IX: Treaty of Versailles and the New International Systtem Flashcards
What were the long-term causes of the Russian Revolution of 1917?
Despite its occurrence at the height of World War I, the roots of the February Revolution date further back. Chief among these was Imperial Russia’s failure, throughout the 19th and early 20th century, to modernise its archaic social, economic, and political structures while maintaining the stability of ubiquitous devotion to an autocratic monarch.
The first major event of the Russian Revolution was the February Revolution, which was a chaotic affair, caused by the culmination of over a century of civil and military unrest between the common people and the Tsar and aristocratic landowners. The causes can be summarized as the ongoing cruel treatment of peasants by the bourgeoisie, poor working conditions of industrial workers, and the spreading of western democratic ideas by political activists, leading to a growing political and social awareness in the lower classes. Dissatisfaction of proletarians was compounded by food shortages and military failures. In 1905, Russia experienced humiliating losses in its war with Japan, then Bloody Sunday and the Revolution of 1905, in which Tsarist troops fired upon a peaceful, unarmed crowd. These events further divided Nicholas II from his people. Widespread strikes, riots, and the famous mutiny on the Battleship Potemkin ensued.
These conditions caused much agitation among the small working and professional classes. This tension erupted into general revolt with the 1905 Revolution, and again under the strain of war in 1917, this time with lasting consequences.
What were the short-term causes of the Russian Revolution of 1917?
Russia’s poor performance in 1914-1915 prompted growing complaints directed at Tsar Nicholas II and the Romanov family. A short wave of patriotic nationalism ended in the face of defeats and poor conditions on the Eastern Front of World War I. The Tsar made the situation worse by taking personal control of the Imperial Russian Army in 1915, a challenge far beyond his skills. He was now held personally responsible for Russia’s continuing defeats and losses. In addition, Tsarina Alexandra, left to rule in while the Tsar commanded at the front, was German born, leading to suspicion of collusion.
The conditions during the war resulted in a devastating loss of morale within the Russian army and the general population of Russia itself. This was particularly apparent in the cities, owing to a lack of food in response to the disruption of agriculture. Food scarcity had become a considerable problem in Russia, but the cause of this did not lie in any failure of the harvests, which had not been significantly altered during wartime. The indirect reason was that the government, in order to finance the war, printed millions of ruble notes, and by 1917, inflation had made prices increase up to four times what they had been in 1914. Farmers were consequently faced with a higher cost of living, but with little increase in income. As a result, they tended to hoard their grain and to revert to subsistence farming. Thus the cities were constantly short of food. At the same time, rising prices led to demands for higher wages in the factories, and in January and February 1916, revolutionary propaganda, in part aided by German funds, led to widespread strikes.
All these factors had given rise to a sharp loss of confidence in the regime, even within the ruling class, growing throughout the war.
What happened during the February Revolution?
By 1917, the majority of Petersburg had lost faith in the Tsarist regime. Government corruption was unrestrained, and Tsar Nicholas II had frequently disregarded the Imperial Duma. Thousands of workers flooded the streets of Petrograd (modern St. Petersburg) to show their dissatisfaction. The first major protest of the February Revolution occurred on 18 February O.S. (3 March) as workers of Putilov Factory, Petrograd’s largest industrial plant, announced a strike to demonstrate against the government. Strikes continued on the following days. On 23 February O.S., protesters were joined in the uprising by those celebrating International Woman’s Day. As the Russian government began rationing flour and bread, both men and women flooded the streets of Petrograd, demanding an end to Russian food shortages, the end of World War I, and the end of autocracy. Protesters demanded the of the Tsar with a more progressive political leader. They called for the war to end and for the Russian monarchy to be overthrown.
By 25 February O.S (10 March), nearly all industrial enterprises in Petrograd were shut down by the uprising. The strike became general, and the strikers assumed an aggressive demeanour, raiding police stations in the factory districts and disarming the police. In this area of the city the police practically disappeared, and the political demonstration began to assume the character of an armed uprising. Sergey Khabalov, the military governor of the capital, received a telegram from tsar Nicholas, then at the front, ordering him to suppress the strike. On February 26, acting on the instructions he had received, Khabalov tried to disperse the demonstrators by force, employing the police as well as cadets from Imperial Guard regiments. The crowds in the centre of the city were scattered, and scores of demonstrators were shot down. This resort to force was not strong enough to crush the strikers and may have intensified their revolutionary mood.
