core study Flashcards
world war one dates
July 28, 1914 – November 11, 1918
the big 3
woodrow wilson- USA
georges clemenceau- France
david lloyd-george- Britain
when would armistice start
11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month, november 1918
paris peace conference
took place between 1919 and 1920. an international meeting with the leaders of 32 countries which made up 75% of the population, where the terms of the final peace treaties were decided. 5 treaties were drawn up: treaty of versailles, treaty of st.germain (austria), treaty of neuilly (bulgaria), treaty of trianon (hungary), treaty of sevres (turkey)
wilson’s ideas
- wanted a league of nations
- didn’t want to be too harsh on Germany
- strengthen democracy in defeated countries
- give self-determination to small countries that had once been part of the European empires
- didn’t want to get involved with other countries’ affairs and wars
the 14 points
- no secret treaties
- free access to the seas in peacetime or wartime
- free-trade between countries
- all countries to work towards disarmament
- colonies to have a say in their own future
- german troops to leave russia
- independence for belgium
- france to regain Alsace-Lorraine
- frontier between austria and italy to be adjusted
- self-determination for the peoples of eastern Europe
- serbia to have access to the sea
- self-determination for the people in the turkish empire
- poland to become an independent state with access to the sea
- league of nations to be set up
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lloyd-george’s ideas
- wanted germany to be punished but for them to remain quite strong
- was worried that if germany was punished too harshly and became too weak then communism might spread from russia which would lead to another war
- the british public was angry at the loss of their men and wanted Germany to be punished
- a damaged german economy would mean that they wouldn’t be able to trade with britain, resulting in a loss of jobs since before the war germany was britain’s 2nd largest trading partner
- since britain was an island, keeping germany’s navy weak would mean britain stayed strong
british casualties during WW1
- over 1 million casualties in fighting
- food shortages
clemenceau’s ideas
- wanted a treaty that would weaken germany as much as possible
- wanted germany broken up into a collection of smaller states
- wanted to cripple germany so that they could not attack france again
- france had suffered enormous damage to its land, industry, and people. over two-thirds of the men who served in the french army had been killed or wounded
clemenceau clashed with wilson
the usa had not suffered nearly as badly as france had during the war given that they joined in 1917. wilson did not want to be too harsh on germany while clemenceau wanted to cripple them. they disagreed over what to do about certain german land such as rhineland. wilson gave way to this. in return clemenceau and lloyd-george gave wilson what he wanted in eastern europe (self-determination)
clemenceau clashed with lloyd-george
again lloyd-george wanted germany stable enough to continue trading and clemenceau wanted germany thoroughly weakened. clemenceau felt it was ironic that britain did not want to treat germany harshly in areas where it did not affect them however when it came to the navy britain would do anything to protect their empire.
‘if the british are so anxious to appease Germany they should look overseas and make colonial, naval or commercial concessions.’
wilson clashed with lloyd-george
lloyd-george was particularly unhappy with specifically 2 of wilson’s 14 points, allowing all nations free access to the sea. additionally wilson’s view on people ruling themselves was a threat to the british government since the british empire ruled millions of people all across the world
the terms of the treaty of versailles
Guilt clause, germany was to take full responsibility for the war
Army, germany’s army was reduced to 100,000 men, 6 battleships, and no aeroplanes or submarines
Reparations, they were to pay 6.600 million pounds worth of reparations to make up for the damage that they had caused
Germany lost land, germany lost all its overseas colonies and 10% of its land, Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France and Rhineland became a demilitarized zone (border between Germany and France), there was also the creation of the polish corridor where poland was given access to the Baltic sea
League of nations, a league of nations was set up to which Germany was not invited to
Extra points, Germany was banned from its union with Austria (Anschluss)
GARGLE
what germany lost: statistics
- 10% of its land
- all its overseas colonies
- 12.5% of its population
- 16% of its coalfields and almost half of its iron and steel industry
diktat
an imposed settlement, a demand
hyperinflation
the process of money becoming worthless
putsch
the german word for ‘rebellion’
germany’s reaction to the treaty
war guilt and reparations: the war guilt clause was particularly hated, the germans did not feel that they had started the war and thought that at the very least the blame should be shared. they were bitter that germany was expected to pay for all the damage caused by the war, especially since the german economy had been severely weakened
german territories: germany lost 10% of its land, all of its overseas colonies, 12.5% of its population, 16% of its coalfields and almost half of its iron and steel industry. while germany was losing colonies, the british and french were growing their empires by taking control of german territories in africa
disarmament: an army of 100,000 was far too small for a country of germany’s size and their army was a symbol of germany’s pride. despite wilson’s 14 points calling for disarmament none of the other allies were being forced or even asked to disarm in the same way
non-representation: they were angry that their government was not being invited or represented at the peace talks.
consequences of the treaty for germany
political violence: communist revolt in Germany by spartacists, they were rounded up and killed within a week by the freikorps (ex-soldiers) . 2nd revolt in 1920 called the Kapp putsch where the freikorps joined with the nationalists and revolted against the government. friedrich ebert was forced to rely on the workers, since he couldn’t use violence the workers went on strike. kapp realised he didn’t have the support of the people, it was shut down
conflict in the ruhr: the ruhr was the industrial heart of germany. at the end of 1922 germany fell behind on their payments so in 1923 the french and belgium entered to ruhr and took what was owed to them in the form of raw materials and goods. german government ordered the workers to go on strike so they weren’t producing anything for the french to take and as a result the french killed over 100 workers and expelled over 100,000 protestors from the region.
