Treaty of Versailles: Revision Guide

How fair was the Treaty of Versailles?

It was very fair

Ø  The Germans were not completely crippled as Clemenceau was not satisfied and wanted more

Ø  The League of Nations was set up, to avoid future conflicts like these.

Ø  The Germans had their army only reduced to 100,000 men whereas the other treaties made the other countries limit their army below 50,000

Ø  Even though only 50% of their iron and steel industries were taken by 1925 they were again an economic superpower and leading exporter in steel and iron

Ø  The Germans had a harsher treaty on Russia in March 1918 (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk)

It was not fair

Ø  The Germans were made to sign the guilt clause 231 in which they accepted.

Ø  They were made to forcefully sign these treaties

Ø  The reparations were very high it made the German people starve

Ø  Germany lost a lot of its land mostly economically helpful areas

Ø  They were not allowed to join the LON

Ø  They were not allowed Anschluss

Opinion of the German People

Ø  They felt that they were not the only ones who started the war

Ø  Their army was reduced and they couldn’t defend themselves against small countries

Ø  Germany losing territory was a humiliation for them

Ø  They were insulted when the were not allowed to join the LON

Ø  The banning of Anschluss was against the principal of self determination

WHAT CAUSED THE FIRST WORLD WAR?

1.MILLIATARISM

This does not mean the only building of armies and navies but also the ideology that war is a viable option to solve all the international problems. The nations of Europe had also built a number of military alliances to counter their enemies. This meant that when two countries went to war, all of Europe went to war.

All the countries of Europe built up their armies and navies.   In 1914, their armed forces stood like this:

•   Germany: 2,200,000 soldiers, 97 warships

•   Austria-Hungary: 810,000 soldiers, 28 warships.

•   Italy: 750,000 soldiers, 36 warships

•   France: 1,125,000 soldiers, 62 warships

•   Russia: 1,200,000 soldiers, 30 warships

•   Great Britain: 711,000 soldiers, 185 warships.

If one country increased its armies, all the others felt obliged to increase their armed forces to keep the ‘balance of power’. Britain and Germany often clashed over their navies. The German naval law of 1900 allowed Germany to build dreadnoughts. The British thought of this to be the threat to the British supremacy in the navy.

  

     2.ALLIANCES

By 1914 Europe was divided by two opposing powerhouses one being the triple entente and the other the triple alliance.

Important treaties:

1. Treaty of London- signed 1839- assures sovereignty of Belgium, main reason for British entry into WWI
2. Three Emperor's League- signed 1873, not renewed-  between Russia, Germany & Austria-Hungary
3. Dual Alliance- signed 1879- between France and Russia, mutual defense against Germany
4. Triple Alliance- signed 1882- Germany, Austria Hungary and Italy. Italy was a minor partner.
5. Franco-Russian Alliance- signed 1894- Economic treaty to help modernize Russia
6. Entente Cordiale- signed 1904- recognized Germany as a threat and brokered peace between France and Germany
7. Anglo-Russian Entente- signed 1907- solved territorial disputes 
8. Triple Entente- Reaffirmed all the individual alliances between Russia, Britain ad France into one, to present a united bloc against the Triple Alliance. Ended British policy of isolationism.

3. NATIONALISM

Nationalism means love for one’s country. Nationalism is good. But aggressive nationalism isn’t. Aggressive nationalism is like:”My country is right and yours is wrong, whatever may be true”.

a.   It made the people of countries like Britain, Germany and France more bellicose (warlike) – the British sang: ‘Rule Britannia’ and ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, and the Germans sang: ‘Deutschland uber alles’.   French politicians like Clemenceau and Poincare who had been around in 1870  (Franco-Prussian War in 1870) hated the Germans.   People were enraged when someone insulted their country.

b.   It made the races ruled by Turkey (such as the Romanians and the Bulgarians) and by Austria-Hungary (such as the Serbs) want to be free to rule themselves.   In the Balkans this was called ‘Panslavism’ because the people who wanted to be free were all Slav races.   The most nationalistic of all were the Serbs – Serbia had became an independent country by the Treaty of San Stefano in 1878, but in 1900 many Serbs were still ruled by Turkey and Austria-Hungary, and Serbia was determined to rule over them all.   This led to rebellions and terrorism which destablised the Balkans.The  Austro-Hungarian and the Ottoman  Empires were both polygot empires which meant people from many different ethnicities lived in it.However the rulers of both belonged to the elite class and the majority therefore the minorities were oppressed causing repurcussions like the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914.

  

 4.Imperialism

Countries who believed that they were superior thought it was alright to conquer and rule others – particularly if they were inhabited by races they thought were inferior.   This is why countries like Britain, France, Belgium and Italy thought it was OK to colonise vast areas of Africa in the 19^th century.   In 1900, the British Empire covered a fifth of land-area of the earth.

a.   This led to clashes between imperialist powers.   Britain was trying to conquer Africa from Cairo (in the north) to Cape Town (in South Africa).   France was trying to conquer Africa from the Atlantic to the Red Sea.   In 1898 their two armies met, at Fashoda in the Sudan,  almost causing a war.

b.   Most of all, it led to HUGE tension when Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany decided that HE wanted some colonies too!

5.  Awful governments

Not only were many of the governments of Europe autocracies (ruled by one man), many countries had stupid and corrupt governments

Note that very few of the countries of Europe were democracies - it is hard for a democracy to go to war because the people (not just an individual ruler or small group of ministers) need to agree to go to war.  

     Remember also that in these days there was no idea of going to war for the 'right' reasons - many people in those days thought it was alright to go to war simply to win more power and territory for the ruler.  

OTHER IMPORTANT EVENTS

1.  First Moroccan Crisis, 1906

France hoped to conquer Morocco in Africa, and one of the points of the Entente Cordiale (1904) was that the British would help them.  But in 1905, Kaiser Wilhelm visited Morocco and promised to protect Morocco against anyone who threatened it.  

2.  Telegraph Article, 1908

Kaiser Wilhelm gave an interview to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, in which - although he claimed that he wanted to be friends with Britain - he said that the English were 'mad', said that the German people hated them, and demanded that: 'Germany must have a powerful fleet to protect her interests in even the most distant seas'.  

3. Bosnian crisis, 1908

Turkey had been in decline for a long time.   In 1908 there was a revolution in Turkey, and Austria-Hungary took advantage of this to annex (take over) the Turkish state of Bosnia. 

4.  Agadir Crisis, 1911

There was a revolution in Morocco, and the French sent in an army to put it down, then took over the country.   In the middle of this, Kaiser Wilhelm sent the gunboat Panther to the Moroccan port of Agadir.

5.  Balkan Wars, 1912-13

As Turkey continued to grow weaker, in 1912 Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria (calling themselves the Balkan League) attacked Turkey and captured almost all the remaining Turkish land in Europe.   Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary, arranged a peace conference in London, but in 1913 fighting broke out again.   Britain and Germany got together and used their influence to bring the war to an end (Treaty of Bucharest, 1913).

6.  Assassination at Sarajevo, 1914

On 28 June 1914 Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary.