IGCSE HISTORY CHAPTER 1 The Treaty of Versailles

IGCSE Cambridge International Education Chapter 1

What were the effects of the Great War on France?

-Two thirds of their military were Killed

-They suffered the most during the war

-They are now in extreme amounts of debt to the USA

-Deeply embarrassed by two invasions by Germany

What were the effects of the Great War on the USA?

-Suffered the least in the war

-A lot of IOUs from allied nations

-Only entered the war in 1917

What were the effects of the Great War on Great Britain?

-Lost over 1 million soldiers

-Civilian population suffered immensely due to the food shortages during the war

-Owed a lot of money to the USA

-inundated with wartime propaganda

What were the effects of the Great War on Germany?

-Suffered less than France or Britain

-Ended the war swiftly to avoid severe damage

-No longer a monarchy

What were Wilson’s core goals?

1. Don’t be too harsh on Germany

2. Strengthen democracy in defeated countries

3. Give self-determination to small nations that had once been dominated

4. Promote international co-operation

What were the most important parts of the fourteen points? (10)

1. No secret treaties

2. Free access to seas in peacetime or wartime

3. Free trade between nations

4. All countries to work towards disarmament

5. Colonies to have self-determination

6. Independence for Belgium

7. France to regain Alsace-Lorraine

8. Independent Poland

9. League of nations to be set up

10. Eastern European self-determination

What are the basic aspects of the Paris Peace Conference in 1920?

-The Big Three dominated the meetings

-The Big Three’s leaders ignored advisors

-The leaders of the losing nations were not present for negotiations

-5 treaties were drafted

What were Clemenceau’s main aims at the Paris Peace Conference?

-Wanted to cripple Germany’s economy

-Wanted to create an independent Rhineland

-Wanted the return of Alsace-Lorraine

-Wanted to dismantle Germany’s military capabilities

What were Clemenceau’s main motivations?

-France suffered severely during the Great War

-Wanted money to rebuild its territories and pay back the USA

-Embarrassed after the two severe invasions by Germany

-Wanted assurance that Germany would not invade them again

-Needed to appease the French people who despised Germany

-Clemenceau was a nationalist

What were Lloyd George’s main aims during the Paris Peace Conference?

-To not punish Germany too harshly

-Wanted a share of German colonies

-Wanted to reduce Germany’s navy

What were Lloyd George’s main motivations?

-Needed to appease the British public’

-Wanted to be able to trade with Germany because they were one of Britain’s largest trading partners

-Wanted to prevent a communist revolution Germany

-Wanted to increase Britain’s power

-Wanted to destroy naval competition

What were Woodrow Wilson’s main motivations?

-He was an optimist and idealist

-Wanted to prevent another destructive war

What issues did Lloyd George and Woodrow Wilson agree on?

-Didn’t want to punish Germany too harshly

-Feared a communist revolution

-Didn’t want another war

What issues did Lloyd George and Wilson disagree on?

-Self-determination for all colonies

-Open seas due to Britain’s historical dominance in the seas

-Wanted to expand British Power

What did Clemenceau agree with Wilson on?

-Wanted lasting peace

What did Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson disagree on?

-How harshly Germany should be punished

-What should be done to the Saarland and the Rhineland

-Wilson gave in to the idea to achieve self-determination in eastern europe

What did Lloyd George and Clemenceau disagree on?

-How harshly to treat Germany

-They both acted selfishly; the British only wanted to destroy Germany where it challenges them but keep Germany happy enough to trade and stop communist revolution which actually threatens them

What were the five main clauses of the Treaty of Versailles?

1. War Guilt

2. Reparations

3. Territorial Changes

4. Crippling Armed Forces

5. Creation of the League of Nations

Expand on the War Guilt Clause

-Article 231 in the Treaty of Versailles places the blame for the Great War entirely on Germany

Expand on the reparations clause

-Germany signed a blank cheque at the Paris Peace Conference

-Set at 6.6 billion pounds

-Later changed under the Young Plan in 1929

-Would’ve been paying until 1984 if not changed

-France also received coal from the Saarland territory

Expand on the Treaty of Versailles’ territorial changes in Germany

North

-North Schleswig to Denmark

East

-West Prussia

-Posen

-Upper Silesia

-Part of East Prussia

-Danzig as a free city

-Memel

Conquered Russian territory

West

-Alsace-Lorraine

-Eupen

-Malmedy

-Rhineland Demilitarized

-Saarland under control of France for at least 15 years

Colonies

-German East Africa and German South-West Africa

-Togoland

-Became League of Nations mandate

-All of German colonies

Expand on Germany’s crippled military

-Restricted to 100,000 soldiers

-Banned conscription

-Was not allowed any armoured vehicles, submarines, or aircraft

-Navy restricted to 15,000 soldiers and 6 battleships

-Rhineland became demilitarized

Expand on the league of nations

-A new method to keep peace

-Germany banned from joining

What were the other 4 treaties?

Neuilly-Bulgaria

Trianon-Hungary

St. Germain-Austria

Sevres-Turkey

Why weren’t the French happy?

-No independent Rhineland

-The treaty was not harsh enough

-Germany wasn’t divided

-Mostly happy

Why were the British happy?

-Mostly happy

-Crippled German Navy

-Received colonies

Was the USA happy?

-Mostly unhappy

-No self-determination for colonies

-extremely harsh German colonies

-Didn’t ratify the treaty

Who signed the Treaty of Versailles for Germany?

-Friedrich Ebert

What were the German criticisms of the Treaty of Versailles?

