Paris peace treaties and the league of nations

• American President Woodrow Wilson put forward a plan based on fourteen point. The six key principles of the Fourteen Points were: Setting up a League of Nations. Disarmament. Self-determination. Freedom for colonies. Freedom of the seas. Free trade.
• Wilson's aims:

  • to end war by creating a League of Nations based on his Fourteen Points
  • to ensure Germany was not destroyed or economically crippled
  • not to blame Germany for the war
• Clemenceau's aims:

  • to punish Germany and ensure it was too weak to attack France again
  • to return the Alsace-Lorraine region to France
  • he accepted the League of Nations but believed it would need to be strengthened to deal with Germany
  • an independent Rhineland which would weaken Germany
  • huge reparations
  • to disband the German army so that Germany would never be strong enough to attack France again
• Lloyd George's aims:

  • to please the people who wanted to make Germany pay
  • to leave Germany strong enough to trade with
  • to safeguard Britain's naval supremacy
• On 25 March 1919, Lloyd George issued the Fontainebleau Memorandum. He was concerned that a harsh peace settlement would result in a hostile Germany, and he wanted to avoid another war.
• Treaty of Versailles key terms: Take away territory, restrict military, pay reparations, and blame for the war
• Terms of the TOV: Disarmament - Military limited to 100,000 soldiers, six battleships, no air force
• Terms of the TOV: Reparations - Germany had to pay £6.6 billion to the allies
• Terms of the TOV: Territory - Poland gained Posen from Germany, and also gained East Prussia. This became known as the Polish Corridor. Alsace-Lorraine were returned to France. Germany lost it's colonies.
• Treaty of Saint Germaine (1919): Disarmament - army limited to a force of 30,000 volunteers, no navy or air force.
• Austria, Treaty of Saint Germaine (1919): Territory - Austro-Hungarian Empire broken, Tyrol lost to Italy, Dalmatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina were lost to Yugoslavia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania all gained land, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania all gained land.
• Treaty of Trianon (1920): Disarmament - army limited to 35,000 volunteers and three patrol boats
• Treaty of Trianon (1920): Reparations - apart from some shipments of coal, Hungary could not meet the demands for reparations. As a result the payments were suspended.
• Hungary, Treaty of Trianon (1920): Territory - Austro-Hungarian Empire dismantled. Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania all gained land from Hungary. The population of Hungary fell from 21 million to around 7.5 million.
• Bulgaria, Treaty of Neuilly (1919): Disarmament - army limited to 20,000 volunteers, four torpedo boats, no air force.
• Treaty of Neuilly (1919): Reparations - set at £100 million.
• Treaty of Neuilly (1919): Territory - land lost to Yugoslavia, Romania and Greece.
• Turkey, Treaty of Sevres (1920): Disarmament - 50,000 soldiers, seven sailboats and six torpedo boats. No air force.
• Treaty of Sevres (1920): Reparations - the economy was to be controlled by the Allies.
• Treaty of Sevres (1920): Territory - the Ottoman Empire was broken up. areas such as Iraq and Palestine became British mandates. Syria became a French mandate. the Straits of the Dardanelles would be placed under international control. Armenia became an independent country.
• Turkish nationalists, led by Kemel Attaturk, rebelled against the Sultan and rejected the treaty. In 1923 a new treaty was signed at Lausanne in Switzerland. This removed foreign control over the economy. Turkey also regained land and some control over the Dardanelles.
• Opinions of the TOV - Germany: They were angry that they had not been allowed to negotiate. They called Versailles a diktat or dictated peace.
• Opinions of the TOV - Germany: Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, leader of the German delegation at Versailles said Article 231 was a lie. Germany officially denied the war-guilt clause in 1927.
• Opinions of the TOV - Germany: There was a revolution (the Kapp Putsch) against the treaty in Berlin in 1920.
• Opinions of the TOV - Germany: Germany hated reparations, and was forced to begin paying them in 1921. They defaulted in 1923 and eventually Hitler refused to pay altogether.
• Opinions of the TOV - Britain: Gained some German colonies but Lloyd George thought the treaty was too harsh, saying: We shall have to fight another war again in 25 years time.
• Opinions of the TOV - Britain: The British diplomat Harold Nicolson called it neither just nor wise and the people who made it stupid.
• Opinions of the TOV - Britain: The economist John Maynard Keynes prophesied that reparations would ruin the economy of Europe.
• Opinions of the TOV - France: France got Alsace-Lorraine, German colonies, harsh reparations and a tiny German army but many French people wanted an independent, not a demilitarised, Rhineland.
• Opinions of the TOV - France: Most French people did not think the League of Nations would protect them against Germany.
• Opinions of the TOV - USA: Woodrow Wilson got the League of Nations, and new nation-states were set up in Eastern Europe but Wilson thought the treaty was far too harsh.
• Opinions of the TOV - USA: Self-determination proved impossible to implement - neither Czechoslovakia or Yugoslavia survive as united countries.
• Opinions of the TOV - USA: Many Americans did not want to get involved in Europe, and in 1920 the American Senate refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles, or join the League of Nations.