THE PARIS PEACE TREATY

1919-1921

IMPORTANT ISSUES ABOUTGERMANY… BEFORE THE

ARMISTICE.

• The following issues have been raised by Doug Newton an Australian historian.

1. Between June-August 1918, Germany seemed poised for victory. She had troops entrenched from the Belgian coast to beyond the Black Sea and from the Gulf of Finland to the Aegean. Russia had been crushed by the Treaty of Brest Litovsk.

2. Germany herself was not actually defeated by the Allies. It was the intervention of the USA and the collapse of Germany’s allies that “turned the scales”.( by Oct. 1918 Turkey, Bulgaria and Austria had fallen.)

3. When the Armistice was signed, Germany still had control of large areas in Europe-:

i. French Territory.

ii. Most of Belgium.

iii. Parts of Russia( Ukraine and Georgia) and Poland.

4. Germans agreed to evacuate all territory if Germany was not invaded.

5. The Treaty would be based on the 14 Points of Woodrow Wilson.

The Armistice was signed on a train carriage.

WILSON’S 14 POINTS

• The Armistice accepted by Germany and Austria in 1918 was based on Wilson’s 14 Points.

• Wilson’s Points called for-;1. Open covenants of peace openly arrived at 2. Freedom of the seas3. Equality of trade 4. Reduction of national arms 5. Proper adjustment of colonial claims6. Adjustment of boundaries and self-

determination

CLASS OF 1942

Class of 42

What is the significance of this political cartoon?

PEACE AND FUTURE CANNON FODDER

“Curious ! I seem to hear a child weeping!”

Copy of the Treaty

PEACETREATIES

Treaty ofBrest Litovsk

1917RUSSIA

Treaty of Versailles

1919GERMANY

Treaty ofSt Germaine

1919AUSTRIA Treaty of

Neuilly1919

BULGARIA

Treaty ofTrianon

1920HUNGARY

TREATY OF BREST LITOVSK

• The Treaty of Brest was signed in March 1918 and it brought to an end the war on the Eastern Front between Germany and Russia.

• The Treaty imposed on the Russians by Germany was a humiliating one; it also paved the way for the Treaty of Versailles, which was to end WW1.

• The severity of the treaty of Brest Litovsk was the work of Ludendorff, who worked hard on the Eastern Front and now wanted annexation.

• Russia lost Poland, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and a large section of the Ukraine. All up Russia lost 3 million square kilometres and 62 million people.

• However, Germany’s problems continued as the withdrawal of Russia was balanced by the entry of the USA.

• The Treaty of Brest Litovsk had ignored Wilson’s 14 Points issued on the January 8 1918, which had called for SELF - DETERMINATION

FEATURES OF THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE

1. Germany’s hope for a lenient peace… based on Wilson’s Fourteen Points.

2. The Big Four…

3. Harsh terms of the treaty.

4. Germany not present

5. Article 231: Guilt clause – Germany had to accept responsibility.

6. Was it a “just peace”?

7. Severe impact on Germany.

THE END OF THE WAR

In January 1919, two months after the Armistice was signed, representatives of 31 victorious “Allied and Associated Nations”

assembled in Paris to make peace.

WAS THE END OF WW1 A CAUSE OF WW2??

PARIS PEACE TREATY(Treaty of Versailles Jan.-June 1919)

AIM.

• TO MAKE GERMANY PAY FOR BEING THE “AGRESSOR” IN WORLD WAR

ONE.

• 31 Allied nations present

• The Big Four

• Germany excluded from the conference.

“THE BIG FOUR”

“tiger”

“humanitarian”“chameleon”

“fiery”

DAVID LLOYD GEORGE

• British Prime Minister.• He believed that Britain had made a major

contribution to the war effort.• HOWEVER…he personally believed that

Germany had to be “justly treated” or major problems would emerge.

• He was under pressure from the British people.

• He had recently won an election on the slogans1. “Hang the Kaiser”2. “Make Germany Pay”

Lloyd George won the 1918 election with harsh slogans, and he was aware that the British people

wanted a hard line approach.

HANG THE KAISER

MAKEGERMANY

PAY

GEORGES CLEMENCEAU

• French President nick named “THE OLD TIGER”

• Pushed for revenge.

• Remembered the Franco-Prussian War.

• Wanted to ensure that Germany was punished once and for all… Germany would never rise again!!!

VICTORIO ORLANDO

• The Italian President and a minor player.• Described as “firey” .• Spoke little English and was disadvantaged.• His aim was to gain territory promised to him in

the Secret Treaty of London, which saw Italy change sides in 1915.

