Were the Peace Treaties of 1919-23 fair?

Focus Points
 What were the motives and aims of the Big Three at Versailles?
 Why did the victors not get everything they wanted?
 What was the impact of the peace treaty on Germany up to 1923?
 Could the treaties be justified at the time?

Specified content
The peace treaties of 1919-23:
 the roles of individuals such as Wilson, Clemenceau and Lloyd George in the
peacemaking process,
 the impact of the treaties on the defeated countries,
 contemporary opinions about the treaties

1. The Mood in 1919 and the Big Three

2. The Treaty of Versailles
3. The Other Peace Treaties (Refer to map page 23)
4. How did the People of Europe react to the Treaties?

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1. The Mood in 1919 and the Big Three
What problems faced the peacemakers in 1919?
Many people have criticised the Treaties at the end of WWI, both at the time and since.
However there were several factors that posed great obstacles for those who tried to attain
peace and prevent another war on a similar scale to happen again.

 As a result of the Allied naval blockade of Germany which continued while the
Conference was going on, many parts of Europe were suffering from near
starvation. A terrible flu epidemic in 1919 only worsened the situation and over a
million died.

 Many countries were in chaos. In Germany the Kaiser had abdicated and fled to
Holland. The new government that had taken over was having difficulty in
maintaining control. The Russian Revolution in 1917 had a strong influence and
there were Communist uprisings in Berlin and Munich. Communists had seized
power in Budapest. All over Eastern Europe there were nationalist risings.

 Many in the Allied countries were angry and wanted revenge. They had lost over
nine million dead, their economies were in ruins and areas in France and Belgium
where much of the fighting was concentrated were devastated with villages and
farmland totally destroyed. Many believed that it was Germany’s fault for
starting the war and believed that Germany should be made to pay for it.

 When the details of the harsh terms of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty was known many
wanted revenge even more.

The Big Three

The Allies met at Versailles, just outside Paris. The Conference lasted for 12 months and
five treaties were drawn up. The main treaty dealt with Germany while the others dealt
with Germany’s allies. Thirty-two nations took part, but none of the defeated countries;
Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria were present. Russia was left out
because of its Communist government and because it had broken its alliance with the
Allies when it signed the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with Germany and pulled out of the war.

Most of the terms were decided by Britain, France and the US. The Big Three; Lloyd
George, Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson decided on the important decisions on the
fate of Germany. Although they were supported by many diplomats and expert advisers,
they often ignored their advice. The Big Three did not get along from the start and the
relationship between them, particularly between that of Wilson and Clemenceau,
worsened throughout the Conference.

Lloyd George was Prime Minister of Britain and his main aim was to protect British
interests by ending the threat to the navy and the empire. Although many in Britain
wanted harsh terms for Germany he feared that if Germany was treated too harshly this

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might lead to future problems. He also felt that it would be in Britain’s best interests if
Germany quickly recovered so that trade could resume between the two countries and in
doing so help British industry. Lloyd George also wanted to ensure that France would
not become too powerful.

Clemenceau was Prime Minister of France. Germany had invaded France twice during
his lifetime – first in 1870 when he was 29 and the second time in 1914 when he was 73.
He wanted revenge and he wanted to ensure Germany could not attack France again by
taking land, weakening industry and reducing her armed forces. Clemenceau wanted to
split Germany into a number of small states but if this was not possible he then insisted
that Germany should lose the Rhineland, Saarland, Upper Silesia, Danzig and East
Prussia. He also wanted Germany to pay a huge fine.

Woodrow Wilson was President of the US. The US had obviously suffered less death
and destruction than her European Allies. Wilson has often been seen as an idealist
whose aim was to build a better and more peaceful world from the ruins of the Great
War. However, Wilson did believe that Germany should be punished but he also
believed that if Germany was treated too harshly it may recover one day and would seek
revenge. In January 1918 he laid down Fourteen Points for a better world after the war.
He wanted his points to be a basis for peace.

The Fourteen Points (page 14)

1. There should be no secret deals or treaties between states.
2. Countries should be free to send ships anywhere in the world without
interference.
3. There should be free trade between countries.
4. The level of armaments should be reduced in each country.
5. The future of colonies should be reviewed and the wishes of local people taken
into consideration.
6. Other countries should leave Russian territory.
7. The Germans should leave Belgium.
8. Alsace-Lorraine should be returned to France.
9. The Italian borders should be adjusted to bring Italian speakers into Italy as far as
possible.
10. The different peoples of Austria-Hungary should be given their freedom.
11. Invading armies should leave the Balkan states.
12. Non-Turkish people in the Turkish Empire should be free to have their own
governments.
13. An independent Poland should be set up. Poland should have access to the sea.
14. A League of Nations should be set up to preserve the future peace of the world.

