The Treaty of Versailles Effect - Conflict and Tension

Question 1

territorial changes?

Answer 1

• Alsace and Lorraine were given back to France
• the Rhineland would be demilitarised
• North Schleswig would be given to Denmark
• West Prussia were given to the newly recreated nation of Poland to create a Polish Corridor to the sea
• the rich farmland of Posen was also given to Poland
• the city of Danzig was made to be a free city which was to be run by the LofN
• the coal-rich Saarland was given to France for 15 years in compensation for French coalmines that had been destroyed by war
• part of Silesia were given to the new nation of Czechoslovakia
• Eupen and Malmedy were given to Belgium
• overseas colonies were given to the LofN (who gave them to Britain and France to look after as LofN mandates

Question 2

how did the German public feel about these territorial changes?

Answer 2

• many German citizens had not been aware of the dire state of the German armed forces in the war
• Germany lost all her imperial possessions, 13% of her land, and 6 million Germans (1/8 of her population), found they no longer lived in Germany
• German disarmament was no only humiliating but left Germans feeling vulnerable to their victorious
• the war guilt clause was perhaps the biggest source of outrage
• ordinary Germans were furious with the government for agreeing to the armistice in the first place
• the Germans were frustrated that the 14 points did not seem to be the basis for the settlement
• many believe that Germany should have been allowed to be present at the Paris Peace conference
• the Kaiser had already been abdicated by the time of the armistice, so many people felt that the person responsible already had his punishment, so there was no need to punish the rest of the country
• a myth of the Dolchstoss (stab in the back) began - the idea that Germany’s defeat and humiliation was due to betrayal by the Socialists and Jews

Question 3

what was the impact of the Treaty on Germany?

Answer 3

• German naval commanders scuttled their battleships as they did not want to hand them over to Britain
• some people thought war may break out again - but it was clear Germany could not win
• Germany was crippled by the reparations and could not sustain them
• in 1922, Germany fell behind on the reparation payments
• as a result, Belgian and French soldiers entered the Rhineland and occupied the Ruhr to take what was owed from them in forms of goods
• the German government ordered workers to go on strike - but the French killed 100 workers and expelled 100,000 protesters from the region
• the strike also meant that Germany no longer had enough goods to trade in order to make money - so the government printed more money causing hyperinflation
• the nation was affected by this and political instability such as the Nazi attempts to seize power in Bavaria later that year

Question 4

when did Ebert (the leader of Germany) sign the TofV?

Answer 4

28th June 1919

Question 5

what were the two problems of trying to create new states?

Answer 5

• many countries were eager to receive the reparations they were owed by Germany - this put pressure on the negotiators to make decisions more quickly
• self determination - many new states contained people from different ethnic backgrounds, some of whom were unhappy to find themselves in a different country

Question 6

what is self determination?

Answer 6

the right of a country to form its own government without interference

Question 7

what were the three new countries that were made from land from the TofV?

Answer 7

• Poland
• Czechoslovakia
• Yugoslavia

Question 8

information about Czechoslovakia

Answer 8

• declared independence from the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918
• democratic
• inherited much of Austria’s industry and was able to build a strong economy
• 1/5 of the population was German - many resented being part of Czechoslovakia (especially those in the Sudetenland)

Question 9

information about Yugoslavia

Answer 9

• formed from several different ethnic groups which had frequent tension
• Yugoslavia remained stable until its collapse in the 1990s

Question 10

information about Poland

Answer 10

• the allies created Poland as a buffer between Germany and the USSR
• Poland was given a strip of land called the Polish corridor (which covered a German city called Danzig) - giving it access to the sea
• most of the Polish corridor was German and hated being part of Poland
• Poland was surrounded by hostile countries