Versailles Treaty Revision

If you click on yellow pointers, you will reveal all the facts that you ought to remember.
Try to remember BEFORE you click!

•  AIMS OF THE BIG THREE
  • Georges Clemenceau, President of France (5 things)
    • blamed Germany = punishment/ ‘hard justice’
    • angry = revenge.
    • wanted to ’make Germany pay’ for the Damage/
    • threatened = wanted independent Rhineland/ get Alsace-Lorraine/
    • peace = wanted Germany weak and crippled .
  •  Woodrow Wilson, President of America:
    • 14 Points (4 things)
      • a better world ‘safe for democracy’
      • fair peace
      • self-determination
      • International Co-operation (League of Nations)
  •  David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Britain (5 things)
    • compromise
    • punish & make Germany pay, but not revenge like France
    • protect British Empire
    • trade
    • peace: did not want to create anger in Germany which would lead to war in the future.
•  SIX TERMS OF THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES [memory word: GARGLE]
  • Guilt
    • clause 231- Germany accepted blame ‘for causing all the loss and damage’ of the war.
  • Army (5 things)
    • army: 100,000
    • no submarines
    • no aeroplanes
    • 6 battleships
    • Rhineland de-militarised
  • Reparations
    • £6,600 million – in instalments, until 1984).
  • Germany lost land (8 things)
    • Alsace-Lorraine to France
    • Saar to France (15 years)
    • Malmedy to Belgium
    • North Schleswig to Denmark
    • West Prussia and Upper Silesia to Poland
    • Danzig a ‘free city’
    • Memel to Lithuania
    • German colonies became ‘mandates’ of the League of Nations.
  • League of Nations
    • set up.
  • Extra points (2 things)
    • forbade Anschluss
    • Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania independent states.
•  HOW THE GERMANS FELT [memory word: U GARGLER]
  • Unfairly treated (3 things)
    • no part in the Conference talks
    • forced to sign
    • few of 14 Points in the Treaty.
  • Guilt
    • ‘Such a confession in my mouth would be a lie’, said Count Brockdorff-Rantzau.
  • Armed forces
    • meant Germany could not defend itself against even small countries (the Dungervolker - Dung people).
  • Reparations
    • starved German children.
  • Germany lost territory (3 things)
    • a humiliation
    • contrary to self-determination
    • made Germany poorer - took farm land (W Prussia) and industrial land (Saar).
  • League of Nations (2 things)
    • an insult
    • meant that Germany could not defend itself in the League of Nations.
  • Extra
    • forbidding Anschluss was against the principle of self-determination.
  • Results (2 things)
    • riots in Berlin/the Deutsche Zeitung attacked ‘the disgraceful treaty’
    • Kapp Putsch (1920) to try to overturn the Treaty.
•  WHAT THE ALLIES THOUGHT ABOUT THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES
  • Clemenceau
    • LIKED 5 things
      • Clause 231
      • disarmament
      • Reparations
      • Getting back Alsace-Lorraine
      • getting mandates
    • DISLIKED 2 things
      • Saar (only getting for 15 years)
      • wanted an independent Rhineland, not just demilitarised.
  • Wilson
    • GOT 2 things
      • League of Nations
      • self-determination for Poland, Czechoslovakia etc,
    • DISLIKED 5 things
      • many of his 14 points were ignored
      • Britain opposed freedom of seas
      • only defeated powers were made to disarm
      • colonies were given no say in their future
      • American Senate refused to sign Treaty or join League of Nations.
  • Lloyd George (4 things)
    • LIKED 2 things
      • reducing German navy
      • getting German colonies as British mandates
    • DISLIKED 2 things
      • Wilson’s ideas about colonies and freedom of the seas
      • Clemenceau’s harshness
    • JM Keynes said that reparations would cause another war
    • Harold Nicolson thought the Treaty ‘neither just nor wise'.
•  WHY WAS THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES MORE IMPORTANT? [memory word: BOLMA].