Woodrow Wilson’s allies were not happy about the Fourteen Points. They had only
originally accepted them as they had desperately needed the US to enter the war. Once
the war was won disagreements began to emerge during the Conference.

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  Clemenceau felt that Wilson was being far too soft on Germany and did not
understand how much France had suffered and lost.
 Lloyd George could not agree to point 2 especially as the British blockade of
Germany had contributed to the Allied victory.
 Lloyd George also disagreed on the issue of self-determination since Britain was
an empire that ruled millions of people across the world.
 Clemenceau felt that Lloyd George was prepared to be lenient with Germany in
Europe only to be greedy for Germany’s colonies.

Wilson did not fully comprehend the situation in Eastern Europe. He believed that the
war had been caused by national frustration of being ruled by people of a different
nationality. He did not realise just how mixed many of the nationalities were and that
complete self-determination was impossible as there would always be some people living
as a minority under different rulers. Wilson was becoming increasingly ill during the
conference and to make matters worse he was losing support back home.

Questions

1. Why did the people of Britain want revenge on Germany?

2. Why didn’t Lloyd George entirely support this desire?

3. Why were both Britain and France likely to take a harsher view of how Germany
should be treated than the US?

Activity

Look at the Fourteen Points. Put them into three groups:

a) Those which dealt with certain named bits of territory.
b) Those which laid down ideas for deciding what should happen to certain
areas.
c) Those which laid out plans for a better way of running the world and keeping
peace in the future.

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2. The Treaty of Versailles
A number of treaties were signed at the end of WWI. The Treaty of Versailles was the
most important and it dealt with Germany. It was signed in June 1919.

1. Territory (refer to map on pg 19)

 Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France.
 The left bank of the River Rhine was to be occupied by the Allies. A strip
of 50 km wide on the right bank was to be demilitarised (no German bases
or soldiers would be allowed in it.)
 The Saar with its important coalfield was to be handed over to France for
fifteen years. After fifteen years its people would be allowed to vote in a
plebiscite whether they wanted to stay with France or return to Germany.
 Poland became an independent country. In 1914 most of Poland was
Russian. Poland would now also include land from Germany, including
the coalfield of Upper Silesia, and a ‘corridor’ of land to the sea. This
change would split the German province of East Prussia from the rest of
Germany. Another important change was that the former German port of
Danzig was made a free city so as to give Poland access to the sea.
 Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became independent countries.
Virtually all of these countries had been Russian territory in 1914.
 Denmark and Belgium also received small bits of land from Germany.
2. Colonies
 Germany lost all her empire and all German former colonies became
mandates of the League of Nations. The League made sure that the
country responsible for the mandate looked after the well-being of the
people in the colony.
 Tanganyika became a British mandate.
 Cameroon became a French mandate.
 South-West Africa became a South African mandate.
 The German Pacific islands became a Japanese mandate.

3. Armed forces
 The German army was to be cut down to 100,000 men. Conscription was
to be abolished.
 The German navy was to be cut down to 36 ships, of which only six could
be battleships and was limited to 15,000 men.
 Germany was not allowed any tanks, submarines or aircraft.
 Germany could not make an alliance with Austria or unite with Austria.
4. War-Guilt
Article 231 of the Treaty meant that Germany had to accept all blame for
starting the war.

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 5. Reparations
Having established that Germany was to blame for the war, she then had to
pay the Allies the cost of all the damage caused by the war. This was assessed
later (in 1921) as 6,600 million pounds.

6. The League of Nations

An international peace-keeping organisation, the League of Nations, was set
up as part of the Treaty.

Once the Treaty of Versailles had been signed, Clemenceau, Lloyd George and Wilson
went home. The four remaining treaties dealt with Germany’s four allies and were
worked out by diplomats on the same basis as the Treaty of Versailles.

Questions

1. What were:
a) the de-militarised Rhineland
b) mandates
c) war-guilt
d) reparations
e) the League of Nations?

2. Why was it important for the Allies that Germany signed Article 231?

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3. The Other Peace Treaties (Refer to map page 23)
The Treaty of Versailles dealt with Germany but it was followed by four other treaties
that were signed between 1919 and 1920. These dealt with Germany’s allies Austria,
Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey. The treaties are known as the Treaties of Paris because
they were named after suburbs of the city. These treaties were not dealt with by the Big
Three but by officers and diplomats working with the foreign ministers of the Allied
powers. The treaties were made in consultation with the representatives of the
nationalities in Eastern and Central Europe (except those of the defeated countries).

