EXAM Sources Paper- Peace Treaties Flashcards
What were Wilson’s 2 principles for establishing Peace?
- Self-determination (i.e. the idea that peoples should have a right to decide their own political future
- International Co-operation (Wilson proposed a ‘League of Nations’, to try to settle disputes by peaceful means, and to co-operate on issues like Health and Industrial Relations)
Who was Woodrow Wilson?
Woodrow Wilson, the US President. Wilson was a former academic. In politics, he was an idealist who saw the Peace Conference as an opportunity to shape the post- war world according to moral principles, but he was not a fool. He brought with him two main principles and 14 points (See appendix 1 for these), which he had first announced in a speech in January 1918, arguing that they were the ‘only possible’ basis of a peace settlement.
Who was Lloyd George?
David Lloyd George had become Prime Minister of Great Britain during the War, when it was felt that more energetic leadership was needed. Known as the ‘Welsh Wizard’, he was a politician to his fingertips. In public, to please the voters, he promised to ‘Make Germany Pay’ and to ‘squeeze Germany until the pips squeak’, but in private, he knew that too harsh a peace would provoke a German backlash in the future. He had no intention to ‘Hang the Kaiser’, though he was too smart to say so in public.
Who was Georges Clemenceau?
Georges Clemenceau (nicknamed ‘le tigre’) had become French Premier during the War, just like Lloyd George and for the same basic reason. Clemenceau regarded Wilson with suspicion, and thought his 14 points naïve. Dismissing them, he observed: ‘The Lord God himself was satisfied with ten’. Clemenceau wanted a peace which guaranteed French security by disarming Germany, and which made Germany pay for the War.
What massive changes had occurred in Europe as a result of World War 1?
- The loss of life had been unprecedented: several million soldiers and civilians had been killed and wounded.
- The cost of the war had been enormous for the victors: France and Britain had spent and borrowed billions.
- Emotions were running high (there were inter-national hatreds, and public desires for revenge; politicians trapped to an extent by promises to the electorate.
- The political systems of the losing powers had not survived defeat: (e.g. in Germany, the Kaiser had been forced to flee, and a democratic Weimar Republic had been established; in Russia, the Tsar had been overthrown and murdered, and a communist dictatorship established; in Austria-Hungary, the Habsburg empire had disintegrate and the monarch had been exiled; in Turkey, the Ottoman empire had collapsed.
- The collapse of these empires created huge problems for the peacemakers. New borders had to be drawn, peoples had to be settled, and new rulers or different forms of government had to be established.
- There was fear of the spread of communism from Russia, as there was no stable government east of the Rhine due to the collapse of the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires.
- There was an influenza pandemic and a famine in central and Eastern Europe.
What did Wilson aim to negotiate at the Paris Peace conference?
- A peace based as closely as possible on his 14 points. Wilson was determined to set up the League of Nations to ensure peace through collective security (this is why he had it written into the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, as he thought it would force people to accept it). He was convinced that the world needed something new and just in international relations, instead of the secret treaties and armed alliances which had led to WWI.
- A peace which punished Germany for starting WWI and which guaranteed French security as Wilson saw it (he was not naïve about Prussian militarism and its dangers. Nor was he convinced by the claims of the new German government to be democratic; he believed in the ‘War Guilt’ clause and in the reduction of German military might).
- Wilson was suspicious of the British and French Empires. He did not want these countries to expand their empires at Germany’s expense, so he wanted a peace which prevented that, and allowed self-determination for Germany’s former subjects.
- Wilson had called for “no punitive damages” (i.e. no high sum of reparations – the problem was that by demanding that the British and French repay their war loans, he put pressure on both countries to demand a high sum, so that they could pay back the USA)
What did Lloyd George aim to negotiate at the Paris Peace Conferences?
- Peace terms punitive enough to satisfy the British public’s desire to ‘make Germany pay’ (he had voters to satisfy), but far-sighted enough to allow Germany to recover economically, so that it could again be Britain’s major trading partner (this meant in practice that Lloyd-George did not want the amount of reparations to be fixed at too high a level)
- Lloyd George also aimed to prevent Communists from taking power in Germany and then exporting revolution to France and Britain, so the figure for reparations could not be fixed too high.
- But on the other hand, there had to be substantial reparations, not least because the USA was demanding repayment of war loans that Britain (and France) had hoped it would simply cancel. Also, the British dominions (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa), put pressure on Lloyd George to demand a high sum (thus, on the question of reparations, Lloyd George came to Versailles with contradictory aims)
- Lloyd George was suspicious of French intentions at Versailles: if Germany were left too weak, France might once again dominate Europe, as in the Napoleonic era, when she had been Britain’s main enemy. Lloyd George wanted terms tough enough to provide French security but fair enough to prevent French dominance.
