History WW1

The Long Peace

The decades before the world erupted into the Great War, as World War I was known, were generally marked by great stability. The work done in 1815 to create a balance of power among European nations in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars had been quite successful. The Concert of Europe—an informal agreement to maintain the status quo—had been able to absorb some internal conflicts and the growth of more liberal political thoughts without incurring political or territorial instability. There were occasionally military conflicts, but these were usually of short duration and limited in scale.

Prussia, however, with its militarized culture, clearly did still see warfare as a means of achieving its own ends, as did other nations such as France. Austria-Hungary and Prussia went to war in 1866. The conflict lasted only about seven weeks and was handily won by Prussia, which had invested in better military technology and weaponry and now annexed several German states. Austria was effectively barred from participating in German affairs from that point forward, and Prussia became the dominant German state. The war also forced Austria into accepting the dual monarchy system, an unwieldy alliance with Hungary. Austria agreed because it needed allies after being ousted from German affairs, but it and Hungary had separate national governments and parliaments (and different goals) despite being part of the same empire.

The Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and 1871 was another fairly brief conflict that resulted in major change. France declared war against Prussia after a dispute over who would inherit the Spanish throne. The fighting lasted only a few months, but Paris was besieged by the Prussian army, and Napoléon III was captured. The treaty that ended the conflict forced France to pay a large war indemnity to Prussia. France also had to pay for the occupation forces, while losing the territories of Alsace and Lorraine (which changed hands again several times during the first half of the twentieth century). This was a humiliating defeat for France, though it paved the way for the unification of the German Empire. The signing of the treaty in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles cemented Prussia’s leadership of the new empire and its successful achievement of what had been left undone by the revolutions of 1848: Germany automatically emerged as a major power in Europe.

The fighting in these wars was localized, and because they were short, the conflicts did not require the mobilization of a country’s economy or full resources. They did not involve numerous countries either, and the fighting rarely spilled over into other nations’ lands. With the exception of the Franco-Prussian War, their impact on civilian society was minimal, with little loss of civilian life or destruction of property. In a sense, their very nature lulled much of Europe into expecting that although there might be future wars, they would be swift and small affairs.

Treaties and Alliances

Since he first rose to power in 1862, German chancellor Otto von Bismarck had pursued conservative policies that strengthened first Prussia and then Germany itself. In particular, Bismarck hoped to check the power of Russia and France by developing a series of alliances that would keep them from growing more dominant and presenting a threat to German leadership in the region. A military alliance with Austria-Hungary was created to stand up to Russia. This alliance later grew to include Italy and became formalized as the Triple Alliance. In 1894, Russia and France signed a treaty pledging military support for one another if attacked and requiring each to mobilize its armies if the other did so. In 1907, the Triple Entente was created between Russia, France, and Britain, growing out of a shared distrust of German aims.

By the early twentieth century, then, a series of alliances had effectively divided Europe into two blocs of power. A bloc is a group of countries united for a common purpose. One bloc included Russia, France, and Britain, and the other Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. While these two groups stood opposed to one another, there were nuances in the arrangements. Britain, for example, had not promised any mutual aid in times of war when it signed its initial agreement with France, nor had it done so in its agreement with Russia, while France was bound to provide military support for Russia if Russia were attacked and not the aggressor.

What these new alliances also did was provide fuel for the German emperor Wilhelm II’s growing concern that he was surrounded by hostile nations (Figure 11.4). Some of this preoccupation was undoubtedly justified. Germany faced a hostile France to its west and Russia to its east. But Wilhelm’s fixation on it drove him and Germany to adopt even more aggressive stances toward their “enemies” that helped create the cataclysm of World War I.

Figure 11.4 The Kaiser’s View of Germany. This satirical German map from 1914 reflects Kaiser Wilhelm II’s growing concern that Germany was encircled by its enemies. (credit: “Cartoon Map of Europe in 1914” by Berlin State Library/The Public Domain Review, Public Domain)

Colonies and Conflict

The view that imperial strength should be devoted to colony building was still very much in place in the late 1800s. Still industrializing, and having unified as a country only in 1871, Germany soon felt the pressure to build an overseas empire, just as the other industrializing nations of the world—Britain, France, Belgium, the United States, Russia, and Japan—did. But there were limited locales it could target.

Germany began to look to the Pacific as a place where it could establish itself as a colonial power. The United States, Britain, France, Japan, and the Netherlands already held extensive territory in the Pacific. Germany soon claimed part of New Guinea, part of the Solomon Islands, and the Marshall Islands. In 1899, Germany’s growing power in the Pacific led to the partitioning of the Samoan Islands with the United States. Germany also gained some of the smaller island groups—Palau, Caroline Islands, and Mariana Islands—by the beginning of the twentieth century. In addition, it planned to join the “Scramble for Africa” in which European nations were engaging to shore up their colonial holdings on the African continent.

When Germany went in search of African colonies, there was not much left. Britain, France, Belgium, and Portugal had already seized control of most of the continent and did not welcome the claims of yet another European nation. Germany took a portion of East Africa and Southwest Africa, which had a large border with the British colonies. Togoland and the Cameroons also became part of the German colonial empire (Figure 11.5).

