Survey Flashcards
Diplomatic/Military consequences of the Treaty of Versailles
→ Article 119: Colonies in China and Africa stripped
→ Article 198-202 Prohibited air force except for 100 seaplanes to use for minesweeping operations
→ Article 164-172 Disarmed the military and limited smaller artillery to 1500 rounds; larger guns to only 500 shells. Could only manufacture new war material in few approved factories
→ Article 181-197 Reduced German navy to 6 battleships, 6 light cruises, 12 torpedoes, and no submarine fleet
→ $33 billion in repairs
→ Article 231 ‘The War Guilt’ Clause led to deep distrust of democracy and the stab in the back method = minorities such as Jews/left-wing radicals blamed for war defeat
→ Article 159-163 Reduced army from 1.9 Million during WW1 to 100,000, ensured the force was only for “maintenance of order within territory and to the control of the frontiers”
Territorial Consequences of the Treaty of Versailles
→ Germany lost 13% of its European territory (103, 600 square km of land, 7 million people)
→ Northern Schleswig lost to Denmark
→ Alsace Loraine (returned to France)
→ Port of Memel (now Lithuania’s access to sea)
→ Eupen and Malmédy (now went to Belgium)
→ Forbidden from uniting with Austria
→ Saar regions came under League of Nations jurisdiction until the people would vote for France or Germany after 15 years
Economic/Industrial Consequences of the Treaty of Versailles
→ Large amount of reparations that needed to be paid as a result of the treaty caused economic contraction
→ During French occupation of Ruhr ‘passive resistance’ govt. Still paid workers which worsened their economic condition
→ Hyperinflation caused the German mark to be wothless = Germany unable to engage in foreign trade and working class being unable to purchase necessities
→ Economic contractions caused the loss of jobs for the broad lower-middle class, demoting them to working class
→ Gemany was unable to pay reparations in December 1922 causing French occupation of Ruhr. Germany lost a large part of industry/economic production.
→ In a flailing attempt to rectify economic stagnation, German gov. placed no limits on printing press = hyperinflation
→ Despite superficial flouring in the mid 1920s Weimar, any issues in USA would devastate Germany (which it did when Wall Street crashed in October 1929 and the Great Depression occcured)
→ German foreign Minister Gustav Stressemann rebuilt economy primarily through US loans. Immensely successful for Germany and led to Golden Years.
Moral and Ethical Consequences of the Treaty of Versailles
→ A deep distrust of democracy and democratic ideals emerged throughout the broad lower-middle class
→ Emergence of para-military groups and complacency towards acts of extreme violence
→ French-German rivalry continued
→ Political polarisation of German society
→ Many returned servicemen stayed loyal to the army, not the government, which led to a ‘state within a state’
→ Political violence and murders occured regularly throughout early Weimar years, particularly of left-wing politicians
→ German ‘war guilt’ from Article 231 led to widespread anger from democratic leaders who signed it
→ Communities who had their borders rewritten kept their German patriotism
Treaty of Trianon (1920)
→ By the terms of the treaty, Hungary was shorn of at least two-thirds of its former territory and two-thirds of its inhabitants.
→ Made hungary accept responsibility for “loss and damage to which the allied and associated governments … have been subjected to as a consequence of the war upon them”
→ Lost 75% of what was the ‘Hungary’ part of Austria-Hungary: redistributed to new states of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania
→ Hungarian pleas for self-determination (supported by the USA) were largely ignored by Allies
→ The new hungary became land-locked with no access to the mediterranean sea = severely weakened = produced only 30% of the grain that was being produced pre-war
→ Around 30% of ethnic Hungarians found they were no longer living in hungary (angered them)
→ Enshrined Hungary as separate to Austria
The Treaty of Neuilly (Belgium) (1919)
→ Western thrace handed to the three big powers and then to Greece
→ Army reduced to 20,000 men
→ People were outraged but not in a position to revolt
→ By WW2, Belgium’s independence had ended, as Stalin imposed a pro-communist government as part of his protective block around the USSR
→ Land in Western Bulgaria handed to future Yugoslavia
→ When WW2 started, Bulgaria allied with Nazi Germany and reclaimed all land taken during the treaty
→ 100 million pounds in reparations
The Treaty of Sevres and Les (Ottoman Empire) (1920)
→ Army limited to 50,000 men. Navy = 13 boats, 6 schooners, 7 torpedoes
→ Finances and economy taken away and handed to Allies
→ Multiple areas of land were taken by the Allied Powers and some parts of the empire were turned into independent states
→ Individuals deemed on engaging in “barabarous warfare” were required to be handed over to Allies
→ Forbidden from having any economic collaboration with Germany, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria and all the economic assets for these four states were liquidated within the Ottoman Empire
→ Rebellion Turkish nationalist leader Mustafa Kamal led to new leadership. Kemal refused to sign the treaty, which he viewed as unacceptable in terms that directly impacted Turkey
→ The Grand Vizier, Ahmed Pasha, of the Empire planned to ratify the Treaty of Sèvres, but a rebellion meant he was never able to
→ Allowed the Allies to reform the electoral system in Ottoman Empire
The Treaty of St Germain (Austria) (1919)
→ Austria lost territory to Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia
→ Reduced to 30,000 standing army
→ Austrian officials protested the violation of the principle of self-determination in the treaty, the placement of so many ethnic Germans under Czechoslovak and Italian rule, and the forbiddance of unity with Germany.
→ The Austria created by the treaty was financially and militarily weak and therefore a chronic force of instability in Europe between the two World Wars.
The Treaty of Lausanne (Turkey) (1923)
→ The treaty recognized the boundaries of the modern state of Turkey.
→ Turkey made no claim to its former Arab provinces and recognized British possession of Cyprus and Italian possession of the Dodecanese.
→ The Allies dropped their demands of autonomy for Turkish Kurdistan and Turkish cession of territory to Armenia, abandoned claims to spheres of influence in Turkey, and imposed no controls over Turkey’s finances or armed forces (Treaty of Sevres)
→ The Turkish straits between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea were declared open to all shipping.
