Attempts to Keep and Make Peace

Question 1

Who are the “Big Three”?

Answer 1

Woodrow Wilson, Georges Clemenceau and David Lloyd George.

Question 2

What countries are they from?

Answer 2

USA, France and Britain

Question 3

What is the Treaty of Brest Litovsk?

Answer 3

A treaty Germany forced Communist Russia to sign.
Russia lost large areas of land, agricultural land, resources like iron and coal, 1/3 of the population and was forced to pay 6 million marks in reparations.

Question 4

What did Woodrow Wilson want?

Answer 4

He was an idealist that felt strongly about making the world safer. He pushed forward the 14 points for lasting peace and international co-operation

Question 5

What were some key points of Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points?

Answer 5

He wanted free access to the seas for all in peace and wartime, free trade between counties, disarmament and for the League of Nations to be set up.

Question 6

What did David Lloyd George want?

Answer 6

He wanted to ensure that Germany’s navy would not threaten Britain, aimed to rebuild the British economy and maintain the British Empire.

Question 7

Why was David Lloyd George wary of Woodrow Wilson?

Answer 7

He was wary of Woodrow Wilson because he was wary of Woodrow Wilson’s ideals.

Question 8

What did Georges Clemenceau want?

Answer 8

Georges Clemenceau wanted to make sure that Germany was kept as weak as possible and thought that Germany should take the full blame of the war and pay heavy reparations.

Question 9

What is a phrase to describe each of the big three’s ideals?

Answer 9

Woodrow Wilson, Peace
David Lloyd George, Justice
Georges Clemenceau, Revenge

Question 10

What are the general terms of the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 10

Affecting Germany:
War Guilt Clause, Armed Forces, Reparations, Territorial Changes

Not affecting Germany:
Forming of the League of Nations

Question 11

What is the War Guilt Clause?

Answer 11

Under Article 231, Germany had to accept blame for WWI

Question 12

How did Germans feel about the War Guilt Clause in the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 12

The Germans felt that it was unfair as they were not the only country on their side of the war, and yet they had to take total blame.
They felt humiliated as they were forced to accept the treaty as there was no German representative at the Paris Peace Conference.

Question 13

What are the reparations Germany had to pay in the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 13

Had to pay 6.6 billion GBP. It was a heavy economic burden and was a massive drain on their economy. The Germans had to pay in cash or goods over a few years.

Question 14

How did Germans feel about the reparations Germany had to pay in the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 14

They felt that the amount was unreasonable because Germany’s economy was also damaged. It was seen as a burden to hamper Germany’s economic recovery.

Question 15

What are the territorial changes Germany went through in the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 15

They had to give up 10% of their land, 12.5% of their population and all of their overseas colonies.
There was a loss of land and important resources. Germany was also forbidden from merging with Austria

Question 16

How did the Germans feel about the territorial changes in the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 16

They had lost the German Empire and it was a great blow to German pride.
There was an economic loss as the loss of land is also the loss of resources and manpower. They felt that it went against the principle of self-determination

Question 17

What were the terms that Germany had to follow for their armed forces in the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 17

The army was limited to 100k men and the navy only had 15k. No compulsory military service was given, no air force, and no submarines.

The Rhineland was also to be demilitarised.

Question 18

How did the Germans react to the change in their armed forces in the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 18

The loss of army power was a blow to German pride. The people felt vulnerable and defenseless as they did not have enough armed forces.

Question 19

What were Germans’ overall reactions to the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 19

Since there were no German representatives involved in discussions regarding the Treaty of Versailles, the Germans were outraged, feeling that it was unfair and unreasonable.
The German government had no choice but to sign, and if they didn’t, they would have been invaded by other powers.

Question 20

What are the short term impacts of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany?

Answer 20

Since the people thought the war was going well for them, they felt betrayed by the government as they are the ones that signed the Treaty of Versailles.

Question 21

What are the mid-term impacts of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany?