Austria: Treaty of Saint Germain, 1919 September

 It became a republic.
 Two new countries were set up out of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire:
Czechoslovakia (Bohemia and Moravia) and Yugoslavia (Bosnia-Herzegovina
and Croatia). The latter also included the former kingdom of Serbia.
 Land was lost to a new independent state, Poland.
 Austria handed over land to Italy (South Tyrol and Istria). Italy was still not
happy as it felt that it should have received more land.
 Austria also lost land to Romania.
 Austria had to reduce her army to 30,000 men.
 Austria was forbidden to ally or seek unification (Anschluss) with Germany.
 Had to pay reparations.
It became a small, second-rate power with its population now reduced to 6.5 million. It
had severe problems re-adjusting to the new boundaries especially since much of its
former industrial areas were now in different countries. Czechoslovakia had greatly
benefited from the treaty and over 3 million German speakers were living in this new
state (in the Sudetenland area). There were also some 250,000 Germans living in the
South Tyrol.

In reality the old Austrian Empire had already collapsed by 1918 and many new states
had already been set up. The Treaty of St. Germain was really about sorting out a chaotic
jumble of territories into new states rather than punishing Austria.

Hungary: Treaty of Trianon, 1920 March

 Hungary lost territory to Czechoslovakia (Slovakia and
Ruthenia) and Yugoslavia (Slovenia and Croatia).
 Hungary lost territory to Romania (Transylvania as well as a number of other
territories).
 Hungary had to disarm and its army was reduced to 35,000 men.
 Had to pay reparations.

Hungary had to disarm and lost land and people as well as industrial raw materials.
Three million Hungarians ended up in other states. The population of Hungary was
reduced from 18 million to 7 million. Its industries lost not only people but also raw
materials weakening its economy so much that although it was due to pay reparations it
never did.

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The Treaty of Trianon was eventually signed in 1920 and not earlier because the
communists led by Béla Kun had seized power in Budapest. He was overthrown when a
right-wing government took over. The new ruler Admiral Horthy was forced to sign the
treaty.

Bulgaria: Treaty of Neuilly, 1919 November

 Bulgaria lost land to Greece, Romania and Yugoslavia. As a result it had no
access to the Mediterranean Sea.
 Bulgaria also had to disarm and its army was reduced to 20,000 men.
 Bulgaria had to pay £100 million in reparations.

Bulgaria had played a relatively small part in the war and was treated less harshly than its
allies. Still by 1920 many Bulgarians were governed by foreign powers.

Turkey: Treaty of Sèvres, 1920 August

 Turkey lost what was left of its empire.
o Britain took over Cyprus.
o Italy took over Rhodes and the Dodecanese Islands.
o Britain received Palestine, Iraq and Jordan as mandates.
o France took over Syria and Lebanon as mandates.
o Greece took over Eastern Trace (Smyrna).

The Treaty of Sèvres brought an end to the Ottoman Empire. Turkey was important
because of its strategic position and the size of its empire. With this treaty Turkey
effectively lost control of the straits running into the Black Sea. The Turks had to
formally to accept that many countries of their former empire, such as Egypt, Tunisia and
Morocco, were now independent or were under British or French protection. In practice,
this was already true but under the treaty the Turks had to accept and agree to this.

This treaty, signed in 1920, was too much of a humiliation for some Turks, especially the
fact that land had been lost to the Greeks who had once been part of their empire.
Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) organised a nationalist movement to overthrow the Sultan and
negotiate a new treaty. The Sultan was overthrown in November 1922 and a new treaty
was eventually signed in July 1923. This was the Treaty of Lausanne.

As a result of this new treaty, the Turks regained Eastern Trace. Apart from this, Turkey
was no longer forced to limit her army and no longer had to pay any reparations. The
Arab lands, however, which had been made mandates, were not changed. The Allied
powers had shown, however, that they could be persuaded by force to alter a treaty.
Another important point was that the Allies had not come to the aid of their ally Greece
in 1922 when Kemal had attacked.

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Focus Task – group activity
You have investigated a number of different treaties. Rate these treaties and give them a
score on a scale of 1 to 5 for fairness: 1 is very fair, 5 is very unfair. For each give
reasons to explain why you gave it the score you did.

