Effects of WWI in Europe

Successes and failures of peacekeeping (6)

1. Paris Peace Conference

2. 14 Points

3. Italy & Treaty of London (territorial)

4. Treaty of Versailles

5. Other treaties (territorial)

6. League of Nations

Paris Peace Conference

Jan 1919 - June 1919 (culminating in the Treaty of Versailles)

Big 3 - views and values

US: Woodrow Wilson: ‘lenient peace’, proposed the 14 Points, favoured ‘national self-determination’ (e.g. plebiscites), anti-communism, anti-colonialism

UK: David Lloyd George: ‘compromised peace’, protective of navy and colonies, anti-communism

France: Georges Clemenceau: ‘harsh peace’, huge German reparations, division of Germany, War Guilt on Germany, no German army

Big 5 = Big 3 + Japan + Italy

Japan: Saionji Kinmochi: wanted German possessions in the Pacific and in China, Racial Equality Clause, 21 Demands (1915)

Italy: Vittorio Orlando: wanted to hold the allies the Treaty of London (1915) wanted gain South Tyrol, Trentino, Istria, the Dalmatian Coast, and the city of Fiume

*Due to different priorities, these two only showed up to meetings that concerned them

Failure: Due to different goals, the treaty contained lots of compromises, meaning that no one was fully committed, Japan and Italy walked out

Success: Managed to create a treaty that all of the Big 5 agreed with, Council of Ten (Jan 1919), Supreme Economic Council (Feb 1919)

Wilson’s 14 Points

Points 1-4: Freedoms & humanitarian ideas

Points 5-13: National self-determination

Point 14: Establishment of the League of Nations

• Initially supposed to guide negotiations in the Paris Peace Conference —> high hopes in Germany

Success: Major step towards international cooperation and national self-determination; creation of the League of Nations

Failure: Not fully abided by during the Paris Peace Conference, resulting in a treaty which appeared as a ‘diktat’ to the Germans (no Germany contribution). All it did was to give the Germans false hope

Italy & Treaty of London

Trentino: promised and gained (large Italian population so no problem)

South Tyrol: promised and gained (large Italian and Austrian populations)

Triest and Istria: promised and gained (mixture of ethnic groups)

*Did not gain the whole of the Dalmatian Coast nor the city of Fiume, mostly due to the insistence of Wilson

Failure: Non-Italian populations now grouped under a nation they don’t identify with, tensions between the US and Italy (political impact: Italy switching to Fascism in 1922)

Treaty of Versailles

June 1919 - 4 major terms

1. Clause 231: ‘War Guilt Clause’ —> sparked significant Germany resentment (failure)

2. Disarmament clauses

   1. Reduction from 5 million men to 100,000 men in the German army

   2. No Luftwaffe

   3. Tanks, heavy artillery, and conscription banned

   4. Navy basically dismantled

   5. Rifles, machine guns, and planes destroyed

      Success (short term): Germany could not attack France nor take back Alsace-Lorraine

      Failure (long term): sparked more nationalism in Germany to make Germany a great power again

3. Reparations Commission (1921): 132 billion gold marks

   Failure: Germany unable to pay (defaulted 2 times), worsened economic crisis in Germany

4. Territorial changes (lost 10% of land and colonies)

   1. Alsace-Lorraine lost

   2. Rhineland demilitarised

   3. Polish Corridor transferred to Poland (no plebiscite)

   4. Danzig administered by the League of Nations

   5. Upper Silesia: plebiscite

   6. Anschluss forbidden

      Success: plebiscites and self-determination in certain areas (e.g. Upper Silesia), France protected by demilitarised zone

      Failure: regions which were mostly German went to Poland (e.g. Polish Corridor), difficulties in drawing boundaries, new nations created with different ethnic groups (Czechslovakia)

Overall

Success: Germany weakened, Allied gains, League of Nations established (international justice court, human rights, health), plebiscites, mandates, demilitarised areas

Failures: War Guilt clause, diktat, colonial hypocrisy (some colonies not given immediate plebiscites), self-determination not universal, loss of key resources for Germany (e.g. Saar region), reparations and debt, contrary to 14 Points, disarmament clauses causing further nationalism

Historians’ views on the Treaty of Versailles (3 groups)

Ferguson, Marks, Sharp: The Treaty of Versailles was actually quite lenient on Germany and was not responsible for Germany’s post-war issues (Treaty of Versailles was way easier than the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918 to end the war for Russia; industry and agriculture in Germany intact)

Keylor: The Treaty of Versailles was a failure not because of its terms, but because of the lack of enforcement by the Allies

Keynes, Nicolson, Davies: The Treaty of Versailles was too harsh, especially the War Guilt Clause, the reparations (Keynes), and the unjust territorial changes 

What were the other treaties and how were they in terms of peacekeeping?