Answer 21

Since Germany was unable to pay reparations, it led to the Ruhr crisis of 1923.
The government printed more money, which caused hyperinflation.

Question 22

Why was Ruhr important?

Answer 22

Ruhr was resource-rich and the resources were stolen from the Germans.

Question 23

What are the long term impacts of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany?

Answer 23

There was an overall resentment of the Treaty of Versailles.
The feeling was used by Adolf Hitler, who promised to abolish the Treaty of Versailles and made Germans pledge support to the Nazis.

Question 24

What is the League of Nations and what are their aims?

Answer 24

The League of Nations is an international peacekeeping organisation to prevent war. It is based on collective security, essentially making it a huge alliance.
Their aim was disarmament.

Question 25

What is the structure of the League of Nations?

Answer 25

There is a general assembly and the security council.

The general assembly is made up of all members of the League of Nations. They meet up once a year, and every decision made needs to have at least 67% of countries’ agreement.

The security council is made out of Britain, France, Italy, Japan and 4 other non-permanent members. They have 4-5 meetings per year and decisions need to be made unanimously.

Question 26

What are the peacekeeping measures the League of Nations take?

Answer 26

Preventative:
Disarmament and arbitration. Arbitration means that when two countries are in conflict, a neutral country would listen in on both sides and comes out with a suggestion.

Reactive:
Moral persuasion. The League of Nations will publicly condemn the offending nation and make them stop their actions.
Economic sanctions. They will stop trade to the offending nation and they will be pressured to stop.
Military sanctions. They will cut off the supply of arms and will effectively stop the offending nation’s attack.

Question 27

What were people concerned about the League of Nations?

Answer 27

Disarmament:
Many countries thought that they would be vulnerable and did not want to disarm. These include countries such as Britain, France and Italy.

Ability to stop aggressors:
The League of Nations lacked authority and power. Economic sanctions were hard to achieve as it damages their own trade and military sanctions were hard to achieve as the League of Nations had no military of their own and were dependent on the contribution of member countries. Since the US was not in the League of Nations, its absence made it harder to take action

Membership of the League:
Only 44 countries joined. Countries such as USA, Germany and Russia were not in the League of Nations. USA was following a policy of isolationism, Russia was seen as a threat due to communism, and Germany was not allowed because of the Treaty of Versailles and ‘causing’ WWI. Britain and France did not contribute to payment as they were trying to restore their own post-war reparations.

Question 28

What are some successes of the League of Nations?

Answer 28

Upper Silesia conflict didn’t escalate (1921)
The people voted for who they wanted to be governed by. Some of them chose Poland and some others chose Germany.

Greek-Bulgarian border (1925)
The League of Nations was able to stop the aggressor, Greece from occupying Bulgaria. Ceasefire was ordered and the Greek obeyed, allowing the conflict to end.

Question 29

What are some failures of the League of Nations?

Answer 29

Failure of collective security (1920)
They were unable to convince Poland to withdraw from Vilna and member countries were reluctant to react. This made Poland able to occupy Vilna.

Corfu (1923)
This situation showed that larger nations could still bully weaker neighbouring countries. The League of Nations was powerless against larger aggressor countries, and could be ignored and overruled by international groups.

Question 30

What were some other attempts to keep peace?

Answer 30

Dawe Plan (1924)
The major powers agreed to decrease Germany’s reparations until the economy improved. USA loaned large sums of money to Germany in order to rebuild the economy and helped too end the Ruhr crisis.

Young Plan, (1929)
Further decrease Germany’s reparations and had an extended timeline for it. It was suspended when the Great Depression began.

Lorcano Treaties (1925)
Germany accepted the western borders as stated in the Treaty of Versailles. They reassured France and Belgium that they would respect each other’s borders and solve conflicts peacefully. This allowed Germany to join the League of Nations in 1926

Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)
It was an agreement between 65 countries not to use force to settle disputes, but there was no way to reinforce it.