The Peace Settlements 1919-1923

Question 1

Explain the problems facing the peacemakers

Answer 1

a. January 1919, the statesmen of the victorious powers were confronted with European turmoil
b. The sudden and complete defeat of the Central Powers had made Europe vulnerable to the spread of communism from Russia
c. Germany, for much of the winter of 1918-19 seemed poised on the brink of revolution
d. With the disintegration of the Austrian, Turkish and Russian empires, there was no stable government anywhere east of the Rhine
e. In March, when the communists temporarily seized power in Hungary, it seemed to the allied leaders that the door to the heart of Europe was now open to communism
f. The fear of revolution was intensified by the influenza pandemic which by the spring of 1919 had caused the deaths of millions of people, and by the near famine conditions in central and eastern Europe
g. The problems facing the statesmen in Paris were thus not only the negotiation of peace and the drawing up of new frontiers, but also the pressing need to avert economic chaos and famine
h. As one allied official observed; ‘there was a veritable race between peace and anarchy’
i. The task of rebuilding a peaceful and prosperous Europe was made more difficult by the continued strength of nationalist feeling among the populations of the victorious powers
j. Public opinion in Britain, the USA, France and Italy viewed the peace conference as the final phase of the war in which their leaders must ruthlessly consolidate the gains made on the battlefields and smash the enemy forever
k. The greatest blow to the prospect for real peace in Europe was delivered when the Congressional elections in the USA in November 1918 gave the Republicans, who opposed the Democratic President Woodrow Wilson, a majority
l. The Republicans were determined to campaign for a hard peace with Germany and simultaneously insist that the USA should become involved neither in guaranteeing it nor in financing any expensive schemes for European reconstruction

Question 2

Explain the aims and principles of the USA

Answer 2

a. Although President Wilson strongly believed that Germany needed to be punished for its part in starting the war and that I should be put on ‘probation’ prior to joining the League, he was determined to ensure that the Fourteen Points served as a basis for the coming peace agreements and to anchor the Covenant of the League of Nations in the text of the peace treaties, he felt this was the key to lasting piece
b. This was optimistic however. There was general agreement among the victors to set up independent nation states in Eastern Europe and the Balkans and confine Turkey to its ethnic frontiers, all of which was anticipated by points 10-13.
c. Points 7 and 8, covering the liberation of Belgium and the return of Alsace Lorraine to France, had already been fulfilled at the start of the Armistice
d. On other issues, Wilson was ready to compromise. Britain for instance was assured that point 2, demanding the ‘freedom of the seas’, did not mean the immediate lifting of the blockade against Germany.
e. The French and Belgians were promised US support for German reparations, despite the absence of such a clause in the 14 points, and Italy was promised the award of former Austrian territory up to the Brenner frontier, even though this would include over 200,000 Germans.
f. Wilson was ready to compromise with Britain over the former German colonies and the Middle Eastern possessions of Turkey. These territories would be the ultimate responsibility of the new League of Nations but would be the ultimate responsibility of the new League of Nations but would be handed over as ‘mandates’ to the appropriate powers to administer.
g. These concessions did not go far enough to turn the fourteen points into a practicable inter-Allied consensus for the coming peace negotiations. They failed to overcome the imperialist rivalries between Britain and France in the Middle East, or between the USA, Japan and Britain in the Far East.
h. Nor did they provide a solution to the rival claims in 1919-20 of Italy and the new ‘kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes’ to Dalmatia

Question 3

Explain French priorities

Answer 3

a. More importantly the Fourteen Points failed to impress Clemenceau, who was convinced that only an effective balance of power in Europe could contain Germany
b. He was painfully aware that France, with its reduced birth rate and causalities of 1.3million dead and another 2.8 million wounded, faced a Germany which, as a consequence of the collapse of the AH Empire and Tsarist Russia was potentially stronger than in 1914
c. Clemenceau was anxious to enforce maximum disarmament and reparation payments on the Germans, to set up strong independent Polish, Czechoslovak and Yugoslav states, and in addition an independent Rhineland state
d. He also wanted a British alliance and the USA to continue inter allied financial and economic cooperation into the post war years
e. He was ready to make considerable concessions to achieve his aims e.g. in the Middle East, he offered to cede Palestine and the Mosul oilfields to the British in the hope of gaining their support in Europe

Question 4

Was Britain a satiated power?

