Core content - Peace treaties of 1919-1923

2025 Spring term

What were the main terms of the Treaty of Versailles?

War guilt clause

Reparations

The Rhineland

Anschluss

Disarmament

League of Nations

What happened to Alsace-Lorraine?

Returned to France

The Saar basin

Administered by the League for 15 years, where a plebiscite would be held 15 years later to decide whether it should belong to France, Germany or remain under League control

Danzig

Become Free City administered by League, and Poland could also use the part and strip of land known as the “Polish Corridor”

Eupen, Malmedy, Moresnet

Transferred to Britain

North Schleswig

Transferred to Denmark

West Prussia, Posen, and parts of Upper Silesia

Transferred to Poland

Memel

Lithuania

Estonia, Lativa and Lithuania

Independent states

German colonies

Mandates of the League of Nations

How much did Germany lose?

13% of land and 6 million people, army restricted to 100,000, conscription banned, reparations of £6.6 billion, lost 16% of coal production and 48% of iron industry

Why didn’t Wilson get what he wanted?

Treaty was too harsh on Germany

Principle of free navigation of the seas was abandoned due to Britain

Britain, France and Japan took Germany's former colonies

Self-determination failed to apply in some places like Sudetenland

US Congress did not approve the treaties and the League

Why didn’t Clemenceau get what he wanted?

Had to abandon reclaiming Rhineland

Germany’s reparations were lower

Danzig wasn’t given back to Poland

French did not claim the Saar Basin

Germany was not split up into smaller states

Wilson’s 14 points

1. League of Nations

2. Disarmament

3. Self-determination esp for Eastern Europe/empires

4. Free trade

5. Freedom of the seas

6. No secret treaties

What was the Kapp Putsch?

Right winged opponents of Ebert’s government could not bear the treaty. 1920 Kapp Putsch tried to overthrow government, but failed due to a strike that paralysed essential services.

Political violence in Germany

In 1922 Walther Rathenau, Germany’s foreign minister, was murdered by extremists. November 1923 Adolf Hitler’s rebellion in Munich (Munich Beer Hall Putsch) tried to establish a dictatorship and overthrow the Weimar Republic.

Conflict in the Ruhr

Germany was unable to pay back reparations in time, despite Ebert trying to negotiate with the French but they ran out of patience.

1923 French and Belgian soldiers entered the Ruhr and took what was owed in raw materials and goods.

German government instructed workers to go on strike so they did not produce anything for the French to take, but 100 workers were killed and 100,000 protesters expelled.

Occupation meant that Germany had no goods to trade so no money, which led to hyperinflation.

Hyperinflation in Germany

The government printed more money to pay back loans.

Those in debt were able to gain from the crisis, as they could be paid off, but those who had savings saw all their wealth disappear overnight.

In 1921, a loaf of bread costed 1 mark, but by November 1923 it costed 200 billion marks.

What was the Treaty of St Germain?

• Empire broken up – Austria-Hungary dissolved.

• Austria lost land to Italy, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia.

• Army limited to 30,000 men.

• Anschluss (union with Germany) banned.

  • Austria was now landlocked, with a weak economy.

What was the Treaty of Neuilly?

• Bulgaria lost land to Greece, Romania, and Yugoslavia.

• Army limited to 20,000 men.

• Had to pay £100 million in reparations.

• Lost access to the Aegean Sea, weakening trade.

Treaty of Trianon

1920, Hungary

• Lost two-thirds of its land and population.

• Transylvania → Romania, Slovakia → Czechoslovakia, Croatia → Yugoslavia.

• Army limited to 35,000.

• Reparations agreed but never paid due to Hungary’s economic collapse.

What was the Treaty of Sevres?

1920, Turkey

• Lost most of its empire – land given to Greece, Britain, and France.

• Smyrna and Thrace → Greece.

• Straits controlled by Allies.

• Armed forces restricted.

• Harsh terms led to rebellion → Kemal Atatürk overthrew the government and replaced it with the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), which reversed many terms.