Peacekeeping

• French and Brits believed Germany was responsible for WW1

• Many felt Germany should pay for damage

• All involved countries except USA were suffering economically & industrially

• Millions of men had been killed or injured

• Total of British & French casualties was over 9 million

• Food & medicine shortages

• French & Belgian towns & villages were annihilated

• Illness & disease were rampant e.g. Spanish flu

• Idealist

• Aimed to build a more peaceful world from WW1

• Refused to cancel debt owed by Brits & allies so they would accept his ideas

• Believed Germany should be punished but the treaty should not be too harsh

• Thought if Germany was treated harshly they would recover & want revenge

• Wanted to strengthen democracy so people wouldn’t let leaders start war

• Believed countries should work together to achieve peace

• January 1918 he published his Fourteen Points

• 14th point was the proposal of the League of Nations

• Believed in self-determination

• Wanted people of eastern Europe to rule themselves not part of Austria-Hungary

No secret treaties, free access to the seas in peacetime or wartime, free trade between countries, all countries to work towards disarmament, colonies to have a say in their own future, German troops to leave Russia, independence for Belgium, France to regain Alsace-Lorraine, frontier between Austria and Italy to be adjusted, self-determination for the peoples of eastern Europe, Serbia to have access to the sea, self-determination for the people in the Turkish Empire, Poland to become an independent state with access to the sea, League of Nations to be set up

• Took place in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles

• 32 countries represented - no one from defeated countries was invited

• 5 treaties drawn up - Treaty of Versailles & others to deal with their allies

• Germany’s treaty decided by ‘Big Three’: Clemenceau, Lloyd-George and Wilson

• ‘Big 3’ supported by diplomats and advisors, but were ignored

• ‘Big 3’ disagreed a lot and relations got worse throughout the conference

• By March 1919 it looked like the conference would break up

• 25.3.1919, LG > Fontainebleau Memorandum, got C to agree to LoN & lenient ToV

• LG persuaded W to agree to War Guilt Clause.

• Land, industry and people had suffered enormously

• ⅔ of the French army had been killed or injured

• France saw Germany as very powerful and a serious threat

• France became more and more threatened by Germany since 1870

• France had had 2 wars with Germany - Franco-Prussian war & WW1 - in 44 years

• Germany’s land and industry was not as damaged as France’s

• France’s population (45 million) was declining compared to Germany (75 million)

• Had seen France invaded twice by Germans - 1870 & 1914

• He saw the treaty as a chance to cripple Germany so no chance of future invasion

• Poincaré wanted Germany broken up into states - Brits & French wouldn’t agree

• Realist

• Had to show awareness of public opinion

• Demanded to weaken Germany as much as possible

• Wanted Germany to be punished but not too harshly

• Wanted Germany to lose navy & colonies because they threatened British Empire

• Didn’t want Germany to seek revenge and start another war

• Keen for Britain and Germany to start trading again

• Before war, Germany was Britain’s second biggest trade partner

• German trade meant more jobs for British people

• Had pressure of British people for a harsh treaty

• Had won the 1918 election by promising to ‘make Germany pay’

• To end war by creating a League of Nations based on his Fourteen Points

• To ensure Germany was not destroyed

• Not to blame Germany for the war - he hated the Guilt Clause

• Revenge and to punish Germany.

• To return Alsace-Lorraine to France.

• No League of Nations.

• An independent Rhineland.

• Huge reparations.

• To disband the German army so that Germany would never be strong enough to attack France again.

• A 'just' peace that would be tough enough to please the electors who wanted to 'make Germany pay', but would leave Germany strong enough to trade.

• Land for Britain's empire.

• To safeguard Britain's naval supremacy.

1. 30,000 volunteers, no navy

2. Reparations agreed, but never set

3. Austro-Hungarian empire dismantled, Tyrol lost to Italy

4. Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania formed

Afterwards: Austria went bankrupt before the amount of reparations could be set.

1. 35,000 volunteers, three patrol boats

2. 200 million gold crowns in reparations

3. The Austro-Hungarian empire was dismantled

4. Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania formed

Afterwards: Hungary could not pay the reparations, so its payments were suspended.

1. 20,000 volunteers, four torpedo boats, no air force

2. 2.25 billion francs in reparations

3. Land to Yugoslavia, Romania and Greece

Afterwards: Bulgaria paid its reparations.

1. 50,000 soldiers, seven sailboats and six torpedo boats

2. No reparations set

3. Smyrna and East Thrace to Greece, Rhodes to Italy

4. Kurdistan, Armenia, Hejaz (Arabia). Iraq and Palestine became British mandates. Syria became a French mandate

Afterwards: Turkish nationalists, led by Kemel Attaturk, rebelled and rejected the treaty.

1. 100,000 soldiers, six battleships, no airforce

2. 132 billion gold marks to be paid in reparations

3. Posen, Polish corridor, Alsace-Lorraine, all colonies

4. Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania

Afterwards: The Dawes and Young Plans rescheduled Germany's payments.