Answer 4

a. In contrast to France, Britain, even before the powers met in Paris, had already achieved many of its aims: the German fleet had surrendered, German trade rivalry was no longer a threat and Germany’s colonial empire was liquidated, while the German armies in western Europe had been driven back into the Reich
b. Britain’s territorial ambitions lay in the Middle East, not Europe
c. Lloyd George realised that a peaceful, united Germany would act as a barrier against the spread of Bolshevism from Russia
d. Above all, he wanted to avoid long term British commitments on the continent and prevent the annexation of German minorities by the Poles or the French creating fresh areas of bitterness, which would sow the seeds of a new war
e. Inevitably these objectives were fundamentally opposed to the French policy of securing definite guarantees against a German military revival either by negotiating a long term Anglo American military alliance or by a partial dismemberment of Germany
f. The logic of British policy pointed in the direction of a peace of reconciliation rather than revenge, but in two key areas, reparations and the question of German war guilt, Britain adopted a much harder line
g. Lloyd George and Clemenceau agreed in December 1918 that the Kaiser should be tried by an international tribunal for war crimes
h. Under pressure from the dominions who wanted a share of reparations for their war efforts, the British delegation at Paris was authorised to ‘secure from Germany the greatest possible indemnity she can pay consistently with the well-being of the British Empire and the peace of the world without involving an army of occupation in Germany for its collection

Question 5

Explain the intentions of Italy and Japan

Answer 5

1. Italy
   a. Orlando was anxious to convince the voters that Italy had done well out of the war, and concentrated initially on attempting to hold the Entente to their promises made in the Treaty of London, as well as demanding the port of Fiume in the Adriatic
2. Japan
   a. Japan anted recognition of the territorial gains made in the war
   b. The Japanese also pushed hard, but ultimately unsuccessfully, to have a racial equality clause included in the League’s Covenant
   c. Japan hoped that this would protect Japanese immigrants in the USA

Question 6

Explain the wartime agreements

Answer 6

1. Treaty of London 1015
   a. Secret pact between Triple Entente and Italy, and aimed to gain the alliance of Italy against its former ally, Germany
   b. Italy demanded extensive territorial concessions e.g. South Tyrol, Dalmatia etc. This would cause problems in Paris
   c. Ultimately granted some land but Dalmatia and Fiume excluded, as well as colonial territories in Africa and Asia as well as any claim on Albania
2. Sykes-Picot Agreement 1916
   a. Agreement between British and French diplomats involving the partition of the Ottoman Empire when WW1 ended
   b. Britain and France didn’t actually own these territories, but were to control them at a governmental and administrative level
   c. This agreement clashed with the McMahon agreement in which Britain agreed to recognise Arab independence
   d. Though never fulfilled, led to Arabs never fully trusting British and French
3. Balfour Declaration 1917
   a. This letter is believed to give British support to create a Jewish homeland
   b. Was later incorporated into Sevres treaty with the Turks
   c. Once again this was in contrast to the McMahon-Hussein agreement which promised Arab independence in exchange for revolting against the Ottoman Empire

Question 7

Explain the organisation of the Paris peace conference

Answer 7

• Compared to the Vienna Congress of 1814-15, the Paris Conference was a showpiece of sophisticated organisation
• The British delegation, for instance, which was composed of 207 officials, as compared to just 17 in 1814, had its own printing press, telephone lines to London and the capitals of the British Empire, and a direct daily air link to Croydon airfield
• Yet despite this evidence of outward efficiency, the Conference got off to a slow start and for the first two months, little progress was made towards a German settlement
• The reasons for this were partly organisational and partly that the Allied statesmen formed what Lloyd George called a ‘Cabinet of Nations’, which could not ignore the pressing problems of immediate post war Europe
• They had to consider the emergency consignments of food to central and eastern Europe, set up the Supreme Economic Council to deal with the financial and economic problems affecting both occupied and unoccupied Germany, and negotiate the easing of the food blockade of Germany in exchange for the surrender of the German merchant fleet
• Above all, they ceaselessly monitored the progress of the civil war in Russia and weighed the pros and cons of Allied military intervention

Question 8

Explain the council of 10

Answer 8

a. When the Peace Conference opened on 18 January 1919 the delegates of 27 states attended, but in reality power lay with the ‘big five’: Britain, France, Italy, japan and America
b. With the exception of Japan, which relied on its professional diplomats, was at first represented by its wartime leader in the Council of Ten (2 per country)
c. Neither Russia nor the defeated enemy powers attended
d. Russia was torn by Civil War between the Bolsheviks and the White Russians, at first the Allies attempted to secure Russian representation in Paris, but their efforts to negotiate a truce between the factions in the civil war failed
e. Right up to April, the Allies were not sure whether to follow the pattern of previous peace conferences and plan for a preliminary peace with Germany and the other central powers, which would only contain the disarmament terms and the outlines of the territorial settlement
f. When passions had cooled, an international congress would be called to which the ex-enemy states would be invited
g. Unsure whether they were working on a preliminary or final treaty the Council of Ten grappled with the intricate problems of peace making
h. Fifty eight committees were set up to draft the clauses of not only the German treaty but also the treaties with Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and Turkey
i. Their work was handicapped by the absence of any central coordinating body, and consequently the different committees worked in isolation from each other, sometimes coming up with contradictory solutions