Questions
1. Which two treaties were signed in 1919?
2. Explain why the Peace Treaty for Hungary was signed in 1920?
3. Which part of the Treaty of Sèvres was an especially bitter blow to Turkish
pride?
4. The Treaty of Sèvres was replaced by a new treaty in 1923. Explain how
this came about and name this new treaty.
5. What major differences existed between these two treaties?
6. Of the five Peace Treaties which country suffered the least?
7. What argument could be used to support the view that Germany deserved a
harsh treaty?

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4. How did the People of Europe react to the Treaties?
Germany
When the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were revealed in May 1919 the German
people were angry. The terms had not been negotiated. They were simply told to sign or
the war would re-start. For this reason the Germans called it a ‘Diktat’. They also
resented the ‘War-Guilt’ which meant that they had to accept the whole blame for the
war.

The German people thought the terms were harsh. They lost land, industry, population,
and all their colonies (while the victorious nations kept theirs). Also their army was to be
reduced and this had been their pride. While they had to disarm none of the victorious
countries did the same even though this was stated in the Fourteen Points. The
reparations that they had to pay would cripple their economy for a long time. It would be
difficult to raise the money to pay reparations as land lost through the peace treaty
contained much of Germany’s coalfields and iron industry.

Another reason why the Germans felt that the treaties were unfair was that self-
determination did not seem to apply to Germany as the treaties left 3.5 million Germans
in Czechoslovakia and one million in Poland. To make matters worse, Germany was
treated like some kind of outcast and was not allowed to join the League of Nations.

Historians’ Comments
 Germany had opened negotiations with the Allies on the basis of Wilson’s
Fourteen Points. The eventual terms of the Treaty were far removed from
the Fourteen Points.
 The German people under the Kaiser were even more subject to propaganda
about the war than the British people. They had been told that they were
fighting a defensive war against attacking nations. They did not know that
in autumn 1918 the German Army was in retreat and almost defeated. The
tough, dictated terms therefore came as a surprise and were even harder to
swallow.
 Reparation payments punished the people of Germany and their new
Weimar Government, not the Kaiser and the old rulers.
However:
 Germany did not in fact, lose that much by the Treaty of Versailles. It was
still the largest country in Western Europe. Its economy was still powerful
and Germany would still be able to make an economic recovery.
 Complaints about the terms not being fair and not being in line with the
Fourteen Points were a bit weak. Germany had first ignored Wilson’s
Fourteen Points when he first produced them. Only when defeat was staring
at them in the face did the Germans appeal to the US for peace. Also one only
needs to remember the harsh terms of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. Many felt
that had Germany won, they would have had harsh terms for the Allies.

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The Germans considered the Treaty unfair and rather than give up their ships they
preferred to scuttle them. The Kaiser had fled, leaving the people to their fate. Germany
was now run by his arch-rivals, the democratically-elected politicians. Ebert, the new
Prime Minister, thought about fighting on but was advised by his generals that it was
futile and more fighting would only bring about a greater suffering to the German people.
He decided the German people were suffering enough and agreed to sign the treaty.

Allied Reactions
In some respects the Allies themselves admitted that the treaty had been too harsh on
Germany. In an attempt to lessen the burden the Young Plan set a new reparation figure
for Germany in 1929.

Britain
The British soon began to have second thoughts about the peace terms as they realised no
one was really benefiting from the terms.

US
When Wilson returned to the States he found that the mood had changed there, too. The
US public and politicians wanted nothing to do with Europe. They refused to agree with
the Treaties and did not join the League of Nations.

France
France had wanted a tougher treaty for Germany. They still feared Germany and needed
reparation payments to pay off their huge debts. The French knew that their security
depended on making these treaties stick but Britain felt no such threat. In the end
everyone was to pay the penalty for the failure of ‘collective security’ – the policy of
international agreement to keep the peace.

Reactions from Defeated Powers

Germany, Austria and Hungary felt themselves excluded from the international
community. When Germany was forbidden to join the League of Nations this feeling
was only strengthened.

Hungary
Hungary had lost two-thirds of its pre-war territory by the Treaty of Trianon. Anger
fuelled a Communist uprising and then a right-wing dictatorship.

Turkey
The other country to protest loudly was Turkey, this time at the terms of the Treaty of
Sèvres. A nationalist army under Mustafa Kemal drove the Greeks out of Smyrna. A
new treaty, the Treaty of Lausanne, 1923, was signed.

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Other Countries
Italy and Japan
Italy and Japan had expected to do better from the Treaties and felt aggrieved. The
Italians felt cheated when they failed to get the town of Fiume and a stretch of the
Dalmatian coast. They had been promised these areas by the Allied Powers in the secret
Treaty of London in 1915.