The bulk of the garrison mutinied, starting with the Volinsky Regiment. Soldiers of this regiment brought other Regiments out on the street to join the rebellion, resulting in the hunting down of police and the gathering of 40,000 rifles which were dispersed among the workers. The response of the Duma was to establish a Provisional Committee to restore law and order; the Provisional Committee declared itself the governing body of the Russian Empire. Chief among them was the desire to bring the war to a successful conclusion in conjunction with the Allies, and the very cause of their opposition was the ever-deepening conviction that this was unattainable under the present government and under the present regime. Meanwhile, the socialist parties re-established the Petrograd Soviet, first created during the 1905 revolution, to represent workers and soldiers. The remaining loyal units switched allegiance the very next day.
On 28 February O.S, the Tsar left Mogilev, but was unable to reach Petrograd as revolutionaries controlled railway stations around the capital. Around midnight the train was stopped at Malaya Vishera, turned, and in the evening of 1 March O.S Nicholas arrived in Pskov. In the meantime, the units guarding the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo either “declared their neutrality” or left for Petrograd and thus abandoned the Imperial Family. The Army Chief Nikolai Ruzsky, and the Duma deputies Vasily Shulgin and Alexander Guchkov who had come to advise the Tsar, suggested that he abdicate the throne. He did so on behalf of himself and his son, Tsarevich Alexei. Nicholas nominated his brother, the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, who also declined the crown. The 300-year-old Romanov dynasty ended with the Grand Duke’s decision on 3 March O.S.
What was the Dual Power (March-November 1917)?
The Duma formed a provisional government on March 12. After Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne, the resulting February Revolution led to the establishment of the Provisional Government and its counterpart, the Petrograd Soviet. The Provisional Government was composed of former State Duma representatives with approval from the Petrograd Soviet, whereas the Petrograd Soviet was made up of socialist leaders elected by a proletariat constituency. The workers and soldiers of Russia saw hope in the Petrograd soviets, and elected deputies to it en masse, causing it to gain membership at an alarming rate. The Petrograd Soviet was seen as a benefactor that would bring them land, bread, and peace. The executive committee was initially made up of Nikolai Ckheidze, Matvei Skobelev, and Alexander Kerensky. These men were socialists, but feared radicalism. To keep radical mentality from spreading and provoking a “counter-revolutionary movement”, they chose to support the Provisional Government where necessary. This led to the uneasy balance of power called dual power. With the Russian government moving from an autocracy to this system of “dual power” with the Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet constantly vying for power, there was much confusion on how both could coexist and govern effectively.
The events of the July Days would solidify the issues of dual power within government between the Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet. Between the dates of 3 and 7 July, a Bolshevik uprising, still disputed if intentional by Lenin, occurred. In what is seen as a “grass roots” uprising, workers and lower ranks of soldiers violently demonstrated in the streets, calling for the Soviet to take power over the Provisional Government. The uprising was supported by the Bolshevik Military Organization and Petersburg Committee.
Alexander Kerenksy, head of the Provisional Government, led a crackdown on those involved with the events of the July Days and overthrow of the Provisional Government. The military was used to gather and arrest violent demonstrators, retake government buildings from Bolshevik forces, and dissolve military units that had participated in the attempted overthrow. The Provisional Government also attempted to undermine Lenin and his party by revealing their investigation of his ties to Germany, Russia’s enemy during World War I. These combined actions would quell the Bolshevik uprising and support until August 1917.
The reinstatement of the death penalty for soldiers, and Kerensky transferring the Provisional Government into the Winter Palace were among the actions that led to accusations of counterrevolutionary activity (reestablishment of autocratic government) by the Provisional Government. A new kind of duality between the classes (proletariat and bourgeoisie) was a split noticeable not only in government, but also in everyday life for Russians. This led to increased tensions between both groups, and made it difficult for groups to collaborate. The Petrograd Soviet represented the Proletariat, while the Provisional Government members were part of the former State Duma, representing the old government under the tsar. This divide was also evident in the military, between rank-and-file soldiers and military officers. As World War I continued on, soldiers started to mutiny or to disobey orders from their superiors, while supporting the soviets, hoping to bring an end to Russia’s involvement in the war.