Question 9

Explain the emergence of the council of 4

Answer 9

a. It wasn’t until the 24 March that the conference was streamlined as a result of Lloyd Georges controversial Fontainebleau memorandum
b. Inspired by the fear that the Allies might drive Germany into the arms of the Bolsheviks, this urged major concessions to Berlin, and so raised important issues which could only be resolved by secret discussions among Clemenceau, Lloyd George, Orlando and Wilson
c. The ‘Council of Four’ proved so effective that it became the key decision making committee of the conference
d. It briefly became the Council of three when Orlando left it in protest against its refusal to agree Italian claims in Fiume and Dalmatia
e. As most of the territorial committees had finished their reports by March, it was also decided to drop the idea of a preliminary peace and to proceed quickly to final settlement with Germany
f. Inevitably, this decision had serious repercussions on the drafting of the treaty and possibly for the future peace of Europe
g. Harold Nicolson, a member of the British delegation in Paris, argued in 1933 that: many paragraphs of the treaty were ‘maximum statements’ and were eventually imposed by ultimatum
h. It is arguable that such were the problems the Allied statesmen faced in 1919 that, as Max Beloff has observed, it is surprising ‘not that the treaties were imperfect but that they were concluded at all’

Question 10

Outline the settlement with Germany

Answer 10

• All the peace settlements were mainly a result of compromise between the allied powers; Versailles was no exception
• Its key clauses were the result of fiercely negotiated agreements, which were often only reached when the conference appeared to be on the brink of collapse
• The first 26 articles (appearing in all the other treaties) contained the Covenant of the League of Nations and were agreed unanimously

Question 11

Explain German War Guilt - Paris Conference

Answer 11

1. German War Guilt
   a. Despite some US and Italian reservations, which were overcome by George and Clemenceau, about the legality of demanding the surrender of the Kaiser and other German leaders for trial for committing acts against ‘international morality’, there was universal agreement amongst the victorious powers that Germany was guilty of having started the war
   b. The principle of war guilt provided the moral justification for the reparations clauses of the treaty, stressed in article 231: ‘the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage … as a consequence of the aggression of Germany and her allies’

Question 12

Explain the Reparations resulting from the Paris Conference

Answer 12

a. There was general agreement that Germany should pay compensation to the victors, but there was considerable debate about the exact amount, the nature of the damage deserving compensation and how Germany could raise such huge sums without rebuilding an export trade which might then harm allied industries
b. The major issue was the need to cover the cost of financing the war
c. Britain had covered one third of its wartime expenditure through taxation; France one sixth
d. At a time of severe social unrest, no allied country could easily finance debt repayments through cuts and taxation
e. Initially it was hoped that the USA could be persuaded to continue wartime inter-Allied economic cooperation and cancel the repayment of allied war debts, but by the end of 1918 it was obvious that his was not going to happen, as Wilson dissolved all the agencies for inter-Allied cooperation in Washington
f. Without US participation the British treasury was reluctant to continue its wartime cooperation with the French Finance Ministry and in March 1919 all further financial assistance from Britain to France ceased
g. France therefore had to seek financial reparation from Germany

Question 13

Assess French demands for reparations

Answer 13

a. French PM Louis Klotz, backed by the press and the Chamber of Deputies, urged a policy of maximum claims, and coined the slogan that ‘Germany will pay’ (for everything)
b. However, Loucheure, the Minister for Reconstruction, pursued a more subtle policy and informed the Germans that such was the need of the French economy for an immediate injection of cash, that his government would settle for a more moderate sum which the Germans would be able to raise quickly through the sale of bonds on the world’s financial markets
c. The German government suspected that these overtures were merely a means of dividing Germany from the USA, which was seen in Berlin as the country potentially most sympathetic to the German cause
d. The USA’s reparation policy was more moderate than France’s or Britain’s as it recommended that a modest fixed sum should be written into the Treaty

Question 14

Assess British demands for reparations

Answer 14

a. The British delegation consistently maximised their country’s reparation claims on Germany
b. Some historians explain this in terms of the pressure exerted on the government by the electorate
c. Conversely, George himself claimed that the ‘imposition of high indemnity … would prevent the Germans spending money on an army’
d. It was arguable that a high indemnity would also ensure that there would be money left over for Britain and the Dominions after France and Belgium had claimed their share
e. To safeguard Britain’s percentage of reparations, the Imperial War Cabinet urged that the cost of war pensions should be included in the reparation bill
f. By threatening to walk out of the conference, George then forced the Council of Four to support his arguments