China
The Chinese were furious that German ports in China were not handed back in 1919, but
became Japanese mandates. There were huge protests which were one of the key stages
in the growth of Chinese nationalism.

Middle East
The Arabs were deeply disappointed by the Treaties. They had helped the British against
Turkey expecting to gain independence. Instead their lands became British or French
mandates.

The New Countries

Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia was possibly the key country in the plans of the Western Allies for the
future security of Europe.
 Czechoslovakia was mostly carved out of the old Austrian Empire, with the
addition of land taken from Germany.
 The Allies wanted it to be economically and politically strong, so they made
sure that it included industrial areas from the former empire.
 It included a wide range of nationalities.

Poland
Poland had been an important state in the 1600s, but it had been swallowed up by Russia,
Germany and Austria in the late 1700s. The Western Allies were very keen on recreating
the state of Poland. They wanted it to act as a potential watchdog on Germany in the
years to come. They also hoped that Poland could form a barrier against any future threat
from the new Communist government in Russia.

Poland’s western frontiers were settled in the Treaty of Versailles but the eastern
frontiers were much harder to agree on. There were no natural frontiers like rivers or
mountains and this made it vulnerable to attack. 30% of the population were not Poles
but included Russians, Germans, Jews and many others. Almost from its first day the
new state was involved in fighting with Russia over the line of its eastern borders. This
was eventually settled in 1921 with the help of the British diplomat Lord Curzon. The
border was temporarily settled at the Curzon line. 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 and its creation was bitterly resented by the Germans.

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Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia was by far the most complicated of the new states created by the Peace
Treaties. It was formed by merging Serbia with a number of its neighbours, most of
whom had been part of the Habsburg Empire before the war. It was originally known as
the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and the Slovenes, but in 1929 it changed its name to
Yugoslavia, which means ‘land of the South Slavs’.

Note

The French were determined to keep the treaties unaltered. Unfortunately for them the
British and the Americans did not share France’s determination. When Wilson returned
to the States he found that the mood had changed. The Congress in the US refused to
give its approval to the treaties and turned its back on European affairs until 1941. They
did not even join the League of Nations. Britain made fine statements about making sure
that the treaties were honoured but often fell short when it came to taking action to
defend them.

The peacemakers have been criticised for setting up small, weak nations in Eastern
Europe and for failing to achieve real self-determination: for example 30% of the
population in Poland in 1919 were non-Poles. It is also true that most of these new
nations had fallen easy prey to Hitler in 1939-41 and to the USSR in 1945. But their
nationhood was an important factor in throwing off Communism in 1989. Only two have
completely disappeared: Czechoslovakia (peacefully) and Yugoslavia (after a terrible
civil war). It remains to be seen how successful the new small nations of Eastern Europe
will be in the immediate future.

The importance of these Treaties

These treaties mark an important moment in European and world history. They re-
organised the boundaries of Europe. They altered the lives of millions of people all over
the world. They provide a baseline for the rest of the twentieth century. There had been
nothing like it since the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The end of WWII in 1945 did not
bring about so many changes, but rather re-established most of the boundaries laid out in
1919-20.

Questions

1. Why did the Germans call the Treaty a ‘Diktat’ – a dictated peace?

2. If they were so angry about it, why did Germany sign the treaty of Versailles?

3. a) Which new countries were set up by the Treaties?

b) Do they still exist?

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Definitions –Peace Treaties and League of Nations

Armistice - a truce or ceasefire which is later followed by an official treaty

Boycott - refusal to trade or do business with a country or people

De-militarised Rhineland - Strip of land 50 km on the right bank of the River Rhine
where Germany was forbidden to have any armed forces

Disarmament – a reduction or total removal of a country’s armed forces

Isolationism - used to describe US policy between the world wars in which the US
avoided contact with other countries

Mandate - a mandated territory – an area placed under the control of a chosen power
by the League of Nations until it was ready for self-rule

Plebiscite - a vote by the people on a special issue

Reparations - money paid by Germany after the First World War to the victorious
powers to make up for the damage caused in the war

Sanctions - methods used against a country to try and get it to change its policies e.g. a
trade boycott

Self-determination- the right of a people to decide to which country they belong or

what type of government they will have

Ultimatum- demand made by one country against another, threatening war if the other
does not agree to the demand

Veto- the power to cancel or prevent a decision being made

War-guilt - Germany had to accept all blame for starting the war

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