Peace settlements

The Big Three

Wilson (USA), Clemenceau (France), and Lloyd George (UK); the architects of the post-war world who struggled to balance revenge with future peace.

Article 231

The "War Guilt Clause"; forced Germany to accept total responsibility for WWI, providing the legal basis for reparations.

Reparations

The £6.6 billion fine set in 1921; Germany's failure to pay led directly to the 1923 Ruhr Crisis and hyperinflation.

The Polish Corridor

Posen and West Prussia given to Poland to provide sea access (the port of Danzig); it split Germany in two.

Treaty of St. Germain (1919)

Dealt with Austria; it forbid "Anschluss" (union with Germany) and broke up the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Treaty of Trianon (1920)

Dealt with Hungary; they lost 70% of their territory and 3 million people to new nations like Romania and Czechoslovakia.

Treaty of Neuilly (1919)

Dealt with Bulgaria; they lost land to Greece and Yugoslavia, lost their access to the Aegean Sea, and had to pay £100m in reparations.

Treaty of Sèvres (1920)

The harsh original treaty for Turkey; it lost almost all European land and sparked a nationalist revolution.

Treaty of Lausanne (1923)

The "Successful" renegotiation for Turkey; it returned land lost at Sèvres and proved that the Great Powers could be stood up to.

Diktat

The German term for the Versailles treaty, meaning "dictated peace," because they were excluded from all negotiations.

The November Criminals

The right-wing slur for the Weimar politicians who signed the Armistice; used by Hitler to claim Germany was "stabbed in the back."

The Ruhr Occupation

1923, French and Belgian troops seized Germany's industrial heartland to take reparations in coal; it triggered a general strike.

Hyperinflation 1923

The collapse of the German Mark; it wiped out the middle class's savings and made the Weimar government look incompetent.

The Dawes Plan 1924

An American-led rescue plan that lowered German payments and gave US loans, starting the "Golden Years" of the 20s.