treaty of versailles

Loss of Land

Alsace Lorraine returned to France

Germany lost land to recreated Poland, Denmark, and Belgium

The League of Nations was given control over the Saar region for 15 year (but France had control over its coal fields)

All the land taken from Russia in Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was returned

Germany’s overseas empire was taken away to become mandates controlled by the League of Nations (basically Britain and France)

Germany was forbidden to unite with Austria (Anchluss)

In total Germany lost 72500 km2 land and between 6-7 million people from the treaty

Military restrictions

Army limited to 100,000 men

Conscription banned

Germany not allowed tanks, submarines or military aircraft

Navy could only have 6 battle ships

The Rhineland had to become a demilitarised zone - No German troops allowed near the French border - Allies could keep an army of occupation there for 15 years. 

War guilt

The War Guilt Clause (Clause 231) forced Germany to accept responsibility for the war. Provided reason for punishing Germany so harshly in the treaty.

Reparations

Germany had to pay for the damage caused by the war. These payments were called reparations. (not a new idea: Germany made France pay 200 million pounds after Franco-Prussian war.) 

The sum was set in 1921 as 6,600 million pounds

League of Nations

group of countries set up after WWI to stop future wars, but it was weak because important countries didn’t join and it had no real power. Germany was not allowed to join.

Consequences on Germany

Revolution in 1918 ; Kaiser abdicated

Independent socialist republic in Bavaria

Spartacist Rising (communist) January 1919

Friedrich Ebert and the new Republic of Germany, known as the Weimar Republic

Consequences on Russia

February revolution in 1917

October revolution in 1917

Treaty of Brest Litvosk

Civil War 1918-1921

Consequences on Austria Hungary

Declaration of independence by Czechoslovakia

Declaration of independence by south Slavs

Declaration of independence by Hungary

Abdication of Karl I

Establishment of independent Austria

Consequences for Turkey

Collapse of the sultanate

Establishment of Turkey

Regime of Mustapha Kemal

Consequences on the US

Emerged from the war as the world’s number one economy. The war had boosted US industry and trade as food, raw materials, and munitions were bought or borrowed by the Europeans. 

Also took over overseas markets, replacing Germany as the main producer of fertilizers and chemical products.

President Woodrow Wilson wanted the US to play a key role in creating a new world order based on collective security in 1918 However, most Americans did not want to get ‘dragged’ into European disputes as it would be bad for business, they also feared the spread of communism and had its own domestic racial tensions to deal with. 

Consequences on Japan and China

Japan economically prospered during the war.

Japan took over markets held by the Europeans

Its exports almost tripled between 1915 and 1918.

The war also gave Japan the opportunity for territorial expansion and it seized German holdings in Shandong province and islands in the Pacific. 

It also attempted to gain more influence in China and presented the Chinese government with a list of ’21 demands’ that would give Japan economic control of the country.

China had also entered the war on the Allied side in 1917; it sent delegates to the Versailles Peace Conference. China wanted support to oppose Japanese expansion. 

Five leading victorious powers

Big 3:

British Lloyd George

French Georges Clemenceau

American Woodrow Wilson

Italian Vittorio Orlando - minor role in discussions. Walked out the conference after failing to get territorial gains Italy aimed for

The Japanese delegation: only interested in what was decided about the Pacific

Main problems faced by peacemakers:

Pressure to agree terms due to the anarchy and instability in Europe

The different aims of the peacemakers

The nature of the Armistice settlement and the mood of the German population

The popular sentiment in the Allied countries.

The peacemakers also had to agree terms relatively quickly as the blockade was maintained on Germany, and its people continued to suffer.

Some of wilson’s 14 points

1.  Abolition of secret diplomacy

2.  Free navigation at sea for all nations in war and peace

3.  Free trade between countries

4.  Disarmament  by all countries

5.  Colonies to have a say in their own future

6.  German troops to leave Russia

7.  Restoration of independence for Belgium

Clemenceau wanted:

• a harsh settlement for Germany.

• a permanently weakened Germany.

• Reparations for French losses.

•  to maintain good relations with US and Britain future French security

• France to regain Alsace and Lorraine

“it is much easier to make war than to make peace”

“Even god only needed 10)

Lloyd George wanted (more moderate):

• Germany should lose its navy and colonies, and no longer threaten the British Empire.

• Germany should also be able to economically recover and be able to trade again with Britain.

• Politically Germany must be a bulwark against the spread of Communism from the new Bolshevik Russia.

Lloyd George was also under pressure from public opinion at home to make Germany pay

John Maynard Keynes

British economist and chief representative at negotiations prior to the Treaty of Versailles, although he resigned from the British delegation.

‘Man who predicted Nazi Germany’

“The future life of Europe was not their concern”

“If we aim deliberately at the impoverishment of Central Europe, vengeance, i dare predict, will not limp"

Lloyd George to the House of Commons in 1919 and on the harsh treaty:

“In so far as territories have been taken away from Germany, it is a restoration”. - defending that they are not punishing, but restoring what was taken unjustly”

“We will have to fight another war in 25 years’ time at three times the cost.”

German newspaper, Deutsche Zeitung, 1919.

“Today in the Hall of Mirrors of Versailles the disgraceful Treaty is being signed. German People will …. reconquer the place among nations to which it is entitled. Then will come the vengeance for the same of 1919.”

A Lentin, Guilt at Versailles, 198

'[The Treaty of Versailles] did not pacify Germany, still less permanently weaken her, but left her scourged, humiliated and resentful'

William Carr, A History of Germany 1815 – 1945

“The Versailles settlement would last only as long as the victorious powers could enforce it on a bitterly resentful people.”

the treaty could only survive as long as the Allies were strong enough to impose it; it was never accepted by the German people.

Ruth Henig, Versailles and After, 1919 - 1933

The fact that [the Versailles settlement] did not survive the 1920s intact stemmed....not so much from the terms of the peace treaties themselves but from political leaders in the inter-war period to enforce them'.

Henig argues that the failure of the Versailles settlement was not mainly because the treaty terms were flawed, but because political leaders in the 1920s and early 1930s lacked the will or ability to enforce those terms.

Harold Nicholson, a British diplomat at Versailles

“We left it convinced that the old order had merely fouled the new”

He felt that the people and attitudes from the old political order (the pre-1914 world of empires, rivalries, outdated diplomacy, and nationalism) had ruined the chance to create a better, fairer international system after World War I.

Why did many Germans feel they were being punished twice over?

Because firstly they had to pay reparations, and they were also deprived of the resources (coal, iron ore) which they needed to pay them.

The treaty was called a Diktat by the Germans. What does this mean?

A dictated peace – Germans had to sign up to the treaty or they would have been invaded.

The German leaders who had signed up to the armistice and the Treaty of Versailles were called what? What were they accused of having done to Germany?

• The November Criminals

• Stabbed Germany in the Back

What did Wilson from the USA like about the final terms of the treaty?

The League of Nations was set up. People in eastern Europe could decide their future through self-determination.

List 3 reasons why Wilson was really disappointed by the treaty.

• Few of his 14 Points made it into the treaty.

• Only the defeated powers would disarm.

• The US Senate refused to join the League of Nations and to sign the Treaty of Versailles.

Give two reasons why Britain was happy with the treaty.

Britain received lots of former German colonies.

The small German navy helped Britain to remain the strongest naval power.

Give two reasons why Lloyd George, British PM, was disappointed with it.

• He thought it was too harsh.

• He thought the League of Nations would never work.