History Conflict and Tension

When was the Treaty of Versailles signed?

28th June 1919

What were the four biggest impacts of the Treaty of Versailles?

Blame

Army

Reparations

Territory

Blame

Article 231 was the war guilt clause and solely blamed Germany for the outbreak and continuation of WW1. This ruined their sense of pride.

Army

The army was limited to 100000 soldiers, the navy could only have 15000 sailors and six battleships. Furthermore the military could not have armored vehicles, submarines or an air force.

Reparations

Germany had to pay £6.6 billion in reparations over 60 years which financially crippled their economy and removed their ability to partake in expanding their industry.

Territory

Germany lost 13% of their land, all of their overseas colonies and were forced to give Alsace-Lorraine back to France. Furthermore, they had to demilitarise the Rhineland.

Who were the Big Three at the Treaty of Versailles?

George Clemenceau, Woodrow Wilson and David Lloyd George

How much did the French leader want in reparations?

£44 billion

How much did the French leader want Germany's military to be limited?

He wanted the German military to be taken away completely

Why did the French leader want to de-militarise the Rhineland?

He wanted to make sure the Rhineland acted as a buffer zone in order to allow for further national security against the threat of Germany.

What would the French leader have been pleased with?

Reparations although not as high as he wanted crippled Germany's economy and therefore satisfied him.

Germany's army was heavily limited and therefore the threat of Germany attack was removed.

Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France which allowed France to reclaim their sense of pride.

Saarlands were given to France for 15 years which allowed them to exploit Germany's coal for their own benefit and in order to cripple Germany.

France was able to take away Germany's colonies in Africa and use them for their own benefit.

What would the French leader have been displeased with?

Reparations were not as high as he wanted which meant that he could not fully recover his country by exploiting Germany.

Germany's army although limited heavily still existed which allowed the German people to still hold pride in it. This displeased him as he wanted to take their sense of pride away fully as well as the threat of Germany which was also slightly present.

What was the British leader's main aims?

To remove the imperial and military threat of Germany while still maintaining the country as a useful trading partner.

Why was the British leader concerned about the German military potentially overtaking the British military?

Before WW1 the German navy had rapidly expanded and had stopped Britain from being a single overruling naval power. This could be seen through a naval race to build dreadnoughts which ended in favour of Britain (17:29).

What would the British leader have been pleased with?

Germany were forced to give up all of their colonies in Africa which were quickly taken by Britain allowing them to secure imperial superiority and expand their colonial gains. Germany were also forced to heavily limit their military and in particular their navy. This included not having submarines, only having six battleships and only 15000 sailors. This sealed Britain's naval superiority and insured they were well defended. Furthermore, Britain was also able to keep trading with Germany as for reparations Germany needed to trade in order to afford their large debt.

What would the British leader have been displeased with?

Although the navy was heavily limited it could still potentially pose a threat. Additionally, trading relations did not last for long with Germany as when hyperinflation occured in 1923 Germany's economy failed to carry on working and therefore all economic activities such as trading ceased.

How much did the American leader want in reparations?

£4.4 billion

Why was the American leader more lenient and forgiving on Germany?

This was due to American joining the war in 1917 and not having to deal with the large negative impacts of the war. In addition, the war also helped America to grow it's economy as it was able to trade and provide loans to France and Britain. One example of this is that Britain only finished paying off their WW1 loans from America in 2014.

What would the American leader have been pleased with?

Large limitation of Germany's army potentially allowed for a new era of disarmament and peace. The League of Nations was created as a result of the Treaty of Versailles which promoted global peace. Germany's empire was taken away which would've allowed for a more free sovereign world. More reparations were given than wanted so America was making extra profit.

What would the American leader have been displeased with?

Large limitation of Germany's army would've damaged German nationalism and therefore inspired them to take revenge resulting in conflict in the future. America was not allowed to join the League of Nations due to the Congress disagreeing with the idea. Although Germany's empire was removed Britain and France's were not and the freed German nations were quickly occupied by Britain and France. The reparations may have allowed Americans to gain profit however they also influenced instability in Germany as they crippled the country's economy and lead to leaders like Hitler being in power which resulted in WW2.

What was the Austrian treaty called, when was it made and what were some of the terms?

