CIE IGCSE – HISTORY [0470]

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Were the Peace Treaties of 1919-23 fair?
2. To what extent was the League of Nations a success?
3. Why had international peace collapsed by 1939?
1.2 What were the motives and aims of the Big Three at Versailles?
Why was (any of three leaders) dissatisfied with TOV?
• French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau was a realist, wanted punitive peace and
compensation, aimed to weaken Germany as much as possible and blame them alone, wanted
reparations (compensations for infrastructural damage - France been invaded twice since
1870), wanted military restrictions - Germany broken into smaller confederations +
independent Rhineland + permanent control of Saarland.
• American President Woodrow Wilson was an idealist, wanted to punish Germany but not too
harshly, worried about spread of communism if too weak and revenge from Germans, wanted
to strengthen democracy based on ’14 points’ = disarmament, League of Nations, self-
determination. wanted to build more peaceful world but

There were problems with some of the main ideas:

• Problems with self-determination: people of Eastern Europe scattered across many countries
e.g.: 25% of the people who lived in Czechoslovakia were not Czechs or Slovaks. 30% of
Poland not polish. 3 million Hungarians being ruled by foreigners. Some people were bound to
end up being ruled by another group with different customs and language because borders were
artificially imposed.
Problems with LON: ‘ toothless’ without military, structurally insufficient & confusing,
unanimous vote required, ’mandates’ seen as colonialist, membership problems: US, Germany,
USSR absent, org seemed eurocentric and imperialist, supported TOV = seen as unfair
• British Prime Minister Lloyd George was a mediator, wanted a punitive but just peace, wanted
Germany to lose colonies and navy as they threatened hegemony of British Empire but did not
want Germany to seek revenge under pressure to ‘make Germany pay’, wanted to recover as
trade partners as it created British jobs.

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WERE THE PEACE TREATIES OF 1919-23 FAIR?

1.1 The Peace Treaties

• Treaty of Versailles signed by Germany, 28th June 1919: took away 13% land, 12.5%
population, 16% coalfields, nearly 50% iron and steel industry, ¾ iron ore.

Terms:
GARGLE
o Guilt: Article 231 appointed blame, called ‘diktat’.
o Arms restrictions: Army (100,000 soldiers), Navy (6 battleships, 15,000 sailors & no
submarines), Airforce forbidden, demilitarized Rhineland, conscription ban
o Reparations: 6.6 billion pounds,

o o German Territory: Alsace Lorraine to France, Danzig to Poland, West Prussia & Posen
form Polish corridor, East Prussia separated from rest of Germany, Colonies: Togoland,
Cameroon, German South West Africa, and German East Africa given to victors.
o o LE: League of the Nations established.

 Treaty of St. Germaine with Austria, 1919:

o Established Anschluss ban

o Imposed reparations

o Reduced army to 30,000 men

o Ended dual monarchy

o Gave Galicia to Poland, Bohemia & Moravia to Czechoslovakia & Bosnia & Herzegovina to
Yugoslavia
o Severe economic problems as a result as industrial land gone to Czechoslovakia
o Displacement of people

• Treaty of Trianon with Hungary, 1920:

• o Induced economics crisis in Hungary

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• o Transylvania to Romania, Slovakia & Ruthenia to Czechoslovakia; Slovenia, Croatia to

Yugoslavia
• o 3 million Hungarians displaced

• Treaty of Neuilly with Bulgaria, 1919:

Bulgaria was a minor player in the war,

 gained territory from Turkey.
 Reduced army to 20,000 men armed force,
 100 million pound reparations,
 lost lands to Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia,
 Loss access to Mediterranean Sea.

• Treaty of Sevres with Ottoman Empire, 1920:

Negation on territorial terms led by Mustafa Kemal which led to war between Greeks and
Turks - unsuccessful treaty, Arabs were promised Arab state for siding with Britain & France
to defeat Germany, Palestine problem till date.

Treaty of Lausanne with Ottoman Empire, 1923:

 gave disputed region of Smyrna back to Turkey after Young Turk revolution
The Outcome:
• Czechoslovakia (carved out of old Austrian empire and
Germany - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bohemia, and
Moravia)
• Yugoslavia (Kingdom of Serbs, Croats & Slovenes then named ‘land of the South Slavs’)

• Poland renewed, via Danzig granted access to the sea,

(Polish Corridor made = West Prussia and Posen) page 96 - they wanted it to be a watchdog on
Germany, buffer against communism, although 30% not ethnically Polish so some
demographic problems, unfair amount of territory taken from Russia immediately led to war
with Russia in 1921

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• Syria and Lebanon=French Mandate; Palestine,

Transjordan & Iraq=British Mandate. Article 119 TOV: All Germany’s colonies taken and
given to France and Britain as ‘mandates’.

1.3 Why did all the victors not get everything they wanted?
They all made compromises.
o Clemenceau wanted harsh peace: a broken-up
Germany and an independent Rhineland and disarmed German along with compensation. He
got limited compensation and military restrictions, a unified Germany and demilitarized
Rhineland. He felt this was not harsh enough, didn’t get independent Rhineland or
control of Saarland,
o Wilson wanted a just peace based on 14 points: he did not want Germany blamed (article 231
& reparations) in TOV but they were. He successfully established selfdetermination in
Eastern Europe and League of the Nations. Demilitarization was not achieved except by force
in Germany and TOV/LON ultimately not ratified.
o Britain wanted a compromise peace; was happy that German armed and naval forces were
restricted, Lloyd received hero’s welcome, although the spread of communism still worrying
him.
• There were disagreements over self-determination &
‘access to sea’ clause, the harshness of the treaty and LON (Wilson wanted world parliament,
Lloyd wanted to get together in emergencies only.) Clemenceau resented Wilson’s generosity,
wanted strong League with army.
• Clemenceau felt that Britain was happy to treat Germany fairly in Europe which threatened
France yet were less happy to treat them fairly when it came to concessions of colonies and
military which threatened Britain.

1.4 What was the impact of peace treaties on Germany up to 1923?

Reactions:

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• Horror & outrage, war guilt clause was particularly hated Betrayed, blamed ‘November
Criminals’, Jews, Communists, Germans did not feel that they had lost the war as most of war
went well for Germany.
• Angry because government not represented at Versailles conference (diktat).

• German army limited but disarmament not practiced by other countries.

• Reparations pushed country deeper into state of nearstarvation, feared it would cripple
economy
• Colonies taken double standards for self-determination:
Germans displaced, not allowed to rule themselves Impact:
• New government had many enemies: Communists,
Nationalists, Army Internal scapegoats - Jews,
Communists, November Criminals (‘Stab in back theory’)
• Political violence- Spartacists 1919, Kapp Putsch 1920, Munich Putsch, Ruhr Invasion 1923
(French killed 100
German workers and expelled 100,000)
• Economic problems &eventually, hyperinflation
• Rise of Hitler- Hitler used unpopularity of TOV to his advantage by luring people to nationalist
ideas of
restoring homeland’s former glory

Was it fair?
• No: Too harsh, blamed the wrong people as Germany had a new democratic government
(forming it was one of conditions of peace agreement), German economy crippled and people
in near-starvation state, Germans not fairly represented at the conference, ‘diktat’, other
countries were not blameless, expected treaty based on 14 points, war had devastating physical
effects: o farmers were recruited in army>disruptive o by 1918 only 50% milk production, 60%
meat and
butter production of pre-war levels
o potato supply run out 1916-1917 winter

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o combined effects of hunger and disease kill ¾ million Germans

• Yes: economic troubles were self-inflicted as other countries raised taxes and practiced more
Rigorous fiscal policy to pay for reparations (Britain had greater debt and paid off more than
Germany by introducing high taxes, too), Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was much harsher – 32%
land, 34% population, 54% industry, 300 million
gold Ruble, nearly ¾ of its iron ore & half of its industry

1.5 Could the Treaties be justified at the time?

• No: TOV led to rise of Hitler as army crippled = cruel, genocidal regime, defeated nation’s
disadvantage was exploited so vengeance was probable, treaty ignored it, bound to fail. Some
were ineffective such as Treaty of Sevres which were re-drawn after 3 years failed to maintain
peace.
• Yes: Mood of post-war urgency, state of near-starvation and infrastructural ruin, public
pressure to punish defeated parties, some people thought it was not harsh enough, and that
German problems were self-inflicted by bad fiscal policy and Brest-Litovsk hypocrisy.

2. TO WHAT EXTENT WAS THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS A SUCCESS?

2.1 How successful was the league in 1920s?

Aims:
• Discourage aggression- seemed strong as it had both means of arbitration (tribunals) and means
of influence
(collective security). Aaland Islands , Upper Silesia, Bulgaria, BUT Vilna, Corfu, Ruhr
Invasion
• Encourage cooperation in business and trade- Locarno treaties=successful but had nothing to
do with LON.

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Encouraged economic recovery (Dawes plan), attempted to strengthen league failed (1924)
BUT could not impede the Great Depression or reduce its impact and was impaired
permanently by it. Thereafter, competition and hostility in business and trade increased.
• Disarmament-only German disarmed. Disarmament tried to limit tonnage of tanks, limit size of
artillery, prohibit civilian bombing and prohibit chemical warfare but… all countries unlikely
to follow so plan doomed from start. Britain were France divided on the issue, no unified
approach. Planes capable of bombing civilians & manufacture of chemical weapons not
banned. Successful disarmament efforts had little to do with LON. e.g.: Washington
Disarmament Conference (1922) to limit size of navies. Attempts to disarm rejected by Britain
in 1923. AND after Great Depression, militarism radically increased anyway

* Aaland Islands: Dispute between Sweden and Finland, given to Finland, Sweden accepts ruling

Improving living and working conditions –helped USSR with plague in Siberia. Helped with
cholera, dysentery, small pox, malaria, yellow fever, leprosy. Emancipated 200,000 slaves in
Sierra Leone and 400,000 repatriated. Started WHO & ILO, still present. Tanganyika railway
work conditions improved (even though there was still 5% fatality rate). Introduced 48-hour
working week (but not all countries implemented it). Provided valuable information on drug
trafficking, prostitution and slavery successful to a large extent. (Page 239)

2.2 How far did weakness in League’s organization make failure inevitable?
• Role of League’s Weaknesses: (page 234) unanimous voting meant crisis resolution was
inefficient and slow.
• Secretariat understaffed and a muddle.
• Permanent court of justice did not have means of influence, could only give advice.

• Structure was confusing

• US absent, weakened economic sanctions
• Absence of army meant that LON relied on major powers’ help which led to Britain and France
pursuing their own interests. Great powers had different rules from those that applied to smaller
countries.

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• Role of other factors: League had some successes even with structural disadvantage. Bigger
role played by the great depression>goodwill was gone as trade and industry deteriorated, the
leadership of LON (Britain, France, Italy)
o Great depression increased pursuit of self- interest
due to domestic crises (high unemployment and discontent, trade issues, rise of extremism)
o Great depression increased economic competition between markets, people willing to fight
for markets and therefore led to rearmament. France rearmed worried about German
development-work began at
Maginot Line o Countries considered imperialistic and aggressive
means to feed its people and keep up morale (e.g.: Japan- Manchuria, Italy- Abyssinia) and
gained support as people were desperate for solutions.
o Great depression led to appeasement being a viable
option to deal when dealing with aggressors.

Inevitably: it was not inevitable, serious successes with humanitarian work, undermined by the
decision of weak, selfish, imperialistic leaders, great depression encouraged pursuit of self-
interest and made failure inevitable.

2.3 How successful was the League in the 1930s?

Discourage aggression: Unsuccessful
• Manchuria (1931): in order to resettle their growing population, revive export industry and
gain resources, Japan achieved these aims militaristic ally by invading Manchuria. Lord Lyton
Commission takes 1 year to issue report. By this time, Japan already set up Manchukuo
government. Japan ignores LON orders, leaves in 1933 and points out cruelty of British
conquest in China when criticized. Britain & Frances are financially and militarily unprepared,
make excuses: too far, too chaotic. No action was taken. USA’s absence would weaken any
economic sanction. FAILED as aggressors who are permanent members of LON broke rules
and left. Japan took over all of China at Nanking. This encouraged Hitler and Mussolini as they

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learnt aggression paid due to LON’s weaknesses. Made League seem weak and ineffective
when standing up to big powers.
• Abyssinia(1935-6): Italy’s Motives: Revenge for 1896 when Italy was defeated by tribesmen
in Abyssinia, victory = good propaganda during great depression, more resources and market to
resolve economic disarray, learnt form Hitler and Kwatung Army, was successful previously
with Corfu (1923). Mussolini invades violently at Wal-wal oasis, League could not impose any
effective sanctions such as on oil* or at Suez Canal as they would hurt British economy. (Page
251). Britain and France signed the Hoare-Laval Pact to appease Mussolini. Invited him in
early 1935 to join formalized anti-German protest: Stresa Front: Abyssinia not mentioned at
this conference at all. France and Britain need Italy as ally against Hitler.
• Contextual notes:
o Manchuria = North-East China. China was a good buffer against communism, weak due to
civil war. The Kwatung army already controlled South Manchurian Chinese railway.
Bombing at Mukden, blaming China = excuse to take over ‘to restore peace’. Manchukuo=
Puppet government set up by Japan February 1932.
Claimed to be merely settling a local difficulty, China
was in state of anarchy, invasion to ensure self-defense for peace.
o Abyssinia next to Anglo-Egyptian territory of Sudan and British colonies of Uganda, Kenya,
and Somalia i.e. right at the League’s footsteps.

• Disarmament: Geneva Disarmament Conference (19324): conference disrupted by Hilter’s

demand for ‘equality of status’ and permission to rearm. France outraged and reluctant. Britain
more optimistic. Failed due to pursuit of self- interest by Britain*. Divide in approach to
aggressors due to different vulnerabilities = major weakness. 1933 onwards: open disarmament
(rearming also good for employment).
• Why did disarmament fail?
o Only Germany expected to disarm - unfair basis o No one was serious about it. France
blatantly ignored the covenant
o Depression increased economic competition. Military

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provided jobs and defense for colonies/markets. Depression led to extremism in badly
affected countries with few colonies like Germany, Italy & Japan
o Britain and France were divided on the issue
 Both disarmament and aggression curbing efforts failed in the 1930s.

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