History core topic 1

• Woodrow Wilson ideas (4) +2

  1. Don't be too harsh on Germany - Germany would recover and want revenge, Communists might take over a weak Germany like in Russia

  2. Strengthen democracy in weak countries - People would make leaders not get into wars

  3. Self-determination for small countries which were in European empires - Eastern-European countries can rule themselves (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks)

  4. League of Nations - International co-operation
• David Lloyd-George ideas (4) +1

  1. Agreed with Wilson in public but not private

  2. Don't be too harsh on Germany - Germany would recover and want revenge, Communists might take over a weak Germany like in Russia

  3. Britain trading with Germany - Second largest trading partner before the war, More trade = More jobs

  4. Germany to lose their navy and colonies - British empire was threatened
• Clemenceau ideas


  1. Found Wilson hard to work with - Didn't publicly criticise however

  2. Cripple Germany to the brink - Cripple Germany so that it could never regain power and attack France again, He had watched Germany attack France twice
• Lloyd-George pressures (3)

  1. British people were not sympathetic with the Germans - They had suffered over 1 million casualties and food shortages

  2. Lloyd-George was recently elected - He was elected promising that 'Germany would pay'

  3. The British saw how the Germans treated Russia with the treaty of Brest-Litovsk
• Clemenceau pressures (3)

  1. France had suffered huge damage to its land people and industry

  2. The French president (Poincaré) wanted Germany broken up back into smaller states

  3. Germany still seemed powerful at least more than France
• Clemenceau clashes with Wilson (3)

  1. Clemenceau resented Wilson's generous attitude towards Germany - The USA had not suffered nearly as badly as France

  2. France wanted the Rhineland in the Saar - They wanted a buffer zone from Germany

  3. Woodrow Wilson wanted self-determination in Eastern European countries
• Clemenceau clashes with Lloyd-George (1) +1

  1. Clemenceau resented Lloyd-George's generous attitude towards Germany - Clemenceau felt the British were fine with it because only France was under major threat in Europe, but the British did not want Germany to keep their navy and colonies because it threatened the British empire
• Wilson and Lloyd-George clashes (2)

  1. Lloyd-George didn't want to allow all nations access to the sea - It threatened Britain

  2. Lloyd-George didn't like the idea of people ruling themselves because British empire ruled millions of people.
• Treaty of Versailles terms - War guilt


  1. Article 231 - Germany had to accept blame for starting the war
• Treaty of Versailles terms - Reparations (3)


  1. The allies agreed without consulting Germany that Germany had to pay reparations to the powers for the damage caused

  2. The exact figure of 6.6 billion pounds was only decided in 1921

  3. France received coal from the Saar for 15 years
• Treaty of Versailles terms - German territories and colonies (8)


  1. Anschluss was banned with Austria

  2. German's overseas empire was taken away and became mandates controlled by the League of Nations

  3. Alsace-Lorraine was given to France

  4. The Rhineland became a demilitarised zone as buffer zone between France and Germany

  5. Danzig was run as an international free city by the League of Nations to give Poland a sea port

  6. Upper Silesia was given to Poland

  7. Germany lost 10 percent of their land in Europe

  8. Germany had to surrender West Prussia and Posen creating the Polish corridor
• Treaty of Versailles terms - German armed forces (5)


  1. Army was limited to 100,000 men

  2. Conscription was banned

  3. The navy could only have 6 battleships and 15,000 sailors

  4. Germany was not allowed to have armoured vehicles, submarines or aircraft

  5. The Rhineland became a demilitarised zone
• Treaty of Versailles terms - League of Nations (2)


  1. The League of Nations was set up to keep the peace

  2. Germany was not invited to the league at the beggining
• German criticisms of the Treaty of Versailles - Disarmament (3)


  1. The army was a symbol of German pride

  2. It was. very small army for a country of Germany's size

  3. None of the Allies were being forced to disarm in the same way
• German criticisms of the Treaty of Versailles - War guilt and reparations (2)


  1. The Germans did not feel they started the war

  2. The Germans thought the blame should at least be shared
• German criticisms of the Treaty of Versailles - German territories (3)