What happened during the October Revolution?
The October Revolution, commonly referred to as Red October, the October Uprising, or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a seizure of state power instrumental in the larger Russian Revolution of 1917.
The July Days coupled with widespread anti-war sentiment contributed to the Bolsheviks’ rising popularity. Using this popularity, the Bolsheviks pressured the Directorate, led by the left-wing Socialist Revolutionary Party, to give into their demands. When this approach, the Petrograd Soviet, led by Trotsky, voted to back a military uprising. On 24 October (O.S.) the government shut down numerous newspapers and closed the city of Petrograd in an attempt to forestall the revolution; minor armed skirmishes broke out. The next day a full scale uprising erupted, as a fleet of Bolshevik sailors entered the harbor and tens of thousands of soldiers rose up in support of the Bolsheviks. Bolshevik Red Guards forces under the Military-Revolutionary Committee began the occupation of government buildings on 25 October 1917. The following day, the Winter Palace (the seat of the Provisional government was captured. The Bolsheviks soon formed a new government with Lenin as its head. Lenin became the dictator of the world’s first communist state.
The long-awaited Constituent Assembly elections were held on November 12, 1917. The Bolsheviks only won 175 seats in the 715-seat legislative body, coming in second behind the Socialist Revolutionary party, which won 370 seats. The Constituent Assembly was to first meet on November 28, 1917, but its convocation was delayed until January 5, 1918, by the Bolsheviks. On its first and only day in session, the body rejected Soviet decrees on peace and land, and was dissolved the next day by order of the Congress of Soviets.
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed on March 3, 1918, between the new Bolshevik government of Russia and the Central Powers that ended Russia’s participation in World War I. The treaty was agreed upon by the Russians to stop further invasion. As a result of the treaty, Soviet Russia defaulted on all of Imperial Russia’s commitments to the Allies and eleven nations became independent in eastern Europe and western Asia. Under the treaty, Russia lost nearly all of Ukraine, and Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were ceded to Germany. The treaty was annulled by the Armistice of 11 November 1918, when Germany surrendered to the western Allies. However, in the meantime it did provide some relief to the Bolsheviks, already fighting the Russian Civil War that had broken out in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution.
What happened during the Russian Civil War?
Bolshevik rule was not universally accepted. The two largest combatants were the Red Army, fighting for the Bolshevik form of socialism led by Vladimir Lenin, and the loosely allied forces known as the White Army, which included diverse interests favouring political monarchism, capitalism and social democracy. In addition, rival militant socialists opposed the Reds, the Whites and foreign interventionists. Thirteen foreign nations intervened against the Red Army, notably the former Allied military forces from the World War with the goal of re-establishing the Eastern Front (supported the White army). Three foreign nations of the Central Powers also intervened (non-aligned), rivalling the Allied intervention with the main goal of retaining the territory they had received in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. On July 16, 1918, the Romanovs were executed by the Bolsheviks. The Russian Civil War ended in 1923 with Lenin’s Red Army claiming victory and establishing the Soviet Union.
As many as 10 million lives were lost as a result of the Russian Civil War, and the overwhelming majority of these were civilian casualties. Thousands of perceived opponents of the Bolsheviks were murdered by the Cheka, and life among the peasants was miserable. Disease, particularly typhus, was rampant, and malnutrition was the natural consequence of Lenin’s widespread grain confiscations. The Communist victory was at the same time a defeat for the various nationalist movements of the non-Russian peoples. The hopes of the Tatars and Bashkirs were ruined in the course of the civil war. The Communists proclaimed the right of self-determination, but in practice they imposed the dictatorship of the Russian Communist Party on them.
What was the Communist International?