Figure 11.5 German Colonies in 1914. This map shows the regions around the world that Germany had claimed as colonies by the beginning of World War I. (credit: modification of work “BlankMap-World” by CIA World Factbook/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

In 1905, Germany clashed with both France and Britain in North Africa. Kaiser Wilhelm II arrived in Morocco that year and made a speech in which he threw his full support behind its being an independent state led by the sultan. He also voiced his expectation that Germany would enjoy the same benefits of trade in the region that France and England did. Wilhelm hoped to divide Britain and France by thus claiming a place for Germany in North Africa equivalent to that held by other European nations. Instead, in response to this First Moroccan Crisis, Britain and France established stronger bonds of friendship.

A few years later, another crisis erupted over Morocco, though this one was more media driven and involved more national posturing. The Second Moroccan Crisis started in 1911. France and Germany had been negotiating over what say Germany would have in rail lines under construction in Morocco and over some territory in the French Congo that Germany wanted. Britain and France had earlier become alarmed by Germany’s plans to build another railroad in concert with the Ottoman Empire that would link Berlin to Baghdad. This railway would provide Germany with more direct access to both Persian Gulf oil and its African colonies. Moving oil and other goods by rail would also make Germany less vulnerable to potential British naval attacks.

In May 1911, France, fearing rebellion in Morocco, sent troops to the city of Fez. In July of that year, Germany sent a gunboat to Agadir, a Moroccan port on the Atlantic, to ensure that it would be compensated for any loss of control over Moroccan territory that resulted from French intervention. Germany also undoubtedly intended to frighten Britain and force it to back out of its alliance with France. Soon British politicians and the media seized on the opportunity to attack Germany for its demands. The British said they were not yet sending in the Royal Navy but would be monitoring the situation. In the end, France and Germany held successful negotiations over the issues, with Germany receiving territory in the French Congo in exchange for acknowledging French dominance in Morocco, but the international effect of the crisis was broader. Britain was reinforced in its view that Germany posed a threat to its own colonial ambitions. On the German side, the military leadership gained greater political influence in the capital in Berlin.

The Growth of Militaries

Naval power assumed a greater role in world affairs in the late nineteenth century. As more of the industrialized nations embarked on empire building, and as reaching international markets became an expected part of their strategy, the value of having strong navies to protect commercial trade only grew. Maintaining supply and fueling stations around the world to service these navies and fleets of merchant ships became a key argument in favor of developing more colonies.

At the start of the twentieth century, Great Britain was still the unmatched naval power in the world. Kaiser Wilhelm II was determined to counter Britain’s sea power by building up the German navy. In this, he was ably assisted by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. Tirpitz had similarly grand dreams for the navy, and through his various positions in the naval high command, he set out an ambitious building program for new battleships.

Link to Learning

This website has statistics on the naval ships that Britain and Germany possessed prior to World War I. England contended that it saw Germany as a viable threat. Do the numbers back up its claim?

Germany’s fear of naval inferiority became especially strong after 1906. In that year, Britain debuted an entirely new class of ship when the HMS Dreadnought set sail. What made this ship different was its ten 12-inch guns, some of them mounted on rotatable turrets, and its faster speed, powered by steam turbines. Other ships of the period had only a handful of guns and not all of this size. No other warship could match it in battle. Germany tried to keep pace by constructing ships similar in size, but although it clearly hoped to one day outbuild Britain, at no point before or during the war did its fleet ever match the British numbers (Figure 11.6).

Figure 11.6 Comparison of British and German Naval Power. This graph compares British naval power to German naval power at the start of World War I. The Germans were never able to match the numbers of the British. (data source: P. G. Halpern, A Naval History of World War I, (London: UCL Press, 1994); attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY 4.0 license)

In Their Own Words

A German Perspective

In 1911, General Friedrich von Bernhardi, a German military commander, published a book entitled Germany and the Next War in which he asserted that Germany was correct to establish itself as a major power and defend its rights in Europe and the world. This translated passage addresses the situation in which Germany believed itself to be in the years before the war.

• What does it sound like Germany is contemplating? Explain your answer.

• Who are the “hostile States” Bernhardi mentions? What are the “warlike” preparations to which he refers?

Germany’s army, however, was much larger than Britain’s. Compulsory military service was the norm in Germany and Austria-Hungary. Germany placed high reliance on its active military units, which totaled close to four million soldiers, and had numerous units on reserve as well. Germany’s ally Austria-Hungary had a smaller force of under 500,000. In reaction to the growth and power of the German army, other nations also built up their armies.

In Russia, military service was required. Although its armies were poorly trained and outfitted, its peacetime forces numbered nearly 1.5 million, and millions more could be called up as part of military mobilization. France had also adopted compulsory service (at the time it required three years of service from all men) and fielded an active army of almost 1.3 million. Those who had already done their compulsory service were classified as reservists and could be mobilized as well.

The British army, which relied on volunteer troops, was still relatively small at the onset of the war. The Old Regulars, as they were known, numbered only a little over a quarter-million. The strength of Britain lay rather in its navy. The British reveled in what they called the “splendid isolation” of their island, an acknowledgment that issues on the European continent did not directly touch it.

