Peace Treaties

History is written by the victors.
-Winston Churchill

Pre-WWI Context for Germany

• Germany used to be a monarchy
• After they overthrew the monarchy, ==👤 Friedrich Ebert== took over
• The Weimar Republic was formed of many little small parties
  • He didn’t have much control as a result
• Ebert signed an armistice with the Allies in hopes of fair treatment to pause the war
• The unfair terms of the Treaty of Versailles were revealed, leading to German criticism.
• In June 1919, Germany tried to protest but failed
  • In the end, Ebert reluctantly signed the ToV

Aims of Peacemaking in 1919

• to keep the victors happy
• avoid another world war post-WW - this did Not turn out well
• ensure that defeated countries accepted the peace terms
• make a treaty that could be viewed as ==fair for all sides==

Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

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 Germany	Strengthen democracy in defeated countries	Give self-determination to small countries that used to be part of the European empires	International 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				✅

Link to original

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

Link to original

Link to original

Important Terms

• Diktat: dictated peace
  • some people referred to the ToV as the “diktat of Versailles”
• Dolchstosslegende: “Stab in the back” myth ^fb1c87
  • conspiracy theory widely believed by and perpetuated by right-wing circles in Germany in 1918
  • belief was that the German Army didn’t lose WWI on the battlefield, but was instead betrayed by civilians at home who overthrew the monarchy in the German Revolution of 1918-1919
  • followers of this theory referred to the German leaders who signed the armistice in Nov 1918 as November Criminals
  • key element in the revival of German militarism in later years
  • Hitler believed this because he was in hospital when the war ended and was unable to come to terms with the real outcome
  • Trump revived this in the 2020 election against Biden