Were the peace treaties of 1919-23 fair?

Paris Peace Conference

Paris Peace Conference

  • Took place in the Palace of Versailles

  • Lasted for 12 months

  • 32 Nations supposed to be represented - however no representatives from the defeated countries were present

  • 5 treaties were drawn up:

    • Treaty of Versailles - Germany

    • Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye - Austria

    • Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine - Bulgaria

    • Treaty of Trianon - Hungary

    • Treaty of Sevres - Ottoman Empire

  • ‘The Big Three’ - Wilson (P), Clemenceau (PM), Lloyd George (PM)

    • Supported by a huge army of diplomats and expert advisers

    • B3 ignored most of their advice

Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

President of USA - 4th March 1913-21

(USA joined the war April 6 1917)

  • 1918 - he made a speech outlining his 14 points, which were guidelines for a just and lasting peace treaty in order to end conflict.

  • Seen as a saint figure in Europe during the Paris Peace Conference

  • Idealist and reformer

  • Obstinate - impossible to shift once he had made up his mind

  • Refused to cancel debts from Britain and Allies in order to pressure them into accepting his ideas

Fourteen Points

  • No secret treaties

  • Free access to the seas

  • Free trade

  • All countries work towards disarmament

  • Colonies have a say in their future

  • German troops to leave Russia

  • Belgium to become independent

  • Alsace-Lorraine to go to France

  • Border between Austria and Italy to be moved

  • Self determination - should rule themselves and not be ruled by others

  • Serbia to have access to the Sea

  • Self-determination to those in the Turkish Empire

  • Poland to become independent with access to the sea - Polish Corridor

  • League of Nations to be set up

Ideas:

  • Don’t be too harsh on Germany

    • Germany should be punished but not too severely as it may recover and seek revenge

    • Concerned that extremist groups (e.g. communists) would exploit resentment and may seize power (as seen in Russia in 1917)

  • Strengthen democracy in defeated countries

    • Wilson saw democracy as the key to peace

    • The people would not want to go to war and the leaders would have to adhere to that

  • Self-determination to countries freed from European empires

    • Wanted the people to rule themselves (e.g. Poles, Czechs and Slovaks)

    • Didn’t want them to become part of Austria-Hungary’s empire

    • Difficult, as they were scattered across many different countries

  • International co-operation

    • Wilson felt that by working together, peace would be kept

    • His idea for this was the League of Nations - one of his 14 points

Lloyd George

Lloyd George

Prime Minister of Britain - 1916-22

  • In public he praised Wilson’s ideas, but in private he was more critical

  • Saw Wilson as arrogant

    • Complained that he came to Paris acting like a missionary to rescue European savages with sermons and lectures

  • Realist - knew he would have to compromise

    • He occupied the middle ground between Wilson and Clemenceau

Ideas

  • Thought that Germany should not be punished harshly

    • Did not want Germany seeking revenge in another war

    • Concerned about a communist revolution

    • Wanted Britain to continue trading with Germany

      • Germany was Britain’s second largest trading partner - provided jobs in Britain

  • Wanted Germany to lose its navy and colonies

    • They threatened the British empire - Anglo-German naval arms Race 1898-1912

Pressures

  • Huge public pressure in Britain for a harsh treaty

    • Public were not sympathetic to Germany

    • 1 million casualties

    • Food shortages and other hardships

    • Fed Anti-German propaganda for 4 years

    • Seen how harsh Germany had treated Russia in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918

      • Stripped Russia of 25% of it’s population

      • Took away huge areas of agricultural land

  • He had won the 1918 election promising to ‘make Germany pay’

Clemenceau

Clemenceau

Prime Minister of France - 1906-9 and 1917-20

  • In public he agreed with Wilson’s aim for fair and lasting peace.