The United States, which did not enter the war until 1917, had also chosen to keep a small military force, numbering fewer than 130,000. It had built up its navy beginning in the 1890s, when its imperial advances necessitated a more efficient and up-to-date force, though it did not have the ship numbers that European powers possessed. For the United States, keeping a small force was compatible with the isolationist tendencies it had maintained through the 1800s. With oceans on two sides, the country was relatively protected from overseas entanglements and had diplomatically tried to avoid them.

Besides building up their armies and navies, military planners in several European countries also began designing how operations would occur in the next war. Germany anticipated that, encircled by enemies, it would have to fight on two fronts—against Russia on one side and France on the other. Developed by Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen in the early 1900s, the Schlieffen Plan held that Russia would be slow to mobilize, so Germany should use that time to attack Belgium and France and then pivot to fight Russia. This plan would make the conflict a short one. The French designed Plan XVII, which called for a major French offensive through Alsace-Lorraine to target the industrial heartland of Germany. Russia developed Plan 19, which would order Russian attacks on East Prussia once Germany was engaged against France.

The Aftermath

As World War I ended in 1918, the world moved to cope with the destruction it had wrought. Military casualties stood between nine and ten million, civilian deaths at approximately ten million, and the number of wounded above twenty-one million. Veterans had both physical and emotional wounds; some needed physical therapy, prosthetics, or vocational training for their postwar lives. The civilian toll meant families had lost not only sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers but daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers. The war also brought into question the notions of superiority that had permeated Western civilization. People wondered whether the West was declining and could no longer consider itself a moral leader in the world.

In Belgium and eastern France, the physical destruction was immense. Thousands of acres, often of prime farmland, were barren after years of artillery bombardment. Towns such as Ypres in Belgium had been shelled so heavily that many buildings had collapsed (Figure 12.3). People had to filter back to the farmlands and cities they had fled and begin to rebuild their lives. Some towns, such as Thiepval, France, had been so thoroughly destroyed that they were never rebuilt.

Figure 12.3 Damage of War. The city of Ypres, Belgium, suffered great damage in World War I, as this 1916 photo of its ruined square shows. (credit: “Destruction on the Western Front, 1914-1918” by Ministry of Information First World War Official Collection/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

In the defeated countries of Germany and Austria-Hungary, economies were in free fall. Millions of men returned home to find stubborn economic instability and labor markets in transition, with factories ill-equipped to return to peacetime production. For men from Europe’s colonies, it took even longer to return home because European troops were demobilized first. Even the victorious nations faced economic problems. Britain and France had borrowed billions to finance the war and had sizable debts to repay, many to the United States. Industries across the world had to reconvert their machinery and processes to begin producing consumer items again, causing continued unemployment.

The world was still dealing with the flu pandemic of 1918–1920, closing schools and theaters and canceling public activities. People were encouraged to wear masks and limit their movement until the crisis had passed. The flu eventually infected about one-third of the world’s population, killing tens of millions, especially younger people. By early 1920, it had stopped spreading, however, and people were able to return to their pre-pandemic lives.

Political change was in the winds. The takeover of Russia in 1917 by a small but determined Bolshevik force sent shockwaves through many nations as they began to fear similar uprisings within their own borders. In the United States, a “Red Scare” was unfolding in 1919. Fear of immigrants who might be communists or socialists was expressed in the growth of nativism—the idea that the nation should be reserved for native-born people of northern European ancestry. A number of mail bombs sent to politicians, businessmen, and newspaper editors heightened public fears of anarchy, and Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer began authorizing what were later called the Palmer Raids, targeting newspaper presses, immigrant groups, and Russian worker unions, often without proper search warrants. Supposed “radical aliens” were arrested; some were held for months without being charged, and some were deported to Russia. The Palmer Raids demonstrated the power of the government to ignore individual rights. The American Civil Liberties Union was formed in 1920 to provide legal assistance to those targeted by the raids. As the months passed with no clear threat of a communist takeover, the public increasingly viewed Palmer’s actions with suspicion, and his political career ended.

The Treaty of Versailles

In January 1919, the leaders of the major Allied powers (except Russia) met outside Paris at Versailles to negotiate the treaty formally ending the war (Figure 12.4). Committees were assigned to resolve the many issues concerning not only Europe but also the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The conference lasted about a year. In its finished form, the Treaty of Versailles was actually a series of treaties, a “massive document that ran to 436 pages containing 433 articles organized into fifteen parts.”

Figure 12.4 Treaty of Versailles. This large 1919 painting by John Christen Johansen is called Signing of the Treaty of Versailles, 1919. U.S. president Woodrow Wilson is shown seated near the center of the group, holding some papers in his hand. (credit: “Signing of the Treaty of Versailles, 1919” by National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian Institution; transfer from the Smithsonian American Art Museum; gift of an anonymous donor, 1926, CC0)

President Woodrow Wilson arrived in Paris in 1919 to grand parades and a hero’s welcome. In January 1918, he had already published a plan he hoped would be the basis of the treaty—the Fourteen Points—embodying his wish to prevent future war by solving issues he believed had led to the recent conflict. Among these points were the rights of neutral nations, freedom of the seas, and the need to break up the empires that had caused the war and create new sovereign states in Europe. Wilson’s last point proposed a League of Nations where member nations could come together for mutual security and work out problems without resorting to war.