Third International, also called Communist International, byname Comintern, was an association of national communist parties founded in 1919. Though its stated purpose was the promotion of world revolution, the Comintern functioned chiefly as an organ of Soviet control over the international communist movement. The Comintern emerged from the three-way split in the socialist Second International over the issue of World War I: - A majority of socialist parties, comprising the International’s “right” wing, chose to support the war efforts of their respective national governments against enemies that they saw as far more hostile to socialist aims. - The “centre” faction of the International decried the nationalism of the right and sought the reunification of the Second International under the banner of world peace. - The “left” group, led by Vladimir Lenin, rejected both nationalism and pacifism, urging instead a socialist drive to transform the war of nations into a transnational class war. In 1915 Lenin proposed the creation of a new International to promote “civil war, not civil peace” through propaganda directed at soldiers and workers. Two years later Lenin led the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia, and in 1919 he called the first congress of the Comintern, in Moscow, specifically to undermine ongoing centrist efforts to revive the Second International. In 1920, There Lenin established the Twenty-one Points, the conditions of admission to the Communist International. These prerequisites for Comintern membership required all parties to model their structure on disciplined lines in conformity with the Soviet pattern and to expel moderate socialists and pacifists. The administrative structure of the Comintern resembled that of the Soviet Communist Party: an executive committee acted when congresses were not in session, and a smaller presidium served as chief executive body. Gradually, power came to be concentrated in these top organs, the decisions of which were binding on all member parties of the International. Moreover, Soviet domination of the Comintern was established early. The International had been founded by Soviet initiative, its headquarters was in Moscow, the Soviet party enjoyed disproportionate representation in the administrative bodies, and most foreign communists felt loyal to the world’s first socialist state. During the early period (1919-1926), with the Bolshevik revolution under attack in the Russian Civil War and a wave of revolutions across Europe, the Comintern's priority was exporting the October Revolution. The Comintern was involved in the revolutions across Europe in this period, starting with the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919. Several hundred agitators and financial aid were sent from the Soviet Union and Lenin was in regular contact with its leader, Bela Kun. The next attempt was the "March Action" in Germany in 1921, including an attempt to dynamite the express train from Halle to Leipzig. When this failed Lenin ordered the removal of the leader of the Communist Party of Germany, Paul Levi, from power. A new attempt was made at the time of the Ruhr Crisis. The Red Army was mobilized, ready to come to the aid of the planned insurrection. Resolute action by the German government cancelled the plans. After Lenin died in 1925, there was a shift from the immediate activity of world revolution towards a defense of the Soviet state. In that year, Joseph Stalin adopted the thesis of "socialism in one country". The perspective of a world revolution was dismissed after the failures of the Spartacist uprising in Germany and of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. The seventh and last congress of the Comintern was held in 1935 and officially endorsed the Popular Front against fascism. This policy argued that Communist Parties should seek to form a Popular Front with all parties that opposed fascism and not limit themselves to forming a United Front with those parties based in the working class. As the Seventh World Congress officially repudiated the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism as the purpose of the Comintern, Leon Trotsky was led to state that it was the death of the Comintern as a revolutionary International and therefore a new International was needed. Trotsky also argued that the Stalinist parties were now to be considered reformist parties, similar to the social democratic parties (but also playing a role as border guards for the Russian state). As a result, in 1938 the Fourth International was founded in opposition to the Comintern. The Stalin purges of the 1930s affected Comintern activists living in the USSR. Several hundred German Communists and antifascists who had fled from Nazi Germany were killed and more than thousand were handed over to Germany. At the start of World War II, the Comintern supported a policy of non-intervention, arguing that the war was an imperialist war between various national ruling classes, much like World War I had been (see Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact). But things changed when the Soviet Union itself was invaded on June 22, 1941. Stalin dissolved the Comintern in 1943 to avoid antagonizing his allies in the later years of World War II, the UK and the US.
What impact did the Soviet System have on international politics?
Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to “struggle by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and the creation of an international Soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the state”. The Comintern and other such Soviet-backed communist groups soon spread across much of the world, though particularly in Europe, where the influence of the recent Russian Revolution was still strong. In Germany, the Spartacist uprising took place in 1919 when armed communists supported rioting workers, but the government put the rebellion down violently with the use of a right-wing paramilitary group, the Freikorps, with many noted German communists such as Rosa Luxemburg being killed. Within a few months, a group of communists seized power amongst public unrest in the German region of Bavaria, forming the Bavarian Soviet Republic, although once more this was put down violently by the Freikorps, who historians believe killed around 1,200 communists and their sympathisers.