-War guilt and reparations unwarranted

-German territories being stripped

-non-representation

-unequal disarmament

-did not align with the 14 points

Expand on the War guilt and reparations criticism

-Germans felt that they shouldn’t be blamed for the war

• They didn’t start the war

• They felt that the blame should be shared

-They felt that the reparations were too harsh

• Their economy was also extremely weakened

Expand on the Unequal disarmament criticism

-Their army was restricted to only 100,000 soldiers which was extremely small compared to its whole population

-It crushed a symbol of their pride

-None of the allies were disarmed

Expand on the non-representation criticism

-They were not allowed at the Paris Peace Conference

-The treaty was called a diktat

-They felt that they hadn’t lost the war so they shouldn’t be treated as a defeated country

Expand on the German territories criticism

-lost 10 percent of its European land

-all colonies given away

-12.5 percent of its population

-16 percent of all coalfields and half of its iron and steel industries

-Lost Saarland and Upper Silesia which were major industrial areas

-crushed German pride and economy

-Other nations actually grew in size and empire despite what happened to them

Expand on the 14 points criticism

-Not invited to the League of Nations

-Treaty has nothing to do with 14 point goals or the ideas of Woodrow Wilson

• Germans were stuck in many new nations

• Prevented union between Austria and Germany

• They were the only nation forced to disarm

• only their nation was forced to give up their colonies

• Germans lost self-determination

What were the terms of the Treaty of Neuilly?

-imposed on Bulgaria in 1919

-10 percent of its land stripped

-100 million pounds in reparations

-restricted to 20,000 soldiers

-Loss access to the mediteranean sea

What were the terms of the Treaty of St. Germain?

-Imposed on Austria in 1919

-Massive territorial loss and ended the Austro-Hungarian Empire

-Restricted to 30,000 soldiers

-Banned Anschluss

-Austria collapsed economically cause industries went to Czechoslovakia

-Extreme harshness made Austrian more receptive to Hitler’s ideas

-Ended dual monarchy

-Bohemia and Moravia to Czechoslovakia

What were the terms of the Treaty of Trianon?

-Imposed on Hungary in 1920

-lost 1/3 of its population and 2/3 of its land

-restricted to 35,000 soldiers

-broke apart the Austro-Hungarian Empire

What were the terms of the Treaty of Sevres?

-Lost significant amount of land

-Separated into zones of influence

-Tax controlled by the allies

-restricted to 50,700 soldiers

-Lost control of the Dardanelles strait which became an international waterway

-Lost Syria and Lebanon to France

-Lost Palestine and Iraq to Britain

-Lost land to Italy and Greece

-Banned from having an Airforce

-Kurdish state provisions were made

-Those responsible for the Armenian Genocide were put on Trial

-Extremely harsh punishment

-End of the Ottoman Empire

Why was the Treaty of Sevres important?

-The treaty was extremely harsh causing the Turkish to overthrow their government

-British created the treaty of Lausanne in response

-Showed that treaties were not truly enforceable because nations were unwilling to use force

-Undermined the other treaties

-Allowed for Hitler and Mussolini to undermine the treaty

What are the main arguments for the Treaty of Versailles being fair?

-Brest-Litovsk treaty was harsher and imposed on Russia by Germany

-Germany would have done the same

-Economic problems were mostly self-inflicted since the Kaiser refused to raise taxes to pay for the war but planned to extract money to repay debts from their enemies

-Had to rebuild their infrastructure after the war

-Germany’s economy rebound: the steel production of Germany was double the British by 1925

What are the main arguments for the Treaty of Versailles being unfair?

-It was a Diktat

-It would cause another war and motivated by blind selfishness

-John Maynard Keynes economic consequences of the peace

What were the main consequences of the Treaty of Versailles in Germany by 1923?

-Extreme rise in political violence

-Assassinations of political officials

-Munich and Kapp Putsch

-Ruhr invasion

-Hyperinflation

What were the main reasons political violence sprung up?

-Germans felt betrayed by Weimar politicians who were labeled “November Criminals”

-Caused social problems due to many Germans being separated by new borders and having to migrate to stay together as a family

-Germans were embarrassed by the humiliating Treaty making them lose territories and army size

What were the main instances of political violence?

-Kapp Putsch

-Munich Putsch

-Assassination of Walther Rathenau in 1922 by extremists

-Myriad of assassination attempts

What was the Kapp Putsch and who were the Freikorps?

-The Kapp putsch was an uprising in 1920 conducted by the Freikorps and led by Wolfgang Kapp to install a right-wing nationalist government which was defeated by a general strike

-The Freikorps were an ultranationalist band of ex-soldiers opposed to the Weimar leadership

What was the Munich Putsch?

-A 1923 uprising in Munich led by Adolf Hitler

-Hitler was allowed to be let off easy since people sympathized with his ideas

-He gained power by exploiting the German people’s disdain for the Treaty of Versailles

Explain the consequences and importance of the conflict in the Ruhr

-Germany refused to pay 1922 reparations so France entered the Ruhr to seize resources by force (which was legal)

-Germany ordered workers to go on strike

-French expelled 100,000 workers and killed over 100 soldiers

-The result of the strike was that Germany’s economy crashed

• They had no goods to trade

• No money to buy needed resources

-Led to hyperinflation

Explain hyperinflation

-Partly Germany’s fault

-Destroyed the Mark’s value

-The rich benefitted

• The industrialists were able to pay off debts for cheap

-The poor suffered

• Pensioners left penniless

• Money became worthless

• Had to line up to buy bread

Unjustified Versailles

-signed a death warrant for Europe

-Based of selfishness

-Betrayal of principles held by Wilson

Justified Versailles

-Was measured in comparison to what the people wanted

-Had to rebuild their own nations

-It was the best they could do to balance their people’s wants and their own goals for peace

What were the Terms of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty?

-6 billion marks in reparations/ 300 million gold Rubles

-34 percent of their populations

-54 percent of industries

-Lost many states such as Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic states