History

• The Paris Peace Conference was held at the end of the First World War
• An armistice was signed on 11 November 1918 between the Allies and the Central Powers
• There was great optimism for a lasting peace, especially from US President Woodrow Wilson who outlined his Fourteen Points in a speech in 1918
• Thirty-two nations representing over two-thirds of the world's population met at the Paris Peace Conference in January 1919 to prepare five peace treaties collectively known as the Versailles settlement
• The Big Three


  • David Lloyd George (British prime minister)
  • Georges Clemenceau (French prime minister)
  • Woodrow Wilson (US president)
• Motives


  Reasons behind the Big Three's aims
• Aims of the Big Three

  • Britain - Lloyd George: To punish Germany but not too harshly; wanted Britain and Germany to be trading partners; Germany to lose its naval power and colonies
• Motives of the Big Three

  • Britain - Lloyd George: Didn't want Germany to seek revenge or have a communist revolution as in Russia if the Treaty was too harsh BUT wanted to appease anti-German feelings at home; wanted jobs for people in Britain; wanted to protect the British Empire
• The result was a compromise between the different aims and motives of the Big Three
• Terms of the Treaty of Versailles

  • Military: The German army was reduced to 100,000 soldiers; no conscription; no tanks; no air force; only six battleships; the Rhineland was to be demilitarised and the west bank of the Rhine occupied by an Allied army for 15 years
• It is illegal to photocopy this page
• The result was a compromise
• Military terms of the Treaty of Versailles


  • German army reduced to 100,000 soldiers
  • No conscription
  • No tanks
  • No air force
  • Only six battleships
  • Rhineland demilitarised
  • West bank of the Rhine occupied by Allied army for 15 years
• Financial terms of the Treaty of Versailles

  • Reparations for war damage to be paid to the Allies, agreed in 1921 at £6.6 billion
  • Coal in the Saar region went to France for 15 years
• Terms related to the League of Nations

  • League set up in 1920 to enforce the Treaty and keep international peace
  • Germany not allowed to join until 1926
• Territorial terms of the Treaty of Versailles


  • All of Germany's colonies taken away and controlled by the League of Nations
  • Alsace-Lorraine returned to France
  • Poland given access to the sea by creation of Polish Corridor
  • Land given to Denmark, Belgium, Lithuania and Czechoslovakia
  • Danzig to become a free city
  • Union between Germany and Austria forbidden (Anschluss)
• Article 231 said Germany had to take full responsibility for starting the war
• The Treaty of Versailles was a compromise
• The Big Three's aims for the Treaty terms were too different to be reconciled
• Clemenceau, Lloyd George and Wilson each had to compromise on some of their aims
• The German people resented the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
• Reasons for German resentment of the Treaty

  • Hatred of the war guilt clause
  • Disarmament terms too harsh
  • Bitter at reparations and territorial losses
  • Saw it as a 'dictated peace'
• Political opposition threatened to destabilise the Weimar Government
• Uprisings against the Weimar Government

  • Kapp Putsch in 1920
  • Munich Putsch in 1923
• The Treaty led to economic instability in Germany
• Impacts of the Treaty on Germany up to 1923

  • Occupation of the Ruhr
  • Hyperinflation
• The other peace treaties imposed similar harsh terms on Germany's allies
• Terms of the other peace treaties

  • Austria: Reparations, military limits, territorial losses, war guilt
  • Bulgaria: Reparations, military limits, territorial losses, war guilt
  • Hungary: Reparations, military limits, territorial losses, war guilt
  • Turkey: Financial control, military limits, territorial losses, war guilt
• Many at the time saw the treaties as unfair and too harsh
• Some onlookers thought the treaties let the defeated nations off too easily
• Some believed the peace treaties were fair and the best that could have been achieved
• Journalists criticised the harshness of the Treaty of Versailles and claimed it would lead to a future war with Germany
• Many in France took the view that when Germany imposed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on Russia in 1918, its terms were far harsher than those in the Versailles settlement
• Marshal Foch of the French army claimed Versailles was merely a 20-year ceasefire and did not protect France sufficiently from future invasion
• Some journalists in Britain commented that Germany and its allies got off relatively lightly and would be able to afford the economic and territorial costs of the treaties
• Some in the USA saw the treaties as the only possible compromise that could be made between the Allies after the war
• League of Nations


  World parliament that could stop conflict before it started
• League of Nations


  • Dominated by Britain and France without the USA
  • Its organisation and structure meant it was often slow to act on international disputes
• Main bodies of the League of Nations

  • Secretariat
  • Permanent Court of Justice
  • Assembly
  • Council
  • International Labour Organisation (ILO)
  • Agencies
  • Mandates Commissions
  • Refugees Committee
  • Slavery Commission
  • Health Committee
• League of Nations' members each had a vote in the Assembly meaning it was very representative