Question 15

Explain the setting up of the reparation commission

Answer 15

a. The British pension claims made it more difficult for the Allied financial experts to agree on an overall figure for reparations
b. Consequently it was agreed that the Reparation Commission would be set up to assess in detail by May 1 1921 what the German economy could afford
c. In the meantime, the Germans would make an interim payment of 20 billion gold marks and raise a further 60 through the sale of bonds
d. It was not until December 1919 that Britain and France agreed on the ratio 25:55 as the percentage of total reparations which each power should eventually receive
e. Belgium was the only power to be awarded full compensation for its losses and priority in payment of the first sums from Germany, largely because it had threatened to withdraw from the Conference in May at a time when Italy had already walked out and the Japanese were threatening to do so

Question 16

Explain German disarmament

Answer 16

a. As with reparations, the Allied and associated nations agreed on the necessity for German disarmament, but there were differences in emphasis
b. The British and Americans wished to destroy in Germany the tradition of conscription which they regarded as the ‘taproot of militarism’
c. Instead they wanted a small professional army created along the lines of the British or US peacetime armies
d. General Froch, more wisely as it turned out feared that a professional Germany army would merely become a tightly organised nucleus of trained men which would be capable of quick expansion when the opportunity arose
e. Foch was overruled and the Council of Ten accepted in march proposals for the creation of inter Allied commissions to monitor the pace of German disarmament, the abolition of the general staff, the creation of a regular army with a maximum strength on one hundred thousand men, the dissolution of the air force and the reduction of the navy

Question 17

Outline the territorial settlement - Paris Conference

Answer 17

• It was accepted, even by many Germans that the predominantly Danish northern Schleswig, annexed by Bismarck in 1866 should be returned to Denmark
• There was therefore general agreement that a plebiscite should be held to determine the size of the area to be handed back
• The former German territories of Eupen and Malmedy, together with Moresnet, which before 1914 had been administered jointly by German and Belgium, were ceded to Belgium, and the neutrality of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was confirmed

Question 18

Explain the territorial settlement in the Saarland

Answer 18

a. French proposals for the Saarland were controversial, Clemenceau insisted on the restoration to France of part of the Saar given to Prussia in 1866, he also aimed to detach the mineral and industrial basin to the north, which had never been French, and place it under non-German administration, finally demanded French ownership of the Saar coalmines to compensate the destruction of pits in northern France
b. Wilson recognised a clash between French national interest and national self-determination, he would permit French ownership of the coalmines until their own had been restored, but vetoed other demands
c. To stop the conference breaking down, Lloyd George persuaded Wilson and Clemenceau to compromise, the mines would be French for 15 years, whilst the government of the Saar would be entrusted to the League
d. After 15 years, the people would get a plebiscite to decide whether they wished to return to German control (1935 territory reverted)

Question 19

Explain the territorial settlement in the Rhineland

Answer 19

a. Clash between Britain and France over Rhineland’s future, no British ambition here but the French saw occupation as an opportunity to permanently weaken Germany, making the region dependent on Berlin, deprive the natural defensive line of the Rhine
b. Britain feared this would create an area of tension but tilt the European power balance decisively towards France
c. Compromise reached after heated debate, Clemenceau would limit allied occupation of the Rhineland to 15 years in return for an Anglo-American treaty guaranteeing France against a new German attack
d. Rhineland divided into three zones, evacuated 5 years at a time, therefore would be permanently demilitarised, Lloyd George sought to evade this commitment right up to signing the treaty

Question 20

Explain the territorial settlement surrounding Germany’s eastern front

Answer 20

a. Anglo French disagreement dominated negotiations, the Commission on Polish Affairs recommended that Danzig, Marienwerder and Upper Silesia should be included in the Polish state, to give it sea access and economic viability
b. Only Allenstein’s future would be decided by a plebiscite
c. Lloyd George opposed this, feeling predominantly German Danzig and Marienwerder resentment and the turning of Berlin to Bolshevik Russia
d. By threatening withdrawal from the Anglo-American treaty he forced Clemenceau to agree to the holding of a plebiscite in Marienwerder and the establishment of the free city of Danzig
e. The city was to be presided over by a high commissioner appointed by the league and to form a customs union with Poland
f. Also linked to Poland through the Danzig or Polish corridor

Question 21

Explain the territorial settlement surrounding Germany’s colonies

Answer 21

a. Wilson insisted the League should control Germany’s colonies
b. This was reluctantly accepted by the British dominions of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa arguing that the annexation of the South Pacific Islands, Samoa and South West Africa was vital for their security
c. Britain, France and South Africa were allocated most of Germany’s African colonial empire, Australia, New Zealand and Japan secured the mandates for the scattered German possessions in the pacific
d. Italy was awarded control of the Juba valley in east Africa, and adjustments to the Libyan border with Algeria
e. Britain, the dominions and France had secured what they wanted, despite paying lip service to the League by agreeing to mandated status for the former German colonies

