conflict and tension summary

• World War I began in 1914 and ended in 1918, costing the lives of millions
• Germany was initially successful in beating the Russian Empire, but when the US entered the war in 1917, things started to turn for the worse for Germany
• There was a backlash against the German government when it became known in October that they had requested an Armistice
• The Naval Mutiny on 3rd November in Kiel was the start of the November Revolution within Germany
• Germany appealed to President Woodrow Wilson for an Armistice, as they felt he would be the most lenient since the US had only just joined the war
• Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points


  The points that were required for peace
• Initially, Germany rejected the 14 Points, but then changed their mind when the November Revolution made war inevitable
• Key points in Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points

  • Disarmament by all countries
  • Return of Alsace-Lorraine to France
  • Self-determination
  • Poland to be an independent state
  • Creation of the League of Nations
• The 'Big Three' in the peace negotiations

  • US President Woodrow Wilson
  • UK Prime Minister Lloyd George
  • French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau
• Clemenceau's aims


  Punish Germany, ensure they cannot attack again
• Lloyd George's aims


  Punish Germany but not as harshly, maintain British Empire, continue trade with Germany
• Wilson's aims


  Implement his 14 Points
• Germany was not able to negotiate peace, it was dictated upon them
• The Armistice lasted 30 days, with the official terms agreed at the Treaty of Versailles in 1919
• Initial terms of the Armistice

  • German troops to evacuate France and Belgium
  • Naval blockade around Germany to continue
  • German troops to evacuate the Rhineland
• Over 30 countries were present at the 1919 Paris peace talks, but the main force was the 'Big Three'
• The Treaty of Versailles only really dealt with Germany
• Territorial losses for Germany in the Treaty of Versailles

  • Alsace-Lorraine returned to France
  • Rhineland demilitarized
  • Land in the East taken for Poland
  • Saarland coal fields taken
• Military restrictions on Germany in the Treaty of Versailles

  • Army limited to 100,000 soldiers
  • Only allowed 7 battleships
  • No tanks, air force or submarines
• War Guilt Clause


  Germany had to accept full responsibility for the war and pay reparations
• The reparations figure was set at 6.6 billion, which was an incredible amount for the weakened German economy
• The Treaty of Versailles was seen as a huge humiliation by the German people
• talk about these later on so we'll look at these later on look at these later on but the but for now the the the economic impact was incredible okay and so that really sums up what the effect the effective terms of the Treaty of versailes were
• what we're going to look at in later videos is the general reactions the reactions from the world leaders and the reactions from Germany as well because Germany wasn't as you can imagine wasn't very happy with this with this Arrangement
• in this video we're going to look at the reactions to the Treaty of Versa the Versa treaty and we're going split it into two main sections we have a look at reactions from Germany and then we're going to have a look at reactions from from mainly The Big Three
• the German people thought that the first SI settlement was too harsh on ger was too harsh on Germany okay they didn't believe it was um it was fair and the most important one was the war guilt clause okay cuz the war guilt clause meant that they had to pay reparation ations okay they it meant that they had to pay some reparations
• the war guilt clause was what led to reparations parations okay and so for one they didn't believe that they should be blamed for the war since the War World War I was effectively the the the the um it's almost almost like a competition between Empires effectively
• when uh Serbian nationalists shot the uh the Austria Austria Hungary sorry Austria hungary's uh France Ferdinand okay that led to war between Austria and Serbia and then therefore Germany and Serbia war between Austria and Russia and then Germany and Russia and because War they were at war with Russia France joined the war on Russia's side and because Germany tried to uh uh Germany tried to threaten Belgium's neutrality using what they was called the schen plan that meant that the UK joined the war and then in 1917 the US joined the war because of uh sinking of um Atlantic Shipping and so it was a it was a complicated mess effectively World War I was especially the causes of World War I
• to suggest that Germany was solely responsible me personally is I think is a little bit of an oversimplification however the Versa treaty did did do that and as a result paid reparations which is why Germany felt it was unfair
• the German military was also dramatically cut the German Empire had collapsed so this sort of this sort of patriotic patriotic idea of Germany of Germany was was crushed okay it was crushed it was crushed by the vers siies treaty cutting the military collapsing the Empire
• Germany was also unable to join the League of Nations as well at the start okay they join later on but they were unable ble to join straight away
• German politicians hoped for a fairer treaty but they had to sign what they were given so they had to sign what they were given they were given
• if they hadn't have signed that then the war would have just picked up where it left off and they would have taken they would have when Berlin was captured
• there were Mass proest protests outside the reichstag in 1919 which is what this image here uh represents okay this is showing the the huge protests and the German public believed that politicians had stabbed them in the back okay and this became known as the stabing the back myth and it was really a tool that was used by farle and far right extremism
• between 1919 and 19 sort of 24 in Germany we see a huge rise in Nazi uh extremism and communist violence as well so there are a number of political assassinations we have what was known as the cap PCH which was uh an when the Army was disbanded one of the army generals uh just decided no no thank you and marched on Berlin we have the Munich PCH which was the Nazi party trying to take over um take over the government and start a revolution in 1923 however it failed obviously
• Wilson believed that the treaty was far too harsh since he believed that it should be based on his 14 points okay and a lot of the 14 points weren't even picked up
• one of the 14 points was the creation of the League of Nations which was successful he was successful in creating but Wilson was failed again when the senate in America refused to sign the the League of Nations all the Treaty of versa
• the Senate kept the President Wilson in check and refused refused to sign those two things okay and therefore one of the most powerful nations in the world at the time didn't join the League of Nations
• Lloyd George the Prime Minister all also worried that the treaty was too harsh okay he was pleased that the UK had received some German colonies so we had the an expansion of the Empire so expansion expansion of the Empire empire which back in those days is always a good thing but he was worried that if the treaty was too harsh a revolution would happen similar to the Russian Revolution a year a couple of years before sorry and lead to a communist state
• the British public they were happy with the treaty