Wilson also strongly advocated self-determination, the idea that each ethnic group should have its own government. The treaty ushered in a major redrawing of Europe, and new countries flooded onto the map. Their borders were drawn by diplomats in Paris, however, and did not always reflect where people of different nationalities lived. Nor could they. In an already diverse empire such as Austria-Hungary, people of different backgrounds lived side by side, so it was no easy feat to draw a border. In some cases, the treaty grouped people in ways that may not have made sense to them. For example, the new country of Czechoslovakia was predominantly composed of Czechs and Slovaks, who did not see themselves as having similar nationalities.

Poland resurfaced after having been partitioned out of existence in the late 1700s. A new Polish nation was carved from territory on the German Empire’s eastern side and land Russia had relinquished under the 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending its involvement in the war. The German-speaking country of Austria became an independent nation, as did Hungary. The area of the Balkans, the site of so much uncertainty and nationalism prior to the war, received a particularly unfavorable decision regarding self-determination. The Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Montenegrins, and other Slavic groups there viewed themselves as separate nationalities, yet all were assembled in a single country, to be called Yugoslavia or “land of the Southern Slavs.” Yugoslavia was simply a diplomatic creation, and it did not survive the century (Figure 12.5).

Figure 12.5 Redrawing Europe. These maps show Europe (a) before and (b) after World War I. Notice the postwar proliferation of new countries created by the Treaty of Versailles. (attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY 4.0 license)

Other provisions of the treaty were designed to weaken Germany. Great Britain and France were intent on punishing Germany for backing Austria-Hungary in 1914 and enlarging the conflict by invading Belgium and France. They did not want Germany to simply be blamed for the war; they wanted Germany to literally pay for it, so they began a painstaking financial accounting. Every destroyed house or building was assigned a monetary value. Every lost military and civilian life was assessed an amount based on what that person’s future earnings might have been. These reparations totaled over $30 billion in 1919 dollars. (For context, a loaf of bread cost about 9 cents at the time.) Wilson hoped to persuade the other Allied leaders to abandon this course but was unable to, and the treaty reflected their goal of revenge.

Link to Learning

The full text of the Treaty of Versailles is available through the Library of Congress.

Take a few minutes and read through some of the first two parts. The first is about the League of Nations, and the second is about the borders of Germany.

One of the clearest punishments the treaty inflicted on Germany was restrictions on its military capacity. The German Army was limited to 100,000 troops, the draft was ended, and the number of ships, planes, tanks, and submarines was similarly curtailed. The Allied powers hoped that limiting the might of the German Army would limit its aggressiveness. The method of enforcing these limits was not resolved in Paris, however, and it arose as a real issue in the 1930s.

Germany was also shrunk, losing 13 percent of the territory it had held in Europe before the war. The Saar region was to be administered by the League of Nations. The Rhineland in the west (the Rhine River Valley) became a demilitarized zone. Germany also lost western territory to both France (Alsace-Lorraine, previously seized by Germany) and Belgium. In the east, German lands and the port of Danzig (now Gdańsk) were given to Poland. Other lands went to Lithuania and the new country of Czechoslovakia. As a result, Germany lost about one-tenth of its population, approximately 6.5 million people. It also had to give up its colonies in Asia and Africa.

One provision of the treaty related directly to Japan and China. Japan had occupied China’s Shandong Province, a former German concession, including the port of Qingdao (Tsingtao), and continued to hold it after the war. Without consulting the millions of Chinese people living there at the time, the treaty makers allowed Japan to retain this territory, which it did until 1922.

The racism of the era was apparent in what was not included in the treaty. Japan had requested a clause affirming the equality of all nations regardless of race. This proviso would have set the stage for more open migration and fairer treatment of immigrants (such as Japanese immigrants to the United States). Several powers supported its inclusion, but Australia (which allowed no non-White immigration) and then the United States stated their opposition. Wilson claimed a unanimous vote was necessary to include it, though this was not true for any other clause. In the end, the racial equality clause was absent from the final version of the treaty. As another example, when France and Britain tallied the destruction of the war, they did not include African lives lost in the fighting in Africa. The cost of the devastation there was borne solely by Africans.

It was clear that a significant period of adjustment must follow the treaty’s signing as the peoples of the new regions and their fledgling governments established themselves. There was also disappointment. For instance, in 1915, Italy had been promised territory in Dalmatia in return for joining the Allied cause but was forced to relinquish it due to Wilson’s opposition. This prompted anger in Italy and some anti-American rallies. France was annoyed that it had received only part of Germany’s African colonies of Cameroon and Togo while the rest went to Britain. Japan, besides being angered at the rejection of the racial equality clause, was disappointed that it had not been given all of Germany’s colonial holdings in Asia and the Pacific. It received only some, while others went to New Zealand and Australia. Internal ethnic issues had not been fully solved by the treaty (such as in the creation of Czechoslovakia) and could easily resurface given the chance.