The Treaty of St Germain, September 1919

• 60% of Austrian territory was removed

-Reparations were never fixed but were planned to be as harsh as Versailles

-Austria was only allowed 30000 soldiers with no conscription or navy

-Austria was forbidden to carry out Anschluss

What was the Bulgarian treaty called and when was it made?

The Treaty of Neuilly, November 1919

What was the Hungarian treaty called and when was it made?

The Treaty of Trianon, June 1920

What was the first Turkish treaty called and when was it made?

The Treaty of Sevres, August 1920

What was the second Turkish treaty called and when was it made?

The Treaty of Lausanne, July 1923

What were the terms of the first Turkish treaty?

-50000 soldiers

-Navy could only have 7 sailboats and 6 torpedo boats

-Allied troops could remain in Turkey

-Reparations as harsh as the Treaty of Versailles

-No control over banks, imports, exports, national budgets, financial regulations, request for loans and reforms of tax systems

-Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits were given to Britain and France stopping a large amount of trade

-Forbidden from having economic collaborations with former war allies

-Large parts of Turkey were given to France, Italy and Greece

-Armenia (former Ottoman territory) was made independent

-Egypt and Palestine were given to Britain

-Syria and Lebanon were given to France

-All North African colonies were claimed by Britain and France

What did the Turkish people think of the first treaty and what happened as a result?

The Grand Vizier of Turkey signed the treaty however the Turkish people were extremely unhappy and decided to overthrow him and replace him with the figure head of this revolution: Kemal.

What did this new leader do and what happened as a result?

Kemal refused to sign the Treaty of Sevres as he believed it was unfair and threatened war with the allies. The allies were reluctant to start conflict and started negotiations to create a new treaty.

What did this lead to in the long term?

The allies showed their inability to remain strong in their promise to declare war against any nation which did not accept their treaties. This helped to show rising fascist dictators such as Mussolini and Hitler that they could get away with breaking treaties and rules created by the allies in order to get their own way as they would not face punishment.

Where and when was the League of Nations set up?

Geneva in Switzerland, January 1920

What were the four main aims of the League of Nations?

S-Stop future wars

I-Improve living and working conditions

D-Disarmament

E-Encourage cooperation with other countries

How many countries joined the League of Nations at its creation?

42

What were the main parts of the League of Nations?

The Council

The Secretariat

The Permanent Court of International Justice

Special Commissions

The Assembly

Who were the members of the council and why was it significant?

The four main members of the council were the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Japan. Four other countries were chosen to sit on the Council for a three year term. This was later increased to nine non-permanent members. This Council was important as it could veto the decision of the assembly. The Council was often very self-interested and only acted where they would not be affected much themselves.

Who were the secretariat and was were they responsible for?

The Secretariat were the civil service of the League meaning that it was in charge of administration and organising any action that the League wanted to take. It was a body of experts from different areas who were responsible for carrying out any decision taken by the League excluding military issues. The Secretariat was usually very overworked.

What was the Permanent Court of International Justice and what did they do?

The Permanent Court of International Justice was set up and funded by the League and it was meant to be a court which could settle international arguments. Any country could bring an issue to the court and 11 judges and 4 deputy judges would listen to both sides before deciding a verdict. The court could then advise the parties involved in the argument however this was only advice. The court was elected by the Assembly and the Council. Judges would fill the roll for 11 years before being replaced.

What was the Assembly and what did it do?

The Assembly was a group of representatives from all the countries of the League which met once a year. The Assembly could vote on issues however the vote would have to be unanimous to pass the decision. The Assembly controlled whether a new country could join, the election of judges in the Permanent Court of International Justice, voting of the non-permanent members of the Council and deciding how the League's money was to be spent.

What were Special Commissions and what did they do?

Special Commissions were groups put together to tackle specific issues. These groups tackled many problems globally. Although many of these group were quite effective not enough were established to help on a more global scale of problems.

What were the main Special Commissions and other groups made to help people on a global scale?

The International Labour Organisation

The Commission for Refugees

The Permanent Central Opium Board

What were the successes and failures of the International Labour Organisation?