hyperinflation: after germany fell behind on their payments and ordered workers to go on strike, this meant that no goods were being produced for them to trade so they were not making money. in order to solve this problem the government just decided to print more money which created the problem of hyperinflation. this meant that money was becoming worthless. a stable, middle-class family who had previously saved up enough money to buy a house could no longer even afford to buy bread because their money became worthless.
was the treaty fair
on the one hand it was fair because germany had caused an immense amount of damage, especially to countries such as france. the germans were also being hypocritical since they force russia to sign an extremely harsh treaty, the treaty of brest-litovsk in 1918, when russia had to leave the war.
however, the treaty had severe consequences for germany even on the ordinary people. additionally there were other treaties too yet for some reason germany’s was the harshest. only 1 other country from the treaties actually paid the reparations, countries such as austria and hungary could not afford to pay them and they were not forced to do so, meanwhile germany was.
origin of the league of nations
- wilson wanted it to be like a world parliament where representatives of all nations could meet together regularly to decide on any matters that affected them all
- many british leaders though the best League would be a simple organisation that would just get together in emergencies. an organisation like this already existed it was called the conference of ambassadors
- france proposed a strong league with its own army
wilson won.
wilson’s ambitions for the league
- all major nations would join the league
- all the nations would disarm
- if they had a dispute with another country they would take it to the league
- promised to protect each other if they were invaded
- if any member broke the covenant and went to war, other members would stop trading with it and send troops to force it to stop fighting
wilson defeated
the usa did not end up joining the league because he did not receive approval from the congress.
- people didn’t want the usa getting involved in world affairs
- people thought that if the league imposed sanctions then it would be american trade and business that suffered
- people feared the league would be dominated by britain and france (big empires)
in 1920 wilson became severely ill due to a stroke
aims of the league
- to discourage aggression from any nation
- to encourage countries to cooperate especially in business and in trade
- to encourage nations to disarm
- to improve the living and working conditions of people in all parts of the world
- COLLECTIVE SECURITY: by acting together the members of the league could prevent war by defending the lands and interests of all nations, large or small
collective security
by acting together the members of the league could prevent war by defending the lands and interests of all nations, large or small
organisation of the league
council: most powerful decision making part of the League, met 5 times a year, had the power to veto any decision, 4 members: Britain, France, Italy, Japan
assembly: second decision-making body, met once a year, consisted of the rest of the members of the league, the league’s parliament, could decide which countries were allowed into the league and make recommendations to the council, decisions had to be unanimous
permanent court of international justice: based at the Hague in the Netherlands, was made up of judges from the member countries, key role: to settle disputes between countries peacefully, give decisions on border disputes between countries
secretariat: kept records and prepared reports to guide all other agencies
ILO (international labour organisation: improve workers’ rights and make workplace safer, offered advice and encouraged employers to follow its strategies
refugee committee: help prisoners of war and others displaced by WW1
health committee: prevent/reduce deadly diseases e.g small pox, and provide sanitation and hygiene education
slavery commission: ending slavery that existed
mandates commission: ensure that the colonies under the league’s control were fairly run in the interests of people living there
how successful was the league in securing peace
aaland islands 1921: traditionally belonged to finland but were between finland and sweden, league was asked to intervene, league decided they should remain with finland but be demilitarized, both countries accepted the decision (success)
greece and bulgaria 1925: these nations share a common border, guards patrolling the border fired at one another and a greek soldier was killed leading the greeks to invade bulgaria, bulgarians asked league to help, league instructed fighting to stop and ordered greeks out of bulgaria, decided that greece was to blame and fined them 45,000 pounds, decision accepted (success)
upper silesia 1921: the TOV gave the people of upper silesia a choice between being part of poland or germany, 700,000 voted germany 500,000 voted poland, league decided to split it between germany and poland, decision accepted (success)
italy and greece (corfu) 1923: border between these two was unclear and not addressed in the TOV, mixed nationality survey team was sent to settle the dispute, whilst travelling to the area 5 italian members of the team were separated and shot dead, italy accused greece of planning everything and demanded a fine, greece refused to pay and italians sent their navy to corfu and bombarded it, greece appealed to the league for help but italy convinced it to fine greece (fail)
vilna 1920: vilna was the capital of lithuania but had been taken over by russia before 1920, after WW1 lithuania was re-established and made vilna its capital, however by 1930 only 2% of its population was lithuanian and 30% of it was polish, poles seized vilna in 1920, lithuanians appealed to the league for help but poles remained in control of vilna until WW2 (fail)
how the league of nations worked for a better world
refugees, working conditions, health, slavery
main failures of the league
- disarmament: germany had disarmed due to the TOV but no other countries had disarmed in the same way, France, Japan, Britain and USA had reduced the size of their navies, shows lack of trust in the treaty
- international agreements
international agreements in the 1920’s
- 1921 washington conference: USA, Britain, Japan agreed to limit size of their navies 5:5:3
- 1922 rapallo treaty: the USSR and Germany formed a secret treaty, allowed germany to develop weapons in the soviet union to increase military, broke the TOV
- 1924 Dawes plan: to avert economic crisis in germany (hyperinflation) Gustav Stresemann got loan from USA to pay its reparations
- 1925 locarno treaties: western borders of germany settled, greeted with enthusiasm especially from france, paved the way for germany to join the league in 1926, germany’s eastern borders still not settled
- 1928 kellogg-briand pact: 65 nations agreed not to use force to settle disputes, no obligations just a piece of paper, japan and italy broke it
- 1929 young plan: reduced germany’s reparations
