Chap 1. 1919-39 peace treaties fair? (The inter-war yrs)

Question 1

Which countries were part of the Big Three

Answer 1

1. USA
2. Britain
3. France

Question 2

Who where the 3 people in the Big Three

Answer 2

1. Woodrow Wilson (USA)
2. [David] Lloyd George (Britain)
3. Georges Clemenceau (France)

Question 3

When was the Versallies settlement?

Answer 3

1919-1923

Question 4

Wilsons ideas/ beliefs [towards Germany]

in building a better/ more peaceful world

Answer 4

> Don’t be too harsh
Strengthen democracy in defeated countries
Give self-determination to small countries that had once been part of the European empires
International co-operation
Strong advocate for LON

Question 5

Why, to achieve peace, did Wilson not want to be too harsh to Germany?

Answer 5

• Fearful that if Germany was treated harshly, someday it would recover and want revenge
• Concerned that extremist groups (e.g. communists) might exploit resentment among Germans and take control of Germany.

Question 6

Why, to achieve peace, did Wilson want to strengthen democracy in defeated countries?

Answer 6

• Felt that democracy was key to peace in Europe
• Democracies would prevent the leaders of defeated nations from starting another war because the leaders would have to listen to their views.

Question 7

Which were the small countries (that were part of the European empire) that Wilson wanted to have self-determination

Answer 7

e.g Poles, Czechs and Solvaks to rule themselves instead of being part of Austrias-Hungary’s empire

Question 8

Why, to achieve peace, did Wilson want international co-operation and how was it achieved

Answer 8

• Believed that nations should co-operate to achieve world peace
• Done through ‘League of Nations’, Wilson’s most impo. of the 14 points

Question 9

What are Wilson’s 14 points? (Summary)

Answer 9

1. No secret treaties
2. Free access to seas in peacetime or wartime
3. Free trade between countries
4. All countries work towards disarmament
5. Colonies to have a say in their own future
6. German troops to leave Russia
7. Independence for Belgium
8. France to regain Alsace-Lorraine
9. Frontier between Austria and Italy to be adjusted
10. Self-determination for the peace of eastern Europe (they should rule themselves and not be rules by empires)
11. Serbia to have access to the sea
12. Self-determination for the people in the Turkish empire
13. Poland to become an independent state with access to the sea
    14*. League of nations to be set up

Question 10

Woodrow Wilson’s characteristics

Answer 10

• Idealists (sees the good in ppl)
• Campaigned against corruption
• Bad record with regards to African American rights (racist)
• Obstinate (once set on an issue, almost impossible to shift)

Question 11

6 facts about the Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920)

Answer 11

• Took place in the Palace of Versallies
• Lasted 12 months
• 32 countries supposed to be rep. but none of the defeated countries (aka Germany) was invited
• Total of 5 treaties. The main treaty, ‘Treaty of Versailles’ was to deal with Germany. Other 4 was with Germany’s allies
• Important decisions done by the Big Three
• Big Three supported by a huge army of diplomats and expert advisers but often ignored their advice.

Question 12

[David] Lloyed George’s characteristics

Answer 12

• Realist (Logical)

- Been politician for long time, so he knew he had to compromise. Thus he took middle ground of Wilson and Clemenceau

Question 13

Agreements/ disagreements between Wilson and Lloyed George regarding the peace treaties

Answer 13

1. Did not agree to a few of Wilson’s fourteen points
2. Also wanted a peace treaty that would punish Germany, but would not cripple it.
3. Wanted Germany to lose its navy and its colonies because they threatened the British Empire
4. Concerned that a harsh treaty might lead to a communist revolution
5. Wanted Britain and Germany to begin trading with each other again
6. Pressures at home

Question 14

Georges Clemenceau’c character

Answer 14

• Hard/ rough politician
• Rep. of being uncompromising
• Was Invaded 2x (1870 & 1914) thus wanted harsh punishment so it would not happen again

Question 15

Reasons why Georges Clemenceau want harsh punishment on Germany?

Answer 15

• Suffered enormous damage to land, industry & ppl (also self-confidence)
• 2/3 men killed/ wounded
• Germany viewed as threatening and powerful by french ppl, so wanted to weaken them as much as possible by breaking them into smaller states
• Germany seemed more powerful with their 75mil in population compared to France’s 40mil
• Knew he had to compromise with Lloyd George and Wilson, but also wanted to show he is aware of public opinion

Question 16

What were the 5 main terms the Treaty of Versailles can be split into?

Answer 16

1. War Guilt
2. Reparations
3. German territories and colonies
4. Germany’s armed forces
5. League of nations

Question 17

Explain the War Guilt in the Treaty of Versailles

Answer 17

• Germany accepting the blame for starting the war

- Had to take full responsibility for it (tho the German thought it was rlly harsh)

Question 18

Explain the reparations in the Treaty of Versailles

Answer 18

• Big Three collectively agreed (without consulting Germany) that they had to pay for the damage caused in the war
• Initially set to £6.600mil in 1921, ltr lowered in 1929 due to the Young Plan

Question 19

Explain the German territories and colonies

Answer 19

• German European boarders were very extensive
• Treaty forbade Germany from joining together to create the greater Germany [Rhineland became a demilitarised zone]
• Germany’s empire was taken away
• Former German colonies such as Cameroon became mandates controlled by the League of Nations (meant that Britain and France controlled them)

Question 20

What was the term for the ‘Greater Germany’ and what was it about?

