AFTER WAR.

When the leaders of Britain, France and the USA arrived in Paris in January 1919 to draw a treaty,
they wanted to deal severely with Germany: France & Britain were extreme in how Germany should
be blamed. They believed that Germany should pay for all the damage and destruction caused by
the war: 9 million killings or injuries and cities destruction.
The Paris Peace Conference
As soon as the PPC began, there was a disagreement about the aim of it: some felt that the aim
was to punish Germany, others that it was to cripple Germany so that it could not start another war,
many felt that the aim was to reward the winning countries, and, finally, others believed that the aim
should be to establish a lasting peace. The different postures were:

- George Clemenceau (France)

France had suffered enormous damage to its land, industry, people and self confidence. Two thirds
of the men serving in the military had been killed or injured. Clemenceau saw the PPC and the
following treaty, to be an opportunity to cripple Germany so that it could not attack France ever
again.

- Woodrow Wilson (USA)

He was known to be an idealist who wanted to build a better

and more peaceful world, but he also wanted to punish
Germany – not so hard as the other countries. He believed
that, if treated very harshly, Germany might recover some
day and seek revenge. What he wanted was to strengthen
democracy in the defeated nation so that its people would
not let its leaders cause another war.
He believed nations should cooperate to achieve world
peace. To do so, he published his “14 points for peace” in
which the 14th point was the most important one: setting up
an international body called the League of Nations.
Many people in France and Britain did not agree with the
ideas contained in this manifest. They seemed impractical.

- David Lloyd George (UK)

He was often seen as the middle ground between Clemenceau and Wilson. He wanted Germany to
be justly punished but not too harshly. He wanted Germany to lose its navy and its colonies
because they thought that these would threaten the British empire. He also wanted Britain and
Germany to begin trading with each other again because that trading meant jobs for them.
Disagreements and compromises
As the talks at Versailles went on, it was clear that the very different objectives of the 3 leaders
could not be met. Clemenceau resented Wilson’s more generous attitude to Germany: they
disagreed over what to do with Germany’s Rhineland and coalfields in the Saar (finally Wilson had
to concede on that). Clemenceau also clashed with Lloyd George, particularly on George’s desire
not to treat Germany too harshly. USA and UK also crashed as Lloyd George was not happy with
point #2: allowing all nations access to the seas. Also, point #10 was a big issue as neither France
nor Britain wanted people ruling themselves as they had lots of colonies overseas.
The Treaty of Versailles
On 28th June 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed by Germany and the victorious allies. None
of the 3 was satisfied with the terms of the treaty. The main terms were:
1. War guilt: Germany had to accept all the blame for starting the war.
2. Reparations: Germany had to pay reparations to the allies for all the damage caused by the
war. It was approximately 6.600 million pounds (it would take Germany 70 years to pay it
all).
3. German territories and colonies: Germany's overseas empire was taken away completely.
Former German colonies became “mandates'' controlled by the League of Nations (Fr & UK
controlled them).
4. German armed forces: they restricted the number to a level well below before war:
a. Army of 100.000 men
b. Conscription was banned – soldiers had to be volunteers and not compulsory.
c. Germany was not allowed armored vehicles, submarines or aircraft.
d. The Rhineland became a demilitarized zone: no german troops were allowed into
that area. It was a really important area between Germany and France.
5. The creation of the League of Nations: its main role was as an “international police force”.
Germany, was not invited to join the league until it had shown that it was a peace-loving
country.

German reaction to the TOV

The terms were introduced on may 7th to a horrified german nation. Germany was to lose:

- 10% of its land.

- All of its overseas colonies
- 12.5% of its population
- 16% of its coalfields and almost half of its iron and steel industry.
- All its air force and almost all of its army and navy.

