The Weight of History

Treaty of Versailles

2 min read

1914-1918 World War I, 3.01 Peace Treaties

The Big Three

  • 👤 Woodrow Wilson representing 🇺🇸 USA
    • an idealist
    • wanted world peace
    • came up with the Fourteen Point to prevent future wars (we all know how that turned out cough)
  • 👤 Georges Clemenceau representing 🇫🇷 France
    • has a Lorax mustache
    • was under pressure at home to punish Germany harshly so they could never attack France again
  • 👤 David Lloyd George representing 🇬🇧 Britain
    • didn’t like Wilson because he thought Wilson was playing saviour to Europe
    • but also agreed with him on not punishing Germany too harshly lest they seek revenge (we know what happened after that cough)
    • wanted Germany to lose their navy and colonies because they threatened the British Empire

Wilson’s Fourteen Points

Wilson's Fourteen Points and their purposes

Wilson’s Fourteen Points and their purposes

  • laid out in January 1919
Don’t be too harsh on GermanyStrengthen democracy in defeated countriesGive self-determination to small countries that used to be part of the European empiresInternational cooperation
No secret treaties✅
Free access to the seas in peacetime so wartime✅
Free trade between countries✅
All countries to work towards disarmnament✅✅
Colonies to have a say in their future✅✅
German troops to leave Russia✅
Independence for Belgium✅✅
France to regain Alsace-Lorraine
Frontier between Austria and Italy to be adjusted✅✅
Self-determination for the peoples of eastern Europe✅✅
Serbia to have access to the sea✅
Self-determination for the people in the Turkish empire✅
Poland to become an independent state with access to the sea✅
League of Nations to be set up✅
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Terms of the Treaty

Mnemonic: **G**ermany **R**eally **T**hreatened **M**any **N**ations

  • Guilt: ==War Guilt Cause== ^6c6f76
    • Germany was to accept the complete blame for starting the war
  • Reparations: Germany was to pay 6600 million pounds in war reparations to the Allies
  • Territories: Germany to lose territories and colonies ^19de1c
    • Germany’s overseas empire was taken away
      • Before the war, it had caused bad relations with Britain
    • Former German colonies became “mandates” controlled by the League of Nations
      • read: France and Britain controlled them
  • Military: Germany’s military to be severely restricted and essentially disarmed ^427c67
    • navy was limited to six battleships
    • no air force
    • army can only have 100,000 men
    • this made Germany very vulnerable to attacks
      • France, Portugal, Spain, Italy were not made to disarm despite Wilson’s Fourteen Point
  • Nations: a ==League of Nations== to be set up as an international ‘police force’ ^acbd31
    • WITHOUT Germany
      • they had to prove that they were a 'peace-loving country' first

German Reaction to the Treaty of Versailles

Transclude of German-Reactions-and-Consequences---of-the-Treaty-of-Versailles#german-reaction-to-the-treat

German Consequences of the Treaty

German Consequences of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles

Economic

Conflict in the Ruhr

  • Ruhr Valley is a major industrial and mining region
  • 1921: first 50 million was paid
  • 1922: nothing was paid. Negotiations failed
  • 1923: 🇫🇷 French and 🇧🇪 Belgian soldiers enter the Ruhr to take whatever was owed in the form of raw materials and goods
    • The Weimar Government told the Ruhr workers to go on strike instead of helping the French
      • The workers were harshly punished. Thousands were killed and/or injured.

Hyperinflation

  • The government responded to the economic crisis by ==printing more money==
  • Some people benefited
    • The government paid off huge debts in worthless marks
  • Others suffered, making them unhappy with the government
    • Prosperous middle class families who could buy a house with their savings in 1921 couldn’t buy a loaf of bread with the same amount in 1923

Political Violence

  • The Weimar Republic had parties spanning a broad political spectrum in elections, from Communists on the left to National Socialists (Nazis) on the far right
  • The government lacked strong support from the people and faced violent opposition from both the right and the left

Kapp Putsch (1920)

  • Right wing opponents attempted a coup d'etat to overthrow the Weimar government

Munich Putsch (1923)

  • Attempted rebellion led by Adolf Hitler
    • more in TB page 253
  • Hitler was thrown into jail for this
    • but let off very easily, showing how many Germans hated ToV
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