The “war guilt” clause of the treaty, blaming Germany for the war, caused many problems for that country over the next decades. Its diplomats felt dishonored by being forced to agree to it, and the harsh monetary reparations left Germany unstable for several years. The government’s decision to print more money to pay these debts caused hyperinflation and made its politicians look incompetent. It was easy for rumors of conspiracy to take hold, particularly among war veterans. The “stab-in-the-back” theory, for example, claimed that German democratic politicians had betrayed the military with the 1918 cease-fire agreement. (In truth, the German military had reached its breaking point in 1918 and was not in a position to continue the war, especially given the continuous arrival of fresh U.S. troops.)

The U.S. Senate’s biggest worry about the Treaty of Versailles was that if the United States joined the League of Nations, its troops could be sent anywhere in the world, drawing the nation into foreign disputes that the Senate, then dominated by the Republican Party, wanted to avoid. Senators feared the treaty would thus cost them their constitutional power to declare war. They also objected to Britain and France’s desire to control the League. For these reasons, the United States did not approve the treaty and did not join the League of Nations. The organization's ability to mediate and resolve international disputes was weakened by the lack of U.S. participation.

The treaty was more popular in other Allied nations. Britain generally felt it was even-handed and that the punishment of Germany was just. The British people looked forward to joining the League. The French also agreed with the penalties heaped upon Germany, though some felt they should have gone even further because France had suffered more than Britain had. China was frustrated that Japan was allowed to retain Shandong under the treaty, but its protests fell on deaf ears. Anger at China’s treatment helped lead to the May Fourth Movement, which began in Beijing in 1919 as a protest by students. It grew to include labor strikes, calls for a boycott of Japanese-made products, and the removal of Japanese-leaning government officials.

Postwar Recession and Prosperity

World War I devastated the world’s economies. Four long years of conflict and losses had disrupted the labor force across Europe, not to mention governments’ budgetary predictions. The reparations owed by Germany were the means by which Britain and France planned to deal with their own debt, but they also created an economic house of cards that could easily tumble down. Africa, Asia, and Latin America also felt the economic effects of the war. Before the war, African nations had traded extensively with Europe, especially Germany, which had accounted for the majority of European trade with sub-Saharan Africa. When the war began, the difficulty of trading with the combatant nations meant that many European goods became more expensive, and many Africans could no longer afford them.

Following the war, Britain and France looked to their African colonies and to Germany’s former colonial possessions for their financial salvation. Both France and Britain focused on agricultural development. Often this meant increasing opportunities for White settlers to reap profit for both themselves and the home country while limiting opportunities for Black Africans. In the portion of Cameroon given to France to administer after the war, French officials encouraged growing coffee for export. But they also allotted licenses to grow the crop primarily to Europeans and restricted the number of acres that Black Africans could cultivate. Lack of opportunity for Black people meant that White coffee growers had a ready supply of agricultural laborers who were forced to accept low wages. Similarly, in British Tanganyika (present-day Tanzania), the right to cut and market timber was reserved for Europeans. Britain and France also invested heavily in railroad building in Africa following the war, and Britain poured funds into mining operations in Nigeria, the Gold Coast (Ghana), and South Africa.

East Asian countries were also affected by the war, and the economies of several, such as China and Japan, underwent a growth period following its end. Though China was not yet heavily industrialized, it benefited from the decrease in global competition caused by Europe’s economic issues.

In the Taisho period in the 1920s, the Japanese economy was buffeted by booms and recessions, the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, inflation, and a serious banking crisis in 1927. Japan had become heavily dependent on trade with the United States, and its urban economy was now undermined by the protectionism practiced by both U.S. and European markets in the form of tariffs on foreign imports. Japan’s economy continued growing in the 1920s, however, as the country increased military production and began making investments in China. Inflation did occur, but the government adopted austerity policies to combat it. Japan was able to increase its exports after the war even more than China did, and trade with the United States, in particular, increased substantially.

Latin American countries saw little real economic change after the war. Many had few industries and still depended on agricultural exports for economic growth. Some faced more competition for these commodities as other regions around the world began to export increasing amounts of items such as rubber. One Latin American commodity that did see growth, particularly in Venezuela, was oil, which was becoming increasingly important in global markets. The heavily industrialized countries of South America, such as Argentina, Brazil, and Peru, provided stable but minor economic growth. They geared their manufacturing to the export market, but tariffs rates and internal changes in monetary policy during the 1920s held them back.

The United States did not suffer the physical devastation of war that the other Allies did. It emerged from the conflict in a position of economic power, a creditor nation to be repaid for its wartime loans to Britain and France. Thus, the 1920s were a decade of prosperity for the country, in which technological innovations added to the sense of affluence. Major retailers were ready to sell consumers new items like vacuum cleaners, electric ovens, and refrigerators through credit lines they paid off over time. Domestic life became significantly easier, wages increased, and unemployment was low. For U.S. citizens, the future seemed bright.

