The Main Issues
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Revolutionary condition of Europe
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Russian civil war
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Diverging Allied aims
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Competing nationalism
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Desire for revenge
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Hunger, disease and economic chaos
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Allied lack of military strength as a result of
demobilization.
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Independence for subject nations.
International rule of law through the League of
Nations.
Disarmament and reparation from defeated
powers.
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Determination to prove German war guilt.
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Selective application of the 14 points.
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All the major decisions made by the Big 4, who
became the Big 3.
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There are five treaties that make up the Paris
peace settlements.
The most well known is the Treaty of
Versailles, which dealt specifically with
Germany.
The four others are St Germain, Trianon,
Neuilly and Sevres/Lausanne.
Apart from the clauses that dealt with specific
issues, each of the treaties incorporated the
Covenant of the League of Nations. (Pg 26)
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Independent Poland
Plebiscites in Upper Silesia, Schleswig and
West Prussia
Alsace-Lorraine to France
Saar administered by League of Nations
Germany loses colonies and foreign
investments.
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Reparation Commission fixes amount of 132
million gold marks in May 1921
Prolonged struggle to force Germany to pay,
1921-3
France occupies the Ruhr in Jan 1923
Dawes Commision Jan 1924 (Pg 39)
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Abolition of conscription
Regular German army of 100,000
Very small fleet
Allied Control Commisions in Germany until
1927
Rhineland occupied for 15 years
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They felt ‘pain and anger’.
They were particularly angered by the War guilt
clause – Clause 231 (pg 26)
The Germans could not accept what was seen as a
Diktat (pg 27)
Turn to pgs 30/31 ‘German reactions to the Terms
of the Treaty
1) Identify the general German reaction to the
Treaty, through analysis of sources B and C?
2) What evidence supports or refutes their
attitudes?
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Clemenceau; liked the harsh things in the
treaty:
Reparations would repair the damage to
France.
The tiny German army, and the demilitarised
zone in the Rhineland would protect France.
France got Alsace-Lorraine, and German
colonies.
He wanted the Treaty to be harsher!!!!
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Wilson;
He got self-determination for the peoples of
Eastern Europe, and a League of Nations, but
he hated the Treaty:
few of his “Fourteen Points” got into the
Treaty.
when Wilson returned to America, the senate
refused to join the League of Nations because
of its opposition to Article X (pg 29)
they even refused to sign the Treaty of
Versailles.
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Lloyd George:
Many British people wanted to make “Germany
pay”, but Lloyd George hated the treaty.
He only liked the fact that Britain got some
German colonies.
The small German Navy, which helped British seapower.
He thought the Treaty was far too harsh
“We shall have to fight another war in 25 years
time”
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John Maynard Keynes, a prominent British
economist, wrote a book on the harshness of
the Treaty of Versailles. (pg 28)
He called it a Carthaginian peace based on a
spirit of revenge.
As a result of his attacks people in GB began to
see the Treaty as unfair to Germany.
Including Lloyd George who reflected on this
in his Fontainebleau memorandum on the
terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
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Turn to pg 30 in your IB book.
Source A has many different comments
regarding the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
Identify the authors and then with reference to
the origin and purpose of each of these sources
discuss its value and limitations.
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Four other treaties were made with the four
other countries that had helped Germany.
They were written by officials. They just
followed the principles of the Treaty of
Versailles.
The Treaties were all named after the parts of
Paris in which they were signed.
All four countries had to pay reparations,
disarm and they all lost land
The treaties created new nation states in
Eastern Europe out of the old A-H Empire
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Dealt with Austria, its Empire was gone and
split up.
Czechoslovakia was set up
Slovenia, Bosnia and Dalmatia became
Yugoslavia
Istria, Trieste and S.Tyrol to Italy
Galicia to Poland
Austria was not allowed to integrate with
Germany
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This was the harshest of the four small treaties
it dealt with Hungary
It left one third of Hungarians outside its
borders
Hungary lost 2/3 of its pre-war territory to
Austria, Czechoslovakia and Romania.
Hungary was humiliated and insulted…Big 3
did not care
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This was mild in comparison to the Treaty of
Trianon
It dealt with Bulgaria
Bulgaria lost territory to Greece, Romania and
Yugoslavia
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Dealt with Turkey
Turks cede Middle East empire; Greeks gain
Thrace; Straits controlled by the Allies
Liberation of the Arab states
Mandates of Britain and France
Turks rebelled when Asia Minor was carved
up
This treaty was revised at Lausanne, 1923:
Greeks were expelled, Constantinople was
given back to Turkey
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The treaties created new nation states;
Czechs and Slovaks in Czecholovakia
Hungarians in Hungary
Austrians in Austria
Poles in Poland
Slavs in Yugoslavia
It seems Wilson’s ideals of self-determination
was a success….
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Self-determination causes small wars;
Poland went to war with Russia and took more
land
Czechs and Poles fought over the town of
Teschen
An army of Italians marched into the
Yugoslavian town of Fiume
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This was a lesser known treaty
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Russia defeated by Poland, August 1920
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Poland’s eastern frontiers fixed by the Treaty of
Riga, March 1921
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Self-determination was not allowed for
Germany
A large number of small, weak countries were
created, which Hitler easily conquered later
All the new nation states had racial minorities
living in them
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Signed in 1922 between Germany and the
USSR
A consequence of Germany and the Soviets
being excluded from the League of Nations
A treaty of mutual assistance that allowed
Germany to develop weapons in violation of
the Versailles Treaty
Germany’s status as an outlaw encouraged her
to evade the restrictions placed on her by any
means possible