Question 22

Explain the territorial settlement surrounding Japan and the former German territory in Shantung

Answer 22

a. More serious clash with Japan and the USA, Japanese were determined to hold on to Kiaochow in Shantung in China
b. The Chinese government on the strength of its declaration of war against Germany in 1917 argued that all former German rights should automatically revert to the Chinese state, despite that in 1915 it had agreed to recognise Japanese rights in Shantung
c. Wilson was anxious to block the growth of Japanese influence in the pacific and supported China, but Lloyd George and Clemenceau wanting to protect their own rights in China backed Japan
d. Wilson, already locked in conflict with the Italians over their claims to Fiume and facing Japanese threats to boycott the conference and sign a separate peace with Germany had to concede
e. Arguably this humiliating defeat turned the US Senate against Versailles

Question 23

Explain the German reaction to territorial settlements

Answer 23

a. While the allies worked on the treaty the Germans could only prepare for their summoning to Paris to receive the draft terms
b. Optimistically, in what Troeltsch called ‘the dreamland of the armistice period’, berlin hoped it could protect Germany from excessive reparations and so enable economic recovery
c. Germany became a Republic November 1918 and voted in the moderate socialist SPD party as a majority
d. On 7 May the draft peace terms were presented to Germany, who given only 15 days to reply
e. German government criticised the lack of conformity to the 14 points and demanded concessions:
i. Immediate membership of LoN
ii. Guarantee that Austria and ethnic Germans in Sudetenland, part of new Czechoslovakia, should be able to decide whether to join Germany
iii. Setting up of a neutral commission to examine the war guilt question

Question 24

Outline allied and US concessions to Germany

Answer 24

a. These demands would have strengthened Germany’s position in Europe, but were outright rejected by the Allied powers, some ground was conceded though
b. Lloyd George, fearful that the Germans might reject the treaty persuaded the French to agree a plebiscite in Upper Silesia
c. He failed to limit Rhineland occupation to five years, but managed to secure the vague assurance which later became Article 431 of the treaty ‘that once Germany had given concrete evidence of her willingness to fulfil her obligations’, the allied powers would consider ‘an earlier termination of the period of occupation’

Question 25

Outline the Signature of the Treaty of Versailles

Answer 25

a. 16 June Germany was handed the final version of the treaty incorporating these concessions
b. Opposition to the treaty amongst the German people triggered a political crisis splitting the cabinet and leading to the Chancellor’s resignation
c. In view of its own military weakness and the continuing allied blockade, the Berlin government had to accept the Treaty, making it clear it was under duress though
d. 28 June 1919 the ToV was signed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles palace, where in 1871 the German Empire had been proclaimed

Question 26

Explain American refusal to ratify the ToV

Answer 26

a. By January 1920 the treaty had been ratified by all signatory powers except the USA, in Washington crucial amendments had been put forward by a coalition isolationists led by Senator Lodge, rejecting the Shantung settlement and seriously modifying the covenant of the League
b. The isolationists feared that if the USA joined the League it could be committed to defend the independence of other League members from aggression
c. They proposed that Congress should be empowered to veto US participation in League initiative’s that clashed with traditional policy of isolationism and independence
d. Wilson felt these amendments would paralyse the League and refused them, he twice failed to secure the necessary 2/3 majority in the Senate
e. A major defeat for Wilson and serious consequences for Europe, without US ratification the Anglo-American military guarantee to France lapsed and thee burden if carrying out the ToV fell on Britain and France

Question 27

Outline the settlements with Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria

Answer 27

• The outlines of a settlement in eastern Europe and the Balkans were already clear: Austria Hungary and the Tsarist Russian empire had collapsed, the Poles and Czechs declared their independence and the South Slavs decided to federate with Serbia to form Yugoslavia
• The bewildering diversity of races in the Balkans and lack of concentration in definable areas, ensured that however the powers drew the frontiers, it would be full of contradictions
• Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria, all had to pay reparations, disarm and submit to war guilt
• The basis of the agreement in south-central Europe and the Balkans was the creation of the new Czecho-Slovak state and Serbo-Croat-Slovene state, or Yugoslavia

Question 28

Explain the Treaty of St German 1919

Answer 28

a. Split up the diverse territories which before the war had been part of the Austrian Empire, rump Austria was now reduced to the small German speaking state of 6 million:
i. Italy awarded South Tyrol despite the existence of 230,000 ethnic Germans
ii. Bohemia and Moravia were ceded to Czechoslovakia. French opposition stifled British and American concerns over handing over three million Germans who made up 1/3 the population of these provinces. France wanted a potential ally against Germany to be strengthened by a defensible frontier and the possession of Skoda munitions works in Pilsen, both of which entailed the forcible integration of large German minorities into Czechoslovakia.
iii. Slovenia, B-H and Dalmatia were ceded given to Yugoslavia
iv. Galicia and Bukovina were ceded to Poland and Romania respectively
v. Only in Carinthia where the population mostly consisted of German speaking Slovenes who did not want to join Yugoslavia, did the great powers consent to a plebiscite resulting in the area remaining Austrian 1920
vi. To avoid the dangers of Anschluss with Germany, Article 88 stated that only the Council of the LoN was empowered to sanction a change in Austria’s status as an independent state. This meant France, a member of the Council, could veto any proposed change.