- Lloyd George was also suspicious of Wilson’s idealism and its potential consequences for Britain (the British Empire had to be preserved and if possible expanded, so #5 of Wilson’s 14 points was worrying. Lloyd George wanted some of Germany’s and Turkey’s former colonies to be brought under a form of British rule (note: the ‘Mandates’ idea, which many Americans saw as nothing more than disguised imperialism) was written into the Covenant of the League of Nations, but was originally a British idea, not Wilson’s).
What did Clemenceau aim to negotiate at the Paris Peace conferences?
- A peace which punished Germany for starting WWI and inflicting such unprecedented loss of life and material damage on France (Clemenceau felt it keenly that of all the victors, France had suffered most)
- A peace which stripped Germany of her military might and left her too weak ever to pose a danger to France again (Clemenceau had seen his country invade by Germans twice in his lifetime and was determined to prevent it happening again)
- A peace which set up strong states on Germany’s eastern frontier (e.g. Polish, Czech and Yugoslav states), so that even without Russia, Germany could in future be faced with a two-front war.
- A peace which returned Alsace-Lorraine to France (this would put right a wrong done to France after the Franco-Prussian War, which Clemenceau had lived through)
- A peace which compelled Germany to pay reparations for the damage they had inflicted (this would help France’s economic infra-structure to recover)
- Rather than a League of Nations, Clemenceau wanted the wartime alliance to continue into peacetime, so that France’s security would be guaranteed by Britain and the USA
- Clemenceau, like Lloyd-George, had an eye on some of Germany’s and Turkey’s former colonies: if France could not rule them directly, the British idea of ‘Mandates’ would be an acceptable alternative.
What were the key terms of the Treaty of Versailles?
War Guilt Clause (Clause 231):
• Germany was forced to accept responsibility for causing WWI Reparations:
• Germany was to pay compensation to the victors (a Reparations Commission was established to assess by 1921 how much Germany could afford, but Belgium was to be compensated first and in full. The Committee decided that Germany had to pay the unprecedented sum of 6,600,000 pounds)
Military terms/German disarmament:
• The German army was reduced to 100,000 men; conscription, tanks, military aircraft, submarines and battleships were forbidden; the Germany navy itself was reduced to a small number of minor ships
Territorial terms
International Peacekeeping/Collective Security:
• The League of Nations established, but Germany was not allowed to join
immediately (note: Russia also not allowed to join)
What were the territorial terms of the Treaty of Versailles?
Territorial terms:
• Germany was stripped of all her former colonial possessions. These (nominally) were administered as League of Nations ‘Mandates’ but in practice the powers which had designs on particular territories (Britain, France, South Africa, Japan, Italy, New Zealand and Australia) took control of the territories they coveted in Africa and the Pacific
• To give France greater security, the Rhineland was de-militarised (note: only of German troops - the Allies kept an army of occupation there for 15 years).
• The Saarland was to be administered by the League for 15 years, then a plebiscite would determine who would govern the region; the Saar coalfields were given to France for 15 years, to assist economic recovery
• Anschluss: Germany was forbidden to unite with/annex Austria
• Danzig: the port of Danzig was to be administered by the League and a ‘Polish
corridor’ splitting German territory in the east gave access to the port
• Schlewsig-Holstein was returned to Denmark
• Eupen-Malmedy was given to Belgium (it had previously been joint-
administered by Germany and Belgium)
• The neutrality of Luxemburg was confirmed.
What was Germany’s reaction to the Treaty?
At every level of society (and whatever their politics) Germans were horrified by what they saw as the harsh terms of the Treaty. The German government refused to sign the terms, and resigned in protest. The replacement government considered resuming the war, but were told by the Army that Germany could defend her eastern frontier, but not her western. When the Allies threatened to resume the War, the Germans agreed to sign. The man who signed the Treaty on behalf of Germany, Mattias Erzberger, was later assassinated by extreme right-wingers.
What were the reasons why Germans hated the Treaty?
- The Germans had agreed to the Armistice thinking that the peace would be based on Wilson’s 14 Points: as far as the Germans were concerned, the 14 points had not been the basis of the Treaty (there was some truth in this)
- The Germans had thought that they would be negotiating the peace terms, particularly as they also believed their army had not been defeated in the west (strictly speaking, they had signed an armistice, not a surrender), but had been ‘stabbed in the back’ by Communists and Jews). Instead, they had been excluded and given three weeks to comment on the terms. This is why the Germans called it a ‘diktat’ (i.e. a dictated peace).
- The Germans bitterly resented reparations (even before the sum was fixed) because they did not believe themselves guilty; they saw this as “victors’ justice” (i.e. no justice at all).
- Germany was ruled by the Prussian military elite which hated disarmament because it stripped them of a key element in their identity and status, and also because it seemed hypocritical that they were disarming and none of the victors was.
- The Germans resented being excluded from the League of Nations at the beginning, as this implied they were not a civilized nation (they considered this Allied hypocrisy).
- Germany also thought that the Allies were hypocritical in their application of the principle of self-determination: e.g. millions of Germans in Poland and Czechoslovakia were placed under the rule of other peoples.
- The Germans thought that the ‘Mandates’ system was disguised theft of German colonies by Britain, France, and several other Allied powers.
- Germany resented being forbidden to unite with Austria (to Germans, this should have been allowed, because both countries contained the Volk – i.e. Germans by language and culture)
- In total, Germany lost 10% of her land to other countries (this increased her sense of vulnerability to other powers)
- In total, Germany lost 12.5% of her population (this, too, increased her sense of vulnerability to other powers)
- Germany lost 50% of her iron and steel industries and had to give the Saar coalfields to France for 15 years (the Germans saw this as economic exploitation, leading to ruin: how could the French do this and at the same time expect them to pay reparations?)
Could the Treaty of Versailles be justified at the time?
- Germany had waged aggressive war (her claim that she fought a defensive war did not stand up to scrutiny: she had declared war on Russia and then invaded France through neutral Belgium, knowing (but not caring) that this would bring Britain into the War. The War was based on a plan that had been drawn up decades before.
- When Germany looked like winning the War in 1914, leading soldiers and politicians had fought over the credit for starting the War; only when they lost did they argue that the great powers had to share the blame.
- Germany had imposed a much harsher peace treaty on the Russians at Brest- Litovsk: they were conveniently forgetting this when they complained.
• The terms the Germans planned to impose on Britain and France if they won the War were harsher than those of the Treaty of Versailles: the Germans were being hypocritical in their complaints.
• Alsace-Lorraine had been annexed by the Germans in 1871 and it was only fair to return it to France.
• Reparations were just as Germany had done so much damage to the French and Belgian economies and countryside and cities and villages during the four and a quarter years of War.
• Germany’s record of colonial rule was appalling: their subjects deserved better.
• Few of the German-speaking peoples included in new and reformed states had
been part of the German Empire before the War anyway.
• Germany had never been united with Austria, so there was no strong reason to
allow an Anschluss. Also, if the Anschluss was allowed, Germany would end up having more territory after the war than before it: this would be an unfair reward for aggression.
• Germany’s bid for world power had cost so many lives and so much money that it was only fair that she was not allowed to join the League of Nations immediately: she should have to prove that she would abide by the terms of the Treaty, and had no more ambitions for world power status.
• France had been invaded twice in living memory by Germany: the de-militarised Rhineland would give France much-needed security.
• Prussian militarism had led to too many wars in Europe: reducing the German Army to an internal police force of 100,000 men and forbidding Germany tanks, warplanes, submarines and battleships gave Europe security, not just France.
Could the Other Treaties be justified at the time?
The ‘War Guilt’ clause was justified in the case of Austria and Hungary: it had been determined to wage aggressive war on Serbia (provided it had German support), and had used the assassination of Franz Ferdinand as a convenient pretext.
• The Habsburg Empire was hated by its subject peoples, as proved by the fact that it had already disintegrated by the end of the war. Its peoples wanted to govern themselves, so it was right to formalize the break-up of the Empire in a treaty.
• To give the new states security, it made sense to limit the Austrians to an army of only 30,000 men, and the Hungarians to 35,000 men, as opposed to the Army of over 1 million men which they had in 1914.
• It was only fair that reparations should be paid for the appalling damage done.
• The Turkish Empire had been hated by its subjects for centuries, and appalling cruelty like the Armenian genocide had been carried out. Subject peoples
deserved better.
Why did each of the Big Three not get what they wanted?
- As Clemenceau had calculated, his ‘home advantage’ and the undeniable fact that France had suffered more than Britain or the USA forced Wilson to give ground on the de-militarisation of the Rhineland and the handing of the Saar coalfields to France for 15 years
- Clemenceau and Lloyd George were forced to give ground on Wilson’s principle of self-determination, at least as it applied to several eastern European countries
- Wilson was forced to agree to Britain’s scheme of ‘Mandates’ for Germany and Turkey’s former colonies, even though he thought it was imperialism in disguise. This was because although he wanted self-determination, he was paternalistic enough to agree that not all Germany’s former colonies were yet capable of self-government, especially those in Africa and the Pacific.
- Lloyd George had to give ground on some of Clemenceau’s terms for a tough peace on Germany, so that he could press for a tough terms on the issues that most concerned Britain (e.g. on what should happen to the German navy, which the British wanted control of)
