Comprehensive Study Guide: 20th Century International Relations, Weimar and Nazi Germany, and the Cold War

The Peace Treaties of 1919–1923 and Their Consequences

• The First World War ended on November 11, 1918, when Germany signed the Armistice under strict preliminary conditions:

  • The German Kaiser (Monarch Wilhelm II) was required to abdicate, paving the way for democracy under the Weimar Constitution.

  • Immediate withdrawal of German troops from Belgium, France, and the disputed province of Alsace-Lorraine.

  • Surrender of all German submarines to the Allied forces.

  • Agreement to pay reparations for war damage caused to the Allied Powers.

  • Loss of German domestic and overseas colonial territories.

• The Paris Peace Conference convened in January 1919 at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris, bringing together delegates from 32 countries over six months to draft five individual peace treaties. Germany and its defeated allies were unrepresented during negotiations, and Soviet Russia was excluded due to its communist regime and its separate 1918 withdrawal from the war.

• Motives and Aims of the "Big Three":

  • Georges Clemenceau (Prime Minister of France):

  • Driven by the human toll of over two-thirds of French military service members killed or injured, massive physical destruction on the Western Front, and the legacy of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871).

  • Primary aim was to cripple Germany economically and physically to guarantee national security.

  • Demanded full war reparations paid on time, the return of Alsace-Lorraine, the total disarmament of German armed forces, the transfer of Saarland coal mines to France, and the creation of an independent buffer state in the Rhineland or the dismemberment of Germany into small regional states.

  • David Lloyd George (Prime Minister of Great Britain):

  • Balanced intense domestic public pressure to punish Germany ("squeeze Germany like a lemon until the pips squeak") with long-term economic and imperial interests.

  • Sought a moderate settlement that would preserve British naval supremacy, expand the British Empire through former German colonies, and maintain a continental balance of power to prevent French dominance.

  • Recognized that an overly punitive treaty would ruin Germany as a vital trading partner and potentially provoke a communist revolution or future wars of revenge.

  • Woodrow Wilson (President of the United States):

  • Idealistic approach outlined in his Fourteen Points (January 1918), emphasizing a just peace, national self-determination, disarmament, free navigation of the seas, and the creation of a League of Nations to resolve disputes peacefully.

  • Warned that imposing excessively severe punishment would create deep resentment and lead Germany to seek future vengeance.

  • Faced growing American domestic pressure to return to isolationism and avoid permanent European political alliances.

• Terms of the Treaty of Versailles (Signed June 28, 1919):

  • War Guilt Clause (Article 231): Forced Germany to accept sole responsibility for causing all loss and damage during the war, providing the legal justification for reparations.

  • Reparations: Fixed in 1921 at a total figure of $\text{\pounds}6.6\text{ billion}$ (gold marks), payable in annual installments extending until 1984.

  • Military Restrictions:

  • Army limited to a maximum of $100,000\text{ men}$, with mandatory voluntary recruitment and the complete ban of conscription.

  • Complete ban on armored vehicles, tanks, heavy artillery, submarines, and military air forces (Luftwaffe disbanded).

  • Navy limited to $15,000\text{ sailors}$, $6\text{ battleships}$, $12\text{ destroyers}$, and $12\text{ torpedo boats}$. (The German High Seas Fleet scuttled its own ships at Scapa Flow in Scotland on June 21, 1919, to prevent British seizure).

  • Demilitarization of the Rhineland: No German troops or fortifications permitted within the region or within $50\text{ km}$ east of the Rhine River. Allied troops occupied the zone for 15 years.

  • Territorial Losses:

  • Deprived Germany of $25,000\text{ square miles}$ ($13\%$) of European land and $7,000,000\text{ citizens}$ ($12.5\%$ of its population).

  • Alsace-Lorraine returned to France; Eupen and Malmedy ceded to Belgium; Northern Schleswig joined Denmark following a plebiscite.

  • West Prussia, Posen, and Upper Silesia transferred to Poland, creating the Polish Corridor and physically isolating East Prussia from the rest of Germany.

