The First World about maintaining peac over. It soon So just what were th winners decide? And did their ideas work? The ‘Big Three In January 1919, politicians from the winning countries met at the Palace of Versailles, near Paris, to decide what was to happen to the defeated countries. The three most important politicians at the Paris Peace Conference were the leaders of France, Britain and the USA. They were nicknamed the ‘Big Three’ because they represented the three most powerful winning countries. Russia was not invited to the peace talks. It had dropped out of the war in 1917 after a revolution that led to a new type of government there. Most of Europe's leading politicians refused to recognise this new government. Germany was not allowed to send any politicians, nor were the other defeated nations ~ Austria-Hungary, the Turkish Empire and Bulgaria. At the conference, Germany was dealt with before the other losing nations. So what did they decide? The ‘Big Three’ argued about what ‘was going to happen for many months. Eventually, in June 1919, they came to a decision. Germany's punishments were written out in a huge document called the Treaty of Versailles (see B for a summary) German politicians, sent over for the day, were told to sign the treaty... or Germany would face invasion. They signed. 210A How did c try to avoid any more wars? 1 War ended in November 1918. In January 1919, the leaders of Britain, France and the USA met with other winning countries to talk now that the war was came clear that they had very different ideas about how to avoid more wars e ideas? What did the success or a failure. Y SOURCE A The ‘Big Three’ at Versailles Georges Clemenceau ~ Prime ister of France + Around 1.4 million Frenchmen had been killed in the First World War and huge areas of France had been destroyed. He wanted revenge on Germany for all of this suffering. + Wanted Germany to pay forall of the damage caused by the war. + Wanted to weaken Germany's armed forces so they could never attack France again. *y | David Lloyd George ~ Prime Minister of Great Britain + Wanted to keep Germany weak; but he also wanted to avoid humiliating the Germans. + Wanted to end the German threat to the British Empire and reduce Germany's navy so it was no longer a threat to Britain's navy. Scanned with CamScanner CTE Co) xamine opinions about the League of | + Explain who the ‘Big Three’ were and ho} contributed to the peace settlement | © Judge whether the League of Nations they Woodrow Wilson ~ Presidentef the United States of + The USA joined the war in 1917 and didn’t suffer as much as | Britain and France. Wilson wanted | to prevent Germany becoming aggressive again but didn't thinkit should be punished too much, ‘+ Wanted different national {groups to have the right to rule themselves ~ this is known as “self-determination’ —vp d and weapons. Germany must pay for the war in money and goods, The figure | was sot at £66 billion, | They must sign to agree: | thac they had started | the war too. Treaty of Versailles League of Nations set up (1920) This was a bic lke an international dlub that would meet regularly to talk about problems rather than fight cover them. It would also work on strategies to improve the world, The winning countries would join a first — the losing countries might be allowed to join later: Y SOURCE C From a German newspaper, Deutsche Zeitung, 28 June 1919. Vengeance means to get revenge for the harm done to you. Vengeance! German nation! Today in the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles the disgraceful treaty és being signed, Do not forget it. The German people will reconquer their place among nations to which ic is entitled. Then will come vengeance for the shame of 1919.” Over to You _1 Who were the ‘Big Three’? 2 Why do you think these men made most of the important decisions after the war ended? 3 Make your own version of the Treaty of Versailles diagram. Overall, which of the ‘Big Three’ do you ink would have been most happy with the of Versailles? Explain your answer. carefully, treaty with Germany was signed on 28 June 1919. The other losing nisies signed different treaties in which they were also fined and lost al Germany to have no air force, submarines or tanks. Only a tiny army (of 100,000 soldiers) and navy (6 battleships), No German soldiers allowed in the Rhineland (an area near the French border). of Versailles? | Coe treaty | Germany to hand | ‘over colonies Re iG | co Britain and France. Vg ee Parts of losing countries cut off to make >) that wanted to run themselves. > soURCED A cartoon called ‘Clemenceau the Vampire’ Itappeared ina German newspaper inJuly 1919, The figure lying on the bed represents Germany. Clemenceau is shown as a vampire, sucking the blood out of Germany. Seen 1 Give two things you can infer from Source C about German reactions to the Treaty of Versailles. 