treaty of Versailles fair

• Treaty of Versailles signed by Germany

  28th June 1919
• Treaty of Versailles

  • Took away 13% land, 12.5% population, 16% coalfields, nearly 50% iron and steel industry, ¾ iron ore from Germany
• GARGLE

  Guilt, Arms restrictions, Reparations, German Territory, League of the Nations, Established
• Guilt

  Article 231 appointed blame, called 'diktat'
• Arms restrictions

  • Army (100,000 soldiers), Navy (6 battleships, 15,000 sailors & no submarines), Airforce is forbidden, demilitarized Rhineland, conscription ban, restrictions on the development of modern weaponry such as Tanks
• Reparations

  6.6 billion pounds
• German Territory

  • Alsace Lorraine to France, Danzig to Poland, West Prussia & Posen form the Polish corridor, East Prussia separated from rest of Germany, Colonies: Togoland, Cameroon, German South West Africa, and German East Africa given to victors
• Treaty of St. Germaine with Austria


  1919
• Treaty of St. Germaine with Austria


  • Established Anschluss ban, Imposed reparations, Reduced army to 30,000 men, Ended dual monarchy, Gave Galicia to Poland, Bohemia & Moravia to Czechoslovakia & Bosnia & Herzegovina to Yugoslavia
• Severe economic problems as a result as industrial land gone to Czechoslovakia
• Treaty of Trianon with Hungary


  1920
• Treaty of Trianon with Hungary

  • Induced economic crisis in Hungary, Transylvania to Romania, Slovakia & Ruthenia to Czechoslovakia; Slovenia, Croatia Yugoslavia, 3 million Hungarians displaced
• Treaty of Neuilly with Bulgaria


  1919
• Treaty of Neuilly with Bulgaria


  • Reduced army to 20,000 men armed force, 100 million-pound reparations, lost lands to Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia, and access to the 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
• Outcome of the Peace Treaties

  • Czechoslovakia (carved out of the old Austrian empire and Germany - Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bohemia, & 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), Syria and Lebanon=French Mandate; Palestine, Transjordan & Iraq=British Mandate, All of Germany's colonies were taken and given to France and Britain as mandates
• Poland wanted to be a watchdog on Germany, and buffer against communism, although 30% not ethnically Polish, so some demographic problems, an unfair amount of territory taken from Russia immediately led to war with Russia in 1921
• Motives and aims of the Big Three at Versailles

  French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau: Realist, wanted punitive peace and compensation, aimed to punish Germany without crushing them completely, wanted reparations, wanted military restrictions - Germany broken into smaller confederations + independent Rhineland + permanent control of Saarland

  American President Woodrow Wilson: Idealist who wanted to punish Germany but not too harshly, worried about the spread of communism if too weak and revenge from Germans, and wanted to strengthen democracy based on '14 points' = disarmament, League of Nations, and self-determination

  British Prime Minister Lloyd George: Mediator, wanted a punitive but just peace, wanted Germany to lose colonies and navy as they threatened the hegemony of the 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
• 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
• Impact of peace treaties on Germany up to 1923

  • 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 near-starvation, feared it would cripple economy, Colonies taken double standards for self-determination: Germans displaced, not allowed to rule themselves
• 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
• Arguments for and against the fairness of the peace treaties

  • 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

  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
• Arguments for and against justifying the peace treaties 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.