Treaty of Trianon (1920) — Hungary

Treaty of St Germain (1919) — Austria

Treaty of Neuilly (1919) — Bulgaria

Treaty of Sèvres (1920) & Treaty of Lausanne (1923) — Ottoman Empire

Treaty of Trianon 1920

For Hungary

• 2/3 of territory lost

• Massive reparations never fully paid

• Demilitarisation

Treaty of St Germain 1919

For Austria

• Loss of land to neighbours

• Demilitarisation

• Reparations required but not paid due to national bankruptcy

Treaty of Neuilly (1919)

For Bulgaria

• Land given to Greece and Serbia

• Demilitarisation

• Reparations at 100 million pounds

Treaty of Sèvres (1920)

For Turkey

• Empire dismantled, with much land in the Middle East given to France and the UK

• Demilitarisation

• No reparations

• Bosporus Straits and Dardanelles became international zones with no shipping restrictions

• Never ratified

Treaty of Lausanne (1923)

For the Ottoman Empire

• officially recognised the boundaries of modern Turkey

• introduced population transfers

• Success due to flexibility

League of Nations

Successes:

• Upper Silesia (1921: plebiscite held & LoN sent a commissions, people who wanted to be German stayed German)

• International Labor Organisation & Health Organisation: set maximum hours of work, made factories and mines safer, encouraged countries to compensate those injured while working and to allow sick leave; forum for policies such as treatment of diseases, hospitals, health education, limiting sale of addictive drugs, sale of women and children for prostitution and abolition of slavery

• Kellog-Briand Pact (1928): signed by more than 60 states, international commitment to reject war

• Covenant of the League: binding document ensuring peace

Failures

• Disarmament Conference (1932-4): Countries were not willing to disarm due to mutual suspicion, large-scale disarmament not met

• Corfu (1923): Italy attacked the Greek island of Corfu but was not punished because there was no declaration of war and Italy was a powerful League member, demonstrating the uselessness of the League

• London Naval Conference (1930): France and Italy refused to sign the main agreement due to dissatisfaction with the naval ratio, limits set above the capacity of many nations, Japanese resentment

Political repercussions: use 2 countries

1. Germany

2. Russia

German political repercussions (5)

1. November Revolution (1918-1919): triggered by the Kiel Mutiny, marked the end of monarchy in Germany (Kaiser exiled), start of the Weimar Republic, Friedrich Ebert became Chancellor

2. Weimar Constitution (1919): universal suffrage, proportional representation, Article 48 for emergency decrees, Fundamental Laws

3. Political polarisation: Spartacist Putsch (1919: Socialist uprising), Kapp Putsch (1920: right-wing uprising), Munich Putsch (1923: fascist uprising)

4. Year of Crisis (1923): Munich Putsch, hyperinflation, French invasion of the Ruhr

5. Golden Era (until Wall Street Crash in 1929): period of stability, innovation and liberties

Russian political polarisation (3)

1. Revolutions (1917): February Revolution (abdication of Tsar Nicholas, Duma created with a democratic, middle class gov.), October Revolution (Lenin comes into power with Communism)

2. Russian Civil War (1918-1922): Bolsheviks (Reds) won against the ‘Whites)

3. Change of power: Stalin succeeded Lenin and instigated the Five Year Plan and Collectivisation starting in 1928

Economic consequences (4)

1. Germany: 132 billion gold marks in reparations

2. France: 2 million hectares of farmland destroyed

3. Britain: never regained pre-WWI economic power, US claimed many of its old markets

4. (US): economy boomed due to loans and military production (Roaring Twenties)

Social consequences

1. Deaths: Over 9 million soldiers were killed (15% of combatants) German losses were the highest with 2 million German soldiers killed

2. Casualties: 41,000 soldiers lost limbs; new prosthetic masks created for those injured

3. Loss of workers: 20% of those between the age 20-40 were killed; loss of a ‘generation’

4. Women: enfranchised in Britain and Germany, more representation in the workforce

5. Spanish Influenza (1918-1920): 20 million deaths worldwide