Germany and Reparations

John Maynard Keynes, the creator of Keynesian economics, was a British economist at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. He was so unsettled by the potential financial repercussions of the treaty’s terms that he wrote a book contending the large reparations would mean economic ruin for Germany, endangering the entire European economy. His predictions were soon borne out.

Germany faced numerous problems as the 1920s began. It was not only blamed for the war, but its foreign financial assets had also been seized under the treaty, further compromising its economic power, and it had been physically diminished when many rich industrial areas were cut away from its territory. Thus, one of the immediate problems facing the new democratic Weimar Republic government was finding a way to pay the reparations.

The first payment came due in 1921, but Germany was unable to fund the full amount, and the unresolved issue about how to enforce the treaty terms resurfaced. The next year, 1922, Germany defaulted on its payments to France and Britain. In response, French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr Valley, the center of German iron, coal, and steel production, as a means to force repayment. The French needed the valley’s resources (especially coal). German residents of the valley resisted the occupation, and many were killed in the resulting conflict.

To reach an immediate solution, Germany began simply printing more money. But this created an inflationary cycle, and the economy soon proved incapable of keeping up with the hyperinflation that resulted. The new money was literally not worth the paper it was printed on (Figure 12.6). The government had to print ever-larger denominations of bills, and people took wheelbarrows of cash to the store to buy a loaf of bread. Holding a job seemed ludicrous when pay could not keep up with a rate of inflation that increased by the day. The entire German middle class saw their savings disappear, and with their money went their support of the government.

Figure 12.6 Hyperinflation. In the 1920s, hyperinflation in Germany had made the national currency virtually worthless. In this photograph from 1923, Germany children play with stacks of banknotes. (credit: “Hyperinflation in Germany in 1923” by Mount Holyoke College/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

In 1924, the United States intervened by arranging the Dawes Plan, by which Germany’s installment payments were lowered but set to increase in the future as its economy rebounded. Foreign banks, many in the United States, also loaned Germany money to stabilize its inflationary economy. This enabled Germany to make its payments, but it also meant taking on more debt. In essence, U.S. banks were loaning money to Germany that it was using to pay Britain and France, which in turn used that money to pay back their own debts to the United States.

Reparations continued to present an extreme economic hardship for Germany. In 1929, the United States announced a new proposal. The Young Plan stretched German reparations across a fifty-nine–year payment schedule, slightly lowered the total to $29 billion, and arranged hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of additional loans. Germany continued to make payments until 1932, when the worldwide Great Depression made it untenable to continue. Later agreements canceled more of the remaining debt, and the last payment was finally made in 2010. In all, Germany paid only about one-eighth of the total.

Poor decisions by Germany’s Weimar Republic contributed to growing public frustration with the new democratic government. Many political groups attempted to use the country’s economic problems to catapult themselves to political power. Among these was the National Socialists or Nazi Party, whose members favored a more authoritarian government. One man who joined the group in the early 1920s was Adolf Hitler (Figure 12.7).

Figure 12.7 Adolf Hitler. This portrait drawing of Hitler was made in 1923, when he was about thirty-four years old. (credit: “Adolf Hitler, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left” by George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress)

Hitler was a veteran of the war who subscribed to the unfounded stab-in-the-back theory and had developed an abiding hatred of the Treaty of Versailles. He became a persuasive orator in the 1920s and rose up the ranks of the Nazis as he recruited more people to the group. In 1923, he decided to launch a takeover of the state government in Munich. The planned Beer Hall Putsch (so named because the targeted politicians were to be kidnapped at a beer hall) failed, and Hitler and many supporters were arrested. Over the next year in jail, Hitler wrote the book Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”), in which he outlined his plan for the Nazis to achieve political power and their goals for the resurgence of Germany. These goals included the uniting of German-speaking peoples under one government and an expansion eastward in search of Lebensraum or “living space.” His words found a sympathetic audience in the 1920s.

Disarmament and the Commitment to Peace

Still reeling from World War I in the 1920s, the governments of the major powers generally supported disarmament and limited military buildup. There was great hope that the next decades would be peaceful, and many agreements reached in the 1920s reflected this commitment to goodwill among nations. In 1921, the Washington Naval Conference opened to address the issue of the naval arms race that had taken place before and during World War I. U.S. secretary of state Charles Evans Hughes proposed that the three major naval powers—Britain, the United States, and Japan—each scuttle a number of ships and restrict future construction. The Five-Power Treaty that emerged limited the construction of warships and the size of aircraft carriers, then a new style of vessel in the world’s navies. It established ratios for warships whereby Britain and the United States could have the same number, and for every five ships they had, Japan could have three and France and Italy 1.75 each. Britain and the United States were allowed more ships because they maintained fleets in both the Atlantic and the Pacific to protect their colonies.

In Their Own Words

The Western View of Japan

Japan often argued that it was not treated fairly by Western powers at either the Treaty of Versailles negotiations or the Washington Naval Conference in the 1920s. One of Japan’s leading politicians, Okuma Shigenobu, wrote about how the West perceived the Japanese in Illusions of the White Race. As you read his words, look for the evidence he presents for his case.