  • Danzig made a Free City under League of Nations control to give Poland access to a seaport.

  • Saar Coal Basin placed under League of Nations administration for 15 years, with its coal output assigned exclusively to France.

  • Forbidden from ever unifying with Austria (Anschluss banned).

  • All overseas colonies confiscated and designated as League Mandates managed primarily by Britain, France, South Africa, Australia, and Japan.

• German Reactions and the "Stab-in-the-Back" Myth:

  • Denounced as a Diktat (dictated peace) forced upon Germany without negotiation under threat of immediate military invasion.

  • Article 231 caused immense psychological outrage, as Germans viewed war guilt as a shared European burden.

  • The Dolchstoßlegende ("Stab-in-the-Back" myth) gained traction among right-wing groups, asserting that the German army was never defeated on the battlefield but was betrayed from within by weak, unpatriotic, socialist politicians—termed the "November Criminals"—who signed the Armistice and the Treaty of Versailles.

• The Other WWI Peace Treaties:

  • Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919 with Austria): Formally dissolved the Austro-Hungarian Habsburg Empire; reduced Austria to $25\%$ of its former land area into a landlocked state of 7 million German-speakers; ceded Bohemia/Moravia to Czechoslovakia, Galicia to Poland, South Tyrol/Istria/Trentino to Italy, and Dalmatia/Bosnia-Herzegovina to the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (Yugoslavia); restricted army to $30,000\text{ troops}$; banned Anschluss.

  • Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine (1919 with Bulgaria): Ceded Aegean coastline to Greece, border lands to Yugoslavia; reduced army to $20,000\text{ men}$; forced payment of reparations.

  • Treaty of Trianon (1920 with Hungary): Recognized independent Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, and Romania; lost Slovakia/Ruthenia to Czechoslovakia and Transylvania to Romania; military capped at $35,000\text{ men}$; ordered reparations.

  • Treaty of Sèvres (1920 with Ottoman Empire / Turkey): Dispartitioned the Ottoman Empire; Straits of Dardanelles internationalized; Syria became a French Mandate; Palestine, Transjordan, and Iraq became British Mandates; Smyrna and Eastern Thrace ceded to Greece; finances placed under Allied control.

  • Treaty of Lausanne (1923): Nationalist uprising led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk defeated Greek forces in the Turkish War of Independence, forcing the Allies to repeal Sèvres; established modern Turkish borders, returning Anatolia, Smyrna, and Eastern Thrace to full Turkish sovereignty.

The League of Nations in the 1920s and 1930s

• Structure and Aims of the League of Nations:

  • Incorporated directly into the first section of each 1919–1920 peace treaty; headquarters established in neutral Geneva, Switzerland.

  • Main Aims: Maintain world peace through collective security, settle international disputes through arbitration, promote international economic and social cooperation, enforce post-war treaties, and encourage worldwide disarmament.

  • Principal Bodies:

  • The Assembly: World parliament meeting once annually; each member state held one vote; required unanimous decisions on major policy, budget approvals, and admission of new members.

  • The Council: Executive body meeting four to five times per year and during crises. Consisted of Permanent Members (originally Britain, France, Italy, Japan; Germany added in 1926; USSR added in 1934) and non-permanent members elected by the Assembly for 3-year terms. Each permanent member held a veto power over Council decisions.

  • The Secretariat: Permanent civil service headed by the Secretary-General; handled administrative paperwork, recorded decisions, published reports, and organized conferences.

  • Permanent Court of International Justice: Based at The Hague, Netherlands; comprised 15 judges offering legal advice and arbitration on border disputes, but possessed no mechanism to enforce its rulings.

  • Specialized Agencies and Commissions:

    • International Labour Organization (ILO): Promoted fair working conditions, aiming for a 48-hour work week, restrictions on child labor, and women's rights.

    • Mandates Commission: Monitored British and French administration of former German/Ottoman colonies.

    • Refugees Committee: Led by Fridtjof Nansen; assisted hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and prisoners of war to return home or resettle using