Was the Treaty of Versailles fair?

The Treaty of Versailles, between the Allies and Germany, was signed in June 1919 It was the most complicated, and had the harshest conditions One of the problems with the Treaty was that the various Allies who came to discuss it had widely different aims Most importantly, Germany was left out of the discussions and made to take the whole blame

What did the ‘Big Three’ want?

Was the Treaty of Versailles fair? The Fourteen Points Drawn up by President Wilson before USA entered the war Points 1-5: dealt with international relations Points 6-8: dealt with Germany’s land gains during the war Points 9-14: dealt with the specific issues of self- determination raised by World War I

Was the Treaty of Versailles fair? Making Compromises The Treaty was only agreed with everyone making compromises  Wilson had to compromise on decision-making process as it would be too slow for all nations to take part in all decision- making Council of Four  Clemenceau, Wilson, Lloyd George and Orlando to meet daily to make decisions Other countries divided into committees that advised the Council

Was the Treaty of Versailles fair? Secret Treaties During the war, Britain and France made secret treaties to pull other countries into the war  The countries now wanted what had been promised to them  This meant giving German colonies to them This went against Point 5 of the Fourteen Points and broke the principle of self-determination While not all the promises were honored, many of them were

Was the Treaty of Versailles fair? Early self-determination Austro-Hungarian and Turkish Empires begun collapse at end of the war  Some areas of western Europe and the Balkans decided to become independent states States that announced independence:  Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia The Treaty might shift the borders of these new states; it could not tell them to break up

Was the Treaty of Versailles fair? US isolation Wilson badly wanted USA to be a part of the League and to be involved in international politics However, most of the US senate were in favour of isolationism  Did not want to risk making treaties with European countries and getting involved in their politics  Feared it would lead to another war In the end, USA refused to join the League

What were the terms of the Treaty of Versailles? Territorial terms

What were the terms of the Treaty of Versailles? Military terms The German army was restricted to 100,000 men and conscription was not allowed Its navy was restricted to 15,000 men, six battleships and some smaller ships It could not have any submarines, tanks or planes It had to accept full blame for the war under the war guilt clause

Economic terms Germany had to pay reparations – money to the Allies for war damage In 1921, the reparations were set at £6,650 million What were the terms of the Treaty of Versailles?

Other treaties signed There were other treaties that were signed between the Allies and the defeated countries – Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey and Hungary All of the treaties had common elements:  The losing country had land taken away  The losing country had military restrictions placed it  The losing country had to agree to pay reparations Allies insisted that the most important aim of the treaties was to make sure that war never broke out on such a scale again

How did Germany react to the Treaty? Germany was not allowed to take part in the peace negotiations and was forced to accept all the terms of the Treaty Saw the Treaty as a ‘Diktat’ – a piece of dictation Count Ulrich, the new foreign minister, was unwilling to sign the Treaty, hence he resigned; Weimar government sent another delegate to sign it Felt they could break the Treaty since it had been forced on them

How did the League of Nations bring hope?

The League of Nations Set up as part of the Treaty of Versailles The hope was that a truly international organisation would be able to maintain world peace and security by acting together to prevent war Idea of ‘collective security’ was one that people placed a lot of faith in after the war

What were the aims of the League?

What were the strengths of the League? Most successful when dealing with social and health issues worldwide  Improved working conditions through the International Labour Organisation  Set up commissions that improved living conditions in poorer countries  Targeted the treatment of specific diseases – significantly reduced outbreaks of leprosy worldwide

What were the weaknesses of the League? Attitudes to the League Signing the peace treaties at the end of the war meant accepting the League  Treaties were unpopular and so the League was affected by this unpopularity Countries that agreed to the League did not always take it seriously  Britain and France saw the League as a place to discuss things  Since USA had insisted on the League, but was not a member, many nations did not take the League seriously