• Italia Irrendenta (Trieste) and African colonies.• Stormed out of the Conference• The “Big Four” became the “Big Three”

WOODROW WILSON

• President of the USA during WW1.• Described by historians as “a humanitarian”…

“an idealist”… “a man before his time”• The originator of the 14 Points.• He called for a ‘just peace’ not ‘revenge’.• Spoke of “international peace and brother hood”

and “self-determination”.

What made Wilson different???

• The views of Wilson were different to those of Britain and France.

a) USA joined the war late.

b) Not fought on their territory.

c) Not interested or affected by territorial changes in Europe.

• Wilson was an idealist calling for-;

a) Democracy.b) Self-Determination.c) International peace and

brotherhood.

Ruth Henig suggests that Wilson was on a crusade aimed at “the extension of democracy throughout the world”

Historical Opinion…Ruth Henig

• “He (Wilson) saw this as a moral commitment, entrusted to the American people and their leaders by the founding fathers, and already in 1916 he had proclaimed that the object of the war should be ‘to make the world safe for democracy’.”

GOD: Woodrow Wilson, where are your 14 points? WILSON: Don't get excited, Lord, we didn't keep your Ten Commandments either!

Thomas Heine, Simplicissimus, (17th June, 1919)

The Treaty was to be based on the 14 Points, but this did not eventuate.

THE SIGNING OF THE TREATY

• The Treaty was signed on June 28th 1919.

• It caused bitterness and resentment among the German people.

• Reichstag unanimously rejected the first draft.

• Members of the Cabinet resigned including Schiedemann.

• Germany anticipated a lenient treaty.

WHY DID GEMANY THINK IT WOULD BE A LENIENT PEACE??1. Wilson’s 14 Points seemed humane and

based on reconciliation rather than punishment.

2. The old regime (Kaiser) Had been replaced by a democratic constitution.

3. The German Army had not actually been defeated and Germany itself had not been invaded.

TERMS OF THE TREATY.

• The terms of the treaty of Versailles can be divided into three main categories.

1. Territorial

2. Military.

3. Economical.

• In order to understand these terms you need to have access to a 1919 map of Europe.

THE DIVISION OF GERMANY BY THE ALLIES.

TERRITORIAL LOSSES

1. Alasce-Lorraine was returned to France.2. The Rhineland was to be permanently

demilitarised.3. The mines of the Saar Valley were to be

exploited by France.4. The Saarland was to be separated from

Germany and administered by the League of Nations.( a plebiscite was to determine its future)

4. Eupen and Malmedy were given to Belgium.

5. Schleswig was returned to Denmark by plebiscite.

6. Parts of Posen and West Prussia were incorporated into a new state of Poland.

7. The Polish Corridor was devised to separate east and west Prussia.

8. Danzig became an independent state under the League of Nations.

8. Memel was taken from Germany and placed under the French High Commission.

9. This rich industrial land of Upper Silesia was assigned to Poland.

10.ANSCHLUSS (union) was banned…VITAL. Germany was forbidden to unite with Austria for economic or political reasons.

11.Germany lost all her overseas colonies and they became MANDATES for the winning Nations…New Guinea..

MILITARY LOSSES

1. Germany was to surrender all heavy weapons.

2. Fortifications along the Rhineland had to be dismantled.

3. Germany had to reduce her army.

4. Conscription was forbidden.

5. The production of gas, tanks and aircrafts for military purpose was forbidden.

6. The navy was to be reduced.( figures are available but varied) .

ECONOMIC

1. Germany had to an amount of money “as compensation for the damage caused to allied civilians and their property.”

• This payment was known as REPARATIONS.

ARTICLE 231…WAR GUILT.

• Article 231 of the Paris Peace Conference is also referred to as the “war guilt” clause, and caused the most resentment among the German people.

• This clause required Germany to accept and admit full responsibility for-:

1. Causing the war.

2. The damage caused.

ACTUAL CLAUSE

“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 all the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed on them by the aggression of the enemy states.”

WHAT DOES ARTICLE 231REALLY MEAN???

WHY DID GERMANY ACCEPTTHE TREATY OF

VERSAILLES IN JUNE 1919?

REASONS WHY GERMANY ACCEPTED.

1. Overall low morale among the German people.2. Fear of further political turmoil in Germany.3. If the war resumed the German Army would

not be able to hold out any longer on the Western Front.

4. Germany was facing a major food shortage as a result of the Allied naval blockade of German ports.

• Starvation and malnutrition were both evident in Germany by 1918.