Germans were terrorized and outraged. They did not feel they had started the war nor that they had
lost it. They were angry that their government was not represented at the talks and that they were
being forced to accept a harsh treaty without any choice. At first, the German government refused to
sign the TOV, and in protest, they sank their own ships. But finally, Ebert had no choice but to sign
the treaty on 28 June 1919.
The “war guilt” clause was hated by Germany. Germans felt that blame should be shared and not
only attached to them. But what most feared them, were the reparations. Germany's economy was
bad, and the payments would cripple them completely.
The disarmament terms were upsetting too, as an army of 100.000 men was extremely small for a
country with the size of Germany, specially in a country were the army was seen as a symbol of
pride.
Germany had lost not only all of its overseas colonies, but also it had seen its frontiers reduced. The
loss of territories also affected Germany’s pride and economy. Both the Saar and Upper Silesia
were industrial areas that now were gone. While Germany was losing territory, Britain and France
were getting more by taking control of the german and Turkish territories in Africa and the Middle
East.
The impact of the TOV
In 1919, Ebert’s government was fragile, and when he agreed to sign the treaty, it brought Germany
into chaos, specially his right wing opponents attempted a revolution against him called the Kapp
Putsch, but was defeated by a strike by Berlin workers. This strike paralyzed services like power
and transport, and although it saved Ebert´s government, it added to the chaos in Germany.
In 1922, Germany fell behind on its reparation payments, so in 1923, French and Belgian soldiers
entered the Ruhr region and took what was owed to them in the form of raw materials and goods. In
response, the German government ordered the workers to go on a strike so they could not produce
anything that could be taken. The French reacted harshly, killing over 100 workers. But most
problematically was the fact that with this strike, Germany had no goods to trade, and so, no money
to buy things nor pay the reparations.
How was this solved? By printing more money excessively. What happened? Hyperinflation. Wages
began to be paid daily instead of monthly, because prices kept on going up.
Veredicts on the TOV
What happened worldwide post TOV? In France, Clemenceau was voted out because the French
society believed the treaty was not hard enough. In UK, Lloyd George was received as a hero, but
said that this treaty would lead to a future war. In the USA, Wilson was very disappointed with the
treaty and the congress refused to sign it.
The other peace settlements
The allies to Germany had to disarm and pay reparations.

- Treaty of St. Germain (1919): this treaty separated Austria from Hungary and confirmed
that AH was no longer a leading power. Under the treaty, Austrian territories were divided in
new states of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. This treaty was really about solving out
chaotic territories into new countries rather than punishing Austria. With this, many millions
in eastern Europe were given self determination and freedom to rule themselves.
- Treaty of Neuilly (1919): Bulgaria lost lands to Greece, Romania and Yugoslavia and its
access to the Mediterranean. Their armed forces were reduced to 20.000 and pay 100
million pounds in reparations.
- Treaty of Trianon (1920): it involved transferring territories. The territory of Transylvania
went from Hungary to Romania; Slovakia and Ruthenia to Czechoslovakia and Slovenia &
Croatia to Yugoslavia. With this, Hungary lost a substantial amount of its territory and its
population. Its industries suffered from the loss of population and raw materials.
- Treaty of Sevres- Turkey (1920): turkey was important because of its strategic position and
the size of its empire. The territory of Smyrna went from turkey to Greece, and Syria went to
France. It was not a successful treaty, turks were outraged by it. The Turkish nationalists
changed the terms of the treaty by force by expelling the greeks out of Smyrna. The result
was the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) which returned Smyrna to turkey.
The impact of the treaties on eastern and central Europe
The most important consequence of the treaties was the recreation of 3 countries: Czechoslovakia,
Poland and Yugoslavia. The aim was to create states that were economically and politically stable.
- Czechoslovakia: the allies wanted it to be economically and politically strong, so they made
sure that it included industrial areas from the former empire. Also, it included population of
diverse nationalities.
- Poland: the western allies were very keen on recreating the state of Poland. They wanted it
to be a watchdog to Germany in the future. They hoped it would be a barrier against any
future threat from the new communist government in Russia. Poland´s frontiers were settled
with Germany in the TOV because Poland had no natural frontiers (rivers, mountains, etc),
which made it vulnerable to attack. In order to have access to the sea, Poland was given a
strip of german land around the city of Danzig. This became known as the “Polish Corridor”.
- Yugoslavia: it was by far the most complicated of the new states. It was a very diverse are
as it included serbs, croats and Slovenes. Yugoslavia is the mere representation of Wilson ´s
idea of self determination.