1919-20 – Paris Peace Conference
- The leaders (the Big Three) of the winning countries of World War One were involved
- Britain – David Lloyd George
- France – Georges Clemenceau
- USA – Woodrow Wilson
- The Big Three decided what punishment would be given to the loosing countries
- Wilson had 14 Points which embodied his vision for the post-war world; these included no secret treaties, free access to seas, free trade, all countries disarmament, colonies to have choices, League of Nations
- All three had different views on how to treat the loosing countries, specifically Germany
- Clemenceau wanted to be harsh on Germany to guarantee it could never pose a threat to France in future and totally destabilise it
- He had witnessed the Franco Prussian War
- The French Electorate would never have allowed him to be lenient
- Lloyd George wanted to be lenient to Germany, so it would stay strong in order to trade with them and that no revolution would be caused
- Wilson wanted lasting international peace by being lenient towards Germany
- Both Lloyd George and Wilson disagreed with Clemenceau over how to treat Germany
- Lloyd George and Wilson disagreed about all nations having access to seas and self-determination for colonies as these would threaten the British Empire
- Clemenceau wanted to be harsh on Germany to guarantee it could never pose a threat to France in future and totally destabilise it
1919 – Treaty of Versailles
- The Big Three drew up the Treaty of Versailles which was the main treaty between the three and Germany
- None of them were completely happy with it however they compromised
- Germany had to take full blame for beginning the war
- Germany was forced to pay £6.6billion in reparations
- Germany lost 10% of its land including Alsace-Lorraine as well as overseas colonies
- Germany had to shrink its army to 100 000 soldiers, 6 battleships, no submarines or aircrafts and a demilitarised Rhineland
- Germany was not allowed to unite with Austria
- Germany was not allowed to become a member of the newly set-up League of Nations
- Many Germans did not believe that they had lost the war and therefore they believed they were being treated very unfairly
- Germany was not represented at the conference which would make the outcome unfair whatever happened
- The Germans believed that they were not solely to blame for starting the war, so they were upset that they were blamed
- The disarmament terms were deemed unfair as none of the winning countries had to disarm
- Germans were appalled at loosing land as many natives found themselves under foreign rule
- The reparations forced upon Germany put them in total economic decline
- Germany was humiliated by not being allowed to join the League of Nations
1919-20 – Other Treaties
- Treaty of St Germain with Austria
- Army limited to 30 000 soldiers
- Empire broken, and colonies taken
- Forbidden to unite with Germany
- Treaty of Neuilly with Bulgaria
- Army limited to 20 000 soldiers
- Paid £10million in reparations
- Land lost to Greece, Romania and Yugoslavia
- Treaty of Trianon with Hungry
- Supposed to pay reparations but was to poor
- Land lost to Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia
- Treaty of Sevres with Turkey
- Army severely limited
- Lost much of its empire to Britain and France
- Land lost to Italy and Greece
- Turkey used force to reverse some of the terms of this treaty which was set out in a new one called the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923
1920s – The League of Nations
- It was an international organisation to preserve world peace and solve disputes without war
- There were 42 founding members
- All members had to sign a covenant which set out its structure, rules and aims
- It’s structure
- Secretariat – staff of permanent office workers who dealt with day-to-day running
- Commissions – tackled general international problems and made important achievements, including:
- Refugee Committee – helped approximately 400 000 displaced people return to their homes post-war
- International Labour Organisation – successfully campaigned for worker’s rights
- Declaration of the Rights of the Child – still in place today
- Health Committee – funded research into curing deadly diseases
- Financial Committee – came up with economic plans to help countries recover from the war
- Council – met five times a year plus in emergencies as leaders of the league
- Assembly – parliament of the league which met 1X per year to vote on budgeting and letting in new members etc
- Court of International Justice – settled disputes between countries
- Its rules were
- No countries could go to war
- All countries must strive to have good relations with others
- Governments must act according to the international law