That same year, political turmoil in Hungary following their defeat in World War I led to a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party taking control. The Communist Party led by Béla Kun soon became dominant and instituted various communist reforms in the country, but the country itself was subsequently invaded by its neighbouring Romania within a matter of months who overthrew the government, with its leaders either escaping abroad or being executed. In 1921, a communist revolt against the government occurred whilst supportive factory workers were on strike in Turin and Milan in northern Italy, but the government acted swiftly and put down the rebellion. That same year, a further communist rebellion took place in Germany only to be crushed, but another occurred in 1923 which once again was also defeated by the government. The communists of Bulgaria had also attempted an uprising in 1923, but like most of their counterparts across Europe they were defeated.
The Soviet government had forfeited foreign-owned private companies during the creation of the RSFSR and the USSR. Foreign investors did not receive any monetary or material compensation. The USSR also refused to pay tsarist-era debts to foreign debtors. The young Soviet polity was a pariah because of its openly stated goal of supporting the overthrow of capitalistic governments. It sponsored workers’ revolts to overthrow numerous capitalistic European states, but they all failed. Lenin reversed radical experiments and restored a sort of capitalism with NEC. The Comintern was ordered to stop organizing revolts. Starting in 1921 Lenin sought trade, loans and recognition. One by one, foreign states reopened trade lines and recognized the Soviet government. The United States was the last major polity to recognise the USSR in 1933.
What were Woodrow Wilson’s “Fourteen Points”?
Designed as guidelines for the rebuilding of the post-war world, the points included Wilson’s ideas regarding nations’ conduct of foreign policy, including freedom of the seas and free trade and the concept of national self-determination, with the achievement of this through the dismantling of European empires and the creation of new states. Most importantly, however, was Point 14, which called for a “general association of nations” that would offer “mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small nations alike.” When Wilson left for Paris in December 1918, he was determined that the Fourteen Points, and his League of Nations (as the association of nations was known), be incorporated into the peace settlements. Note that Wilson’s speech also responded to Vladimir Lenin’s Decree on Peace of November 1917, immediately after the October Revolution in 1917.
The 14 points were:
- Open diplomacy without secret treaties
- Economic free trade on the seas during war and peace
- Equal trade conditions
- Decrease armaments among all nations
- Adjust colonial claims
- Evacuation of all Central Powers from Russia and allow it to define its own independence
- Belgium to be evacuated and restored
- Return of Alsace-Lorraine region and all French territories
- Readjust Italian borders
- Austria-Hungary to be provided an opportunity for self-determination
- Redraw the borders of the Balkan region creating Roumania, Serbia and Montenegro
- Creation of a Turkish state with guaranteed free trade in the Dardanelles
- Creation of an independent Polish state
- Creation of the League of Nations
President Wilson’s insistence on the inclusion of the League of Nations in the Treaty of Versailles (the settlement with Germany) forced him to compromise with Allied leaders on the other points. Japan, for example, was granted authority over former German territory in China, and self-determination—an idea seized upon by those living under imperial rule throughout Asia and Africa—was only applied to Europe.
What was Wilson’s influence on the principle of national self-determination?
When Wilson arrived in France in December 1918, he ignited great hopes throughout the world with his stirring Fourteen Points – especially the ground-breaking concept of ‘self-determination.’ Yet, Wilson … seemed vague as to what his own phrase meant. No clear explanation of “self-determination” was ever provided by Woodrow Wilson. Many inspirationally perceived it to mean an identified grouping of people should have the liberty to create the government it would like. Deep conflict occurs upon implementation when determinations must be made on what identifies a “grouping of people” and what rights are provided with “liberty.”
What was the League of Nations?
Wilson envisioned the League of Nations as a concrete institutionalized body of the new world order. In order to create the League, he needed to compromise on his idealism in other points in order to get the necessary support from the British, French, Italians, and Japanese.
- The British did not like the idea of free navigation. As a great naval power, it was very much in their interest to keep control of the seas.
- The French (especially Clemenceau) wanted a punitive peace and reparations from Germany, rather than a more reconciliatory approach.
- Italy had territorial claims that went against the idea of national self determination
Ultimately, the League of Nations proved to be inadequate and unable prevent future conflict. There was no concrete enforcement mechanism, the defeated Central Powers had initially been excluded, and the covenant of the League was included with the punitive decisions made against Germany. Thus, Wilson had made concessions and compromises in the peace treaty in order to realise the League of Nations. It was his view, that this international organisation was the best way to maintain peace. The concession made contributed to the chain of events that led to the outbreak of WW2 but the League failed to prevent this outbreak.