Membership Not an organisation of all nations  USA did not join  Germany, Austria and Hungary not allowed to join  Exclusion of defeated nations in WWI did not make it seem very focused on peace Little control over members  Possible for people to join and leave the League easily  Resulted in a constant shift of member states  Nations left when they felt the League was not helping them or objected to their actions

Mandates Mandate: the legal right to govern under the control of the League League took over most of Germany’s old colonies  Allowed different member nations govern them under mandates  Aim: to move the countries towards self-government as soon as possible  But by 1939, none of these areas were self-governing  Countries that had been in favour of the League now turned against it – they felt it had let them down

Difficulties in resolving disputes League’s articles stressed the need for cooperation between nations Nations expected to accept League’s decisions in disputes  Members could punish other members for not obeying the League by applying sanctions  Could also ask members to contribute troops to an international fighting force to keep peace  However, members were very unwilling to do so Authoritarian regimes less willing to listen to League  Knowing that League would not resort to force gave them boldness to expand by conquest

Political successes and failures of the League

How far did hopes for disarmament succeed?

Collective or individual security? Disarmament: the dismantling of armies and breaking up of weapons, putting oneself in the position where war is not possible A key part of collective security – if nations cut down their weapons, the world would be safer Nations did care about collective security, but their main focus was the individual security of their nation Big problem: trust

Reasons for not disarming

German disarmament A League of Nations commission was to supervise the disarmament Germany disarmed slowly and took advantage of loopholes in the Treaty Allowed only an army of 100,000 troops  However, the government was secretly training people to be ordinary soldiers

Disarming the rest of the world: naval disarmament Difficult to get nations to agree to limit their navies Targets were set by agreeing to a ration of shipbuilding between nations, to keep the number of ships built by each nation in balance Significant tensions between USA and Japan, and Italy and France By 1939 some targets had been set:  Same proportions were applied to smaller warships  Everyone could build submarines, but at a low level

Disarming the rest of the world: military disarmament In 1923, a Treaty of Mutual Assistance was suggested  Countries would limit their arms, but the League would come to their defence if they were attacked  Few countries agreed to it League decided to work toward military disarmament via agreements on not going to war  Geneva Protocol (1924): nations would bring disputes to arbitration at the League and not go to war while this was going on  Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928): proposed no war over next five years except in self-defence

How were reconstruction and recovery worked out?

What hindered recovery and reconstruction?

Germany – a special case? Insisted that the reparations set by the Treaty made Germany’s economic problems worse than the rest of Europe Between 1919 and 1923, the economic situation in Germany was very bad Failed to make reparation payments, so France invaded the Ruhr  Strikes that followed in the Ruhr by German workers made the economic situation worse

Stresemann’s reforms in Germany In August 1923, Gustav Stresemann became chancellor, then foreign minister of Germany. He improved the economy by:  Introducing a new currency – the Rentenmark  Reducing government spending  Encouraging workers in the Ruhr, Germany’s most industrialised area, to go back and work properly (France occupied the Ruhr in 1923; the workers had responded by striking or working slowly)

Back into Europe? Stresemann managed to improve Germany’s relationships with other countries  Got the rest of the world to talk about reducing reparations, not just demand them Steps toward better relations:  Locarno Pact (1925) - Germany, Britain and France agreed to respect each others’ borders  Germany joined the League of Nations in 1926  Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)

Pacts with other countries The Dawes Plan, 1924 (drawn up by Parker Gilbert)  Germany was to pay less money  The USA would lend Germany money  French troops would leave the Ruhr  Germany would give Gilbert several million pounds of gold which was to be invested The Young Plan, 1929  German reparations were cut to a quarter of original amount  Gave Germany 59 more years to make payments

Pacts with other countries Despite these measures, Germany still did not meet the requirements of the Plan  By 1932, it had made only a small payment Germany had borrowed over £4,000 million and its repayments amounted to only £370 million  Some surplus had gone into economic recovery plans  A significant amount went into secret rearming By mid-1930s, the Young Plan was abandoned

Summary