Question 29

Explain the Treaty of Triannon 1920

Answer 29

a. Arguably Hungary suffered the most severely, by Trianon Hungary lost over two thirds of its territory and 41.6% of its population
b. It was vulnerable to partition, only the heartlands of Hungary and the great Central Plain were Magyar
c. Its fate was sealed when in November 1918, Serb Czech and Romanian troops all occupied the regions they claimed
d. The treaty’s completion was delayed by the communist coup in March 1919 but resumed after its defeat, Trianon was signed in June 1920:
i. Most of the German speaking area in the west of the former Hungarian state was ceded to Austria
ii. The Slovakian and Ruthenian regions in the north went to Czechoslovakia
iii. The East went to Romania
iv. The South went to Yugoslavia
e. The Allies justified the Treaty according to national self-determination, but with Hungary this was almost impossible to realise, wherever a clash between Hungary and the successor states or Romania, the allies ensured the decision went against Hungary

Question 30

Explain the Treaty of Neuilly 1919

Answer 30

a. Britain and France regarded Bulgaria as the ‘Balkan Prussia’ which needed restraining, they were determined despite reservations from Italy and America to reward their allies, Romania, Greece and Serbia at its expense
b. Southern Dobruja with only 7000 out of 25,000 Romanians was ceded to Romania and western Thrace was given to Greece

Question 31

Explain the settlements surrounding Fiume, Istria and Dalmatia

Answer 31

a. Post war settlements were accompanied by bitter quarrels between the allied and associated powers, most serious clash between Italy and the USA over Italian claims to Fiume, Istria and Dalmatia
b. Orlando desperate to prove that Italy was not a ‘proletarian nation’ and insisted on its right to annex both Albania and the port of Fiume, denying Yugoslavia its only effective port in the Adriatic, strengthening Italy’s economic grip on the region
c. Agreement could be reached as Orlando was ready for compromise, but Wilson made the mistake of vetoing this option publicly in a statement to the French press
d. After compromising over the Saar and Shantung, Wilson was determined to make a stand for the 14 points, Orlando walked out of the peace conference in protest
e. Orlando’s resignation and replacement by Nitti opened up the way for secret negotiations in Paris, but the lynching of nine French troops by an Italian mob in Fiume, and then the city’s seizure by Italian nationalist D’Annunzio merely prolonged the crisis
f. Not until November 1920 that Italy and Yugoslavia agreed on a compromise and signed the Treaty of Rapallo, Istria was portioned between the two powers, Fiume became a free city, the rest of Dalmatia went to Yugoslavia

Question 32

Explain the settlement with Turkey

Answer 32

• The Treaty of Sevres was another Anglo-French compromise, Lloyd George hoped to weaken Turkey, not only by depriving it of Constantinople and control of the Straits but also by forcing it to surrender all territories where there was no ethnic Turkish majority
• He envisaged Greece rather than Italy as filling the Turkish power vacuum and becoming the British agent in the Mediterranean
• The French however, wished to protect their investments in Turkey and preserve a viable Turkish state, wanted the Turkish government in Constantinople where it would be more vulnerable to French pressure
• The end product of the Anglo-French compromise was a harsh and humiliating treaty, Constantinople remained Turkish but Thrace and most of the European coastline of the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles were to go to Greece
• In the Smyrna region the Greeks were given responsibility for internal administration and defence, while an Armenian state to be set up across Turkish territory to the black sea
• The Straits were to be controlled by an international commission and an Allied financial committee was to have the right to inspect Turkey’s finances

Question 33

Explain the Sykes Picot Agreement 1916

Answer 33

a. May 1916 Britain and France signed this agreement, committing themselves to dividing up Mesopotamia, Syria and the Lebanon into Anglo-French spheres of interest once the war against Turkey had been won
b. Britain however was the only power with a large army in the middle east and was thus able to revise the Agreement unilaterally
c. 1917 Britain insisted on claiming the whole of Palestine, by announcing support for Zionists’ ambition to establish a national home for the Jews in Palestine through the Balfour declaration Britain secured the USA’s backing

