Why did Germany agree to sign the Treaty?

Allies naval blockade still
in place, occupation of
Rhineland

Article 231

Reparations
Redrawn map of Germany
France’s goals – keep Germany too weak
to ever threaten France again

France’s industrial
region devastated by
war

France had borrowed
millions from the U.S.

Seeking security
“buffer zone”
Great Britain’s goals –
punish, but let rebuild

John Maynard Keynes – The
Economic Consequences of the
Peace

Germany was Britain’s
second-best market

No navy!
U.S. (Woody Wilson) – 14 Points

Self-determination

League of Nations
Washington Naval Conference, 1921-’22

Five Powers Treaty – limited tonnage of naval vessels, using
a ratio system




U.S. and United Kingdom– 500,000 tons
Japan – 300,000 tons
France and Italy – 175,000 tons
U.S. and U.K. needed navies in Atlantic and Pacific, others
did not
Allied Reparations Commission

1921 – Germany would
pay 132 billion marks
annually ($33 million)

1922 – no payment
made, announced 3year moratorium

Britain agreed, France
did not
Here we go again!

France responds by
occupying Ruhr River
Valley (80% of German coal
and steel manufacturing)

German govt. orders
workers in Ruhr to stop
working and passively rest

French seal off entire
Rhineland

Most of 1923 – stand-off
Consequences

Germany begins
experiencing massive
inflation

French economy
suffered due to
expense of
occupation of
German territory and
no payments
The Dawes Plan – 1924

Charles Dawes,
American banker

German reparations
reduced

U.S. banks loan money
to Germany, Germany
pays reparations to U.K.
and France, which repay
debts to U.S.

Germany paid 1.3 billion
in ‘27 and ‘28
“Spirit of Locarno”

1925 – agreements
signed at Locarno,
Switzerland
 Germany and
France agree on
borders
 Great Britain and
Italy agree to
fight against
either Germany
or France if either
invades the other
Kellogg-Briand Pact - 1928

“outlawed” war as a
tool of foreign policy

Only acceptable use
was for defensive
purposes

62 nations signed
Isolationism

Belief that the U.S.
should not have gotten
into the Great War, and
that we should return
to minding our own
business