treaty of versailles and its opposition Flashcards
when was the Treaty of Versailles signed?
28 June 1919
what was the reaction of Scheidemann’s cabinet to the Treaty?
himself along with his entire cabinet resigned
what was the outcome of the Reichstag vote for the Treaty of Versailles?
237 for
138 against
what were the aims of the Treaty for Woodrow Wilson?
he wanted:
- a reduce in armaments
- Germany to uphold its democracy
- create a League of Nations to maintain peace
what were the aims of the Treaty for Clemenceau?
he wanted:
- the Rheineland to be annexed and used as a buffer state
- a major disarmament process
- to impose HEAVY reparations on Germany to finance rebuilding
why did Clemenceau want a buffer-state?
he hoped that a buffer state would prevent another Franco-German war from occuring
what were the aims of the Treaty for Lloyd-George?
he wanted to:
- guarantee British military security (specifically with Britain’s naval supremacy)
- to prevent the spread of communism
- to limit French demands
why did Lloyd-George want to limit French demands for heavy reparations?
because he wanted the European economy to sustain itself and not collapse
heavy repatriations would have massively damaged the European economy
what were the sections of the Treaty of Versailles?
territorial arrangements
war guilt
reparations
disarmament
maintaining peace
what were the major territorial arrangements made in the Treaty of Versailles?
- Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France
- the Saar was put under the control of the League of Nations
- the Rheinland was demilitarised
- Anschluss was forbidden
- all of Germany’s colonies were distributed
why was the Saar a major loss for Germany?
it was a very rich industrial area
COAL
what article affirmed Germany as the guilty nation in starting the war?
Article 231
what did Article 231 justify?
the use of reparations
which article introduced reparations?
Article 232
what was the sum of reparations fixed at?
£6 billion
what was the German army reduced to?
100,000 men
what happened to German military aircraft?
they were completely banned
how many submarines were allowed in the German Navy?
NONE
how many battleships were allowed in the German Navy?
6
how many destroyers were allowed in the German Navy?
6
what did the Treaty set out for maintaining peace?
set out the League of Nations
what did the German people see the TofV as?
a Diktat
dictated peace
what were the main German complaints about the TofV?
- disarmament
- the acceptance of Article 231
why did Germany have an issue with disarmament?
Britain and France did not disarm their own armed forces
Germany believed that she had been unilaterally disarmed
what was Wilson’s view on disarmament?
the need for universal disarmament
the TofV was opposed to this
why did Germany have an issue with Article 231?
Germans struggled to come to terms with being held solely responsible for the outbreak of the war
Germans believed they fought a defensive war
what economic impact did the TofV have on Germany?
reparations were heavy and dealt a large blow to the German economy
HOWEVER
later American loans eventually outweighed the reparation payments
how was the TofV a major political issue for the Weimar Republic?
it fuelled the propaganda of left and right wing opposition who saw the TofV as the reason for the difficulties during the Weimar years
why was there misinformation regarding the harshness of the TofV?
many Germans had no idea how bad the war was going for Germany
this led them to believe that the Weimar Republic prevented Germany from winning the war
what issue did Germans hold against reparations?
THE FACT THAT THEY EVEN EXISTED
Germans cared little about the level of reparations (something solved later by the Young and Dawes plans)