Question 34

Explain the Middle East mandates of Turkey’s Arabian territories

Answer 34

a. February 1919, in deference to Wilson and the 14 points, Britain and France agreed that they could only exercise power over these territories in the name of the League
b. It took several months of bitter argument before the British agreed to a French mandate in Syria and also French access to the oil wells in Mosul, Iraq, frontiers between the British mandates of Palestine and Iraq and the French of Syria were finalised in December

Question 35

Explain the role of Mustapha Kemal and the revision of the Treaty

Answer 35

a. Sevres was the most obvious failure of all the treaties as it was never effected by the Turkish government
b. When imposed by the allies, they took little account of the profound changes in Turkey brought about by Kemal’s rise, the leader of the new nationalist movement
c. Kemal set up a rebel government which controlled virtually the whole of the Turkish interior and was determined not to accept the Treaty
d. The long delay ensured that growing Turkish resentment made the Treaty ineffectual
e. By settling the dispute over the Russo-Turkish frontier in the Caucus, Kemal concentrated his forces against the Greeks without fear of Russian intervention, by August 1922 he was ready to enter Constantinople and the Straits zone occupied by the allies
f. Italy and France withdrew, but not wanting conflict with Britain Kemal signed an armistice giving him all he wanted, the Greek withdrew from eastern Thrace and Constantinople and the Straits
g. In 1923 an international conference met at Lausanne to revise Sevres, Kemal anxious not to be dependent on Russia agreed to the creation of small demilitarised zones on both side of the Straits and the freedom of navigation through them by Britain, France, Italy and Japan
h. He insisted on the abolition of foreign control over Turkey’s finances, a serious blow to French plans for Turkish dominance

Question 36

Explain the enforcement of the Treaty of Versailles

Answer 36

1. The organisation for carrying out the Treaties
   a. Once Versailles was ratified the victorious powers set up a series of inter-Allied commissions to organise the plebiscites, monitor German disarmament and examine Germany’s financial position
   b. These reported to the Conference of Ambassadors in Paris representing the Allied powers, but the real decisions were carried out by Allied Prime Ministers
2. Anglo French Differences
   a. Britain and France had conflicting ideas about how best to ensure that Germany carried out Versailles
   b. Britain as the centre of a worldwide power, wanted to see a balance of power in Europe that would prevent either French or German domination and leave it free to deal with growing challenges to its power from nationalist movements in India, Egypt and Ireland
   c. Britain was convinced that a prosperous and peaceful Germany could pay reparations and play its part as one of the main engines of the European economy
   d. For France, the German problem was an overriding priority, French policy swung uneasily between occasionally exploring the possibilities of economic cooperation with Germany, and more usually of applying forceful measures to permanently weaken her and fulfil the Treaty

Question 37

Explain the drawing up of Poland’s eastern frontier with Russia

Answer 37

a. The Poles exploited the chaos caused by the Russian civil war to extend their eastern frontier deep in the Ukraine and Belorussia
b. In December 1919 they rejected the proposed eastern frontier based on recommendations put forward by Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Minister and in early 1920 embarked on a full scale invasion of the Ukraine
c. By August however, Bolshevik forces had pushed the poles back to Warsaw, but with the help of French equipment and military advisers the Poles rallied and inflicted a decisive defeat on the Red Army outside Warsaw
d. Soviet troops were pushed back and in March 1921 Poland’s eastern frontier was finally fixed by the Treaty of Riga
e. Poland annexed a considerable area of Belorussia and the western Ukraine, all of which lay east to the proposed Curzon line

Question 38

Explain the redrawing of Upper Silesia

Answer 38

a. By the end of 1920 the Marienwereder and Allenstein plebiscites had been held, both of which voted to stay in Germany, Danzig had become a free city under the League’s administration
b. Fixing the Upper Silesian frontiers however was more challenging, Upper Silesia had a population of 2,280,000 Germans and Poles who were bitterly divided ethnically, and a concentration of coal mines and industries second only to the Ruhr
c. The plebiscite in March 1921 produced an ambiguous result which did not solve the Anglo-French disagreements over Poland
d. The British argued that its result justified keeping the key industrial regions of the province German, while the French insisted they should be awarded to Poland
e. Fearing that British interests would again prevail, Poland seized control of the industrial area and an uprising broke out
f. Order was restored by British and French troops and the question passed on to the League, in 1922 the League bowing to French pressure handed most of the industrial areas to Poland

Question 39

Explain the setting of reparations

Answer 39

a. The most difficult problem facing the British and French governments was reparations, both hoped to solve the problem by fixing a global total as soon as possible on the assumption that once Germany knew the full sum it would be able to raise money in the USA from the sale of government bonds and begin repayments
b. April 1921 the Reparations Commission finally fixed the global total of 132 billion gold marks to be paid over 42 years
c. When this was rejected by Germany for being too high, a ultimatum was dispatched to Berlin giving the Germans a week to accept after which the Ruhr would be occupied
d. To carry out the ultimatum, a new government was formed by Joseph Wirth, assisted by Walther Rathenau he was determined to pursue a policy of negotiation opposed to confrontation
e. The first instalment was paid, and Rathenau made some progress in persuading the French to accept the payment of a proportion of reparations in the form of the delivery of industrial goods and coal
f. However, by the end of the year the German government announced as a consequence of escalating inflation it could not raise sufficient hard currency to meet the next instalment of reparation payments