Answer 20

• Anschluss

- Join forces with Austria (former ally)

Question 21

Explain Germany’s armed forces in the TOV

Answer 21

• Army limited to 100,000 men
• Conscription was banned (soldiers had to be volunteers)
• Not allowed armoured vehicles, submarines or aircrafts
• Navy could only have 6 battle ships
• Rhineland became a demilitarised zone (no german troops were allowed in that area between Germany and France)

Question 22

Explain the League of Nations in the TOV

Answer 22

Not invited to join unless it had shows it was a peace-loving country

Question 23

What did the Germans criticise the TOV about? (general)

Answer 23

1. War guilt and reparations
2. German territories
3. Disarmament
4. The fourteen point and the League of nations
5. non-Representation

Question 24

What did the Germans criticise about the War guilt and reparation in the TOV

Answer 24

• Had to accept the blame for starting the war and thus had to pay reparations
  1. This ‘war guilt’ clause was particularly hated as they did not feel that they started the war
  2. felt that blame should be shared
  3. Bitter that Germany was expected to pay all the reparations even tho their econ was severely weakened

Question 25

What did the Germans criticise about the german territories in the TOV and how did it affect Germany as a whole

Answer 25

Lost a lot of territory such as:

• 10% of it’s land in Europe
• All of it’s overseas colonies
• 12.5% of it’s population
• 16% of it’s coalfields and almost half of it’s iron and steel industry

Major blow to Germany’s pride and econ

Question 26

What did the Germans criticise about the disarmament in the TOV and how did they feel towards it

Answer 26

> Army reduced to 100,000
No air force
Navy can only have 6 battleships

• Felt that these terms were very unfair as 100,00 men was very little for Germany’s size
• Did not uphold to Wilson’s 14 points that all countries needed to disarm in the same way.
• The army was a symbol of German pride

Question 27

What did the Germans react to the 14 point and the League of nations in the TOV (and give examples)

Answer 27

TOV was not keeping with the 14 points, e.g:

• German speaking ppl were being hived off to other countries such as Czechoslovakia, to be ruled by non-Germans
• Anschluss (union, aka the ‘Greater Germany’) with Austria was forbidden

Question 28

How did the Germans react to the non/ lack of presentation in the TOV

Answer 28

• Angry that their government was not represented at the peace talks and were forced to accept a harsh treaty without any choice or comment
• Germans did not feel that they have lost the war and should not have been treated as a defeated country

Question 29

Briefly describe the conflict in Ruhr and the result of it

Answer 29

• Had to pay £6.6 billion in reparations
• Ruhr was heavily industrialised and was invaded by French and Belgium soldiers in 1923 (which was legal according to the TOV)
• Govt asked workers to go on strike to not produce and goods for the invaders
• French killed and and expelled a lot of ppl due to this
• Due to the lack of goods to trade and money to but things, it lead to hyperinflation

Question 30

Hyperinflation (how the govt tried to fix it and the consequences of their actions)

Answer 30

• Govt tried to fix it by printing money which caused the value of money to decrease (aka hyperinflation)
• This lead to the govt and big industries to pay off their huge debts with worthless marks
• However the pioneers and middle class were not able to afford things they could have in 1921 due to their current situation in 1923

Question 31

Why did Lloyed George not agree with Wilson’s 14 points? (and which ones)

Answer 31

> Thought that self-determination for European countries would be impossible as the different nationalities who ruled themselves did not live in neatly defined areas.
Not impressed with the point of free access to the seas as Britain’s blockade of German trade had been a key factor in winning the war.

Question 32

What were the pressures at home (Britain) that Lloyed George faced?

Answer 32

> The people of Britain weren’t sympathetic towards Germany
Had suffered over 1 million casualties
Food shortages and hardships at home
Had been fed anti-german propaganda for four years
Had seen how Germany treated Russia 1918 when they surrendered (had striped Russia of population and land)

Question 33

In what way did Clemenceau clash with Wilson?

Answer 33

• He resented Wilson’s more generous attitude to Germany

- Disagreed over what to do about Germany’s Rhineland and coalfields in the Saar

Question 34

In what way did Clemenceau clash with Lloyed George

Answer 34

He felt that the British were happy to treat Germany fairly in Europe, where France was more under threat than Britain (but they were less happy to allow Germany to keep its navy and colonies, which is more of a threat to Britain)

Question 35

Consequences of the treaty (political violence)

Answer 35

• Right-wing opponents of Ebert’s government could not bear the treaty and attempted a revolution in 1920 called KAPP PUTSCH
• There were numerous political assassinations or attempted assassinations