2 How useful are Sources C and D for an enquiry into attitudes in Germany towards the Treaty Scanned with CamScannerAna b) more wars? Reactions to the Treaty of Versailles at the time Reactions to the treaty were mixed. The ‘Big Three’ had conflicting ideas about what to do with Germany. By the time the treaty was signed, none of them were completely happy with it. Clemenceau wanted the treaty to be much tougher on Germany, perhaps splitting it into smaller states — but Wilson stopped this from happening, Wilson thought the treaty was far too harsh and even said that, if he were a German, he wouldn't sign it! Lloyd George, despite coming home from France to ahero's welcome, wrote that if Germany ‘feels unfairly treated she will find a way of getting revenge’. Ordinary Germans hated the treaty and the people responsible for it. They hated being forced to sign it, without having a chance to discuss its terms. Some Germans even hated their government for signing it They said it showed how weak it was and accused their politicians of ‘stabbing their own country in the back’ Later reactions The Treaty of Versailles has continued to divide opinion. The following interpretations are examples of these different opinions: Y INTERPRETATION E Margaret MacMillan, the great-granddaughter of David Lloyd George and a professor of international history at Oxford University, in a communication with a history website in 2004. ‘It is my own view ~ and a number of historians who have been working in this area for some years - that the treaty was not all that bad. Germany did lose the war after all. Reparations apparently imposed a heavy burden but Germany only paid a portion of what it owed, Perhaps the real problem was that the treaty a een Eber enforced so that many le to rebuild its military challenge the security of Europe pie noe 2.10B How did countries try to avoid any Y INTERPRETATION F From a book called Guilt at Versailles: Lloyd George and the Pre-history of Appeasement by British historian ‘Anthony Lentin, published in 1984. To ‘pacify’ is to bring peace to a country in a time of war. “The Treaty of Versailles should have made the victors either £0 conciliate [settle their differences with. enemy or destroy them. The Treaty of Versall neither. It did not pacify Germany, or perman: sweaken her.» but left her humiliated and resentful” The League of Nations After the defeated countries were punished, the victorious ones turned their attentions to trying to stop wars forever. As agreed in the Treaty of Versailles they set up a League of Nations, a kind of international club for settling problems peacefully. Its headquarters, were in Geneva, Switzerland. About 40 countries joined up straight away, hoping to solve any disputes by discussion rather than war. If one nation did end up declaring war on another, all of the other member nations would stop trading with the invading country until a lack of supplies brought the dispute to an end. The League of Nations would aim to help in other way! too. Countries would work together to fight diseases: stop drug smuggling and slavery, and improve working conditions. However, fewer than half the countries in the world joined — Germany wasn't allowed, and politicians in the USA voted against it. One major problem with the League was that it didn’t have its ‘own army to handle disputes if necessary. Yet, for few years into the 1920s, it seemed to work well. BY the end of the 1930s, however, it had failed to maint" peace in a number of areas. Later on... The League set up a ‘Health Organization’ to improve public health and combat disease. This was later renamed the World Health Organizatio" | (WHO), which still exists today. Scanned with CamScanneryy ie ae » souncra A Cas {ish cartoon wescil aaron | 4 A magazine a RUE, 4, reparations ublished in | nat wecomber 1919. It mats | allod “The Gap | 1 the Bridge The flgure on the 4 Hight represents ge me USA, A Koystone’ i one of the most important parts ota bridge decause it holds All the other tones in position aN and supports ee their weight THE GAP IN THE BRIDGE Successes of the League: Failures of the League: + It freed around 200,000 slaves. + The League never had its own armed forces. + Ichelped over 400,000 prisoners of + The USA never joined, which made it weaker from the start, war return home. because America was so powerful + Ieworked hard to defeat diseases + Japan and Italy joined at first, but eventually left. And Germany such as leprosy, cholera and smallpox. was allowed to join in 1926... but left in 1933! + Iesorted out a dispute between *+ Ie couldn't stop Japan invading China in 1931. Finland and Sweden in 1920. + Ie couldn't stop Italy invading Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935. * Itsorted outa dispute between + It couldn't stop Germany from building up its weapons again Greece and Bulgaria in 1925. | and expanding its territory in Europe between 1933 and 1939. Pere Analysis Over to You ve 1a Why weren't the ‘Big Three’ happy with the Treaty of Versailles? b How did the League of Nations try to stop wars? 1 Read Interpretations E and Acc F. For each interpretation, | © Describe two weaknesses of the Leag ations. pees MSE Sea d Inits early years up to 1939, was the League of Nations a success | BNinch! or not? Give examples to support your answer Berea een 2 a Look at Source G. Which country is represented by the figure differ from Interpretation E on the right? about the treaty? b What isa keystone? © Why is this keystone missing? 4 What can be learned from Source G about Britain’s concerns about the USA failing to join the League of Nations? Scanned with CamScanner