Question 40

Explain the Geneva Conference 1922

Answer 40

a. This gave Lloyd George an opportunity to launch a major initiative, he was convinced that Germany needed a temporary moratorium to put its economy in order, while in the long term the key to the payment of reparations and a European economic revival lay in creating a European group of industrial nations including Germany, to rebuild Russia
b. He hoped this would generate an international trade boom helping Germany to pay its reparations
c. Raymond Poincare, French PM again, grudgingly consented to holding an international conference at Geneva to which both the USSR and Germany would be invited to discuss these plans, but he vetoed any concession on reparations
d. The Soviets agreed to attend but were suspicious of Lloyd George’s plans to open up their economy to foreign capital
e. During the conference they pulled of a major diplomatic triumph by secretly negotiating the Rapallo Agreement with Germany, whereby both countries agreed to write off any financial claims on each other dating from the war, Germany pledged to consult with Moscow before participating in any international plans for exploiting the Soviet economy
f. Rapallo effectively killed Lloyd George’s plan, a miscalculation by the Germans perhaps, it helped Germany to escape from isolation, at the cost of intensifying French suspicions of its motives
g. In many ways these were justified, as a secret annex signed in July allowed Germany to train its soldiers in Soviet territory thereby violating Versailles

Question 41

Explain the Ruhr occupation

Answer 41

a. In July 1922 major confrontation between France and Germany seemed inevitable when the German government requested a three year moratorium
b. Britain announced that as the SUA was demanding the repayment of British wartime debts, it must insist in turn on the repayment of money loaned to former allies, particularly France
c. To the French, Britain’s demand for these repayments contrasted painfully with the concessions Lloyd George was ready to offer Germany
d. On 27 November the Poincare cabinet finally decided that occupation of the Ruhr was the only way to force Germany to pay reparations, on 11 January French and Belgian troops moved in, Britain did not join in but opted for a policy of benevolent neutrality towards France
e. For nine months occupation was met by passive resistance by the German government, this increased the cost of the occupation but caused hyperinflation, in September Germany was on the brink of collapse when the new Chancellor Stresemann called off passive resistance
f. France had exhausted itself too and seriously weakened the Franc in the Ruhr crisis, France’s attempts to back Rhineland separatism and to create and independent Rhineland currency failed
g. Separatist leaders were assassinated by German nationalist groups, Poincare thus had little option but to cooperate with an Anglo-American initiative for setting up a commission chaired by the US financier Charles G. Dawes
h. Its two committee experts, one to study Germany’s financial capacity for payment, and the other to advise on how it could best balance the budget and restore its currency began to work in early 1924
i. One French official accurately observed, the time was no past for dealing with Germany as ‘victor to vanquished’
j. The Ruhr crisis marked the end of attempts to carry out Versailles by force and the beginning of gradual revision of the Treaty itself

Question 42

Explain the Key Debate

Answer 42

a. Peace treaties of 1919-20 were seen by some as a triumph of democracy, the rule of law, self-determination and collective security against militarism, yet by other as a hypocritical act of vengeance and economic ignorance
b. Treaties contained a unique combination of idealism and morality with old fashioned power politics
c. Keynes’ 1919 ‘The Economic Consequences of the Peace’, a critical evaluation of Versailles, public opinion in the UK and USA turned against the peace, Keynes arguments:
i. Treaty ignores the economic solidarity of Europe by aiming at the destruction of the economic life of Germany
ii. German economy reliant upon overseas commerce, colonies, foreign investments, exports, all of which the treaty targeted to destroy
d. For Germany Keynes’ arguments provided final proof that the allies wished to destroy her, yet from 1945 Versailles was not so harsh, Germany still potentially a great power
e. Unlike the Vienna settlement of 1815, the peace treaties failed to create a new European power balance
f. Austrian Empire was replaced by several small unstable states, Italy felt cheated ad remained a revisionist power, even Britain and France who gained most secured only short term advantages and were themselves too divided by mutual suspicions
g. Major weakness was the USA, which had played a major part in negotiating the settlements, was prevented by a Senate vote from helping to implement them
h. It is debatable whether the US senate is responsible for Hitler’s rise and WW2, there is no doubt that the USA’s presence in the Supreme Council of the Allies 1920-23 and its participation in the military guarantee of France’s frontiers would have a decisive influence on European stabilisation in the immediate post-war years