1. IMPACT OF THE WAR Evaluating the Treaty of Versailles

2. DOMESTIC CONSEQUENCES - GERMANY  Total destabilization of Germany political and economically  Had caused serious inflation and shortages  Serious crisis in 1923  Trying to cover war debts  Can’t, France and Belgium occupy  Had lost key industrial areas  Kaiser Wilhelm II had left, been replaced by democratic politicians  Both right and left forming there  Nationalists blamed the politicians for giving up on the war, thought they could have fought on

3. DOMESTIC CONSEQUENCES - BRITAIN  Obvious loss of life  Influence reduced globally  Financial weakness explains rapid demobilization  Accepts naval parity at Washington Naval Conference  Trying to avoid military conflicts in 20s and 30s  State control of economy ends  Welfare reforms, pensions, health, education, all accelerated  Unemployment skyrockets, decline in production, lost markets

4. DOMESTIC CONSEQUENCES - ITALY  Major political and social divisions, exact opposite of what they’d hoped for  Fascists under Mussolini criticized the liberals for their handling of the war  Inflation and food shortages, prices rise, Italy had borrowed hugely  Growing unrest in working class, demonstrations led to unionism and socialism

5. POLITICS IN ITALY  During the war Liberals had promised reforms of male suffrage and proportional representation  Methods had fallen out of style, lobbying  Socialists and Catholics became a major factor  All three could not work together  Result was short, coalition governments  Italians begin to distrust government  1921 Rise of Fascists, Nationalists  Furious at the Treaty of Versailles  Thought they had been given too little  Hated Vittorio Orlando for his role at Paris  Did not get Fiume or Dalmatia  Mutilated victory, won the war, lost the peace

6. ITALIAN ECONOMIC CRISIS  Prices increased, hit those with fixed incomes,  Soldiers found no jobs  Strict restrictions on immigration to the USA  Fears of radicalism  Radical socialists hoped to copy Russia’s revolution  Upper class fearful  Peasants forming unions  Increase in militancy  War had meant people turned to violence  Clashes between Fascists and Socialists ugly

7. RISE OF FASCISM IN ITALY  Mussolini and Fascists exploited fears of the upper class towards a socialist revolution  Key reason for success in 1921 elections  Very middle-class organization, did not like the upper classes, but were scared of subversion from below  Mussolini becomes Prime Minister

8. INTERNATIONAL CONSEQUENCES  Total war ensured everyone was affected  Felt globally  Total cost $330 billion  Economies struggled to recover  Huge debts, high inflation  US went from debtor to creditor  Huge role after the war  All major European nations own money  Expanded into Latin America, like Japan with Asia

10. ON TO WORLD WAR II?  Wilson had called it “the war to end all wars”  “This is not peace. This is armistice for 20 years.” – Ferdinand Foch  Predicting war of German revenge  French thought they should be treated more harshly  Wanted Rhineland and Saarland taken

11. COLLAPSE OF FOUR GREAT EMPIRES  Shattered the old balance of power for Austria-Hungary, Germany and Russia  All changed political systems  Turkey lost extensive land in North Africa and Middle East  Republic as well  New states  Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Yugoslavia  All unable to stand up to Hitler and Stalin

13. CREATION OF NATIONALIST MOVEMENT IN GERMANY  Versailles created a desire for revenge  Hitler played on it combined with his radical ideas  Germans saw it as harsh, unfair and inconsistent  Lost 13 percent of territory  All overseas colonies  Especially hurt by Poland and ban on union with Austria  Reparations higher than they can pay  Rejected war guilt clause  National pride affected by demilitarization mandate

14. DESTABILIZATION OF GERMANY  Hyper-inflation in Germany, printing money to pay debts  Dawes Plan provided help from the US  1929 Great Depression hit Germany harder than US  Economy too fragile  May have been the reason for Hitler’s rise  Could have raised taxes  1932 was too much, Nazis in

15. BOUNDARY DISPUTES  Germany lost German speaking peoples in Czechoslovakia, Poland and Austria  Made Hitler’s claims to them later somewhat legitimate  Other border disputes Poland versus Hungary  Italy resentful of not receiving territory  Nationalistic uprising in Turkey led to war with Greece

16. BRITISH AND FRENCH RELUCTANCE  Both weakened financially by the war and so disarmed  Britain had believed Versailles had been too harsh  Would appease Hitler throughout 1930s  France did not receive 100 percent support from America, so Britain would not participate in any action either  Thought they could not stand up to them on their own  Focused on defense, Maginot Line

17. FAILURE OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS  Flawed from the outset  Created to avoid another war  France had wanted it to be a military alliance  Britain had hoped it would only be democracies  US Senate opposed joining the League despite it being Wilson’s suggestion  Without US, Britain and France were always unwilling to act  US turns to isolationism, helped Germany and Japan