• Germany was unwilling to take any more risks.

IMPACT OF THE TREATY.

• Germany’s territorial changes hampered her economic recovery. On third of her coal’s reserves and three-quarters of her iron deposits were lost.

• It created/intensified public resentment and despair. Was the Weimar Republic doomed from its inception????

• The treaty enabled enemies of the Republic (right wing) to assume the role of patriots resorting to violence and attempted coups.

1. Wolfgang Kapp 1920

2. Beer Hall Putsch 1923 ( Hitler)

3. Assassinations of left wing leaders such as Erzberger.

• It saw the development of issues and concepts such as-:

1. November Criminals.

2. Stab-in-the- Back.

3. The Diktat.

IMPACT OF THE TREATY ON GERMANY

PEACE TREATY ISSUES.

• The following issues have been raised have been raised by Australian historian Doug Newton.

• WW1 was a “new type of war”.• Peace should have been by negotiation not

victory.• “Victory has been seen as a problem”• “ The worst thing about the war was that the

peace was not a peace agreed upon, but one dictated.”

• The Peace Treaty magnified the concept of the “evil Germany” and “glorifies the Allies”

• Several attempts had been made as early as 1915 to bring the war to an end by mediation (USA)_ neither side could agree.

• Private diary of Mrs Asquith: … “she could see that the war was a “draw” and believed that a negotiated peace could be conducted.”

• The politicians believed that victory was worth prolonging the war.

• At the end of the Somme the Germans asked for peace with the USA as mediator, but Lloyd George refused. He wanted to fight on, wanted a military victory.

• The Germans agreed on a settlement “ involving no annexation, no contributions, no punitive damages, except that Germany agreed to make reparations to all damage done to civilian population of the Allies.

• The Treaty of Versailles was signed In the Hall of Mirrors, where Bismarck had in 1871 founded the German Republic.

• It saw the compromise of the 14 Points.• Berlin referred it as a “treaty of shame”, and “a

gross violation of peace between equals”.

What is your opinion???

“the treaty was not excessively harsh on Germany--- either territorially or economically --- However, the German people were expecting victory not defeat . It was the acknowledgement of defeat, as much as the treaty terms themselves, which they found so hard to accept”

Ruth Henig

“it was the moral stigma of the sole-guilt that they objected to the most”

E.H Carr

TREATIESOTHER THANVERSAILLES

TREATIESOTHER THANVERSAILLES

SEVRES TURKEY

1920

SEVRES TURKEY

1920

NEUILLYBULGARIA

1919

NEUILLYBULGARIA

1919

TRIANONHUNGARY

1920

TRIANONHUNGARY

1920

ST GERMAINEAUSTRIA

1919

ST GERMAINEAUSTRIA

1919

RESULTS OF THE ASSOCIATEDTREATIES

1. These treaties simply ratified what had taken place at Versailles and FRAGMENTED the defeated nations.

2. Carried out under the banner of “SELF- DETERMINATION” , they aimed to redraw state frontiers in the hope to deal with nationalism and dissatisfied minorities.

• The reality was that new countries were formed and problems caused which are still evident today.

AUSTRIA

• Austria lost her empire and became a small republic of only eight million people.

• Regions of Galicia with a predominantly Slav population went to Poland.

• 3 ½ million Austrians were included in the new country of Czechoslovakia.

• ¼ million Austrians from the South Tyrol passed under Italian rule(1915 deal)

• Bosnia-Herzegovina became part of Yugo slavia.

• Austria was forbidden any unity with her neighbour Germany.

• Austria also suffered economically as the ANSCHLUSS was not allowed with Germany.

What was the ANSCHLUSS???

HUNGARY

• Hungary fared worse than Austria.• The Treaty of Trianon took 2/3 of Hungary’s

territory and 1/3 of the population.• Slovakia became part of Czechoslovakia.• Croatia went to Yugoslavia.• Transylvania went to Rumania.

TURKEY.

• Internal problems saw the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of the modern democratic republic of Turkey under Ataturk.

• Arabian Peninsula became independent.

• Palestine, Iraq and Transjordan became mandates of Britain.

• Syria and Lebanon were taken by France.

“NOVEMBER CRIMINALS”

• Name given by the Nationalists to the Social Democrats and members of the coalition parties responsible for-;

1. Accepting the Armistice2. Signing the Peace Treaty.• Concept used by Hitler as the bases of

his propaganda.• They were accused of stabbing Germany

in the back…accepting a shameful treaty.