1) Effects of the first World War

Effects of WW1

As the First World War drew to a close, Allied forces pushed Imperial German forces back
across the European continent, toward Germany. General Ludendorff and Hindenburg's 'Spring
Offensive' (Operation Michael) had failed. Four years of brutal warfare had left Europe
exhausted and in ruins. Battle-weary troops retreated back toward Germany and by October 1918
it was clear - to the military - that the Germans had lost. Problems were also escalating at home.
The damage caused was terrible. Europe - formerly the powerhouse of intellectual thinking and
economic progress - had been reduced to a ration-taking ruin. Ludendorff therefore pushed for an
armistice, much to the shock of many generals and politicians. This was agreed on 11 November
1918 and was to be based on Wilson's 14 points for peace (more of which later).

Economic Effects

 Britain, Russia and France were effectively bankrupt, relying on money from USA; the
war had cost billions of dollars
 Inflation - continuous rising prices, hit Germany
 There was a shortage of fuel in Germany
 Germany's currency had collapsed, causing a black market and barter (trading in goods)

Social Effects

 Millions of refugees lay displaced across Europe, carrying sickness and diseases with
them as they went home. The Flu killed 50 million people alone.
 an estimated 35 million people had died worldwide (either from direct war or disease)
 6 million from the Triple Alliance had died; 4 million of the Triple Entente.
 the lack of working men had led to a boom in working women. Women now did
industrial work and began pushing for the vote too. The hierarchical structure of society
began to break apart.

Political Effects

 The Hohenzollern royal family (Germany) would cease to rule when Wilhelm abdicated
on 28 Nov 1918. Friedrich Ebert - a politician - would now be in charge of what would
be called the Weimar Republic government.
 The empires of Russia, Austria-Hungary and Turkey had collapsed
 The Russian Tsar lay dead
 Turkey became a backwater
 The Habsburg monarchy would no longer have an Empire to rule.
 Britain and France's colonies now began to think about independence

Territory Effects
  Germany lost 15% of her adult population.
 Most fighting occurred in France and Germany, which suffered huge damage.
 Germany's borders were now undecided but France wanted Alsace-Lorraine and the
Rhineland, whilst Poland eyed land to the West of Germany

2) Motives and Aims of The Big Three

The Big Three

The victorious nations that decided what to do with Germany and the defeated nations, met at
Versailles in Paris. Initially this was Britain (under Lloyd-George), France (under Clemenceau),
USA (under Wilson) and Italy (under Orlando). However, Italy soon stormed out, leaving just
three dominant members - known as 'The Big Three'. They gathered at the Palace of Versailles

France: Clemenceau wanted revenge:

 2/3rds of French army had been killed or injured

 Clemenceau felt Germany to be her biggest threat
 the French remembered the Franco-Prussian War of 1870s.
 French President (Poincare) wanted Germany broken up into 16 states
 Wanted a treaty that would weaken Germany forever – France’s population was in
decline and they had lost large sections of industry and land.

USA: Wilson wanted peace:

 USA: Woodrow Wilson was often seen as the idealist.

 His aim was to rebuild a better, peaceful Europe from the ruins of WW1.
 He believed Germany should be punished, but not too harshly so as to avoid revenge
 He wanted democracy to be strong, so that the German people would not allow their
leaders to go to war
 He had his famous ’14 points’ to help achieve peace.
 These points included ‘No Secret Treaties’ ‘Disarmament’ and Point # 14: The League of
Nations.
 He strongly believed in ‘Self Determination’ – he wanted Eastern Europe to rule itself
rather than be part of an Empire.

Britain: Lloyd-George wanted trade

 Lloyd-George was an experienced politician; he was often in the middle between

Clemenceau and Wilson
 He wanted Germany to lose its colonies and navy (as he thought these threatened the
British Empire)
 He was keen to make sure Germany became a good trading partner so didn’t want them
to be crushed – before the war Germany had been Britain’s 2nd largest trading partner
  He had problems from the British public who wanted to ‘Squeeze Germany until the pips
squeaked’ and ‘Hang the Kaiser’ (popular newspaper headlines) since they had lost many
men in WW1
 Was in a dilemma as he won the 1918 election after promising to ‘make Germany pay’.

3) Reasons for Disagreements

Why did the Big Three Disagree?

Struggling for Compromise

The Big Three soon found themselves unable to agree on what to do with the defeated nations.
There were many reasons why.

 The USA had not been affected as much as France and Britain – Wilson’s aims were
therefore much more idealistic – e.g. his 14 points, League of Nations and self-
determination.
 There had been no war on US soil; the French therefore felt their idealistic aims were
unrealistic and famously said '14 points?! The good Lord only has 10!'
 Clemenceau felt Britain and the USA did not mind having a stronger Germany to keep
France in order. France had, after all, previously been Britain's largest rival.
 Wilson was weakened by a lack of support back home – the USA was not interested in
being the world's policeman, and so the Senate rejected both the Treaty and the League of
Nations. The US had become isolationist
 Clemenceau wanted France to be secure from future German attacks. This meant
weakening Germany and reducing its military strength.
 France wanted revenge on Germany for the destruction the war had caused.
 Lloyd-George wanted to protect British interests but knew he needed trading partners. He
was in a tricky situation as he had promised the British people that he would ‘squeeze the
German lemon until the pips squeaked’ and ‘Hang the Kaiser’ but did not actually think
that this was best
 Lloyd George was also uneasy with Wilson’s self-independence idea as Britain had an
empire on which ‘the sun never set’ – they didn’t want their subjects to have self-
independence!

4) The Impact of the Treaty of Versailles

Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

Background
The Kaiser had abdicated and fled. A new Provisional Government led by a politician - Friedrich
Ebert -was now in charge of Germany. The first question to answer was: who exactly would
represent Germany at the peace talks, scheduled for the Palace of Versailles, in the Hall of
Mirrors? Should it be the military (who had realistically begun the war and been responsible for
it) or the politicians (who were now in charge)?

In the end, the decision was taken out of their hands as the victors decided that no-one would
represent Germany. Instead, the Big 3 (Lloyd-George, Clemenceau and Wilson) took to deciding
post-war Europe without representation from Ebert or anyone from Germany. The Germans were
invited to the talks, but only as observers. Over the coming months, the Big 3 would thrash out a
Treaty, in what became known as 'The Treaty of Versailles', whilst other treaties were also made
for the other defeated powers (see 'Other Treaties'). The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were:

Territory

 Germany lost: Alsace-Lorraine to France, The Polish Corridor’ (West Prussia and Posen)
to Poland, the port of Danzig to the LON, Upper Silesia to Poland, North Schleswig to
Denmark
 Rhineland was to be demilitarized
 forbidden Anschluss
 all colonies as ‘mandates’ to the League of Nations.
 All in all it lost 10% of land, 12.5% of its population, 16% of coalfields and almost 50%
of steel industry.

Military

 Army was limited to 100 000 men

 conscription was banned (soldiers had to be volunteers)
 Germany was not allowed any tanks, submarines or aircraft
 navy was allowed 6 battleships
 the Rhineland became demilitarized (no troops allowed in)

Reparations

 Article 231: Germany was to accept all blame for starting the war or risk partition
 Reparations: Germany had to pay £6.6billion – this was designed to be paid up until
1984! Taken in the form of valuable coal and iron ore resources.

LON

 The League of Nations was established, as Point Number 14 of Wilson’s ‘14 points’
 Germany was not invited until it proved itself to be peaceful

The Treaty was signed by the new German government - soon to be called the Weimar Republic
- led by Ebert. National outrage followed in Germany but there was little they could really do.
From here on, they were supposed to adhere to the terms laid out by Clemenceau, Wilson and
Lloyd-George.

The negotiations did not go smoothly though. The Big 3 had very different ideas about what they
wanted. The Treaty was anything but harmonious.

Consequences of the Treaty of Versailles

 Almost as soon as the Treaty of Versailles was signed, Ebert was faced with an
uprising: the Kapp Putsch. Here, a former army General Luttwiz and Wolfgang Kapp
mustered around 12 000 returning soldiers (known as Freikorps) to march on Berlin and
install a new government. Initially it worked, and the government fled
 The Putsch ended because of Berlin’s workforce going on strike – around 50 000
workers downed-tools and the government was paralyzed. The real army didn't join Kapp
and so he fled.
 Nevertheless, the strike added to the financial chaos of Germany
 Indeed, Germany had fallen behind reparation repayment by 1922 and so in 1923
the French invaded the Ruhr Valley and took what they felt was owed to them
 This led to another strike, known as passive resistance where workers downed-tools
again, further crippling the economy
 The French reacted to this by killing 100 workers and expelling 100 000 from the
region – Germany was now creating no goods and paying its workers no money
 This led to Hyperinflation in 1923 as the government printed more money in order to try
and pay its debts and workers. German marks became worthless and prices spiraled out
of control. Only the careful management of a new leader - Gustav Stresemann - avoided
more war. In his 100 Days programme, he called off passive resistance, reformed the
currency and negotiated loans from the USA in the Dawes Plan of 1924, which helped
repay the French.
 A last consequence of the TOV was the Munich Uprising. In 1923 Hitler attempted to
overthrow the government in what became known as the Munich Putsch. Here, he
marched on Berlin (trying to copy Mussolini's March on Rome) with his SA, hoping the
people and army would join in. Neither joined in, and the Bavarian police ended up
shooting the Nazi revolters, resulting in Hitler's arrest and imprisonment (though the
judges were so lenient they only gave Hitler 9 months and allowed him 4 hours on the
radio during his trial).

Reactions to the Treaty of Versailles

 The Treaty was labelled the 'Diktat' as Germany felt it had been dictated to them
 The German government (called the Weimar Republic) were labelled 'November
Criminals' for signing the deal
  Many Germans believed they had been betrayed; this became known as the 'Stab in The
Back Myth'; they felt that Jewish politicians had betrayed the military
 There was particular hatred for the War Guilt Clause, but the whole treaty was felt not to
reflect what was agreed during the armistice; that Wilson's 14 points would be the basis
of any peace settlement. For many people the peace was unjust and the war unfinished

5) The Other Paris Peace Treaties

The Other Treaties

Hungary: Treaty of Trianon

 Lost swathes of land to Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia
 Thousands of ethnic Hungarians lived outside their homeland as the border was redrawn
with neighboring powers
 It lost 60% of its population
 Lost all trading routes via the Med; real loss of income
 Popular phrase for the Treaty in Hungary was 'No, No, Never!
 Very humiliating considering its former size and influence
 Breaking up the Hapsburg Empire meant a loss of markets and trade restrictions
 They never could afford to pay back the reparations
 Italy felt it did not get enough land in Hungary!
Austria: Treaty of St Germain
 The Hapsburg Empire had fallen and was ordered to be dismantled
 Bohemia and Moravia were given away to newly formed Czechoslovakia
 Yugoslavia could would have Bosnia and Herzegovinia
 Humiliated by being denied union with Germany.
 Felt hard done by as they lost land to 5 countries
 Lost a lot of their economic industrial land to ally-friendly Czechoslovakia
Turkey: Treaty of Sevres
 The Ottoman Empire had fallen after hundreds of years
 All colonies were stripped and given away e.g. Syria and Palestine
 Had to totally disarm
 Lost land to its neighbor and rival, Greece.
 Split the country into civil war as they refused to sign it.
 Mustafa Kemal renegotiated the whole treaty in 1923 Treaty of Laussane!
 Reclaimed Anatolia at this meeting
 Muslim factions disdained Western occupation in the region
 Turks resented Western insistence that all financial matters go through them first!
Bulgaria: Treaty of Neuilley

 Had to totally disarm

Ordered to pay $100m reparations
Lost land to neighbors such as Yugoslavia, Greece and Romania
Lost access to the seas
 6) How justified were the treaties?

Justification for the Treaty of Versailles

 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was harsher (signed between Germany and Russia 1918): in this,
Russia lost 34% of its population, 32% of its agricultural land, 54% of its industry, 26%
of its railways, 89% of its coalmines and had to pay 300 million gold roubles.
 By 1925 German steel production was twice as great as Great Britain’s
 During WW1 the German finance minister claimed he would make the allies pay for the
war if Germany won. Surely it was fair then, that if they lost, the Germans would have to
pay
 Germany played a large role in starting the war After all, they did sign the Blank Cheque
which then drew other countries into an alliance struggle.
 Considering the problems the Big Three had it was the fairest they could hope for
 France had lost 2/3rds of its army to injury or death in WW1. Clemenceau needed to be
sure of not being attacked again. He also remembered how Germany had attacked before
in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.
 Britain had also suffered greatly, losing 1million men

Arguments against the Treaty of Versailles

 Germany lost 12.5% of its territory and 7m Germans to other countries Surely making
Germans citizens of new countries was going too far?
 Germany claimed the allies were trying to bankrupt them - £6.6bn would take up until
1984 to pay off!
 Clemenceau was acting out of revenge due to the Franco-Prussian war and a hatred of
Germany.
 The Terms were worked out in secret Germany was not invited to the TOV – they
therefore had no say in their fate Germany lost all their colonies but the allies kept them
 Germany felt Britain and France were just trying to take advantage and add to their
Empires – they had no real wish to make a fair peace.
 Germany was the only country that had to disarm. They felt that this was highly unfair as
it left them vulnerable to an attack; this was the case in the 1923 Invasion of the Ruhr
Valley by France
 Britain had also suffered greatly, losing 1million men
 It was criticized by the world's most famous economist who wrote a book called
"Economic Consequences of the Peace"
 French Marshall Ferdinand Foch said 'This is not a peace, it's an armistice for twenty
years' (although he was claiming it was too lenient!)