• What points does Okuma Shigenobu make about Western views?

• What evidence does he use to back his assertions?

By the late 1920s, optimism was high that the pain of war might be a thing of the past. It was in this spirit that the Kellogg-Briand Pact was written. The pact was a negotiation between U.S. secretary of state Frank Kellogg and Aristide Briand, the French foreign minister, renouncing war as an instrument of national policy. Fifteen nations signed it in 1928, and another forty-seven followed over the next years. However, there was no way to enforce it, and no repercussions for signatories that failed to live up to its ideals. Thus, it did little to curb the aggressive military policies of many nations during the following decade.

The same could be said of the League of Nations. Based on high ideals, the League could issue statements, restrictions, or condemnations, but it could not compel other countries to limit their activities. Assessing trade restrictions on a country might have some (minor) impact, but the League had no military arm that could physically intervene in a member country’s actions. Thus, as the 1930s began, it was regularly challenged by aggressive acts across the globe that it was powerless to influence. Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931. Italy invaded Libya in 1931 and Ethiopia in 1935. The League did protest, especially over the Ethiopian invasion, but it could do little more than impose economic sanctions against Italy, and even these were not upheld by all countries. It was clear the League had no real power and no country need fear it.

What lead to world war one

-armed race between Britain and Germany costing money lasted from 1870-1914

-Allies between Germany,Austria-Hungary, and Italy created a complex web of alliances that heightened tensions in Europe. Others include France, Russia, and Britain forming a counter-alliance to the Central Powers, further exacerbating the imminent conflict as these nations prepared for possible war.

• The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 served as the immediate catalyst for the war, triggering a series of events that plunged Europe into conflict. This assassination led to Austria-Hungary issuing an ultimatum to Serbia, which subsequently declared war, resulting in Russia mobilizing to defend Serbia. The complex diplomatic ties and rising nationalistic fervor among the involved nations ultimately spiraled into a global conflict, with each alliance rapidly escalating the situation as countries honored their commitments to support one another in the face of aggression.

• The Slavic moment in the Balkans also played a significant role in stirring nationalistic sentiments, as various Slavic groups sought independence or greater influence, further complicating the geopolitical landscape and contributing to the tensions that led up to the outbreak of World War I.

  -Austia Hungary was threten with the rise of Serbian nationalism, which aimed to unite Slavic peoples under a single nation, thereby challenging the Hapsburg Empire's authority and stability in the region.

• Imperialism and Accusation led to the war as competing empires sought to expand their territories, often clashing with one another over colonies and resources, while accusations of deceit and betrayal among nations fueled distrust and hostility. Africa was used as a way for Europeans to gain more power and resuerses such as oil taking over nations in Africa spitting and grouping to gather tribes.

Arch Duke Ferdinand

June 28 1914

• the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo marked a pivotal moment, escalating tensions and triggering a series of events that ultimately led to the outbreak of World War I.

• The Black hand was a secret nationalist organization responsible for the assassination, aiming to promote the cause of Serbian nationalism and oppose Austro-Hungarian rule.

• The first assassination attempt with a bomb was unsuccessful , but later, a young assassin named Gavrilo Princip successfully shot the Archduke and his wife, Sophie, as they were making their way through the city. This event set off a chain reaction of alliances and confrontations, ultimately drawing multiple countries into a devastating global conflict.

• Later in 1915 the Blank Check was issued by Germany to Austria-Hungary, effectively giving the latter a commitment of support in its military endeavors against Serbia, thus further escalating the conflict.

  -They were later given an ultimatum to dismiss the entire Slavic government face severe consequences, which led to heightened tensions and eventual declarations of war among the world powers, marking the beginning of World War I.

4 major empiors

• The Austro-Hungarian Empire, after the war was split in two

• the Kingdom of Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which would later become Yugoslavia.

  The Ottoman Empire faced significant territorial losses, ultimately leading to its dissolution and the establishment of modern Turkey.

  The Russian Empire underwent a revolution, resulting in the rise of the Soviet Union.

  The German Empire was also significantly diminished, paying the most for the war by losing most of it’s territory, trade, and power having to pay 3 billion dollars in compensation to Britain and France.

• Additionally, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dismantled, giving rise to new nation-states such as Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, as the boundaries of former empires were redrawn in response to the geopolitical changes following the war.

Treaties post war

-Treaty of Versailles: This treaty formally ended World War I in 1919, imposing harsh reparations and territorial losses on Germany.

-Treaty of Trianon: Signed in 1920, this treaty established the modern borders of Turkey and recognized the independence of several neighboring nations, while also placing significant restrictions on the Ottoman Empire's military capabilities.

-Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine: Concluded in 1919, this treaty imposed territorial losses and reparations on Bulgaria, significantly reducing its land and military strength as a consequence of its defeat in World War I. Losing territory in Greece, Romaina, and the terotory of Yugoslavia

-Treaty of Sevres: Signed in 1920, this treaty addressed the fate of the Ottoman Empire, resulting in its dissolution and the establishment of several new nation-states in the Middle East. Later replaced in 1923 to the treaty of Luaganne

Woodnof Wilson (U.S)

-Wilson fourteen points were meant to prevent conflict with other countries; these points were neutral nations, freedom of the seas, national self-determination, and the breaking of the countries that caused the war by promoting diplomacy, free trade, and collective security through the establishment of the League of Nations.

