Were the peace treaties of 1919-1923 fair?

The big three

• Clemenceau - France

• David Lloyd George - Britain

• Woodrow Wilson - USA

What are the main terms of the treaty?

• War guilt - Germany was expected to accept all blame for starting the war, which was seen as extremely harsh among Germans

• Reparations - Germany had to pay 6600 EUR in reparations. If they had stuck to paying this debt, germany would not have finished paying until 1984

• Loss of territory - All of the German overseas empire was taken away. E.g. Alsace Lorraine (which was returned to France), the Saar Basin, Togoland and Cameroons.

• Reduction in armed forces - The treaty restricted Germany to an armed level below what they had pre-war.

  - They were limited to 100,000 men and conscription was banned

  - They were not allowed armoured vehicles, submarines or any aircraft

  - They navy could only have 6 ships

  -The Rhineland became a demilitarized zone, this meant that no German troops were allowed into the area separating France and Germany.

What were the Aims of the Big Three?

• Woodrow Wilson - Wilson wanted a fair and lasting peace with his 14 points as the basis, that would increase future international cooperation and encourage nations to negotiate rather than to use violence to settle conflict.

  - Wilson wanted to give countries self determination that were part of European empires.

  -Wilson didn’t want the treaty to be too harsh on Germany as he was fearful it would someday recover and want revenge.

• Lloyd George - Lloyd George believed that a “firm” and lasting peace, that didn’t create a desire for revenge in Germany along with the economic revival in Europe (which called for Germany’s help), would be the best way to prevent another war

  - Lloyd George wanted Germany to lose its navy and colonies because they threatened the British empire. Additionally, Lloyd George didn’t want france to become to strong as they were britain’s traditional enemy.

  - Like Wilson, Lloyd George was concerned about the spread of communism coming from the east, and a weak Germany would provide an insufficient border.

  - It was important to Lloyd for Germany to recover from the reparations as Germany was one of Britain’s leading trading partners before the war and was necessary for the recovery of the British and European economy. Therefore, Lloyd George wanted Germany to get the Rhineland where much of it’s industry was located.

• Clemenceau - Clemenceau’s priority was to secure the defence of France, and the return of land lost to Germany in 1871 (Alsace Lorraine). He believed the people of France wanted to see Germany crushed and thought the best way to achieve these goals was to punish Germany as harshly as possible and make it impossible for Germany to ever wage war again.

  - Clemenceau wanted the harshest punishment of all for Germany and maximum security for France. Meaning he wanted Germany to have even larger reparations to guarantee Germany should be weakened forever.

What were the Big Three most pleased and most unhappy with?

France was most pleased with:

• The return of Alsace Lorraine to France

• The increased security for France with Germany’s weakened military, and the demilitarization of the Rhineland.

However

France was most unhappy with the fact that:

• The US refused to sign the American/Anglo treaty of guarantee to help attack Germany if it ever attacked France again.

• The Saarland came under the control of the League of Nations (instead of being given to France)

• France would also have prefered a larger sum in reparations but were overall pleased with the figure charged.

Britain was most pleased with:

• The extension of the British empire through the transfer of Germany’s colonies to the League of Nations as several would be mandated through Britain to manage.

• The fact that Germany wasn’t completely destroyed economically by the Treaty of Versailles, meaning it could play a part in the economic future of Europe and in turn Britain.

However

Britain was less pleased with the fact:

• That many German speaking people were not ruled by Germany and found themselves in other countries, often under french or polish rule.

• Lloyd George was probably the most pleased with the outcome of the treaty.

The USA was most pleased with the fact that:

• The creation of the League of Nations was included in the treaty

• Germany was not going to burdened with a higher sum than the one they were charged with

• The Rhineland was going to remain part of Germany, this therefore, reduced the harshness of the peace and made it much more likely that Germany should remain a major economic power able to do business

  with the US in the future.

However

The USA was most unhappy with:

• The harshness of the treaty, Woodrow Wilson thought it should be easier on Germany

• The fact that self-determination didn’t apply to all of Europe

• The fact that Anschluss was banned

• The fact that the seas were not ‘free’

What was the impact of the peace treaty on Germany up to 1923

• Germany had to pay reparations but were deprived of the resources (coal and iron ore) needed to do so.

• The treaty was seen as Diktat

• The Germans were also disappointed with the disarmament of their army.

There were three main areas of impact:

• Political

• economic

• and Morale

Political

• Political violence - Assassinations and assassination attempts. E.g. the assassination of Germany’s foreign minister, Walter Rathenau in 1922. (killed my extremists)

• Attempted rebellion - led by hitler in november 1923 in Munich. This attempt is known as the ‘Munich Putsch’. The rebellion was defeated and Hitler was let of gently. (unstable government)

Economic

• Conflict in the Ruhr - The french lost patients with the pace in which Germany was paying the reparations. Germany had payed what they owed for the previous year but not the next. The french entered the Ruhr, taking the money owed for that year in the form of materials. The German government then ordered the workers to strike, as to not provide anything for the french to take. This strike meant that Germany had no goods to trade, or money to buy with. this resulted in

• Hyperinflation - The German government’s response to the strike was to print more money, making it virtually worthless, this is called hyperinflation.

Morale

• Hatred - there was hatred and little faith for political figures for signing the treaty when the general German public thought they were winning due to misinformation.

• Diktat - The public believed that the Treaty of Versailles was ‘Dikat’ or a ‘dictated peace’, and Germany had no choice other than to sign, otherwise the war would restart.

Could the treaties be justified at the time?

Opinions after the treaties were written were in three main groups:

• Treaties were too harsh and would cause resentment and economic hardship (German view + others)

• Treaties were not harsh enough (French view)

• Treaties were fair (USA view + most of the UK)