International Relations Revision:
The Treaty of Versailles
The 'Big 3’ leaders at the peace conference were Lloyd George (UK), George Clemenceau (France) and Woodrow Wilson (USA). All three wanted different things and it caused problems.
Lloyd George wanted Germany to be punished but not too much as he knew they would want revenge. He only wanted Germany to pay small reparations so they could recover quickly. He also wanted to keep the Royal Navy all powerful at sea and get Germany’s colonies in Africa.
Clemenceau wanted to destroy Germany utterly so they would never again be able to make war as they had done in 1914 and 1870. He wanted total disarmament and he wanted reparations of £12 billion to pay for all the war damage in France and land to be taken from Germany including Alsace-Lorainne and the Rhineland. He also wanted Germany to accept all the blame for the war and its consequences.
Woodrow Wilson wanted a League of Nations to keep the peace and help out poor. He wanted to punish Germany but not too much and wanted no secret agreements. He wanted all countries to disarm and for Europe to be governed using the principal of self-determination.
Wilson wanted to introduce his 14 points of world peace including something called the League of Nations to keep an eye on the world and stop wars by talking not fighting. This was all he cared about. He was not bothered about reparations but he did think Clemenceau was too harsh.
In the end they agreed on the Treaty of Versailles. The main points of which were:
- Germany would accept all the blame for starting the war (GC)
- Germany must pay £6.6 billion in reparations for war damage (GC and LG)
- Germany must have no air force or submarines and only a few ships. (GC and LG)
- German army to be reduced to 100,000 men. (GC)
- Germany to lose all colonies and large parts of its own land which shall be given to the winners of the war. (GC and LG)
- A League of Nations should be set up to make sure no wars happen again. (WW)
KEY: (LG – Lloyd George’s idea, GC – Clemenceau’s idea, WW – Wilson’s idea)
Other Treaties
The Treaty of St Germain (1919) and the Treaty of Trianon (1920) carved up the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The Treaty of Sevres (1920) carved up the Ottoman Empire.
What did the Germans Think of the Treaty?
They HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATED IT!! The German people could not believe their government had signed it but they had to because if they had not the Allies would have invaded Germany and totally ruined the country.
Groups of soldiers tried to overthrow the new WeimarRepublic and there was chaos in Germany. Reparations were unpopular because they were impossible to pay. Germany did not start the war so they felt they were blamed wrongly. Soldiers also felt as though they were ‘stabbed in the back’ and the country gave up too easily. They felt Germany could have carried on fighting.
In the end the treaty was not harsh enough to cripple Germany but not nice enough to stop the Germans wanting revenge. The peace makers tried their best but it was such a big job they could not get it totally right. The Treaties did bring some order to Europe so they were not a total failure and they managed to keep peace for the next twenty years. Until Hitler messed it all up.
Did the League of Nations Work?
Yes and No.
Yes:
- It kept peace for twenty years.
- It helped a lot of countries with medical supplies and money for the poor.
No:
- It was in problems from the start. Defeated countries were not allowed to join, Britain and France disagreed about whether it would work and the USA did not join. This was a big problem because it was Woodrow Wilson’s idea!
- Countries just left it when they wanted to start a war.
- It had no army so it could not make countries do what it said. No-one took it seriously.
Small nations did what the League wanted but big ones ignored it.
The Great Depression
All around the world in the 1930’s lots of people were out of work and had lost everything they owned. This made them upset and they wanted some major solutions. Politicians began to talk about radical solutions that had not been tried before and people listened because they were desperate. This happened in Japan, Italy and Germany. People in these countries thought that a strong army (Militarism), strong leaders with big ideas (Extremism), and total belief in your country (and not caring about anybody else’s) (Nationalism) was the answer.
M ilitarism
E xtremism
N ationalism
Japan
Japan wanted more room for its expanding population and more raw materials for its industry so it decided to invade another country (Manchuria). The Japanese pretended that some Chinese soldiers had shot at them and then invaded. Some Japanese politicians did not want to invade but the army was powerful and got its way. By 1932 it had taken over most of the country.
The League of Nations was asked by China to stop Japan. The League told Japan to remove its soldiers but they ignored them. Japan then left the League and carried on invading China. This was a total failure of the League of Nations.
Italy
Italy had a strong leader called Mussolini. He wanted Italy to be a great power, like the Roman Empire. If he was strong Italy would be respected by everyone. So he decided to also invade a country – Abyssinia. He had heard about Japan and decided to defy the League. In 1935 Italy invaded Abyssinia (also pretending that some Abyssinian soldiers had shot at his soldiers) and conquered the country by May 1936. The League of Nations told Italy to stop its invasion but they ignored it and also walked out of the League. The League then told all of its member countries not to trade with Italy.
If the countries had stopped trading oil, iron and coal (the useful things) the invasion would have stopped but they did not and Italy carried on. Britain and France had made a secret deal with Mussolini to help him anyway (the Hoare-Laval Plan) and this was the final nail in the coffin of the League of Nations. No-one took it seriously any more.
Germany
Now it was Germany’s turn. Hitler knew how useless the League of Nations was so he decided to get back the land Germany had lost at the end of the First World War. He did not do it all at once – he did want war yet – so he took it slowly a bit at a time.
Step 1.Germanyleaves the League of Nations. They also agree to get rid of some weapons if Britain and France do too. They do not, so Germany don’t.
Hitler cheers up.
Step 2. Hitler then makes a ‘Naval Agreement’ in 1936 with Britain. Britain agrees Germany can have a navy one third the size of Britain’s. It seems Britain is helping Germany to break the Treaty of Versailles.
Hitler is quite happy.
Step 3.In 1935 the Saar (which had been taken from Germany after World War One) voted to go back to Germany. Hitler was very happy.
Step 4.In 1936 Hitler sent soldiers into the Rhineland. This was totally against the Treaty of Versailles and he was ready to pull them out if anyone complained – but they did not.
Hitler was over the moon!
Step 5.In 1938 Hitler decides to take over Austria. This is also not allowed but he does it anyway. Again Britain and France say nothing.
Hitler cannot believe it – Whoopee!
Britain and France did nothing to stop Hitler. Why not?
There are lots of reasons why Britain and France let Germany get away with it. This was called the Policy of Appeasement.
- Britain and France were skint. They could not afford to fight Germany.
- People still remembered the horror of the First World War and did not want to repeat it.
- People thought Germany had been treated badly and they should get their old land back.
- Hitler said he would stop when he had all the land back Germany had lost after First World War (they believed him).
The British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain was worried but he wanted to avoid war so he agreed to speak to Hitler to agree on what to do.
Czechoslovakia
Hitler wanted some of Czechoslovakia for himself, the bit that spoke German – the Sudetenland. He said it was because it spoke German and should be part of Germany. (It also had some arms factories and lots of coal and Iron ore which was handy!). Chamberlain flew to Germany to see Hitler to find out what he was planning. Hitler said if he got the Sudetenland he would not invade anywhere else. He signed an agreement saying this and Chamberlain trusted him.
In March 1939 Hitler then took the rest of Czechoslovakia. This proved he was a big, fat liar and he was not going to stop invading countries whenever he felt like it. This upset Chamberlain.
Also in August 1939 the Germans made an agreement with Russia called the Nazi-Soviet Pact. They agreed they would not fight each other and would invade Poland and divide it up. This really upset Chamberlain.Russia and Britain were supposed to be allies!
In September 1939 Germany invaded Poland. Britain said they would help them but they were too far away. This really, really upset Chamberlain. HE DECLARED WAR.This surprised Hitler – he did not think Chamberlain had the guts to declare war.