• C clashed w/W as US had not suffered like France

• C hated W’s generous attitude towards Germany

• They disagreed over what to do w/Rhineland & Saar coalfields

• W gave in in return for his wishes for eastern Europe > affected 4 treaties

• LG and C not keen on self-determination

• C clashed w/LG because LG didn’t want to treat Germany too harshly

• C felt Brits happy to treat Germany fairly in EU, where France most threatened

• Less happy to let Germany keep navy & colonies > threat to Britain

• W & LG didn’t agree because LG didn’t like 2nd of 14 points (access to sea)

• W’s views on self-determination threatened British government

  • British Empire ruled millions across globe from London

Diktat - Germany had no say & if they didn’t sign, allies would re-start war

• G’s overseas empire (cause of bad relations between B & G pre-war) taken

• Former G colonies > mandates controlled by LoN (power to rule them)

• LoN gave responsibility to leading members (F & B ruled them)

• G’s EU borders had been extensive > reduced considerably

• G forbidden from uniting w/former ally Austria

• Size and power of G’s army concerned all power, especially F

• ToV restricted army to a level well below what they had been before war:

  • Army limited to 100,000

  • Conscription banned - volunteers only

  • Not allowed armoured vehicles, submarines or aircraft

  • Navy could build only 6 battleships

Rhineland (border area between G & F) demilitarised

• G believed that the War Guilt clause (article 231) was extremely harsh

• G had to accept blame for starting the war

• G had to pay reparations to allies (who decided this) for damage

• Exact figure agreed in 1921 - set at £6.6 billion

• If terms of payments hadn’t changed, G would’ve finished paying in 1984

• After WW1, all defeated nations were assigned a peace treaty

• Austro-Hungarian Empire split up

• New nations e.g. Czechoslovakia created

• Separate treaties for Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria & Turkey

• ToV had the biggest impact on EU & events of decades to come

• Terms of ToV announced on 7.05.1919 > Germany lost:

  • 10% of its land, all its overseas colonies, 12.5% of its population, 16% of its coalfields, almost 50% of its iron & steel industry

• G didn’t think they’d started WW1, nor did they think they’d lost it

• 1919 many Gs not aware of how bad G’s military situation was at the end

• Gs believed G government agreed to ceasefire, so G should’ve been at PPC

• Angry that no G reps. at talks & forced to accept harsh treaty

• At 1st, new government refused to sign & G navy sank own ships in protest

• Looked like war could have broken out again

• Ebert asked Hindenburg, “G couldn’t win”, “soldier rather die fighting”

• Ebert reluctantly agreed to accept ToV terms & signed it on 28.06.1919

• War guilt clause was particularly hated - Gs felt blame should be shared

• Fact that G had to pay for all damage and take blame made things worse

• G economy in tatters

• People had little food

• Gs feared reparations payments would cripple them

• Little sympathy for them among former enemies

• G didn’t pay in 1922-1923, so F & B took over the Ruhr (G’s main industrial area)

• Completely legal under the treaty

• War guilt clause was particularly hated - Gs felt blame should be shared

• Fact that G had to pay for all damage and take blame made things worse

• G economy in tatters

• People had little food

• Gs feared reparations payments would cripple them

• Little sympathy for them among former enemies

• G didn’t pay in 1922-1923, so F & B took over the Ruhr (G’s main industrial area)

• Completely legal under the treaty

• Loss of territory > massive blow to G pride & economy

• Saar & Upper Silesia > important industrial areas

• G lost land, B & F increased empires controlled G & T territory in A & ME

• Loss of territory > massive blow to G pride & economy

• Saar & Upper Silesia > important industrial areas

• G lost land, B & F increased empires controlled G & T territory in A & ME

• Most Gs thought treatment of G was not in line w/14 points

• S-D given to countries like Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania…

• G-speaking peoples split up by terms forbidding anschluss w/Austria

• Some shoved into new countries e.g. Czechoslovakia, ruled by non-Gs

• G insulted by not being invited to join LoN

• Gs complained but no one listened

• Many people thought they were operating a double standard

• G wanted to be treated fairer - treated Russia harshly in Brest-Litovsk

• Versailles was less harsh than Brest-Litovsk

• G’s economic problems were partly self-inflicted

• Other states raised taxes to pay for the war

• Kaiser’s gov. was going to pay debts via reparations from defeated states

• ToV was blamed for major problems e.g. hyperinflation, a revolution, strikes

• It was bitterly  criticised by Gs

• Even Big Three were unhappy with it:

  • C - not harsh enough for F - 1920 he was voted out in general election

  • Bs pleased w/ToV, but LG said ToV was ‘a great pity’ & war would happen

  • W - very disappointed - said if he were a G he wouldn’t have signed it

• American Congress even refused to approve the treaty

• WW wanted peace settlement to be based on 14 Points

• GC wanted tougher treaty w/punishment & guarantees G wouldn’t invade FR again

• DLG reflect GB pub. opinion (revenge), knew G needed to recover to trade w/GB

• Versailles Settlement = diktat - G reps. had to sign

• G lost territory & had restrictions on armed forces

• G forced to accept war guilt & pay reps.

• Gs hated treaty terms - Allies not entirely satisfied either

• Settlement left bitterness to fester throughout 1930s, causing probs.