Treaty of Versailles
&
Interwar Period
Thomas Woodrow Wilson
Fourteen Points
The idealism expressed in them was widely
acclaimed
Gave Wilson a position of moral leadership
among the Allied leaders
In order to secure support of his 14th, and most
important, point, which called for the creating of
an "association of nations," Wilson was
compelled to abandon his insistence upon the
acceptance of his full program
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Thomas Woodrow Wilson
Fourteen Points
14 Points were for political and economic
reconstruction
1. abolition of secret diplomacy by open convenants
2. freedom of the seas in peace and war
3. removal of international trade barriers wherever
possible and establishment of an equality of trade
conditions
4. reduction of armaments
5. adjustment of colonial disputes consistent with
the interests of both the controlling government
and the colonial population
6. evacuation of Russian territory, with selfdetermination
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7. evacuation and restoration of Belgium
8. evacuation and restoration of French
territory, including Alsace-Lorraine
9. readjustment of Italian frontiers along
clearly recognizable lines of nationality
10. autonomy for the peoples of AustriaHungary
11. ?
12. ?
13. ?
14. ?
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Treaty of Versailles
Peace treaty signed (June 28, 1918) at the end
of World War I between Germany and the Allies
 Paris Peace Conference was the making of the
Treaty of Versailles, which opened on Jan. 18,
1919
 Represented were 27 countries, including the
U. S., Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan
 Neither the German Republic, which had
replaced the imperial German government at
the end of the war, nor Soviet Russia was
invited to attend the conference
 Germany signed only under duress
 The U.S. signed but failed to ratify the treaty,
negotiating instead the separate Treaty of
Berlin with Germany (signed on Aug. 25, 1921)

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Treaty of Versailles
 Germany
also lost its entire colonial
empire
 Germany lost some 71,000 sq km or 13
percent of its European domain
 Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France
 Saar Basin was placed under a League of
Nations commission for 15 years
 recognized Danzig as a free city
administered under the League of Nations
but subject to Polish jurisdiction in regard
to customs and foreign relations
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 Germany
was required to abolish
compulsory military service
 to reduce its army to 100,000
 to demilitarize all the territory on the left
bank of the Rhine River
 to stop all importation, exportation, and
nearly all production of war material
 to limit its navy to 24 ships, with no
submarines, the naval personnel not to
exceed 15,000
 to abandon all military and naval
aviation by Oct. 1, 1919
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Germany was required to make extensive
financial reparation
 Difficulty arose in collecting payment which was
made in the form of
– Money, Ships, trains, livestock, and natural
resources
 War-guilt clause stating that Germany accepted
sole responsibility for causing the war
 This aroused intense nationalist bitterness in
Germany
 The treaty also required provisional payments
in kind and cash of 20 billion gold marks ($5
billion)
 The Reparations Commission subsequently
made a total assessment of 132 billion gold
marks ($33 billion), which the Germans
accepted only under duress
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
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The Versailles Treaty Negatives
/
Positives






A dictated peace (diktat). 
Reparations were
exorbitant ($33 B).

Artificial boundaries
separating German people.

Polish corridor.
Took away

colonies/resources
Some nationalities became
forcefully separated

Germany was able to pay
the amount asked: needed
access to foreign markets.
Created new states that did
reflect national autonomy.
Rebirth of Poland.
International body: The
League of Nations
Captive peoples were freed.
No other treaty ever
released so many subject
races from domination of
oppressive empires
Major weapons were
eliminated in defeated
nations
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Estimated Costs of the
First World War (in US Dollars)
Total for the Allied Nations $125 690 500 000
Total for the Central Powers
$60 644 000 000
Grand Total $186 300 500 000
This total equals to costs approximately
$125 000 000 for each day of the war and
only includes the direct costs of conducting
the war.
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 Germany
was required by the Treaty of
Versailles to pay reparations due it’s “moral
guilt” in initiating the First World War. The
commission established by the terms of the
treaty set the total payment of reparations
at:
$33 000 000 000 (US)
 The
commission also determined that this
amount of money was to be divided among
the victorious Allied nations as follows:



France: 52%
British Empire: 22%
Italy: 10%


Belgium: 8%
Other Nations: 8%
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League Of Nations





International alliance for the preservation of
peace, with headquarters at Geneva
League existed from 1920 to 1946
First meeting was held in Geneva, on Nov. 15,
1920, with 42 nations represented
Last meeting was held on April 8, 1946
During the last meeting, the league was
superseded by the UN
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



During the league's 26 years, a total of 63
nations belonged at one time or another
President Woodrow Wilson presented a
plan for a general association of nations
The plan formed the basis of the Covenant
of the League of Nations, the 26 articles
that served as operating rules for the
league
The covenant was formulated as part of
the Treaty of Versailles
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



Although President Wilson was a member of
the committee that drafted the covenant
U.S. Senate never ratified the covenant
because of Article X: all members preserve
the territorial independence of all other
members, even to joint action against
aggression
During the next two decades, American
diplomats encouraged the league's activities
and attended its meetings unofficially, but the
U.S. never became a member
The efficacy of the league was considerably
lessened without USA as a member
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The first meeting of the Assembly in 1920
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



One important activity of the league was
supervision of the former Germany and Turkey
colonies/territories
Territories were awarded to league members in
the form of mandates
Mandated territories were given different
degrees of independence, in accordance with
their stage of development, their geographic
situation, and their economic status
A new world concept had prompted the
league's inception, that of collective security
against the "criminal" threat of war
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


Unfortunately for the fate of the world, the
league rarely implemented its available
resources to achieve this goal
League may be credited with certain social
achievements such as curbing international
traffic in narcotics and prostitution, aiding
refugees of World War I, and surveying and
improving world health and labor conditions
In the area of preserving peace, the league had
some minor successes, including settlement of
disputes between Finland and Sweden over the
Aland Islands in 1921 and between Greece and
Bulgaria over their mutual border in 1925
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



Although Germany joined the league in 1926,
the National Socialist government (Nazi
Regime) withdrew in 1933
Japan also withdrew in 1933, after Japanese
attacks on China were condemned by the
league
The league failed to end the war between
Bolivia and Paraguay over the Gran Chaco
In 1935,
between 1932 and 1935
Emperor Haile
Selassie of
The league failed to stop
Ethiopia
condemns the
Italian
the Italian conquest of
invasion of
Abyssinia in
Ethiopia begun in 1935
his address to
the League.
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



Finally, the league was powerless to prevent
the events in Europe that led to World War II
The USSR, a member since 1934, was
expelled following the Soviet attack on Finland
in 1939
In 1940 the secretariat in Geneva was reduced
to a skeleton staff, and several small service
units were moved to Canada and the U.S.
In 1946 the league voted to effect its own
dissolution, whereupon much of its property
and organization were transferred to the UN.
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


Never truly effective as a peacekeeping
organization
Lasting importance of the League of
Nations it provided the groundwork for the
UN
The United Nations formed after World
War II, not only profited by the mistakes
of the League of Nations but borrowed
much of the organizational machinery of
the league
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Besides Manchuria & Abyssinia,
Other L of N Actions
Date Countries Detail Result Success
1920
Finland & Sweden
Aaland
Island
1920-21
Poland & Germany
Silesia
1923
Italy & Greece
Corfu
1924-25
Turkey & Iraq
Mosul
1925
Greece & Bulgaria
Border
dispute
Finland gets
island, local
gov’t
Pleb. Silesia
was divided
Greece paid
compensatio
n to Italy
Stayed in Br.
Mandate of
Iraq
L of N
condemned
Greece
Yes
Ques.
Yes
Ques.
Yes
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L of N Compared/Contrasted to UN







Contained charters
Collective Action
Designed to promote peace
Assemblies
Council
Secretariat
Mandate commission and
Trusteeship commission



No human rights in
L of N
League’s Council
members had no veto
power, but unanimity
was needed.
No commission to
supervise a free zone
in UN
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
International Courts
of Justice are same



US a member of UN
UN is more int’l
Headquarters based
in New York, L of N
was in Geneva.
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