- Nations must maintain justice and respect for all treaty obligations
- Its aims were
- Promote international cooperation
- Achieve international peace and security
- Discourage aggression
- Encourage disarmament
- Boost international trade and business
- Improve living and working conditions
- Enforce terms of treaties
- The League began with 42 member-nations in 1919 but by 1939 there were over 50
- The strongest influences were Britain and France who were in it from 1919-45, along with Italy, Japan, Germany and the USSR
- USA were not in the League as despite it being the president’s idea, congress voted against it
- Each of the Big Three had different visions for the League:
- Wilson – a world parliament with regular meetings
- Clemenceau – a strong body with its own army
- Lloyd George – a simple group to meet in emergencies
1921-30 – Problems Dealt with by the League
- 1921 – Aaland Islands dispute was successful for the League
- Finland and Sweden both claimed ownership of the Aaland Islands
- Both sides threatened to go to war
- The League ruled that Finland owned the islands and Sweden accepted it
- 1921 – Upper Silesian settlement was successful for the League
- Germany and Poland both claimed ownership of Upper Silesia
- The League oversaw a peaceful plebiscite and divided the region between the countries
- 1923 – Corfu crisis was a failure for the League
- Mussolini of Italy blamed Greece for the death of a top army general – Tellini – and demanded compensation
- The Greeks refused to pay resulting in Mussolini invading the Greek island of Corfu
- This was a violation of the covenant of the League, so Greece appealed for help
- The League condemned Mussolini’s actions however, they also recommended that Greece pay Italy the compensation
- Italy refused to accept this, so appealed to The Conference of Ambassadors
- The Greeks were told to apologise and pay compensation directly to Italy
- 1920-29 – Vilna: Polish-Lithuanian dispute was a failure for the League
- Poland took control of the Lithuanian capital, Vilna
- Lithuania appealed to the League and the League protested to Poland
- The Poles did not pull out
- 1925 – Bulgaria was a success for the League
- Some Greek soldiers were killed on the border with Bulgaria
- Greek troops invaded Bulgaria who appealed to the League for help
- The League ruled that both should stand down and the Greeks must withdraw
- Britain and France backed the ruling resulting in the Greeks obeying
- In some of these cases internationalism triumphed whilst in others, nationalism did
- When Britain and France worked together to back the League, they were successful
1920s – Disarmament
- It was the League’s role to ensure that all countries followed through with the disarmament process as stated in the treaties
- It largely failed in this aim
- At the Washington Conference in 1921, the USA, Japan, Britain and France agreed to limit the size of their navies however, this was as far as it got
- This was particularly damaging to the League’s reputation in Germany as it had disarmed
- International agreements occurred during the 1920s
- 1922 – Rapallo Treaty – the USSR and Germany re-established diplomatic relations
- 1924 – Dawes Plan – the USA loaned money to Germany to help stabilise it and pay reparations
- 1925 – Locarno Treaties – Germany finally accepted its western borders to be as set out in the Treaty of Versailles
- 1928 – Kellog-Briand Pact – 65 nations agreed that they would not use force to settle disputes
- 1929 – Young Plan – reduced the amount of German reparations
- These agreements were not carried out by the League but by the countries themselves
- However, some say these international agreements were achievements of the League as it developed an ‘internationalist mind-set’
Outline the views of President Wilson about peace-making in 1919. [5]
Outline the views of Lloyd George about peace making in 1919. [5]
Describe the main concerns of Lloyd George and Clemenceau at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. [5]
Outline the setting up of the League of Nations in 1919-20. [5]
Outline the punishment of Germany’s allies in the treaties at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. [5]
Outline the attempts by the League of Nations to maintain international peace in the 1920s. [5]
Explain why the League was un/successful at solving some disputes between nations in the 1920s. [5]
Explain why there were disagreements between the Big Three at the peace talks in Paris in 1919. [10]
Explain why there were protests against the Treaty of Versailles when it was issued in 1919. [10]
Explain why the League of Nations had so much popular support when it was established. [10]
Explain why the humanitarian work of the League of Nations in the 1920s is generally seen as a success. [10]