middle East and West. These broken promises and inequalities formed a deep mistrust of the West, which is only furthered by the instability caused by recent political unrest and the West’s desire for resources in the Middle East such as oil.
The West, mostly the United States, also desired to contain the spread of Communism in Asia. Communism came about after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917. Before the Bolshevik Revolution, Russia was not prepared for WWI. Not only did they have weak generals, subpar transport, and poor equipment, but also low morale, dwindling food supplies, and high inflation. Many soldiers mutinied or deserted, and anger over the food shortages sparked riots in St. Petersburg. Soon Czar Nicholas II was forced to step down while Vladimir Lenin and the Russian Marxist group called the Bolsheviks took control. They ordered farmland to be distributed to the peasants, gave factory control to the workers, and eventually the U.S.S.R. and the Communist Party—which the Bolsheviks later renamed themselves to—were born. After the Bolsheviks took control, Lenin addressed some of the Western European governments in a speech where he stated, “We shall offer peace to the peoples of all the warring countries upon the basis of the Soviet terms—no annexations, no indemnities, and the right to self-determination of peoples…This proposal of peace will meet with resistance on the part of the imperialist governments…But we hope that revolution will soon break out in all the warring countries. This is why we address ourselves especially to the workers of France, England, and Germany.” Lenin also formed the Communist International, or Comintern, to spread the word of communism. This move threatened the Western governments, including the U.S., which lead them to believe that Communism was hostile and aggressively expansive. Lenin’s foreign policy and the Comintern also lead to a Communist party in the majority of colonies in Asia, including Vietnam. Vietnam had been controlled by the French since before WWI, which prompted them to ask for self-determination at the Paris Peace Conference. Ho Chi Minh, who had been trained in Moscow, attempted to deliver U.S. President Woodrow Wilson a list of Vietnam’s grievances, but was ignored and pushed aside in favor of European countries that received self-determination, such as former Russian territories. This went against Point V of Wilson’s Fourteen Points in which he stated that “A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.” However, self determination is defined as ‘a process by which a country forms its own statehood, alliances, government, economy, etc.’ This contradiction, along with Wilson’s inattentiveness to non-European colonies, lessened the allure of democratic- capitalism for colonized people.
In response to Wilson’s ignorance, Ho Chi Minh became drawn to Communism and eventually joined. He said that, “The reason for my joining the French Socialist Party was that these ‘ladies and gentlemen’…had shown sympathy toward me—toward the struggle of the oppressed peoples.” In 1929 he formed the the Indochinese Communist Party and later became president of Vietnam and won independence from the French. The U.S. and other Western governments now feared the expanse of communism and revolution to other countries, including their colonies or even their own countries.
Vietnam, which remains Communist, still has conflicts with Democratic-Capitalist countries. The Vietnam War with the U.S. during the Cold War lasted until 1975 and resulted in the reunification of Vietnam. Another conflict was the Korean War, which concluded with the split between North and South Korea. The tension between these two countries lingers on to the present day, showing how the Treaty of Versailles still impacts us.