Peace settlements (1919-1923):
WW1: 1914-18
Central Powers: Germany, Austro-Hungarian, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire
The Allies/Entente Powers: France, UK, Russia, US, Italy, Japan
WW2: 1939-45
The Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, and Japan
The Allied Powers/Big Four: US, UK, USSR, China
Many believed peace treaties would based on U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s
Fourteen Points outlined during WW1 for a postwar peace settlement.
But too open-ended, imprecise, and subjective to differing interpretations
“self-determination” and “democracy” were not in the 14 points but were both seen
to be the foundation Wilson wanted and encouraged nationalist aspirations in
Europe
Germany had humiliated Russia in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918)
recognized the independence of Ukraine, Georgia, Finland
gave up Poland and the Baltic states to Germany, Austria-Hungary (39%
population)
ceded Kars, Ardahan, Batum to Turkey
Lenin bitterly called the settlement “that abyss of defeat, dismemberment,
enslavement and humiliation.”
Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Ottomans humiliated Rumania in the Treaty of
Bucharest (1918)
return southern Dobruja to Bulgaria
give Austria-Hungary control of the passes in the Carpathian Mountains
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lease oil wells to Germany for 90 years
Treaty of Versailles, 1919
Perspective: Ferdinand Foch, 1919 (French military theorist and Commander in WW1):
“This is not peace. It is an armistice for 20 years.”
Perspective: Kershaw, “The Versailles Treaty and the Paris Peace Conference, which
were meant to make future wars impossible, did just the opposite. ”
Context:
6/28/1919 in the Palace of Versailles (France) six months after the armistice that
ended the actual fighting (WW1)
Ended war between Germany and most Allied Powers
Germany was not allowed to participate but was forced to sign the final treaty
Other Central Powers signed different treaties with the Allies
Main point: Article 231 (opening article) “War Guilt clause”-"The Allied and
Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of
Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and
Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a
consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her
allies.”
Aim - Causes
Big Four (France, Italy, UK, US) united: agreed to make Germany accept its
responsibility for the war (e.g. attacked France twice in 40 years, invaded neutral
Belgium, committed atrocities against civilians)
Main concerns:
Punishment for the high costs of WWI
Stop Germany from ever being able to start another European war
However: Germany was economically important to Europe
Britain: soft punishment (protect economy, trade)
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France: wanted harsh crushing punishments, but the danger of the spread
of Bolshevism
Issues - Significances
Territory - Germany to lose 13% of European territory
Resulting in the loss of 10% of its population
Including rich agricultural and industrial regions
Shandong to Japanese-21 demands
Alsace-Lorraine to France
rich agriculture
All colonies lost
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania gained from Russia in Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
now lost
“Mandates” governed by LON, given to victorious countries (Tanzania,
Cameroon, Togo to Britain)
Military
Proud German army from 4.5 Million soldiers to 100,000
conscription barred
Ruhr/Rhineland to France and Belgium: demilitarized, lost essence of capitaliron ore coal, agricultural land
Navy reduced to 15,000 men – no submarines
Banned all air force
Economy - Article 231: War Guilt Clause – that Germany had caused WWI and so
was responsible for all damages
Legally Germany had to pay reparations for the war damages 6.6 million
pounds
1921 reparations set at 132 Billion Gold Marks (Gold Marks meant that it was a
fixed currency not affected by inflation)
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With territories lost including industrial land and raw materials – reparations
more difficult to pay
Responses – consequences (on Germany)
Germany: Germany was not treated fairly
Perspective: Deutsche Zeitung (German News on the day the Treaty was signed)
"Today...the disgraceful Treaty is being signed...The German people will... reconquer the
place among the nations to which it is entitled.”
Economic terms: unemployment, inflation, damaging but fixable (Charles G. DawesThe Dawes Plan 1924)
Real damage = political and psychological: national pride and prestige damaged
immense sense of humiliation, resentment
Germans did not recognize their military defeated → Germans in shock and did not
accept when the treaty was announced
Germany was undestroyed after 4 years of war
no allied troops had stood on German land at the armistice (German soldiers
still occupied much of Belgium)
Radical right in Germany (Ludendorff and Hindenburg): German army was
undefeated
= military defeat not obvious, ambiguous
Treaty was denounced as a ‘Dictat’ – a dictated peace
Social Division: “Stabbed in the Back”
Resent the Weimar Republic’s Party (the Socialists) for signing the armistice
Right: the socialist strikes lost the war, not the German army
Result: Hitler promised to overturn it→Future WW2
Rise of the paramilitary group in Freikorps (Nazi SA)
1/4 of Germans returning officers + unemployed returning soldiers + youth
too young to fight in WWI
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Extremely violent, anti-Bolshevik (communist) and anti-Semitic (Jewish
socialists attracted by leftwing ideology of social equality)
Longed for a cause worth fighting and dying for
Felt that SOCIALISTS HAD LOST THE WAR
“November Criminals”: factory strikes and the signing armistice
wanted REVENGE
Allied Powers: Germany was not weakened enough
Perspective: W. Carr (British historian), "Severe as the Treaty seemed to many
Germans, it should be remembered that Germany might have fared much worse...if
Clemenceau had had his way.”