Aim: To improve working conditions

Successes: 1922-Banned the use of white lead in paint as it is poisonous, 1930-Helped Greece set up social insurance, 1928-77 countries agreed to set a minimum wage

Failures: 1919-Attempted to stop children under the age of 14 from working however members of the League disagreed and deemed it would be too expensive, 1935-Working day was attempted to be shortened to 8 hours however the League deemed that it would crash their industries

What were the successes and failures of the Commission for Refugees?

Aim: To help people who had lost their homes because of WW1

Successes: 1921-The League freed around 427000 out of 50000 prisoners of war from WW1, 1917-The Russian revolution led to 1.5 million Russian migrants and the League helped them find their homes, 1922-Turkey clashed with Greece and violence forced 600000 Greek refugees into Europe where they were accommodated for by the League of Nations.

Failures: 1933-The League tried to appoint a High Commissioner for refugees who were mainly Jewish fleeing from Nazi Germany however German rejected this proposal meaning the motion was defeated. This commissioner was appointed but as an independent body separate from the League of Nations which gave them less power.

What were the successes and failures of the Permanent Central Opium Board?

Aim: To tackle the selling and trading of illegal drugs

Successes: Introduced a system where companies had to have a certificate to say that they were allowed to import opium for medicinal purposes, blacklisted 4 large companies that were involved in illegal drug trading.

Failures: Some key members of the League were not dedicated to stopping the sale of opium as they could make large amounts of money from it.

What were the five main border disputes handled by the League of Nations and when did they take place?

Vilna (1920-1921)

Upper Silesia (1921-1925)

Aaland Islands (1921)

Corfu (1923)

Bulgaria (1925)

What happened at the first border dispute handled by the League and was it a success?

Failure: Vilna was the capital of Lithuania which was a new country however many of its residents were Polish so the Polish army decided to invade. Lithuania requested assistance from the League however they did nothing as they wanted to keep Poland as a strong ally against Germany. The only successful part of this outcome was war did not break out. Although, war did not break out tension rose as other countries saw they could get away with invading neighbouring countries possibly encouraging fascism to rise in Europe.

What happened at the second border dispute handled by the League and was it a success?

Failure and Success: Germany and Poland both wanted Upper Silesia which was located on their border so a plebiscite took place in the region to decide whether it should be Polish or German. Germany won only 60% of the vote giving them the land however Poland claimed the vote had been rigged. Upper Silesia was then split into areas by the League according to the vote. Germany complained that Poland got most of the industrial areas whilst Poland complained that they had around half the population with only one third of the land. Both countries grudgingly accepted the outcome avoiding conflict but this event definitely raised tension between the two.

What happened at the third border dispute handled by the League and was it a success?

Success: Sweden and Finland both claimed the Aaland Islands for their strategic importance but the League gave them to Finland and forbid the building of forts on them. Although Sweden lost the islands, they were happy as they could not be used against them militarily so both countries contently accepted the decision.

What happened at the fourth border dispute handled by the League and was it a success?

Failure: Italian general Tellini and his team were murdered whilst surveying land in Greece. Mussolini demanded compensation and for the murderers to be executed however the Greek government did not know the identities of the murderers themselves. Mussolini invaded the Greek Island of Corfu killing 16 civilians. This action was condemned by the League however Mussolini was a powerful member and undermined them by complaining to the Conference of Ambassadors. Greece was forced to apologise to Mussolini and to pay compensation showing how flawed the League was as they prioritised keeping powerful allies in the League such as Mussolini rather than protecting smaller countries as they had promised to do so at their creation. This greatly rose tension as countries in Europe realised as long as they were powerful they could get away with the majority of actions. This was very aware to Hitler who would later carry out Anschluss.

What happened at the fifth border dispute handled by the League and was it a success?

Failure and Success: Greece invaded Bulgaria when Greek soldiers were killed on the border similar to what Italy had done to them just two years previously. Although they were taking the same actions, the League forced Greece to withdraw and pay compensation showing how hypocritical the League was as they had allowed Mussolini to do the exact same as a much more powerful leader and get away with a very similar action in Corfu. This raised tension greatly, as it showed the League could be reluctant to act if powerful countries were the ones who were opposing their morals such as Germany and Italy.

What were the four main agreements held outside of the League?

Washington Arms Conference (1921-1922)

The Rapallo Treaty (1922)

Locarno Agreement (1925)