A Flawed Peace
29.4
The Treaty of Versailles
June 28, 1919
The Big 3 of the Big 4
• United States: Woodrow Wilson
• France: Georges Clemenceau
• Great Britain: David Lloyd George
The Big 3
• Three most powerful Allies and they wanted to exert their influence upon the
Treaty of Versailles.
– Yet they wanted different things.
• Italy: Vittorio Orlando made four
Lloyd George
• Germany to be justly punished, but not too
harshly
• Germany to lose its navy and colonies as these
were a threat to Britain's own navy and empire
• Germany and Britain to become trading partners
• Overall, did not want to punish Germany too
harshly
– Did not want Germany seeking revenge in the future
Clemenceau
• Cripple Germany so it couldn't attack France
again.
• Wanted Germany broken down into smaller
states (weakened).
• Clemenceau was under great pressure from the
French people to make Germany pay.
– Germany should be brought to its knees so that she
could never start a war again
Wilson
• A better and more peaceful world
• A League of Nations (L.O.N.) would help and
support each other and help to promote world peace
• The right to self-determination.
• The right to decide which country you wish to be governed
by
• Wilson believed that Germany should be punished
• In a way that would lead to European reconciliation
(peace) as opposed to revenge (war).
Wilson’s 14 Points
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/wilson14.asp
• Only 6 of Wilson’s 14 accepted: 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, and 14.
• Treaty calls for harsher penalties
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Germany must assume full blame for the war
Imposed huge reparations (over $30 billion)
Limited the size of Germany’s army
Returned provinces Alsace and Lorraine to France
Removed hundreds of square miles of territory from Eastern
and Western Germany
Stripped Germany of its overseas colonies
War Guilt
• Harshest penalty
(Article 231)
• Placed sole
responsibility for war
on Germany
– Payment of reparations
to Allies
– Colonies in Asia and
Africa made mandates
(territories controlled by
L.O.N.)
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A New Europe with New Boundaries
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The First World War changed the face of
Europe
T.O.V. one of 5 treaties
– Creates tensions among winners and
losers
– New states created
Austro-Hungarian Empire collapse
– Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and
Yugoslavia now independent
Ottomans lose all, but what is Turkey today
– Southwest Asia lands made into
mandates
– Palestine, Iraq, and Transjordan:
British controlled
– Syria and Lebanon: French
• Russia lost land, too
– Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and
Lithuania become independent
– Romania and Poland gain land
once part of Russia
BEFORE AND AFTER
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Quicksand?
U.S. rejects T.O.V.
– Objected to settlement and L.O.N.
– U.S. should stay out of Euro affairs
War-guilt clause created bitterness among
Germans
Other countries felt cheated
– Mandated countries want independence
– Euro colonialism continues in Africa and Asia
Italy angered that it did not get all of the land
promised by the Allies.
Japan protested the refusal of western nations to
recognize its claims to China.
Russia was excluded from the peace talks
– Resented the establishment of a Polish
nation
– Resented new independent Baltic states on
land that was once part of the Russian
empire.
What is the artist’s perspective on the League of
Nations? What about the cartoon provides
evidence for your analysis?
Balkanization
• Balkanization: Political term that refers to the
fragmentation of a region or country into
smaller regions or countries.
• Case Study – Yugoslavia:
Case Study: Yugoslavia Past and Present
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Yugoslavia