The terms were not as harsh as German to Russai in Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918
Not harsh enough for French public opinion
Germany was helpless, but a wounded giants
Rise of other unsatisfied authoritarian states Italy:
Perspective: Richard J. Evans "Mussolini's rise to power was a direct result of the chaos
and disillusionment that followed World War I."
The treaty renewed the sense of national humiliation
Before WWI:
Defeat in Ethiopia (over 5,000 Italian troops lost)
During WWI:
Many military defeats (11-12% of all troops died)
Hardships for the civilians (1/2 million dead)
Majority of wounded, disabled, and incapacitated
Repression on civilians caused further resentment toward the government
After WWI:
No real gain at Versailles after victory (”mutilated victory”)
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Feels that European countries did not respect them
Extreme pressures on the economy —> further social divisions & legitimacy
of the political system as “mutilated victory” = sacrifices had not been worth
it
Created extreme nationalism, need for a more aggressive foreign policy →1939
Pact of Steel Rome-Berlin Axis agreement to combat the Allied Powers
Treaty of Neuilly, 1919
Perspective: Lloyd George (British PM),
"We want a peace [that] will be just, but not vindictive”
"We want a stern peace...but the severity must be...for justice (not vengeance)”
"We want to protect the future against a repetition of the horrors of this war.”
Context:
11/27/1919 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.
Between Bulgaria and the victorious Allied powers
Bulgaria – Before WWI -suffered heavy losses in Balkan Wars (1912-13)
lost many of its territories
Joined the Central Powers 1915 due to promises of regaining these lost territories
Armies eventually eliminated, signed an armistice to prevent being occupied
led to traditional political parties losing popularity
left-wing movements such as communism and socialism increased
exponentially
the biggest increase in popularity: People's Agrarian Union (leader against the
war)\
Attend the versailles conference but exclusively, not allowed to access any area no
info
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terms of Neuilly were presented and agreed
Aims - causes
Big Four wanted to strengthen allies and potential future allies from the newly
formed countries that emerged from the Austria-Hungarian Empire
Mainly the cession of Bulgarian territory to the nations damaged by the German
attacks
Issues – significances
Territory
significant loss of Bulgarian lands
Aegean coastline to Greece (won in the Balkan War 1913)
almost all Macedonian territory to the new state Yugoslavia
return captured Romanian land
Military
army reduced to 20,000 troops
military police to 10,000
border patrol to 3,000
four torpedo boats
no air force
Economy
forced to pay 2.25 billion gold francs
and send cattle and coal as payments
Responses - consequences
Perspective: Harold Nicolson (British diplomat) "...we were very stupid men...the treaties
imposed upon our enemies were neither just nor wise.”
Perspective: Jutta Rudiger (a German woman living in the Ruhr during the French
occupation) "There was widespread hunger, squalor (filth, muck), and
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poverty...humiliation.”
Bulgaria: hardships
Terms very similar to Germans’ = sanctions could not be complied or did not apply
(much less economically powerful country)
Economic crisis: post-war damage + treaty + a poor country mostly peasant
smallholders
Bulgarian refugees who had to leave Yugoslav Macedonia
200,000 Thrace immigrants returning
Political: radicalization of various political sectors & new leftist tendency
leaned toward communism and socialism
propaganda Bolsheviks introduced into Bulgaria reinforced communist
sentiment
Nevertheless, the government was able to carry through many social reforms,
despite opposition from the landlords and the army officers.
Perspective: Georges Clemenceau (France PM) "At last I am no longer anxious. I have
obtained almost everything I wanted.”
Allies (Greece, Yugoslavia, and Romania): benefited
Greece: Thrace was ceded to this country = access to the Aegean Sea, possess
important territory in this part of Europe.
Yugoslavia: newly formed, receiving more territory = possible to expand border
borders
Romania: the South Dobruja region was ceded to them
Peace settlements (1919-1923):
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