  1. It was a blow to the German pride and economy

  2. As Germany lost their colonies Britain and France's territories increased because they took control of Germany's territories in Africa

  3. The Saar and Upper Silesia were important industrial areas
• German criticisms of the Treaty of Versailles - Non-representation (2)


  1. Germans did not feel that they lost the war so they felt that they should not be treated as a defeated country

  2. Germans were angry that their government was not being represented at the peace talks and instead being forced to accept the harsh terms with no say in the matter
• German criticisms of the Treaty of Versailles - 14 points and League of Nations (2)

  1. The Germans felt insulted that they were not invited to the League of Nations

  2. German speaking peoples were being hived off to be ruled by non-Germans which didn't keep with self-determination
• Consequences of the Treaty of Versailles in Germany - Political violence (3)

  1. Kapp Putsch in March 1920- Right wing rising led by Kapp including Freikorps (soldiers who had lost their job due to the treaty) which was only stopped by a General strike by Berlin workers which worked but sent Germany into chaos adding to the bitterness of the Treaty of Versailles

  2. Munich Putsch in November 1923- Hitler tried a rebellion with 2000 SAs against the Weimar republic it failed badly but Hitler got off lightly

  3. 354 political assassinations including Walter Rathenau the Foreign minister and anyone who was involved in the signing of the Treaty of Versailles
• Consequences of the Treaty of Versailles in Germany - Ruhr crisis (4)

  1. In 1922 the Germans paid no reparations so in 1923 French and Belgian soldiers entered and occupied the Ruhr taking the raw material and goods they were owed

  2. The Germans went on strike so that they didn't produce any goods for the French to take but the French reacted harshly killing over 100 workers

  3. The strike meant Germany had no goods to trade and no money to buy things with leading to hyperinflation

  4. Germany blamed the reparations being too high leaving Germany bankrupted and unable to pay the rest but the British and French believed they were lying
• Consequences of the Treaty of Versailles in Germany - Hyperinflation (3)

  1. The government solved the Ruhr crisis by printing more money leading to hyperinflation

  2. Money became worthless

  3. The crisis was resolved but it left a bitter memory for the Germans
• The Treaty of Versailles was fair (3)

  1. The Germans treated the Russians much worse with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk being much harsher than the Treaty of Versailles

  2. The British and French believed the Germans would have made a much harsher treaty

  3. The British and the French believed Germany's economic problems were mostly Germany's own fault as they allowed debt to mount up hoping they could it pay it off using their own reparations
• Fair terms of the treaty of Versailles - Germany (3)

  1. Eupen malmedy, Alsace-Lorraine and North Schleswig being returned to their original countries

  2. Disarmament of the Rhineland

  3. Abolishing conscription
• Fair terms of the treaty of Versailles - Big Three (3+4)

  Germany -

  1. Eupen malmedy, Alsace-Lorraine and North Schleswig being returned to their original countries

  2. demilitarisation of the Rhineland

  3. Abolishing conscription

  +

  1. Germany surrendering West Prussia and Posen creating the Polish corridor

  2. Upper Silesia being divided between Poland and Germany

  3. Anschluss with Austria being banned

  4. Reducing the German army to 100,000, no military aircraft, German navy limited
• Unfair terms of the treaty of Versailles - Big Three (4)

  1. Danzig and Memel German ports becoming international free cities

  2. All German territories taken control of by the League of Nations

  3. Germany signing the war guilt clause

  4. 6.6 billion pound reparations from the blank cheque
• Treaty of Versailles terms Germany followed (3)

  1. Military clauses - Reducing and limiting army to 100,000, limiting Navy to 36 ships and no submarines

  2. Germany signed the blank cheque

  3. Germany became a democracy to show Britain and France they were turning a new leaf (Not in the treaty)

  4. Territorial losses
• Treaty of Versailles terms Germany didn't follow (1)

  1. Reparations - they didn't pay them fully
• Paris Peace Conference (3)

  1. 1919-1920

  2. No defeated countries were invited

  3. It lasted a year