-The League of Nations was established in 1920 as part of the Treaty of Versailles, with the goal of maintaining world peace and preventing future conflicts through dissution rather than conflict. The League couldn’t enforce its decisions effectively, which ultimately led to its inability to prevent aggression from rising powers in the 1930s.

George Clemenceau(France)

-Strong Military and National Security:

Clemenceau was convinced that Germany intended war and believed France needed a strong military and alliances to protect itself. 

• "Total Victory" over Germany:

  After significant French casualties in WWI, he advocated for a complete victory over Germany, demanding reparations, a transfer of colonies, and strict rules to prevent German rearmament. 

• Separation of Church and State:

  As a member of the Independent Radicals, he supported the separation of church and state. 

• Amnesty for Communards:

  He also advocated for the amnesty of Communards exiled to New Caledonia. 

• Anti-German Sentiment:

  He held a strong anti-German sentiment, believing that Germany posed a constant threat to France. 

• Re-establishment of Alsace-Lorraine:

  He insisted on the restitution of Alsace-Lorraine, which had been annexed to Germany in 1871. 

Practices:

• L'Homme Libre Newspaper:

  He used his newspaper, L'Homme Libre, as a platform to advocate for his views, including a strong military and his anti-German stance. 

• Paris Peace Conference:

  As the leader of the French delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, he insisted on Germany's disarmament and harsh terms in the Treaty of Versailles. 

• "The Tiger" Nickname:

  He was known as "The Tiger" or "Père la Victoire" ("Father Victory") for his aggressive and fierce political style. 

• Advocacy for a Strong Military:

  He argued for greater military preparedness and tighter alliances with Britain and Russia. 

• Critique of French Government:

  Before WWI, he criticized the French government for what he saw as defeatism. 

• Support for Inter-Allied Cooperation:

  During the war, he facilitated inter-Allied economic cooperation and promoted the unification of the supreme command to support an "integral war". 

• Acceptance of Armistice:

  He accepted the request for peace and an armistice from the Central Powers in October 1918 to spare French lives. 

David Lloyd George(Britain)

• Social Reform and Welfare:

  • Lloyd George was a strong advocate for social justice and the rights of the common person, influenced by his upbringing in the Welsh countryside and his exposure to Nonconformist culture. 

  • He championed reforms like the People's Budget of 1909, which introduced taxes on land and high incomes to fund social programs, and the National Insurance Act of 1911, which laid the foundation for the modern welfare state. 

  • He also supported workers' rights, including increased access to the workplace for women, and argued for religious liberty. 

• Welsh Nationalism and Devolution:

  • Lloyd George was a passionate supporter of Welsh self-determination and the disestablishment of the Church of England in Wales, reflecting his Nonconformist heritage and his commitment to Welsh identity. 

  • He believed in granting greater autonomy to Wales within the United Kingdom, advocating for Welsh devolution. 

• World War I and Peace:

  • Initially reluctant to see Britain join World War I, he later became a fervent advocate for a swift and decisive victory, serving as Minister of Munitions and then Secretary of War. 

  • He played a crucial role in organizing the war effort, including establishing a unified Allied command under Marshal Ferdinand Foch. 

  • As Prime Minister, he led Britain through the war's end and participated in the Paris Peace Conference, where he sought to establish a lasting peace while also addressing the needs of his own country. 

• Political Practices and Leadership:

  • Lloyd George was known for his charisma, wit, and dynamism, which helped him gain popularity and influence. 

  • He was a master of political maneuvering and was able to form coalition governments, including one with the Conservative opposition during World War I. 

  • However, he was also criticized for his ruthlessness and his willingness to use devious methods, which led to some distrust. 

  • His leadership style, while effective in wartime, faced challenges in the post-war period, leading to the decline of the Liberal Party and his eventual resignation as Prime Minister.

• After the war, he struggled to maintain support within his own party and among the public, as many felt disillusioned by the harsh realities of the conflict and the Treaty of Versailles.

Vittoio Orlando

• Early Liberalism:

  Orlando was a member of the "Left Liberals" and championed policies protecting church independence and opposing attempts to suppress freedom of speech, press, and association. 

• World War I:

  He initially supported Italian entry into the war, and his actions during the Caporetto crisis helped restore the situation. 

• Paris Peace Conference:

  Orlando represented Italy at the Paris Peace Conference, but his territorial demands for Italy clashed with Woodrow Wilson's vision of national self-determination, leading to a breakdown in negotiations. 

• Fascism:

  Initially, Orlando supported Benito Mussolini, but after the murder of Giacomo Matteotti, he withdrew his support and resigned from Parliament in protest against Fascist electoral fraud. 

• Post-Fascism:

  After the fall of Mussolini, Orlando became leader of the Conservative Democratic Union and emphasized Italy's pre-fascist liberal and democratic traditions.