  • Found Wilson very hard to work with

    • ‘God only had 10 commandments’

  • Saw Treaty of Versailles as an opportunity to cripple Germany

    • Wanted to eliminate the threat of any further attack from Germany

    • 1870-1 - Franco-Prussian war

      • In the lifetime of most French

  • Realist - knew he would have to compromise but had to show he was aware of French public opinion

Pressures

  • France had suffered enormous damage to its:

    • Land

    • Industry

    • People - over 2/3 of the men who had served were wounded or killed

    • Self-confidence

  • Germany seemed as powerful and as threatening as ever

    • Land and industry were not as badly affected/damaged

    • France had a smaller population (40 million) compared to Germany 75 million)

  • French public

    • Wanted a treaty that would punish Germany and weaken it as much as possible

    • Poincaré - French President

      • Wanted Germany broken up into smaller states

      • Clemenceau knew that Britain and America wouldn’t agree

Clashes

Clashes

Clemenceau and Wilson

  • USA had not suffered as badly as France

  • Clemenceau saw Wilson as being generous to Germany

  • Disagreed on Rhineland and the Saar

    • Wilson compromised on this and so Clemenceau compromised on self-determination in Eastern Europe

Clemenceau and Lloyd George

  • Lloyd George didn’t want to treat Germany too harshly, while Clemenceau wanted to Cripple Germany

  • ‘If the British are so anxious to appease Germany they should look overseas and make colonial, naval or commercial concessions.’

    • Clemenceau felt that Britain were happy to treat Germany fairly in the areas where France was most at threat, but were unwilling to let Germany have a navy which would put themselves at threat

      • (Hypocritical)

Wilson and Lloyd George

  • Lloyd George was unhappy giving all nations access to the seas - point 2/14

  • Lloyd George felt that self-determination was threatening to the British

    • British Empire ruled millions of people all over the world

Terms of the Treaty

Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

  • War Guilt

    • Germany had to accept the blame for starting the war

  • Reparations

    • Germany had to pay reparations to the allies for the damage caused by the war.

  • German territories and colonies

    • Germany lost its overseas empire

      • Cameroon became a mandate controlled by the League of Nations

    • Alsace-Lorraine went to France

    • Saarland - Run by League for 15 years until a plebiscite was to be held

    • North Schleswig - went to Denmark after a vote

    • Danzig - Run by League (gave Poland a sea Port)

    • West Prussia and Posen and Upper Silesia went to Poland

      • Formed part of the Polish Corridor along with Danzig

    • Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia had became independent

      • (Germany had taken these states from Russia in 1918)

    • Anschluss with Austria was forbidden

  • Armed Forces

    • Army limited to 100,000 men

    • Conscription was banned

    • Germany was not allowed armoured vehicles, submarines or aircraft

    • Navy was limited to 6 battleships

    • Rhineland became demilitarised

      • Border between France and Germany

  • League of Nations

    • Set up as an ‘international police force’

    • Germany couldn’t join until it had shown that it was a ‘peace-loving country’

Was this Fair???

Was this fair?

  • The German government was different to that in 1914 - They were hoping for fair and equal treatment

  • The Germans initially refused to sign the treaty

    • Sank their own ships in protest

  • Ebert accepted the Treaty and signed it on the 28th June 1919

German Criticism

  • War Guilt

    • They did not feel like they had started the war and felt that at least the blame should be shared

  • Reparations

    • The figure was decided in 1921 - Set at £6.6 million

      • Germany would not have finished paying this until 1984

    • The German Economy was severely weakened

  • German Territories

    • Lost 10% of European land and all overseas colonies

    • Lost 12.5% of population

    • Lost 16% of coalfields and almost 50% of iron and steel industry

    • Major blow to German pride and economy

    • As Germany was losing colonies, France and Britain were increasing their ones by taking over previous German colonies in Africa

  • Disarmament

    • 100,000 was a very small army for a country of Germany’s size

    • Army was a symbol of German pride

    • None of the allies were disarming in the same way despite being a 14 point

  • 14 Points

    • Germany’s treatment was not in keeping with the 14 points

      • Self-determination to Latvia etc. while Germans were forced into Czechoslovakia and Poland

    • Germany was insulted that they couldn’t join the League

  • Non-representation

    • They were forced to accept a harsh treaty despite having no input on its terms.

    • They did not feel like they had lost the war and so didn’t like being treated as a defeated country

Consequences for Germany

Political Violence

Right Wing

  • Kapp Putsch - March 1920

    • Right-wing opponents of Ebert - led by Dr Wolfgang Kapp

    • 5000 Freikorps - paramilitary group

    • Stopped by a General strike by Berlin workers

      • Added to chaos of Germany, but saved the Government

      • Also added to the bitterness felt towards the Treaty

  • Munich Putsch -