  • Big Three negotiated Versailles - other treaties designed by officials.
  • Outlined principles (self-determination/Guilt/Army reduced/Reparations/loss of land) - other treaties simply applied them.
  • League of Nations was set up by Versailles.
  • Major Powers were involved: how Britain and France dealt with Germany; not scared of Austria or Turkey.
  • Afterwards, Versailles led to Hitler and World War II
•  THE FOUR OTHER TREATIES OF 1919–20 [memory word: SaiNTS]
  • Saint Germain (with Austria, 1919), in which Austria (4 things):
    • Austria had to give land to Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia,
    • Poland, Romania, and Italy
    • Austria was allowed only a volunteer force of 30,000 men and no navy
    • Austria was forbidden to unite with Germany (Article 88).
    • Austria had to pay reparations.
  • Neuilly (with Bulgaria, 1919), in which Bulgaria (3 things):
    • Bulgaria had to give land to Yugoslavia and Greece
    • Bulgaria was allowed an army of only 20,000 men
    • Bulgaria had to pay reparations.
  • Trianon (with Hungary, 1920), in which Hungary (3 things):
    • Hungary had to give land to Poland, Romania,
    • Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia
    • Hungary was allowed an army of only 35,000
    • Hungary had to pay reparations.
  • Sèvres (with Turkey, 1920) dismantled the Turkish Empire (7 things):
    • Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco became independent
    • Syria became a French mandate
    • Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Suez canal became British mandates
    • Turkey lost Smyrna to Greece
    • Turkey lost control of the Straits into the Black Sea.
    • Turkey had to disarm
    • Turkey had to pay reparations.
•  SELF-DETERMINATION (= the right to rule yourself)
  • Problems [memory word: APES]
    • Areas are sometimes very mixed racially
    • Physical frontiers are not the same as racial areas
    • Economic areas are not the same as racial areas
    • Suspicion: Germans not allowed self-determination
  • Successes [memory word: NAME]
    • Nine nations set up:
      • Poland,
      • Finland,
      • Austria,
      • Hungary,
      • Czechoslovakia,
      • Yugoslavia,
      • Estonia,
      • Latvia,
      • Lithuania
    • Alsace-Lorraine given to France
    • Minorities: countries had treat minorities fairly
    • Elections (plebiscites) in 3 places:
      • Schleswig,
      • Upper Silesia
      • the Saar.
  • Failures [memory word: GAMES]
    • Germans in Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia
    • Anschluss forbidden
    • Minorities existed
    • Empires stayed
    • Specific violations:
      • 1919 d’Annunzio captured Fiume,
      • 1920: Poland conquered land from Russia and Lithuania
•  AFTER 1919: DATES LIST
  • 28 Jun 1919
    • Treaty of Versailles signed.
  • 19 Feb 1920
    • US Senate refuses to sign the Treaty of Versailles.
  • 17 Mar 1920
    • Kapp Putsch (rebellion) in Germany, against the peace treaty, fails.
  • 6 Apr 1920
    • French troops invade Ruhr in Germany after the German govt had sent troops into the Rhineland to stop rioting.
  • 8 Mar 1921
    • French, British and Belgian troops invade the Ruhr to force Germany to agree to reparations.
  • 11 Jan 1923
    • French and Belgian troops invade the Ruhr to force Germany to pay reparations.
  • 9 Apr 1924
    • Dawes Plan: gives Germany longer to pay reparations, and grants huge loans to get the German economy going.
  • 16 Oct 1925
    • Locarno Pact: peace agreement between Fr., Br., Belgium, Italy & Germany.
  • 8 Sep 1926
    • Germany admitted to the League of Nations.
  • 27 Aug 1928
    • Kellogg-Briand Pact: 65 nations (inc. Fr/Br/USA/Ger) promise to abolish war.
  • 7 Jun 1929
    • The Young Plan reduces reparations.
  • 9 Jul 1932
    • Lausanne Agreement: USA, France and Britain suspend reparations payments.