What happend during the Paris Peace Conference?
The Paris Peace Conference was the formal meeting in 1919 and 1920 of the victorious Allies after the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers. Dominated by the leaders of Britain, France, the United States and Italy, it resulted in five treaties that rearranged the maps of Europe and parts of Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands, and also imposed financial penalties. Germany and the other losing nations had no voice in the Conference’s deliberations; this gave rise to political resentments that lasted for decades.
The main result was the Treaty of Versailles with Germany; Article 231 of the treaty placed the whole guilt for the war on “the aggression of Germany and her allies”. That provision proved very humiliating for Germany and set the stage for the expensive reparations that Germany was intended to pay (it paid only a small portion before its last payment in 1931). The five great powers (France, Britain, Italy, Japan and the United States) controlled the Conference. The “Big Four” were French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, US President Woodrow Wilson, and Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando. They met informally 145 times and made all major decisions before they were ratified.
What were the contents of the Treaty of Versailles?
- The War Guilt clause: Article 231, often known as the War Guilt Clause, was the opening article of the reparations section of the Treaty of Versailles. The article did not use the word “guilt” but it served as a legal basis to compel Germany to pay reparations for the war. Article 231 was one of the most controversial points of the treaty. It specified: “The Allied and Associated Governments affirm, and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.” Germans viewed this clause as a national humiliation, forcing Germany to accept full responsibility for causing the war. The Allied leaders were surprised at the German reaction; they saw the article only as a necessary legal basis to extract compensation from Germany.
- Reparations: Following the ratification of article 231 had forced Germany to accept complete responsibility for initiating World War. As such Germany was liable for all material damages. France’s premier Georges Clemenceau particularly insisted on imposing enormous reparation payments. Aware that Germany would probably not be able to pay such a towering debt, Clemenceau and the French nevertheless greatly feared rapid German recovery and a new war against France. Hence, the French sought in the post-war treaty system to limit Germany’s efforts to regain its economic superiority and to rearm. The treaty demanded financial restitution to the tune of 132 billion gold marks, roughly equivalent to $442 billion or £284 billion in 2022.
- Territorial Changes: The treaty stripped Germany of 65,000 km2 of territory and 7 million people. It required Germany to give up the gains made via the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and grant independence to the protectorates that had been established. In the west, Germany returned Alsace-Lorraine to France. It had been seized by Germany more than 40 years earlier. Further, Belgium received Eupen and Malmedy; the industrial Saar region was placed under the administration of the League of Nations for 15 years; and Denmark received Northern Schleswig. In the east, Poland received parts of West Prussia and Silesia from Germany. Germany was to recognize the independence of Czechoslovakia (which had actually been controlled by Austria) and cede parts of the province of Upper Silesia. Outside Europe, Germany lost all its colonies. In sum, Germany forfeited 13 percent of its European territory (more than 27,000 square miles) and one-tenth of its population (between 6.5 and 7 million people).
- Military restrictions: The treaty was comprehensive and complex in the restrictions imposed upon the post-war German armed forces The provisions were intended to make the Reichswehr incapable of offensive action. Germany was to demobilize sufficient soldiers by 31 March 1920 to leave an army of no more than 100,000 men in a maximum of seven infantry and three cavalry divisions. The German navy was allowed six pre-dreadnought battleships and was limited to a maximum of six light cruisers and warrant officers was not allowed to exceed 1,500 men.
- Guarantees: To ensure compliance with the treaty, the Rhineland and bridgeheads east of the Rhine were to be occupied by Allied troops for fifteen years. If Germany had not committed aggression, a staged withdrawal would take place.
What were the strengths of the treaty of Versailles?
- The treaty of Versailles brought peace to Europe and set up an international organisation, the League of Nations, to preserve this peace.
- Demilitarisation of Germany gave the surrounding countries a feeling of security as there was no imminent threat.
- The treaty was an important step towards self-determination for many countries. It restored many country’s boundaries and gave them a more individual identity. Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia gained independence with the Peace Treaty.
What were the weaknesses of the Treaty of Versailles?
The League of Nations
The Treatment of Germany
The Solution for Austria-Hungary
